But I have to share this because it’s too funny…

P2, El and I went to MINT Museum of Toys on Sunday. And I wanted to show you this…

Day 1: Siem Reap, Cambodia
Floating Village Cruise
Cultural Village
Artisans d’Angkor – Sculpting
3 Nov 09, Tuesday

Floating Village. Despite the wet weather, we decided to take a trip down to see the floating village. This was the jetty where we got on a boat and started our trip.

The boat was manned by a young boy who worked part time after school. Our guide, Ke, told us that this boy earns a dollar a day.

The cruise started out well and there was only a light drizzle. We first saw a ‘floating forest’ in the waters.

The floating forest has inhabitants like birds and monkeys, and during the rainy season when the water level rises, monkeys will tend to swim across the water body and get to safer land. The unfortunate thing is if the monkey carries a baby with it, it is likely the baby would drown.

We also saw a floating church where a Korean Father reportedly lives in.

There are Vietnamese staying in the floating villages, apart from the Cambodians. The Vietnamese tended to have blue houses like this

The community relies a lot on fishing and it’s amazing how the entire community with schools, churches and restaurants is able to run on such an environment.

This is a Vietnamese School

Oh. And how to get there?

Sometimes, the simplest things make little children happy.
We finally made a short stop at a floating crocodile farm. This was where there were crocodiles bred for skin and food. The place also ran as a restaurant and had a number of souvenirs to sell. It also had some charts and pictures to introduce some of the wildlife in the area to the tourists who may come by. This was also where I met the little snake handler.

This little girl is 11 years old and is originally from Vietnam. It was really difficult for me to imagine that I was a mere 2 cm shorter than I am now when I was 12.

We also had the best shrimp ever here in the restaurant.

The shrimp was free but we had to pay for drinks. These were great and you eat everything except the head. We’d dip in in a sauce provided made with simple pepper and some lime I reckon. It was truly divine~!

We headed back to the jetty after the ride and made a trip to the sculpting school at Artisans d’Angkor. After that, we headed to the Cultural Village.

Cultural Village. AS was starting to get very confused around this point where he saw the dances in the Cultural Village. There are a lot of Balinese influences and we could hardly differentiate the culture from Thais. We managed to catch about 3 x 1/2 dances as the weather was not very kind to the dances which were held in the open.
It was also a time for boat racing and the locals managed to host some races for small boats in the man made lake in the village.

It was hilarious as the small boats were largely unstable and some teams fell into the water.
I found that there were a lot of locals in the Cultural Village, young and old alike. Many have arrived with their family to see their favorite cultural dances or cheer their favorite boating team on at the races. It seemed like this was a simple place for families to spend time together, and I truly enjoyed myself as I continued to learn more about the intriguing history of Cambodia.

That evening we had a buffet dinner with traditional Cambodian dances entertaining us. On our way back to our hotel, I saw the tall trees a distance away in the setting sun and bats hanging on the branches. It was a strangely majestic sight.

More pictures of our Cambodian Adventure here.

Day 1: Siem Reap, Cambodia
Artisans d’Angkor
3 Nov 09, Tuesday

Flight. Our flight about 0800h and we had to get to the airport 2 hours earlier as always. While we walked around, we were reminded again of our girls whom we have placed in care of my mum and our dog sitter. Ahem…

The flight was a short one and we arrived in almost 2 hours after take off. I didn’t knit a stitch but played Dissidia on my PSP since there’s no flight entertainment program. Siem Reap International Airport is a very low building and wasn’t crowded at all. AnShun changed some local currency (which we later found out there was no need to) and we proceeded to meet with our guide.

Our guide, Ke, was waiting for us at the only exit for the airport. The scene somehow reminded me of my trip to Danang, Vietnam. The gray skies and light rain made me wonder why I thought it was going to be hot in the first place. I was expecting a little van or bus, and was hoping that I would not find the other members of the tour group annoying. But lo and behold, the other members of my tour group were AS, our guide, and our driver.

Silk Farm. Our first destination very quickly after we touched down was a silk farm in Siem Reap. Ke shared that our schedule that day isn’t too bad for wet weather since most of it would be sheltered areas. We took a 15 to 20 minutes ride to the silk farm and through the wet windows of the car, I looked around the town as much as I could while listening to Ke telling us little things about his country.

At the silk farm, we were first given a very short tour of the silk weaving process and its importance in the traditional Cambodian attire. The silk farm has its own mulberry plants and dyes the silk naturally. After that, we were ushered to the area where silk was harvested.

The lady in the background is the first person we see in the long process of creating silk cloth for garments. She is preparing the mulberry leaves by cutting them into small pieces, and then feeding them to the silk worms that are in the tray. Those teeny 2-cm caterpillars would then grow into these 2-inch long larvae.

When they are mature, they would spin their cocoons and then transform into silkmoths. The silk in Cambodia is naturally yellow, and you can see its rich and natural color in the picture of the cocoons here.

When the moths have flown off and the cocoons are left behind, workers harvest the cocoons for its silk by boiling them in water.

The three ladies are spinning the silk and they are in different weights. The lady in the foreground is spinning the lightest weight silk while the one furthest is spinning the heaviest weight. Some of the silk would then be dyed a different color and most are prepared for weaving. To create an image on the fabric, the silk threads would first be prepared by dyeing the correct colors at particular areas. These ladies are preparing the silk threads to be dyed for the creation of the image on the left.

This is a more complex pattern and the image is on the right.

The next step after the dyeing is done would be the weaving.

It’s a lot of hardwork, but the place was an enjoyable stop for a crafter like me. The looms and thread and silk, and it’s beautiful colors… yum!! I bought a bag from the store but took every chance I had to ask if the skeins of silk on display were for sale throughout my whole trip. Everyone thought it was the strangest thing they have heard. @_@

Lunch. We went for lunch after that. The venue was a Chinese restaurant at a 5 story building. Unlike the restaurants here, the one we went to was quiet and didn’t have customers. In fact we thought it was closed. We were shown to a VIP room with 2 tables. We took one and there was a couple of Japanese tourists at the other. The skies cleared up a little during our lunch and we had Angkor beer for the first time in our lives. We loved it!

After lunch, we went on a boat ride to the Tonle Sap…

Photos of our Cambodian Adventure are here.

Berlin. Twenty years ago today, I was watching the news on tv with my parents as I did everyday. I heard about the fall of a wall in Europe. Of course at that age, I didn’t know what the fuss was all about, but I do remember everyone was talking about it. Some weeks later, the USSR collapsed and in Captain Planet, Linka now comes from Russia.

Some years later, I became a student of history and political science. The discussion of these events no longer became a stranger to me. Today, many still have invisible walls and conflicts continue to happen because of differences. Twenty years seem too short a time for much change to happen.

Perhaps one should take some time to remember the essence of this speech.

Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’… All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’

Cambodia. Cambodia also celebrates its Independence Day today. On 9 Nov 1953, Cambodia achieved independence and was no longer a French colony. Having just visited the country, I have been reminded yet again that I know so little of Asia. There is so much diversity and rich culture that one can never imagine some events only happened thus recently. And I realized I will be a student of history for as long as I live.

Pictures are still uploading from my trip… Hoping they will be up soon!

I thought I’d pen a few words before I blog about this trip. I’m still at Phnom Penh and am waiting for the flight home. This trip has been eye-opening. This place is so full of history and so rich with culture that I am happy to find this gem before it becomes too commercialized. I think there are so many places out there that I have not yet discovered. Having already travelled to France, Holland, Belgium, Hawaii, and Maldives at this age, I’m glad I made a trip here. While I have already been to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Cebu and Danang, as well as many parts of Malaysia, this trip has reminded me how little I know of Asia.

I miss the girls and miss watching anime as and when I like. I miss having the internet at my fingertips. I also miss the daily grind, strangely. But there is nothing I would give to forfeit this experience.

See you all back home.

It’s Blog Action Day again and the topic this year is Climate Change.

Just about three years ago, I remember discussing Climate Change with my French friends. AS and I were on a holiday there and he wanted to ski. Unfortunately, because of global warming, it was a particularly warm winter and we skied on manmade snow.

On the same trip, I began to notice how much climate change and global warming is on the minds of the French. I thought it was probably because they enjoy four different seasons, while I don’t have much to vary between the monsoon season and ‘hot season’ – usually from March to August. And because of this, it was probably why most Singaporeans would not find Climate Change a daily topic to think about.

That winter, it snowed heavily in late February. It snowed at the village I stayed in, and it snowed in Marseilles. There was enough snow to build snowmen, even in Marseilles. It became a particularly cold and snowy day. Unfortunately, I was back in Singapore.

The thing is, ever since that trip, I noticed an increase in promoting awareness on Climate Change. Indeed it has since affected the local community here than before. Rainy seasons are no longer rainy, and hot weather has become more unbearable. As I type this entry, we are having alternating hot days and cold,rainy days. (Today seems to be in between, surprisingly)

I think we are making improvements, and slowly informing the general public about how damaging our seemingly small actions could do. It’s not a big step forward, but sometimes, little ones go on a longer way.

last week. it flew by just like that… things are quiet (literally) in the office since there’s no one around except 6 of us. over at my side, there’s only me. it was not very quiet email-wise, but i’m ok. I’m only upset that my weekend was burnt. -_-…. one document is all it takes i realize. One of my biggest and most tedious write-ups crashed (AFTER i saved…) and there’s no way the full document could be retrieved. The people who could come look at the system also didn’t manage to come in time. I burnt my friday knitting evening, my Japanese class, and the whole of my saturday because of that. Major SIGH.

flu-y. I’m also kinda flu-y these days. I might just take off on time today to get some rest. Too bad it’s monday.

Formulas and Hams. URGH…. what else is going to be worse???

Mang. Care for some dosage of fur?

On Leave. I’m on leave today… Miss staying at home with the girls… I like having to wake up to their happy faces and then not having to leave them alone at home within 30 mins.

Birthday. Today is also D’s birthday. YOOHOO! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Okok. Some pictures of Mang with no e-collar. She looks younger here somehow:

And here she is snoozing as usual

As you can probably see, she still has those polyps. But they aren’t as angry as ever and the ears are much more manageable now. She’s also a much happier cat now. =^..^=

Weekend. I had a great weekend. Saturday’s hash was a good one and we managed to catch up with Mollie’s most-favorite-person-in-the-world-other-than-Daddy, Anderson. That’s why I didn’t manage to catch a picture of her, but here’s Millie.

I also finished watching Mr. Brain and I wish I have Kimura Takuya’s hair now. I particularly enjoyed Nakama Yukie’s performance…

AND I also played games on my PSP, although I could do better by working on my PS3… maybe later today.

OH and on Friday I watched G-Force. it’s really cute!!! I wanna watch it again!

And yesterday I went with D to a PhilWiinds concert. Flavor of the day: Spanish. It was very enjoyable, especially the second half. These concerts always make me miss my days in the Symphonic Band.

Am meeting an old friend for lunch… and then I’ll see what I shall do for the rest of the day. Miss my Happy Corner though!!!

just to say mang is alright and doesn’t have to wear her e-collar 24/7 anymore… (she does when we go out)

and then we have hash later.
so i’ll post pictures later i think

Mang is ok, one of her little lumps disappeared and the other is still there. No signs of becoming smaller. She will have a minor cauterizing session soon and then she will be discharged tomorrow.

Millie put on 200 grams and is a little squirmy taking her kennel cough prevention – the squirmy part is expected.

Mollie lost 1 kg (WHY?!?!) but is happy and chirpy and bouncy. – that is expected too.

They are all doing fine.