I think I want to finish off with what I had started in the earlier entries about my trip to Cambodia. Instead of telling every small details of the itinerary of the trip I'd rather conclude with what I had learned all through out the journey.
Cambodia Is Like Malaysia 20, 30 years ago
The surroundings, the infrastructure, the people. What amazed us most was the part that the Cambodians have a lot of free times. They would be walking in the parks, sitting near the Mekong River bank. They seem so relaxed which I think is good that they are not so much in a rush like in Kuala Lumpur for example. Malaysians do not go to the park anymore during weekend, they go to the malls.
The poverty level too is very high. Along the road on our way to Siem Reap we could see that many of the areas are without basic facilities like electricity and water. Houses were built next to the river (or canal) and they still use the river as their water source. I saw kids and women having their bath in the river too.
Currency-USD Is Widely Used
It broke my heart to see that a plate of fried rice cost us USD4.50. Arggghhhhhhhhhhh..............! Their currency is in Riel. USD1 is equivalent to 4200Riel and RM1 was about 1,200Riel (at that time-Oct2006). Being a developing country they need the help from the tourist to bring as much USD to the country as possible. Thats why the tourists (except Malaysians) have to pay the airposrt visa when they want to go in (at about USD20) and again when going out (including Malaysians) another USD20. It even stated somewhere at the airport that they need the money to expand their international airport.
Indonesianz Speak Better Intonation of English (Well at least Ijul does)
Its not because I'm so obesessed with Indonesian that I can even say that their intonation is better, well at least better than mine. Ijul speaks with perfect pronounciation of every English words that come out of her mouth. With the right stresses at the right time and its not even a put up accent, its just the way she speaks. I thought its only because of the English language but actually even when she speaks her own language, she would speak with such confident and and with a great deal of strong pronounciation, I mean like the time when I was referring to Ijul about the Indonesian word "timpuk", she didnt get what was I telling her and I kept on saying to her " You know "timpuk", banter ..." and she was like " Ohhhh... TIMPUK ... " with the stress at the "K" sound there. When I pronounced "timpuk" its as if I put a stop at the "k" sounds but Indonesian would even stress at the "K" sound; 'Timpukkkkk" Get it ? And I also discovered that the English people understand Ijul better when she speaks. Hmmm..... I vowed to do something with my English.
I tried to speak like Ijul with cK and he mocked me saying that I sound like a robot !
Ijul Is Tough !
Hahaha.. really, I always consider myself as someone whos quite determined and not afraid of hard work, not the 'manja' type, and independant, I mean like if I want to do something, I would put my mind and body into it and would just shoot off right from the start and nothing rarely stop me. But being with Ijul for about 6 days, I could say that I came around being second (thats because they were only the two of us). "Orang Malaysia tuh tak pernah susah ....". Maybe shes right. We have been blessed with so much wealth and stability, economically and politically that we have become to comfortable and complacent and to certtain extend we have taken some things for granted.
Alhamdulillah is all I could say, but Ijul is afraid what might happen to the Muslims of Malaysia, say in the next 20 years. From what she could see if we dont do anything about our economic and political conditions, we would be swept aside soon ......
Conclusion
Well..... I really want to improve my 'speaking', I think I might join the "Toast Club".
and I want to travel to many other countries..... and I dont mind backpacking ..... to get to see the real people of the country ... not just the tourist places .....
ps: Ijul kalau aku pingin ke negara jauh aku perlu ngumpul uang dari sekarang deh... gimana jadinya plan kita backpack jkt-bali ... Arghhhhhhh...... money money money !!!!!!
Cambodia Is Like Malaysia 20, 30 years ago
The surroundings, the infrastructure, the people. What amazed us most was the part that the Cambodians have a lot of free times. They would be walking in the parks, sitting near the Mekong River bank. They seem so relaxed which I think is good that they are not so much in a rush like in Kuala Lumpur for example. Malaysians do not go to the park anymore during weekend, they go to the malls.
The poverty level too is very high. Along the road on our way to Siem Reap we could see that many of the areas are without basic facilities like electricity and water. Houses were built next to the river (or canal) and they still use the river as their water source. I saw kids and women having their bath in the river too.
Currency-USD Is Widely Used
It broke my heart to see that a plate of fried rice cost us USD4.50. Arggghhhhhhhhhhh..............! Their currency is in Riel. USD1 is equivalent to 4200Riel and RM1 was about 1,200Riel (at that time-Oct2006). Being a developing country they need the help from the tourist to bring as much USD to the country as possible. Thats why the tourists (except Malaysians) have to pay the airposrt visa when they want to go in (at about USD20) and again when going out (including Malaysians) another USD20. It even stated somewhere at the airport that they need the money to expand their international airport.
Indonesianz Speak Better Intonation of English (Well at least Ijul does)
Its not because I'm so obesessed with Indonesian that I can even say that their intonation is better, well at least better than mine. Ijul speaks with perfect pronounciation of every English words that come out of her mouth. With the right stresses at the right time and its not even a put up accent, its just the way she speaks. I thought its only because of the English language but actually even when she speaks her own language, she would speak with such confident and and with a great deal of strong pronounciation, I mean like the time when I was referring to Ijul about the Indonesian word "timpuk", she didnt get what was I telling her and I kept on saying to her " You know "timpuk", banter ..." and she was like " Ohhhh... TIMPUK ... " with the stress at the "K" sound there. When I pronounced "timpuk" its as if I put a stop at the "k" sounds but Indonesian would even stress at the "K" sound; 'Timpukkkkk" Get it ? And I also discovered that the English people understand Ijul better when she speaks. Hmmm..... I vowed to do something with my English.
I tried to speak like Ijul with cK and he mocked me saying that I sound like a robot !
Ijul Is Tough !
Hahaha.. really, I always consider myself as someone whos quite determined and not afraid of hard work, not the 'manja' type, and independant, I mean like if I want to do something, I would put my mind and body into it and would just shoot off right from the start and nothing rarely stop me. But being with Ijul for about 6 days, I could say that I came around being second (thats because they were only the two of us). "Orang Malaysia tuh tak pernah susah ....". Maybe shes right. We have been blessed with so much wealth and stability, economically and politically that we have become to comfortable and complacent and to certtain extend we have taken some things for granted.
Alhamdulillah is all I could say, but Ijul is afraid what might happen to the Muslims of Malaysia, say in the next 20 years. From what she could see if we dont do anything about our economic and political conditions, we would be swept aside soon ......
Conclusion
Well..... I really want to improve my 'speaking', I think I might join the "Toast Club".
and I want to travel to many other countries..... and I dont mind backpacking ..... to get to see the real people of the country ... not just the tourist places .....
ps: Ijul kalau aku pingin ke negara jauh aku perlu ngumpul uang dari sekarang deh... gimana jadinya plan kita backpack jkt-bali ... Arghhhhhhh...... money money money !!!!!!
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