APAD 109: Summer coolers
In this scorching summer heat in Phnom Penh, there is no more convincing needed. A friend and I went in.
We weren’t disappointed – we had the most refreshing, satisfying fruit cooler ever.
In case you asked… Nope. As much as it sounded exotic (novel), we didn’t try the watermelon and chili. We both went for the passion fruit and mint. A perfect balance of sweetness and sourness. A bit pricey for $2.25 but, after several hours of shopping at a non-airconditioed market, it’s all worth the price!
APAD 107: Life in the countryside
Just sharing another picture of rural Cambodia. I took this during one of our previous road trips last month.
On the way to Phnom Oudong (background), an old man and his cow.
Turning into this dusty road on the way to Phnom Oudong, we drove slowly following this old man, walking barefeet. My husband was driving slowly, carefully, so as not to stir the red, sticky dust and envelope the old man it. With the stifling heat at that time, I was amazed at how he went about his chore. When we passed him by, I rolled the window down and politely said, “chum riep soo, lok ta.” Hello, grandpa. My husband chimed in, in perfect timing.
Lok ta turned his head to us and smiled, broadly revealing a toothless mouth. From what I saw, lok ta looked genuinely surprised and pleased at a barang‘s (foreigner’s) greeting in his own language. “Baa, okun”. Thank you, he replied. I asked him where he was going. He’s taking his wayward cow back to the herd a hundred metres away. And he went on his merry way.
I know this is just a random encounter but I wonder what was he thinking afterwards. Would he remember the day these two foreigners (us) stopped by and talked to him? What did he think about us? For sure, I’ll remember him and his toothless grin. I pray that he be healthy to be able to do his chores and that he be safe in doing so.
APAD 106: Khmer alphabet
In my previous work as an environment advocate, I had the opportunity to visit schools in most Cambodian provinces. By doing so, I was able to practice my spoken Khmer which I studied for about a year. It wasn’t so easy but good thing we had an excellent teacher teaching Khmer for foreigners back then in the early 2000s at Institut Français Cambodge. And the more I visited local schools and talked to local people, the faster I became fluent in Khmer language.
In one of our visits, I saw these visuals pasted on a classroom wall.
The Khmer alphabet has 23 vowels. I kid you not.
These are the Khmer vowels, if I am not mistaken, and the sounds they correspond to and is illustrated by the schoolchildren. Visually, the Khmer script is almost similar to Thai and Laos.
Difficult to learn how to speak, you ask? Try reading and writing, lol.
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