C A M B O D I A . 8-14 NOVEMBER 2013
Initially , I didn't want to go to Cambodia . Due to clashes with Coaching Camp (which I was looking so badly forward to since like June) and that Steristo Enterprise got into the semi-finals (which we never ever dreamt of but still , worked hard to even get into the top 4 in the school , set aside quarterfinals at ICE) and it has always been my dream to attend or perform in a competition in public , especially at a venue like a shopping mall . Who knew , the semi-finals AND finals of ICE Challenge clashed with the trip to Cambodia . It's like working so hard for your dream , finally achieving it yet not getting to live it . And Coaching Camp , it'll affect me being to coach with Elizabeth , Nat and the rest for the whole of 2014 ! Of course , I was really depressed . I even thought of purposely falling sick the day before the trip to Cambodia so that I can stay in Singapore and participate in ICE . As the CEO of Steristo Enterprise , the responsibility faced was huge - I even spent the whole night packing my luggage instead of having an important conference with my group members .
So the next day I woke up and was feeling quite sad that I've already signed up for the Cambodia trip , I can't do anything else . Even on the journey to the airport , I was regretting my decision . When we reached the airport , I just loitered around after checking in and mingling with some of my fellow student leaders , quite uncertain who I should follow . After we went into the departure hall , I eventually followed En Ci and Xiang Yin to buy harshbrowns .
DAY 1
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Uhum yeah , us xD |
Well my plane ticket was a window seat , just what I was hoping for ! :D
So on the plane I was sitting with Xiang Yin and Alvan and HAHAHAHA we could hear Alvan sing his Cantonese songs and it was damn funny when he took Xiang Yin as transparent when he shared the other side of his earpiece with me although Xiang Yin was in-between us and she was like .___. !
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Up , up and away ! :D |
And then we had a transit at Vietnam's DaNang International Airport ! x)
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Fluffy clouds ! xD |
So after 4 hours, we finally landed in Cambodia , Siem Reap ! :D The airport was totally different from the other airports I've been to - it's exterior design isn't very modern, it somehow brings out the culture in Cambodia ! x)
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Their airport ! x) |
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And here's Yu Jia , my bus buddy ! (With En Rui behind x'D) |
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En Rui and Alvan's Wedding Car found outside the hotel ! (; |
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Oh look ! Here's four people on a motorcycle ! :b |
And so we had to buy stuff for the home visits and we headed to Old Market ! Let's see how they pack rice !
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Cotton candy which looks so beautiful ♥ |
Day 1 was pretty short and here's how our hotel looks like ! xD
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Cravings ! |
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I really like these seats outside the room cause you can relax and watch the sunset or sunrise ! (: |
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The view (of another hotel maybe ?) from those seats ! :D |

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We had like the best room amongst everyone cause two people had a triple-room , a bathtub and two showers ! xD |
After checking-in , we bathed and proceeded for dinner ! Well , there was like 4 blackouts on Day one ! Most people didn't like it but Jeraldine and I were weird - we actually loved the blackout and had fun ! HAHAHAHA xD Dinner was really fun . 8 to a table and let me name the other 7 who were together with me and made our table the most fun one during dinner ! Namely Yu Jia , Alvan , En Rui , Wei Ling , Noah , Xiang Yin and En Ci ! (Yes , I can remember the order in which we sat :b)WE MADE ALVAN AND EN RUI HUSBAND AND WIFE HAHAHAHA and it was so hilarious cause our whole table played along ! xD
And yeap after dinner , back to the hotel and debrief ! We all had to use one word to describe our experience that day and mine was to open - to open up to the Cambodian , understand them and not judge them. So , here are two photos of my roommate and I ! And yes needless to say, I have the BEST roommate ever - Jeraldine :')
Initially when I found out that I was allocated to room with Jeraldine, I was kinda afraid cause I knew about her the least compared to everyone else who went to Cambodia. We didn't even converse with each other before the trip! However, we were able to open up to each other like real quickly - we were talking so much about school life and our interest , watched Amazing Race and Wipeout before we slept on Day 1 ! (:
Thanks Jeraldine , for being the BEST roommate ever . Although we didn't even know each other before this trip to Cambodia , we managed to open up to each other very quickly and managed to click well ! Although at the start , it was kind of awkward but we managed to chat about our experiences and shared jokes with one another from stuff like CCAs to school to camps etc ! The two of us are a weird pair . We can laugh about anything like really , every single thing and we'll always enjoy first - neither of us bathes the moment we get back to our room ! xD I remember ; every time a blackout occurs , other people would be like "Blackout ! Blackout !" and the two of us will be the only pair who will run out of the room and shout "Yay ! We haven't bathe !" then we'll laugh . And we'll always sit at the two benches outside and relax , or else view our photos we snapped for that day or take photos . We shared food too ! Tomato tuna and your biscuit ! xD And then you found out about my nappy cream , HAHAHAHA THANKS ! x'D We even star-gazed and watched the sunrise together :') And experiences with all sorts of insects on Day 1 (you remember , those stuff hanging on top ? HAHAHA !) and our door had holes HAHAHAHA the teachers had to tape our door ! xD And even after we were back in Singapore , a trip to passing you photos could turn out to be one filled with laughter ("We are back in Cambodia !") and also thanks for lending me your helping ear when I was sad and offering to help me ! :')
Thanks Jeraldine , the best roommate ever ! (:
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Our first night ! |
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The next morning before setting off for our first day of Service Learning ! |
DAY 2
And then the next day - Day 2 , we embarked on our Service Learning journey ! Below's a mini group photo we took during our break !

I was allocated to do the stone pathway. We carried rocks and sand (which was more like soil) to the teachers to build the stone pathway. Was kinda sad that I didn't have a "boyfriend or girlfriend" when many others did ! Well, so I just carried everything alone. (We , or rather , I call the Cambodian students who helped us out our boyfriends and girlfriends) However, shortly after I complained that I didn't have a boyfriend or girlfriend, this guy, Taileth (if I remember this spelling correctly) came and help me ! The Cambodian students were really enthusiastic and many of them took the initiative to help us and help out with the constructing of the stone pathway ! Their perseverance , especially my boyfriend's , took me aback. He could hold the other end of the basket and run (I had too hahaha !) and run and run to-and-fro , pick up stones real quickly and cause we ran , we transported stones quickly too ! Although he was tired , he didn't stop for a break , until I brought him to get some water . I never thought that I wouldn't feel much tiredness if I ran with the stones (which was approximately 5kg per basket ?) But well , with my boyfriend's sunshine smile , indeed , I only felt overjoyed and delighted to be doing such a thing with him ! :D
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First photo with my boyfriend ! :D (Credits to En Rui !) |
And they were innovative too ! They took our used bottles and played with it - by loosening the cap of the bottle and then jump on the bottle ! Then the cap will rocket out ! xD
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A guy's brother who came to help on one of the days too ! He's 14 but looks more matured than us ! |
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And hehehe my boyfriend on his bike back after his lunch break ! :D |
Okay I was kinda scared of the kids cause that whole bunch of kids followed us to the toilet ! Ahhhh nightmare ! They stopped whenever we stopped to take photos too ; they were like an army of bodyguarrds ! But well , I decided to take a group photo with them xD
And unexpectedly , he plucked me flowers ! Ahah I bet the rest were jealous cause I have the cutest boyfriend who has the best smile and who was real sweet ! (;
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My boyfriend plucked me this ! :') |
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A bunch of flowers too ! |
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And this ! x) |
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Hahaha yes , that's me with the flower he plucked ! |
We decided to carve (not exactly) our school's name , our country and the date whereby we completed the water pump at the water pump ! :D
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Haha I did this ! x) |
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Self-shot with my boyfriend ! He's too adorable ! ♥ |
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Last photo with my boyfriend ! :( |
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Where's my boyfriend running to ? |
Well , he was naughty ! See that dog over there ? Knowing that I was kinda scared of that dog , ke kept summoning the dog over ! ><
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Manita and I went to the toilet and I had a lot of mosquito bites from Compound 2 ! >< |
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A Pagoda again ! :D |
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Captured this using the Macro effect ! It's so nice ! (: |
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Yu Jia received some flowers from the students ! xD |
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Ahh , he's going back ! :( This was taken using my Galaxy Camera , with the x21 optical zoom function . Look , he's already gone so far but still , turned back and then waved good-bye to me ! :') |
And hahaha , more pagodas again ! x)
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I like this ! x) |
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And look , just amazing ! ♥ |
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It's a really nice accidental shot ; Yu Jia and I put the self-timer mode but the camera auto-focused on the ground instead ! |
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The sun's reflection on the pond ! (: |
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Look ! Our work - we made the boarders ! :> |
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This is just two heaps of rocks+sand ! We cleared 8 in total ! xD |
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This marks the second day of our Service Learning ! x) |
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Quite a bad shot but yeah ending Day 3 with a sunset ! |
And then we had this atas Western course for dinner ! That moment when Yu Jia , En Ci , Xiang Yin and I told people from the other table to look at us and at the count of one , we chewed (literally) the bread like you know in such a horrid and fierce way ! xD (Photos taken with my phone so the quality isn't as good !)
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Those buns hehe ! :D |
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Salad ! |
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Dory fish with vegetables and this was damn good ! x) |
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Oh yes - Pineapples , Watermelons and Dragonfruits are seasonal so we get them everytime ! xD |
DAY 4
Well moving on to Day 4 - it was a pressurising one for me as I was the IC for Day 4 ! I'm someone who usually won't feel pressurized but I did feel the pressure on that day ! So I was supposed to plan what I want my fellow Student Leaders to do the next day ! Well , I'm really glad and thankful that Jeraldine and En Ci was there for me ! They helped me a lot ! :')
Well , let me share a little about my experience as the IC for the day . Planning and stuff was quite okay as I felt that there should be a system and things will get faster when people follow the system and hence came up with a system using small cards I brought along the trip . The next morning , it drizzled so I was supposed to tell everyone to bring an extra tee and their ponchos . When everyone gathered at our usual gathering place , Mr Wong , my teacher-in-charge , told me that I had to brief them on what we would be doing , what we should and should not do . Well , frankly speaking , I wasn't really sure too . I just reminded them not to eat ice and apply sunblock lotion ! I bet I wasn't reaching Mr Wong's expectations . Actually I had planned to brief everyone on the system only when we've reached the school compound but he expected me to brief everyone there so yup it was kinda below my expectations cause I wasn't mentally prepared . And then he told me to think of some motivational words to tell everyone to boost everyone's morale . I was stuck . Motivational words ? Not really my type ! I'm those kind whereby I can boost people morale's by my natural actions and not planned words . On the bus ride , I wrote all the appointed group leaders a card which indicates their sub-group's schedule like what time their break was . Also , I monitored them so as to prevent people from slacking ! And thanks to Mr Wong for guiding me like reminding me that I can step back to see what can I do to improve my system . Well , after observing for like 30 seconds , I realised that students were blocking each other while walking there and back and thus , slowing down the process . So I spread the message that students carrying stuff there should walk on the right and those coming back on the left ! In my opinion , that sped up stuff by quite a significant amount x) Well the interaction part wasn't in my control as there were other people in-charge of it ! (: And when everyone was walking to the bus at the end of Day 3's Service Learning , Mr Wong told me that I was supposed to lead everyone and not wait for the teachers to tell me what to do . Well , that was when I felt pressurized . Was I supposed to treat the teachers as transparent and just lead everyone or wait for them to give me instructions then pass them down to everyone ?
[Experience continued during dinner]
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Look look ! Hotdog-stuffed crust pizza for lunch ! :D |
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Just a random shot of the water pump ! (: |
Back at the hotel , Yong Li danced during the blackout and it was awesome ! xD
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Blur shot , but it was really really funny when Yong Li started singing and dancing Jessie J's <Price Tag> during the blackout on Day 4 ! Had a good laugh man ! x'D He's really talented and flexible though ! :b |
And during dinner , we went to an Apsara restaurant and HAHAHA we took the entire tray of Prawn Crackers ! x'D Well it was a buffet-style dinner x) Before we started taking food , Mr Wong told me that we'd be leaving the restaurant after an hour and I did check the time . I remember it was 6.30PM so we were scheduled to leave at 7.30PM . At 7.29PM , I turned around and saw the teachers chatting really happily . I was in a dilemma . Was I supposed to interrupt them and tell them that we need to go , just ask everyone to go , or ask their permission first or what ? I hesistated for like 5 minutes and finally decided to ask them if the bus is here already or not with En Ci encouraging me to go . And yeap , that was what exactly I was supposed to do and yay ! :D
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Look ! We took the entire tray of Prawn Crackers ! Photo taken with my phone hence the quality >< |
We went to a local Supermarket but I didn't buy much cause I bought an Ice Cream and spent our time eating it outside the store with Xiang Yin , En Ci and En Rui ! x)
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It's a huge one but it didn't taste nice ! :( |
Day 4's night was damn awesome ! It was one filled with fun and laughter cause we created a lot of jokes and even rolled on the bed while laughing continuously ! x'D We did some retarded stuff too ! SQUISH guys ! :')
Jeraldine and I managed to star-gaze for a little while too ! :')
DAY 5
Jeraldine and I woke up early in the morning to catch the sunrise ! The moment I woke up , I jumped out of bed (literally) and opened the door to check the sunrise's condition . Immediately after that , I woke Jeraldine up and the two of us witnessed the beautiful sunrise together ! ♥
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Beautiful , ain't it ? ♥ |
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And another one when the sun was up ! |
Day 5 was the last day of our Service Learning ! Time was tight and we had to speed up . However , it rained a little here and there . I took these shots during a mass break when it rained and we had to stay in the classroom , unable to work .
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Water Buffalo ! Bet you won't be able to find this in Singapore ! xD |
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And yes , that's me ! x'D |
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I like this self-timer shot too although our hands were cut off ! >< |
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So in the end it was (from left to right) En Rui , En Ci , Xiang Yin and I who were left taking photos ! xD |
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Photo credits to Evangel ! x) |
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Our almost-completed pathway ! :D (Not a nice shot but yeah !) |
We completed our project and then we gave items like schoolbags and stationery to the kids and they were really grateful and appreciative !
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Photo with the kids ! (: |
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And more kids ! xD |
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Here's our nurse - thanks for helping everyone when we're injured ! (: |
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Students carrying the schoolbags we gave ! :D |
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We really have a lot to learn from them . Just us giving them schoolbags , they can be that happy and grateful . Also , they took initiative in helping us , persevered and continued transporting stones even when they're tired and were appreciative ! (: |
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Students bidding us good-bye ; Evangel's girlfriend ! |
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We gave handmade paper roses to the bus driver and our tour guides ! (: |
That marks the end of our Service Learning - Project S.M.I.L.E. ! Good job Student Leaders , we completed the Water Pump , Toilet and Stone Pathway ! :D
As Day 5 was the last day of Service Learning , time was really tight . What was worse , it rained and schedules were interrupted . However , we worked doubly hard and managed to complete the stone path on time ! :D
Bye Wat Roluos Primary School , we've all enjoyed our 4 days there and good-bye kids ! (:
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Yong Li wanted me to capture photos of Atap houses so badly so here it is ! xD |
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The moon at around 5PM ! xD |
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This was the hotel , New Angkorland Hotel which accommodated us for 7 days ! It looks like somewhere in the States right ? :b |
That night , we attended a circus ! My first time going for a circus ! xD
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(Blur photo ><) |
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There were people doing stunts . They came from a complicated background , but were saved and to work in the circus . They were all really good and received loud applause from the audience ! :D |
Day 5's night was a good one too although everyone was tired (me too !) but we managed to talk about some silly stuff ! x)
DAY 6
As we were done with our Service Learning , the next two days were for Culture Immersion ! And on Day 6 , we did the Kbal Spean Trek and visited one of the World's seven wonders - Angkor Wat !
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A random shot during breakfast ! |
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A sunny-side-up instead of the usual dose omelette ! |
On our way to Kbal Spean trek ! Hahaha we had to stop over at this place to take a photo of ourselves for our ticket for the Kbal Speak trek and Angkor Wat ! xD
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A shot when we were in the bus ! (and most of the people were asleep but I just can't sleep on buses xD) |
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Another shot on our way there ! (: |
Here are some photos of the Kbal Spean trek ! :D
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This view was magnificent in real life but not really nice in this photo ! >< |
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The waterfall at Kbal Spean ! :D |
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Carvings ! (: |
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Group photo at the other waterfall ! |
I'm really glad to be able to visit one of the World's seven wonders - Angkor Wat . It's on the Cambodian flag and it's a really popular tourist attraction , a must-visit when you go to Cambodia and also , it's the Cambodians' pride ! It's made up of really really huge temples ! (:
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A really bad shot but this is how part of the interior looks like ! |
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Beautiful ! |
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And then we spotted a faint pastel rainbow at Angkor Wat ! :D |
Well we were supposed to view the sunset but it was drizzling so majority of us opted to return to the hotel . I was kinda disappointed but well , the hotel is quite an okay choice too ! :b
That night , we went for another Apsara show + buffet dinner ! However , we left before the show ended . We spent the night packing stuff like clothes and biscuits for our home visit the following day ! Was sad that we couldn't star-gaze that night ! :(
DAY 7
Without us even knowing , Day 7 arrived in a flash . I still remember , on Day 1 , I was thinking : Only one day is over ! We still have one full week ! Little did I know , time passed so quickly and the enjoyable moments in Cambodia were about to end ! :(
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Photo with Jeraldine before we went down for breakfast ! x) |
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Last breakfast at the hotel ! Look at that omelette there , it's a daily dose for most of us !
I'd usually have Apple Juice but it wasn't available that day so coffee ! |
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Finally a picture of a bird ! I've always wanted to capture pictures of birds but they always fly away before I even turn on my camera ! >< |
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Jeraldine and I playing with the Fisheye lens before we set off for home visiting ! :b |
And well , hello school for the last time ! But this time , here for a home visit ! The village is somewhere near Compound 2 of the school ! x)
Let's take a look at the kind of houses they live in . It's really different from Singapore's houses . We really need to appreciate what we have here in Singapore . They don't have advanced technology like we do - no iPads , no laptops and some even without phones , yet they're having much more fun than us . They don't get much of basic necessities like water and electricity yet they don't complain . Their houses are made up of trunks and leaves of Palm trees , built together with the other villagers . The villagers don't ask for money , they only have a meal at their house . And on rainy days , they don't have shelter . They simply use whatever they can find (for example , leaves) to cover up the open-space areas of their houses . Here in Singapore , we have all of the above but we are taking them for granted even without realizing them .
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I really like this shot a lot ! :D |
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Some of them work as farmers but earn only $1USD per day ! |
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The gate in and out of the village ! |
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Finally a side view ! Okay , this has got to be my favourite building around heh . xD |
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Gate of Compound 2 ! |
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And Compound 1 ! By the way , that's our tour guide ! Thank you for the amazing 7 days ! (: |
We then proceeded to the Old Market for some shopping ! Finally , some free-and-easy time ! x)
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Cow skin ! :D MOOO HEHEHE xD |
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As you can see , I went with Alvan , Jason , Xiang Yin , En Ci and En Rui ! We all got ourselves the same fans and some of us got sunglasses ! 8) |
Then we had some posh dining again at a French restaurant ! The food there was unique , some combination which you might never expect ! The salad tasted just like rice paper rolls (which we nicknamed 水晶包 during the whole trip) and almost everyone of us wasn't in favour of that taste ! >< We also had a special soup (photo below) , main course was chicken on stick dipped in peanut sauce and dessert ? It was curry-flavoured ice-cream with apples and sago ! Unique combinations right ? x)
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(Photo refuses to rotate !) The salad ! |
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And this was curry mushroom soup ! Curry and mushroom , woah unique ! |
We rushed back to the hotel to check out !
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Last shot of our hotel which accommodated us for 7 days , New Angkorland Hotel ! A lot of beautiful memories were created here and we had a lot of fun although there were blackouts everyday ! xD |
Here are a few shots while heading to our next destination !
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Shot by Yu Jia ! x) |
Then , our last stop before the airport - Silk farm ! Here are some shots on how they make silk ! x)
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Cocoons ! :O |
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Silkworms ! |
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Look at the threads of silk ! |
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The staff skillfully and efficiently making the whole silk cloth ! I was amazed at how they were able to concentrate on making such complicated designs and how they remember the order of the many different coloured threads , as well as that amazing speed of pulling threads and threads together to form a beautiful piece of cloth ! |
We had ice cream at a cafe named The Blue Pumpkin and here are photos we took ! :D
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Self-timer shot ! xD (I forgot about my sunglasses !) |
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And another one ! Alvan's unglam oops ! xD |
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The cups used to contain the ice-cream were really special . They were designed to be a cup with handles at the side ! xD |
Well , it was already our last journey on the bus - to the airport ! :(
Here's a photo of Yu Jia and I ! Thanks Yu Jia , for being my buddy on the bus throughout the full 7 days in Cambodia ! Thanks for being so crazy and hyper (like me hahaha) and I remember those daily dose of songs in the bus ! Energy boosters ! You'll always sing and we'll dance to the rhythm of the song especially Jay Chou's 听妈妈的话 which we'll listen to everyday ! And also eating together during mealtimes and snapping photos together ! And the best part of all - waving to random people we see on the road , sometimes giving them pleasant surprises and sometimes shocking them (like that man in the blue tee !) hahaha and sometimes , we ourselves get shocked too (LIKE THOSE TWO GUYS AT THE PETROL KIOSK AHH NIGHTMARE) ! Thanks Yu Jia ! :D
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Yo ! xD |
Soon enough , we arrived at Siem Reap International Airport ! ><
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We were hoping so badly that we'll be sitting together and guess what ? IT CAME TRUE ! 26D , 26E and 26F respectively ! :D And hahaha shades in the airport ! xD |
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We had around 20 minutes to shop in the airport and we came across this . The sunset's reflection on a banner and decided to use a pair of sunglasses to filter it and the outcome was beautiful ! ♥ (My Twitter's header ! xD) |
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Photo at the airport ! :D Credits to Wei Ling ! x) |
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And here's Wei Ling ! xD |
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Sunset at the airport ! :D |
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A kinda failed attempt to get a symmetrical shot of the aeroplane ! |
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The sun was setting and sky was orangey-red ! |
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Group photo (without Mr Wong cause he went back to Singapore on Day 5 :<) ! Thanks to the four teachers and other 19 Student Leaders who made this whole trip an enjoyable and fun one ! We really learnt a lot from this trip - we learnt to appreciate , we learnt to work together , we learnt to have fun , we learnt to find resolutions to problems together , we learnt to understand , learnt to adapt , learnt to be brave , learnt to step out of our comfort zone and the list goes on . Thanks , if it wasn't for you guys , the trip would not have been an amazing one ! :') |
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Photo with Genevieve , Jeraldine , Mrs Wee and Wei Ling before boarding the plane ! x) |
It rained and we had to board a shuttle bus to the plane ! First time experiencing that ! xD
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The entire Row 26 ! :D |
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Who'd be so crazy to wear shades in the aeroplane ? US ! xD
Thanks guys for the plane flight which felt like it was 15 minutes although it was actually 2 hours ! We could joke and laugh so much and did so many silly stuff ! :') When the captain announced that we'd be landing in Singapore in 10 minutes' time , remember how shocked we got ? Time really flies when we're enjoying ! :( |
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HAHAHA HI NOAH ! xD |
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Swag check maybe ? *Look what's Noah doing behind ! Pedo face ! x'D* |
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Final shot before we leave the plane ! Signature xxx pose HAHAHAHA xD |
And yeap , that's the end to the whole trip to Cambodia ! It was sure a fun and unforgettable one ! :')
Ending off with a photo of Angkor Wat ! (:
CAMBODIA ♥
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Angkor Wat , Siem Reap , Cambodia ♥ |