One

One year of  happiness for a lifetime of pain ... When will this be over?

Me and the Trees

My project with an NGO client takes me to the deep forests and far away places in Cambodia such that we supposedly need military escorts. Scary, yes. Exciting, yes. But inspite of all the dangers and thrills, it is the outcome of the awareness campaign that we do that is simply rewarding. )

Educating people about the importance of saving, conserving and preserving our Natural Resources is a cause worthy of any danger. The issue is not just local. It is encompassing. It is global.

Seeing them enlightened as to the urgency of keeping our Earth green, seeing them planting trees and affirming their resolve to protect and care for the environment is priceless.

I wish I could do more. If only I was Superman or Captain Planet ... 

Let's all contribute, in whatever ways we can, to make our Earth greener.

CREA 17

Remember that code? :)


Yes, I know I'm getting emo again. But hey, I didn't see you on your birthday, and you missed my greetings too. So I'm posting it here:



"On my part of the Earth, it's March 17, so here goes. To my sentence-finisher, my thought-reader, my soulmate, my person ... Happy Birthday! Distance has never been a hindrance to the kind of friendship we have and I am thankful that you are always with me whenever, wherever. So I'm wishing that may the years offer you abundance of blessings, happiness and good health.  Happy Birthday Millet. " 




And to add now that I saw you online, saving me the time to file a missing person's report. This is another personal note for you from me:


"You and me - we are like Grey and Yang. Yes, including the dramas, plus a few twists. You will always be my person. I'm just here you know that. Whenever. Wherever. Hugs to Mr. Hippo."


Listen to this. Hope it brings back very fond memories. You were the one who got me addicted to them in the first place. :)

I love you. And I'm just here. Always.

This Too Shall Pass

Was talking to someone when I remembered a line from a book I used to read when I was in high school. The author was Khalil Gibran. This made me realize how true this line is for me now. Don't get me wrong, I am better now. Just thought of sharing it:

"Time is indeed the true narcotic for pain. Either the pain disappears as it runs its course, or a person just learns to live with it."

My Khmer Valentine

It was just a usual day for me. Breakfast - work - meetings - home. I was already at the apartment resting, just checking emails and chatting with my roommate. I thought that it was just gonna be an ordinary day. I've never really given much attention to the seemingly festive, joyous and loving atmosphere today. With the exception of an email blast greeting which I sent to the whole office, I ignored everything Valentine-ish the whole day today. Me being cynical nowadays that is.

As I was chatting with a friend, I happen to glance at the clock area in my laptop and it says 7:45pm.  And I thought to myslef that my first Valentine's Day here in Phnom Penh will just be like any ordinary day. Great. It was just as I have expected.

Then my phone rang. The display says that the caller is Leap.

Meet Leap, my first Khmer friend. He is not, uuhhmmm, you know. He is a straight guy. Yes you read that right, he is s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t.

I pickep up the phone and pressed the answer button.

Me: Hello.

Leap: Get dressed. I am downstairs, in front of your gate waiting.

Me: What? Why?

Leap: I'm here to pick you up silly. We are watching a concert. Now hurry!

Me: Ok. ( in a suprised tone)

So I donned on jeans, a polo shirt and chucks. I ran-walk-ran-walk down 3 flights of stairs. I reached the gate and there he was, on his motorcycle waiting for me. The speed at which he drove and zigzagged his way in and out of the traffic always amazes me and terrifies me at the same time. The way these Khmer drivers drive here is crrrraaazzzyyyy.

We got to Koh Pich Theater in a matter of 15 minutes and made our way to our seats. Call me mean but I was not expecting anything extravagant with the buildings they have here. But hey, I was impressed by what I saw. The theater was new, modern. The stage was big and with the latest lighting system as well. The sound was also great. A big LCD screen was the backdrop and small LCD screens lined the wall of the theater.

Of course I did not understand a thing the Khmer singers were singing but Leap was kind enough to interpret the song meanings to me. The highlight of the concert was one Khmer singer who fell down the stairs and acted as if nothing happened, and she was still able to give a great performance.

After the concert, Leap took me to a seafood resto where we ate Cambodian porridge. It's like a Filipino goto but it has pork and fish combined.

I may not have enjoyed the concert that much but I enjoyed being with my good friend. I was really touched by his gesture and his being thoughtful.

After dropping me off at my apartment. I sent him a text message thanking him for inviting me out. He replied a few minutes later, I was already lying on my bed and about to sleep. He said he just wanted to see me happy and not lonely. And with those words I closed my eyes as a tear fell down ... I realized that no matter how hard I try to look happy, people still see through me. But the tear was not for that. The tear was a thank you tear, that someone cares.

Maybe, just maybe, I may believe in love again.

Me ... Khmer

I entered Cambodia first as a tourist with my mom and my brother. Visting Phnom Penh and seeing Angkor Wat. And as a tourist, it is vital that you learn a few basic Khmer words. And a few of those words I learned, and I still use all the time is "How much"? and the Khmer numbers.

Whenever I go to Toul Tumpong ( Russian Market ) to buy clothes and other stuff, I would usually go "Bong, pon man?", meaning "How much?". And the sellers would answer in Khmer for the price of whatever it is I want to buy and then they go on thinking I'm Khmer. Then I would usually stop them mid-sentence and tell them. "English please" and they would just smile. I usually employ this trick so I'd know the real price of whatever it is I want to buy, them thinking that I'm Khmer.

And even if I don't ask for the price, even when I'm just walking around, people would just come to me and speak to me in Khmer. And I go thinking WTF, I'm no Khmer. Can't they see I'm not chinito, I don't wear long sleeves like they do, or the kind of jackets that they wear even if it's the middle of the day and the sun is very generous in her giving of heat, or wear slacks with slippers on. :)

And then one day I got the answer to my question if I really do look like Khmer. We were at a client meeting. So there I was in the conference room with my boss, two other Khmer officemates, another Filipino officemate and our Scottish officemate. There was a point during the meeting that the Khmers were speaking in their native language. One of our Khmer clients looked at Camille my fellow Filipino manager and murmured an apology about them speaking in their native language. That same person looked at our Scottish officemate and said sorry as well.  And then that same person literally skipped looking at me and continued with their conversation in Khmer. LOL.

After the meeting, I mentioned this to Ly, one of my Khmer officemate. He just laughed and said that maybe our client mistook me for being Khmer. He further added that he also mistook me as a Khmer who can speak very fluent English.

So there, question answered. Maybe I am fated to work here. And to stay here for a long time. Who knows, I might even buy a house here. :P

Khnhom tauv phtah. Lie haey. :)

Brush Strokes

As we continue on our location scouting trip, we again passed by Angkor Wat. This ancient city of ruins never fail to amaze me. Just imagine walking along the grounds were ancient Khmers walked, the thought of it is simply undefinable. It's like walking back in time as well.

We stopped at a local Khmer diner in front of Angkor Wat to have our lunch. After a hurried lunch, we again set off to do more scouting. As we were driving to another location, we passed by a quaint little shack near Angkor Wat which sells painting. My Khmer colleague decided to stop for a bit to buy a painting for his house. When I got out of our landcruiser, a kid of about 8 or 9 caught my attention. He was busily painting on a small canvas his version of the famous ancient city of Angkor.

I stopped by and said hello. He replied with a smile. I motioned to him  if I could try painting as well. He offered me his paint brush and pointed at the color palette on his right side. I dubbed the paint brush in what appears to be water, then dipped it in the color palette, got a little bit of a yellowish-greenish color in their and started to paint. And as I was just finishing off with a few brush strokes I thought to myself, "This is me painting a new chapter in my life."