Happy New Year! (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

More Filippinos!

Last night was a treat, I actually got to eat Filippino food at this Filippino restuarant! Ren, Nicklas and I were set out to see the town, we looked on our little handy map and found "Bamboo Fine Dining Filippino Restaurant". I ate Chicken Adobo, which is one of my favorite dishes. I was scared to get some horrible meal that didn't resemble anything like my Mother's cooking. This restaurant gave it justice, thank God. Ren and Nicklas had 'Lechon' which is basically fried pork with a lot of the skin still attached, I tried it and it was good as well. For desert we had some Leche Flan, similar to Creme Carmel. Yummy!

During our meal, there was a table of about 6 or 7 Pinoys sitting around and talking, it was cool to hear Tagalog being spoken in Cambodia, not to mention their loud, roaring laughs and cackles that Filippino women are infamous for. In the background they played traditional Filippino music. A lot of it I actually recognized from my days of doing cultural dances, including the "Pandango sa ilaw" and "Picking rice is never fun".

Afterwards, we were able to talk to one of the ladies and she told us about being Filippino in Cambodia. It turns out that there's about 1000 or so Flips living in Phnom Penh. She talked to us for a while and gave us some advice of what to do and see in Phnom Penh, including some bars to go to after dinner. I asked them if I could take their "litrato" (picture) and they all acted very bashful and shy about it, as most Filippinos normally do, but of course I took one anyway.

New Year's Eve

From Jan 22- 25th is the celebration of Chinese New Year. So the 3 of us went out to find a cool bar to hang out at. We ended up going to a couple different places and were able to do a bit of drinking and dancing. The first place was called "The Dark Room"or something which turned out to be a gay bar, that's the second one that Ren and I have stumbled upon. We stayed a while but didn't really enjoy the music so we sought out for this popular Martini bar, according to the bible... I mean Lonely Planet. That place was full of young Cambodian woman entertaining dirty old caucasion men. Gross. On our map there's actually an ad that says "Sex with Minors is a crime!", I know what they're referring to now. We stayed there for a while and danced a bit to the ok house music and finally left around 2am.

I was hoping that we'd hear a little more excitment about the New Year ringing in at midnight, but I only had a few Cambodians come up to me and give me the old phrase "Happy New Year!". Good enough I guess.

Tough Day

I think our night out on the town was well deserved. During the day, the 3 of us and 2 Aussi's went to tour the Kiling Fields and the S-21 Prison. These are 2 of the many, many places where Cambodians were tortured and murdered during the Khmer Rouge Reign. Its so disturbing to stand in front of thousands of skulls and bones that have been dug out of these large mass graves. You walk along and see a whole in the ground that's only like 6 square meters and realize that that's where hundreds of bodies were buried only 25-28 years ago. At the prison you can see the pictures of all the Cambodians that were so called 'prisoners' there, everyone from babies, young children, women and men that were not allowed to speak to each other, let alone spend time with their own family memebers. Then you see their chambers, a tiny little room about 1m by 2m in size, made out of brick with a chain in the wall for the ankle. Then there's the interrogation rooms with all these different torturing devices that were used. The more I went on my heart cried more for these innocent victims. God Bless their souls. Did you know that approx. 2 million, close to 20 percent of the Cambodian population were all killed during the Khmer Rouge period? That's a lot of people to be killed for nothing, just because they did not want to join the revolution basically. Not only were they killed, but they were tortured and beaten to death, bullets were not wasted on them. Below is a couple songs, one by Tevin Campbell and one by Stevie Wonder (sorry don't know the writers) and a prayer for the Cambodians who died...


Someday at Christmas

Someday at Christmas men won't be boys
Playing with bombs like kids play with toys
One warm December our hearts will see
A world where men are free

Someday at Christmas there'll be no wars
When we have learned what Christmas is for
When we have found what life's really worth
There'll be peace on earth

Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where men are free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmas time

Someday at Christmas we'll see a land
with no hungry children, no empty hands
One happy morning people will share
a world where people care

Someday at Christmas there'll be no tears
All men are equal and no man has fears
One shining moment, one prayer away
From our world today

Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where men are free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmas time

Someday at Christmas man will not fail
hate would be gone and love will prevail
Someday a new world that we can start
With hope in every heart

Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where men are free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmas time
Someday at Christmas time


One Song

If we all sing one song
One song of love
One song of peace
One song to make all our troubles cease
One hymn, one theme, one hope, one dream
Imagine what tomorrow would bring
If we all sing one song

If we all learn the words
Just think how great the song would be
And since the song is in freedom's key
One voice you'd hear, so pure, so clear
Imagine what tomorrow would bring
If we all sing one song

There's just one sun that warms our day
The same moon and stars light our way
This little ball whirling in space
It's our only home, our only place

If we all sing one song
One song of love
One song of peace
One song to make all our troubles cease
Imagine what tomorrow would bring
If we all sing one song

If we all sing one song
One song of love
One song of peace
One song to make all our troubles cease
Imagine what tomorrow would bring
Just imagine what tomorrow would bring
Just imagine what tomorrow would bring
If we all sing
If we all sing
One Song!


Ave Maria

Ave Maria
Gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Ave, ave dominus
Dominus tecum
Benedicta tu in mulieribus
Et benedictus
Et benedictus fructus ventris
Ventris tuae, Jesus.
Ave Maria

Ave Maria
Mater Dei
Ora pro nobis peccatoribus
Ora pro nobis
Ora, ora pro nobis peccatoribus
Nunc et in hora mortis
Et in hora mortis nostrae
Et in hora mortis nostrae
Et in hora mortis nostrae
Ave Maria

Amen.