the one about badrul and cambodia...

angkor wat...

when something bad terjadi kepada kita, we always think... hmmmm... malangnya nasib aku... kadang-kadang benda tuh kecik sangat, but cara kita mengungkit atau mengeluh tuh macam it's the end of ther world or something like that lah... but after my trip to cambodia, i've learnt that we should always be thankful... these cambodian people who have been through a lot of cruelty and misfortune in their lives can still smile... ada yang takda kaki... takda tangan... buta... dan lain-lain kecacatan lagi akibat perang... kemiskinan di mana-mana even di pnomh penh, ibu negara cambodia... tapi mereka tetap 'bersyukur'... tetap tersenyum menerima pelbagai dugaan... some times, we have to learn it the hard way...


the plane that took us to siam reap...

my trip to cambodia was set right after the big europe tour... dah lama dah sebenarnya berangan nak pergi cambodia nak tengok angkor wat... sejak belajar sejarah dulu (laaaaammaaa dulu)... so, me and my travelling buddy, shonny, together with willie decided to make this journey... the flight to pnomh penh was ok but from ibu negara cambodia tuh ke siam reap, where the angkor wat is situated was a bit scary... i think kapalterbang tuh russian made and it was so very shaky... bila kita orang mendarat jer di siam reap, ada a few people yang muntah-muntah...


hundreds of steep steps...

i'm always phobia of heights... and masa kat angkor wat, banyak betul panjat tangga yang tinggi-tinggi dan curam sangat... there was one time, i almost in tears sebab takut giler nak turun... masa naik tuh tak terasa sangat, but bila nak turun, terpaksa pandang ke bawah... i terpaksa turun mengiring kerana tangga batu tu semuanya about half the size of our feet jer... scary... but then again, it was worth it, especially bila dapat tengok sunset from the top of angkor wat... beautiful...


with shonny, and angkor wat as a background...

this country has tons of history, but because of greediness... because of power-crazy... semuanya hancur... bayangkan, banyak daripada bangunan angkor wat sendiri runtuh sebab perang saudara... angkor wat was a huge city... ada istana, ada temple, pusat perniagaan dan sebagainya... tapi semuanya hampir musnah... they are quite lucky sebab masih ada beberapa pihak yang go all out to restore this history wonder... locals and foreigners...


beautiful sculptures...

there were so many beautiful sculptures along the walls of angkor wat, tapi mostly dah takda muka, takda kepala, pecah dan sebagainya... semua nih sebab ramai pencuri yang mencuri these patung and sculptures... i blame this on those 'stupid rich basket head(s)' yang kononnya nak buat private collection lah, itu lah, ini lah... of course lah orang-orang tempatan nih curi sebab dia orang hidup susah and kalau ada peluang untuk cari duit bagi makan anak-anak, they will do anything... including mencuri...


willie, shonny and me...

still, the angkor wat is amazing... definitely one of the wonders of the world... dikelilingi oleh kolam buatan manusia yang menjadi sumber air dan makanan untuk penduduk-penduduk angkor wat... and also sebagai satu cara mempertahankan kubu angkor wat... around the area, you can see small kids mintak sedekah, some cacat anggota badan and all dengan pakaian compang camping serta berkaki ayam... ada yang lebih creative and entrepreneur... dia orang buat this small, small alat permainan traditional untuk dijual...


cambodia national museum...

oh ya, their money macam takda value... everything is in u.s. dollar... but barang-barang are relatively cheap... ada banyak tempat untuk bershopping, and to me, the best place is russian market...


inside the castle... a lot of stuff are made of gold...

i know bunyinya macam stupid, but how i wish the cambodia's goverment (or maybe the royal family) boleh jual barang-barang yang dibuat daripada gold tuh and duit tuh digunakan untuk menyediakan kemudahan kepada rakyat like to build more clinics and hospitals... to built schools for education and to create more peluang pekerjaan...


the traditional dance of cambodian people...

cambodian people are very sweet and friendly... they love to chat with you about their history, about their culture, about their darkest time... they are humble people... they work hard with minimum wages... and they always smiles as if everything will be better... well, i hope so...


a visit to killing field...

i sebenarnya keberatan, but willie and shonny insisted we go visit the killing field... ketika our tour guide bagi penerangan, i was already in tears... terlalu banyak kekejaman di dunia nih... terlalu banyak kehancuran akibat tamak dan gila kuasa... i don't want to put too much pictures of the killing field because i, myself, don't want to be reminded of the cruelty in this world...


too many cruelty in such a small country...

same goes with the torture camp... dia orang gunakan sekolah untuk diubahsuai menjadi tempat penderaan... walaupun teruk didera dan sebagainya, sebahagian besar daripada mereka still end up in the killing field... hanya beberapa kerat saja yang berjaya keluar dengan selamat...


torture chamber...

di torture camp, every where you look, you will have this mental picture of how cruel penderaan yang mereka hadapi... bayangkan orang yang mendera hanya berumur 15 atau 16 tahun, dan mereka mendera orang yang berumur 40 atau 50 tahun... it can be their neighbour's son... semoga Tuhan jauhkan musibbah sebegini daripada kita, anak-anak kita, cucu-cucu kita...


cambodia's independent landmark...

i'm glad that cambodian people dah mula mengorak langkah ke depan... they too ada independent symbol for their people... symbol yang merangkumi sejarah silam mereka... i think cambodia is starting new... they have young people yang memperjuangkan keadilan... yang memperjuangkan keamanan...


angkor wat change to golden color in the evening...

i taknak tutup this entry with a depressing pictures, so i letak gambar angkor wat instead... and before i stop, i just want to gently reminded myself and my friends... if you think life is hard for us, think about these cambodian people... and if you happen to see cambodian people who works here in malaysia or kat mana saja you berada (tak kiralah kerja kilang ker, tukang cuci ker, buruh binaan ker), be kind enough to treat them with dignity and respect... they deserve that from us... they all do... we all do...