APAD 112: Mystical
Pardon the not-so-wordless entry this week.
This photo was taken more than a month ago when my brother, my husband and I explored around Wat Phnom Prasith, an hour’s drive northwest of Phnom Penh. This old stupa attracted my attention. With the gnarly trees surrounding it, it looked interesting so I took photos (one of them is shown above). After camera shots were done, something jolted me.
I sensed something, like a mystical air, blowing through this part of the woods. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. And when I started to walk away, I felt goosebumps on my arms making me quicken my steps to catch up with my husband and brother.
I wonder what that was. I can still remember the odd feeling up to now.
APAD 111: Temple guardian
I’ve always been fascinated by different mythical creatures and deities and living here in Cambodia doesn’t disappoint. These creatures are present in Khmer culture.
This is a temple guardian called, or a dvarapala. And it’s only one of the many other dvarapalas that adorn in most Khmer temples. Another kind of dvarapala is found here.
APAD 110: Deity
This is my Monday Mellow Yellows entry for this week, a very colourful decorative wall decor from Nepal. Had there been a smaller version of this, I would’ve bought one to pair it with another wall decor that I bought as souvenir when I went to Sri Lanka years ago.
Sorry that it is not somewhat Cambodia-related though. I will make it up next week. Promise 🙂
So see you then!
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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