On the 17th until 21st of October, my lovely parents and I went to Cambodia for Hari Raya Qurban celebration. Well, it wasn't that much of celebration, it was more on humanitarian activities for us. Father knew about this when he went to the surau and whoever wants to give the qurban meat to the Cambodians, can just pay the money to the surau. Some more, the surau that he goes everyday, already built a mosque and a madrasah for muslims in the village. That made him more excited to go and see. So, he asked me and mom to come along (after I merajuk with him that i couldn't go to Kelantan).
Other than the three of us, there are also two of my dad's friends came along. There are Uncle Kamal and Pak Man. These two old guys are funny, especially Pak Man. I think Pak Man is the oldest because he sees me as his grandchild. So, dia asyik tersasul pak cik la atuk la and he was the joker and Uncle Kamal tukang sambung gelak.
Nothing much on the first day because our flight was at 320 pm and we arrived at 5 pm and the journey from the airport to Kampung Cham took about 2 and half hours plus the jam. We reach the madrasah at almost 10 pm. It was dark. No street lights or even house lights. I thought that people went to bed early. But, it wasn't.
The next day, we woke up at 5 am and had breakfast at a Thai restaurant. We had fried rice and vegetable karipap. For drinks, I had Vietnamese coffee and Cambodia tea. No pictures can be shown because my stupid memory card corrupted and and I lost ALL the PICTURES (except some in mom's iPad). True story. Anyhu, we went to the village; mosque to mosque to slaughter the cows. I can't really remember the overall number but, it was many. Of course, I didn't get close or even see the cows because I don't want to be a vegetarian for the rest of my life. The journey from mosque to mosque was okay. Can really see how the villagers live and culture. They live in a very tall wooden house and under the house, got cows, chicken and buffaloes. They do not have electricity and no water taps. Meaning, no tv, fridge, radio or even water heater. And they have to pump water to get water because they don't dig wells. I really felt like I am seeing our grandparents' way of living. Some of the villagers already received the qurban meat, they just hang the meat outside their house. Very traditional. Their lives are very hard, they could not even able to buy vegetables or even onions. They just eat plain white rice. Then, I asked myself; why do I like to waste food? Why I am picky eater? The weather is also extreme; 3 months of rainy season and 3 months of hot sunny day. So, it's hard to tanam any vegetable.
Ustaz Naziruddin was a really good host. I felt bad when he and his wife never fail to feed us. Fruits, buns, kuih bahulu, kuih kapit, prepared lunch and dinner and even serve us with coconut drink one for everybody. I could not afford to say no because we have to eat whatever the host prepares for us.
The third day, we went to Phnom Penh and checked in at Holiday Villa. We went to Central Market to shop. Central Market is the best market compared to Russian Market or any other markets that we went. Because, it is in the centre of the city, not far from our hotel, most of the people can speak in Malay and English and it is also cheap.
The fourth day, we went for sight seeing. Of course, we went to Sols HQ in Cambodia even though I am not that close to the boss. Just for the sake of seeing it. The HQ is beautiful, can place 300 students at one time and peaceful. Sols is located 20 minutes from our hotel. And after that, we went to Killing Fields; a mass grave where all Cambodians were sentenced to death brutally. That is why Cambodia is not a developed country because they are living in fear. People with education were killed. You can actually google Khmer Rouge. Then we went shopping, again. Typical tourists, right?
The fifth day, time to go home!
Anything that came across my mind. But basically, it's all about me!