My First Trip To Cambodia Part 1

[pocketkiriyama]

I figured I should make a new post on every set of photos I take instead of having it all on the vacation post since we have a photography section now.

If you guys ever go there, you'll find that most washrooms are like this out in the country side houses.

I found that this country have thousands of temples and most of them look like this. I visited this particular one because my father donated some money to it's construction almost a decade ago.

I visited a place called Pnom Koulen and there's this nice waterfall there.

My older cousin and his wife that I'm meeting for the first time. I found out 6 weeks later after coming back home that she passed away.

Of course the trip isn't complete unless I visit Angkor Wat and the surrounding areas.

Be wary of the monkeys around Angkor Thom. They aren't scared of humans and will steal your good tasting mangoes!

Visited the Khmer cultural center in Siem Reap which was quite interesting. They have events that happens in different times so check on it before entering.

Checking out how traditional Khmer wedding is done back in the days.

There was an archery range in the cultural center so I couldn't resist not trying. My accuracy was 7 out of 10 and 2 of those were bullseyes. Mind you guys that almost all of the arrows had no fletchings and it was slightly windy so I didn't think I did too badly.

There are quite a few temples that are built on small mountain like hills so be ready to hike a lot.

This is why I love hiking so much. The view is always great!

 

[PkaLotus]

very good pics
thanks so very much for sharing with us , pocketkiriyama dear

 

[Rei]

Very impressive pictures, pocket! Do you travel all year round?

Love this one.

 

[pocketkiriyama]

Very impressive pictures, pocket! Do you travel all year round?

Love this one.

Yes I actually travel once or twice out of country a year and do several weekend trips around the country also.

 

[Hamster]

Agreed with Rei, the waterfall one is the best. I like natural beauty so... Sorry about your cousin's wife. She's so young.

 

[ami]

i am learning to like pk pix pk how old r u [20+ or30+] so other girls here line up to be your gf.lol

 

[pocketkiriyama]

i am learning to like pk pix pk how old r u [20+ or30+] so other girls here line up to be your gf.lol

I'm 33 actually.

 

[believe]

If I was gay, I'd date you, too PK haha

So you finally went to Cambodia! I got some questions for you.....if you would be so kind to answer them, I'd like to see your perspective.

To get a better understanding of your situation, who did you go with and what or who gave you nudge to go to the motherland?

How well do you speak Khmer? Did you have trouble communication with the natives?

Can you tell us more on your first impressions of the country?

The moment you stepped out of the airport and seeing the city life in Phnom Penh, what went on your mind?

What was something that happened to you, or you saw, that was totally unexpected?

What do you think about the never-ending billboards of Hun Sen and his cronies that so happens to be EVERYWHERE?!

Which part of the country blew your mind positively and/or negatively?

Did you eat some pong tea kon? How was it compared to the ones here in the States?

Are you still there? If so, please keep us updated. I'd like to follow you while you're there (not in a gay and creepy way).

 

[believe]

My bad, I thought of some more important questions.....

What do you think about the women over there? Attractive or not?

Did you go to the clubs there? Details please.

What do you think about shitting in Cambodia and knowing that only spraying water with a hose towards your butthole was the norm there?

When you met your cousins, did you feel a need to give them money?

Has someone come up to you and straight up told you that you are Cambodian and do not live there in Cambodia?

Did you see all the damn Lexus's and Hummers on the road?

If you were given a car to drive in downtown Phnom Penh, do you have the guts to drive there?

What do you think about the disparity in "social classes" in Cambodia? If you were prime minister of Cambodia, what efforts would you make in order to strengthen the working class and as well as giving welfare to those in need?

Did you go see the Elephant at Phnum Krulen?

If you are back home to the States, do you have an urge to go back?

Since we're the same age, am I suppose to call you bong or paoun? Did you have trouble addressing people in Cambodia like I did?

Thanks, brother.

 

[pocketkiriyama]

If I was gay, I'd date you, too PK haha

So you finally went to Cambodia! I got some questions for you.....if you would be so kind to answer them, I'd like to see your perspective.

To get a better understanding of your situation, who did you go with and what or who gave you nudge to go to the motherland?

How well do you speak Khmer? Did you have trouble communication with the natives?

Can you tell us more on your first impressions of the country?

The moment you stepped out of the airport and seeing the city life in Phnom Penh, what went on your mind?

What was something that happened to you, or you saw, that was totally unexpected?

What do you think about the never-ending billboards of Hun Sen and his cronies that so happens to be EVERYWHERE?!

Which part of the country blew your mind positively and/or negatively?

Did you eat some pong tea kon? How was it compared to the ones here in the States?

Are you still there? If so, please keep us updated. I'd like to follow you while you're there (not in a gay and creepy way).

My mom urged me to go so I went with my parents. I did wanted to go but not with them as the things I wanted to do does not involve visiting relatives for 4 days.

I can speak fluent Khmer even though I mostly speak English. The regular Khmer folks over there can tell I'm not a native as my normal way of talking Khmer isn't "normal" to them. They pointed out to me that I use higher class way of speaking to which is to my surprise I thought it was common tongue.

My first impression was when I arrived in the airport and my parents had to give hand outs to these so called "officials" we end up $100 less just coming of the airport. So yeah this country's public sector is rotting to the core.

The city life of Phnom Penh was...well.. dirty. Really freaking dirty. The people and mostly the officials need to learn to better their city's hygienic logistics.

What was totally unexpected was that most of the food aren't as cheap as most people said it was.

Hun Sen and his cronies? Well I try not to think too much about it as it doesn't concern me.

What blew my mine positively is the all the wat that I've seen. There's literally thousands of beautiful temple. I'm sure I've already talked about the negative side since the airport.

I did not eat pong tea kon. It disgusts me although I use to eat it when I was a kid but after knowing what it is I stopped.

I'm not there anymore as this was a trip that happened for 3 weeks starting the 3rd week of December 2014. But I'll be in Japan 2nd week of next month so look forward to that soon.

 

[pocketkiriyama]

My bad, I thought of some more important questions.....

What do you think about the women over there? Attractive or not?

Did you go to the clubs there? Details please.

What do you think about shitting in Cambodia and knowing that only spraying water with a hose towards your butthole was the norm there?

When you met your cousins, did you feel a need to give them money?

Has someone come up to you and straight up told you that you are Cambodian and do not live there in Cambodia?

Did you see all the damn Lexus's and Hummers on the road?

If you were given a car to drive in downtown Phnom Penh, do you have the guts to drive there?

What do you think about the disparity in "social classes" in Cambodia? If you were prime minister of Cambodia, what efforts would you make in order to strengthen the working class and as well as giving welfare to those in need?

Did you go see the Elephant at Phnum Krulen?

If you are back home to the States, do you have an urge to go back?

Since we're the same age, am I suppose to call you bong or paoun? Did you have trouble addressing people in Cambodia like I did?

Thanks, brother.

The women over there honestly speaking because of the harsh living conditions most of them look like their around 40's when they're only mid 20's. That should say a lot.

I did not go to the clubs there. I barely go to bars and clubs here State side so I won't go unless I have friends with me. Plus I was scared I might run into trouble with the local drunks.

I did not shit in any of those bathrooms because it's nasty. I do my business every morning before leaving the hotel.

No one have come up to me really but I'm sure they can tell by the clothes I wear. They aren't things that can be found any where in Cambodia.

I saw 2 hummers but there were definitely a shit load of Lexus' out there.

I was scared at first but yes I do have the guts. I know the feel and flow of traffic now so it isn't hard to drive there.

The disparity there is worst since it's a 3rd world country. If I was prime minister, the first things I need to do the strengthen the working class is squat out all the corruption. Starting from the higher up. I find that nothing can be done there unless you get rid of all the leechers in the public sector. No matter what kind of funds you raise or give out to certain programs I estimate that only 40% gets to go to their intended uses.

I did not see the elephants on Pnom Kulen.

I do not have too much of an urge to go back but I do intend to go back sometime in 2017 but this time I'm splitting the trip half in Cambodia and half in Thailand.

 

[believe]

Though I saw a few things differently, I'm heavily on the same page with you for the most parts.

Do you travel a lot? Check out http://www.theflightdeal.com/ from time to time to get sweet deals on flights. Last time I saw, there was a nice round-trip from LAX to Tokyo for about $680. I almost bit. There's a good chance you've already booked your flight to Japan, so this is just for your future reference.

Come back on KF while you're in Japan if you're bored. Kinda wanna see what you think about the country and its people in comparison to what my friends raved about when they went a couple of years ago.

 

[believe]

You know what? Come to think about it, you're like some of my friends. They enjoy hiking. I mean, they LOVE hiking. Spending over $2,000 on a plane ticket to New Zealand to (check this out, not kidding) walk and climb on dirt and rocks. Hell, they went to Japan mainly to hike. I can't seem to swallow the thought of me doing this.

Shit, my parents don't understand why people like to hike. They said they had enough hiking during the Khmer Rouge. Me? It just doesn't interest me enough make my wallet 2 G's skinnier. I guess i'm cheap? haha

Then again, I'm not them. This is their passion and it makes them happy, so I guess it's all good. I wouldn't be surprised you can relate to them.

 

[pocketkiriyama]

Though I saw a few things differently, I'm heavily on the same page with you for the most parts.

Do you travel a lot? Check out http://www.theflightdeal.com/ from time to time to get sweet deals on flights. Last time I saw, there was a nice round-trip from LAX to Tokyo for about $680. I almost bit. There's a good chance you've already booked your flight to Japan, so this is just for your future reference.

Come back on KF while you're in Japan if you're bored. Kinda wanna see what you think about the country and its people in comparison to what my friends raved about when they went a couple of years ago.

Yeah I do travel quite a bit. I already booked a nonstop airfare on ANA from Chicago straight to Narita for a little over $1200 which is really cheap for me since ANA is a 4star airline company most of their flights from here costs about $1800. Unlike Cambodia, I can stay connected more often so I'll be in touch.

 

[pocketkiriyama]

You know what? Come to think about it, you're like some of my friends. They enjoy hiking. I mean, they LOVE hiking. Spending over $2,000 on a plane ticket to New Zealand to (check this out, not kidding) walk and climb on dirt and rocks. Hell, they went to Japan mainly to hike. I can't seem to swallow the thought of me doing this.

Shit, my parents don't understand why people like to hike. They said they had enough hiking during the Khmer Rouge. Me? It just doesn't interest me enough make my wallet 2 G's skinnier. I guess i'm cheap? haha

Then again, I'm not them. This is their passion and it makes them happy, so I guess it's all good. I wouldn't be surprised you can relate to them.

I will definitely check out New Zealand sometime. In fact, everywhere I go I actually went hiking. I think my love of the mountains and the forests stem from the circumstances of my birth and my name. Even some monks that looked at me said my spiritual aura is in tune with the Earth. I hike to heighten my spiritual sense and relieve some of my mental and physical stress. Years of living in the urban jungle can really restrict your sense of self. Often times after a hike, I come back feeling like I can take on the world again.

 

[Hamster]

The women over there honestly speaking because of the harsh living conditions most of them look like their around 40's when they're only mid 20's. That should say a lot.

That is true, unfortunately. Our Khmer women have the beauty but because of harsh living condition like you said, and the lack of skin care products, they age faster than normal. I saw one of those Khmer scenery DVD and they interviewed this girl. She was only 18 but looked 50. I feel so sad for her.

 

[pocketkiriyama]

That is true, unfortunately. Our Khmer women have the beauty but because of harsh living condition like you said, and the lack of skin care products, they age faster than normal. I saw one of those Khmer scenery DVD and they interviewed this girl. She was only 18 but looked 50. I feel so sad for her.

Yep. I've seen some old videos and movies of Cambodia made before the war and there's a big difference. There are so much more hot Khmer women back then. I really hated the Khmer Rouge for setting Cambodia back 50 years.

 

[believe]

Dang, I saw it differently. I came across some women who i thought were in their teens. I initiated small talks with them to make my stay there a little less dull, but at the same time, i was pretty damn conscious about not making it seem like I'm flirting with them. Well, it turned out that they were in their early to mid 20's, the total opposite of what you guys saw.

Maybe you guys are referring to those women who live in the countryside, where they have limited access to healthcare and skin care in particular?

 

[pocketkiriyama]

Dang, I saw it differently. I came across some women who i thought were in their teens. I initiated small talks with them to make my stay there a little less dull, but at the same time, i was pretty damn conscious about not making it seem like I'm flirting with them. Well, it turned out that they were in their early to mid 20's, the total opposite of what you guys saw.

Maybe you guys are referring to those women who live in the countryside, where they have limited access to healthcare and skin care in particular?

I'm referring to the majority of women in Cambodia but like you said there are a few that looked great. Mostly their concentrated in the capital but you know I'm not very fond of city life. After all I use to be a shut in...well I still some what like to stay in my room.

 

[Barbara]

I'm referring to the majority of women in Cambodia but like you said there are a few that looked great. Mostly their concentrated in the capital but you know I'm not very fond of city life. After all I use to be a shut in...well I still some what like to stay in my room.

Hi PK, didn't you say that you are going to Japan this summer? Are you going with tour guide or just travel by yourself. I am planning to go to Japan too. Except I don't know if I should book with tour group or travel on my own.