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Published: October 25th 2007
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Tonle Sap River Front
A view taken along the Tonle Sap waterfront where one could find many international restaurants. Day 1
The group checked in early at about 0800 for the 0925 AirAsia flight to KL. Check in was smooth with all bulky boxes getting through with no sweat. Arrived in LCCT KL at around 1110 with all luggage retrieved on transit. That's the setback of boarding a low cost carrier as they do not provide luggage check in all through to the final destination. Well, I believe that’s one thing that we all must bear with for lower ticket cost. The Phnom Penh Airport’s arrival hall is quite small with a small duty free shop. Car park is right at the doorsteps of the arrival hall. We visited the Cambodia Methodist School on the way to hand over three boxes of used school equipment to Stephen Yeo who was a retired teacher of SMK Methodist and now the Principal of the Cambodian private school. One thing which amazed us was the fact that most cars on streets are Toyota Camry, Lexus, Honda and land cruisers. That was a contrast with the majority low income Cambodians. The chaotic traffic was a real challenge for first time drivers in PP. We headed straight to a local Chinese restaurant before going
Tonle Sap River
A boat in the Tonle Sap River to the Methodist Bible school where we would stay for the rest of the trip. Nice boarding facilities with friendly students. Non-aircon rooms are warm and many of us had hard time bearing with the night though there were fans.
Day 2
I was awaken by Ngua at five. Apparently he forgot that PP is located in a time zone an hour earlier than Malaysia. Woke up in hesitation and took a simple breakfast with bread and coffee at the bible school lecturers lounge.
We arrived at the Cambodian Methodist Gospel Centre at St 144, PP city centre. There’s a popular bakery just beside the centre with long queues early in the morning. The centre recently helped to purchased a US125000 double storey building adjacent to it as the Methodist Glory Church building. It was headed by Pastor Hong Li, a locally ordained Rev. She led us to the Vietnamese village or pong vietnam together with another local, Sato who is a teacher at an international school. We walked along the Tonle Sap Riverfront till a ferry point to cross the river. Upon arrival on the opposite bank, we hired some motorbikes at 1200 riel each. Exciting
Vietnamese village
Vietnamese settlement on the Mekong riverfront ride as each bike took 2 passengers with it.
The Vietnamese village is actually built on the riverfront of Mekong opposite the PP city. They settled here many years ago and remained as a self contained community. The children here awaited Sato and Li Hong, a vietnamese brother. They actually flocked to him and the gang as he walked towards the village. We were touched by the joy and enthusiasm expressed by the children. They sang in joy and were seemingly also motivated by candies distributed towards the end of the half hour gathering. We tried to go down into the settlement through disorderly laid plank walks. Though walking in anxiety but it was a good experience to get to know their way of living and you will be amazed at how they house everything under the same roof above the ides beneath.
We stopped at Phsar Kandal, a local market to buy slippers, towel and my tooth brush. That was a syndrome after frequent stays at hotels taking for granted that everything would be provided for. We took a rest at the Gospel Centre and tried some French bread from the bakery next door which were delicious.
Little Translator
Taken with Siew Lan, our little translator We proceeded for lunch at Sorya Shopping Centtre adjacent to the central market. The food Court looked spacious and operated by coupon system. Took a good look at the supermarket in the complex which was quite good in the range of food. Liqours are cheap. What amazed me was the whole range of cheese which even KL can’t compare.
We returned to the bible school where we took a nap before some serious rehersal for the evening’s youth fellowship. We took ook an early dinner at 5pm and were awed at the delicious meal.
The youth fellowship was one of our first ministry here. We led some singspiration, message, dance and silent sketches. The youth received us well. We were quite surprised with their familiarity of the songs which we led. The children knew some Chinese and English too. They enjoyed the action packed song ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It’. The fellowship lasted from 6pm till 730pm.
Day 3
The sunday worship at Glory Church started at 8am. We were offered some local cakes by a little crippled girl named Sovarna upon arrival and were touched by her joyful attitude and her
Nice French Bread
Nice French Bread warm hospitality. We were assigned a little translator by the name of Ly Chan To 李秀兰 (should be Lee Siew Lan), a 15 years old girl. We performed our choir well with testimony from Kung Hing and Pastor Sia.
We visited the infamous Toul Sleng Genocide Museum after the service. Admission was US2 per pax. We got to know better the tragic past of Cambodia under the rule of Pol Pot in late 1970’s. The exhibits and pictures we saw were gruesome and chewing away our appetite for the lunch.
We started the painting chores for the Methodist Bible School. We began with the chapel. We were quite worried as to our progress as proper tools and correct paints were not available. Thank God Rev Jessica dropped by and got the students to help buy some roller paint brush and long bamboo. We could only managed to scrap off loose paint, adhesive tapes and dirt on the walls to be painted. Hopefully we could work out the actual painting the next day.
We invited some brothers and sisters from Sibu to a dinner at a Chinese Restaurant. They included Rev Pauline, Rev Jessica and Khamera, Betty, Vic,
Dare U Take this?
Basketfull of fried insects for sale at open markets. Mr and Mrs Stephen Yeo. Had a nice fellowship together.
Day 4
We started painting the stage wall of the chapel. We were worried at first as the new coat of paint seemed unable to cover the old marks on the wall. Our worries turned out to be unnecessary as the paint got dried. The wall is near perfect new. That gave us confident to continue our job from the second floor stairs well until the ground floor. Vic brought some packets of pork rice which Rev Pauline introduced for morning break. Quite nice. The job was completed at around 5.30pm and it surprised Vic and Jessica who were equally worried like us initially as to our ability to finish painting. We were happy with the teamwork throughout the day.
Day 5
We were all set for a day’s outing to the country side and some shopping after the painting chores. We headed first to to Toul Song Kai Preaching Centre taken care by Pastor Socheat. It was located admist a light industrial area. There were many clothing or garment factories which employes many women workers. The preaching centre targets on these women workers.
We
Nice coffee, Bun and Beef Noodle
Nice coffee, Bun and Beef Noodle proceeded to Sethbo where Pator Chamnap took charge of the church thereat. On the way, we drove through village houses along Bassac River. The pastor lodge and the church was in poor condition and we felt burdened to share this with brothers and sisters back home.
We headed for Central Market Market in PP city centre for shopping. Managed to buy some Cambodian table cloth, t-shirts and clothing.
Day 6
We headed for another shopping area at Phsar Toul Tom Poung or Russian Market. Betty led us to a popular café. The coffee was good (1200 Riel) with nice Chinese style bun and beef noodles (3500 Riel). We spent a few hours in the market getting cloths, souvenirs and I found a stall with a sign ‘Best Iced Coffee in Phnom Penh’! Ha, tried it and it ‘s worth its name.
We took a simple lunch before heading for PP Airport taking a flight back to KL.
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