Monday Mellow Yellows: I eez invisible!
My dogs don’t easily get frightened by noises, but when they do, it’s funny how they cope with the situation.
For example, my youngest dog, Red. Recently there were wedding ceremonies in our neighbourhood. Cambodians still praactice the traditional style of wedding, that includes loud blaring music that wakes up the whole town at the crack of dawn. The older dogs barked incessantly but the youngest… well, he’s nowhere to be found. More like, he doesn’t want to be found, hah.
You see, music plays a very important role in Khmer ceremonies, especially during weddings. The wedding ‘soundtrack’ (for lack of word to use) is mostly q mix of canned/recorded and ‘live’ performances these days. They are played loudly, and I oftentimes wish there is a sound mixer present to manage this so it won’t be as annoying and as grating to the nerves.
Anyhow, back to my story…
This is my Red dog, the youngest one. He was found under the BBQ grill one morning when the traditional procession approached nearby and he got scared of the accompanying sounds…
Some years ago, Red dog’s dad, Joe, did the same thing. Click the link to see 🙂
Our World Tuesday: Phnom Penh apartments
Phnom Penh is witnessing more and more housing complexes built every day.
The neighbourhood where I live is one of the early housing complexes erected in the late 2000s with the most common style of apartment in terms of design and layout. Usually, these units have three to four floors and is rented entirely or as individual apartments. They are long and narrow with windows in front and back only, as you can see in the picture, resembling avatar cabinets. Luckily, we snagged a corner apartment so we have many windows than the usual!
Monday Mellow Yellows: Wat Ounalom
My sister arrived from the Philippines last week for a whirl-wind visit of Cambodia. She was with a friend and for one week they went temple-hopping in Siem Reap and shopping in Phnom Penh. Hah, that’s a very simplistic way of describing their trip. I haven’t seen her for the longest time and I was happy to have hosted her here in the city. She also brought a care package from my parents (thank you) and the new toys I bought online (brush pens and some music stuff!). The toys were sent to her via the store’s Free Shipping promo.
Anyways, so as the host I took her and her friend around the city’s main sights as well as popular markets. I wanted them to see a bit of culture and tradition so we popped in to Wat Ounalom temple which is just a walking distance from their hotel. Luckily, the whole kingdom is observing the Pchum Ben festival so the wats are alive and festively decorated, with smoke from the lit incense sticks wafting in the air. We spent a bit of time observing this unique Khmer tradition –  watching faithful locals in their Sunday best (usually white) bring food to offer to the monks, give alms and say prayers for their ancestors. Of course, we took pictures, too.
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