Today was one of those special day. A few of us volunteers rented a boat to go around Tonle Sap and we invited a few families to have dinner on the boat. Each family cooked a dish and we all shared the food. Although the view was not spectacular but it was really kind of nice. Nice and breezy. And I guess it's the company that makes all the difference. As I was coming back, riding at the back of the van with Ming Soram and Dotla and Nait and Niet, I couldn't help but thinking how fortunate am I, to be around with these lovely people. Everyday and each experience is different and I hope I treasure each one with care. Certain experience may never be repeated again...

This is also one of the nights that I experienced the worst of the Cambodian experience. My next door neighbour is having one of those "Bon" (a festival/party related to either cultural tradition or Buddhist ritual) and the music is SOOOOO loud that I think anyone that go near the house will suffer hearing damage to a certain degree. Unfortunately, my house is almost immediate next to the origin of the music. The music just seems so much louder than usual. It is almost insane. It's so loud that the glass door/window is rattling and shaking. It is like having your normal pub/discoteque next to your house, except that it's open air and you can hear every single song LOUD and CLEAR and the bass is so powerful that it feels as if your heart is synchronized to the beat. Quite appalling. This is the one thing that puzzles me the most. Why do Cambodians like their music to be blasted so loud like there's no tomorrow, at every wedding, funeral or party. One of the Cambodians told me that it's because they don't like to talk, so they have the music turned up really loud. Plus it'll cover the noises made by those who're drunk.

What a day mixed with both positive and negative experience. Sending off Apple and saying goodbye to her, shopping and preparing for the boat party in the evening and the boat party itself, and even though it really isn't pleasant to lose sleep over the incredibly loud music, I must say that it's been an incredible day.

So, I spent a fair amount of time last night reading the last bit of "Surviving the Killing Fields: Cambodian Odyssey" and rubbing on my bruises. It was kind of difficult to do it because of the angle and trying to get the maximum lighting to read. A really good book. I was deeply moved by Haing Ngor's story and the details he gave about the tragic genocide during the Khmer Rouge regime in 1975-1979. Such a sad sad story and it wasn't just a story. All that gruesome and unthinkable details actually happened.

Anyway.... back to the story of my bruises and how I got them. On Sunday, I took Bo Bo out for a walk as usual, so he doesn't go mad from not being able to relieve himself. So there we were, doing our usual route through the dirt road at the back of the factory at RDI, and I passed by Yean's house. They have this ugly looking dog named Jamie and she's had so many litters of puppies that no one really knows how many puppies she's had. Well, she seems to have taken a disliking towards Bo Bo for some reason and always either growls at Bo Bo when we walk past Yean's house or simply throws a mean look at him. This day was no different but she actually came out of the house and ran towards Bo Bo and growled at him. I was like, "yeah right, girl, I don't think so. We have the right to walk here." and I just ignored her. This dog.... had the audacity to come from behind and attacked me! Gave a very quick bite and ran away. Bad dog! At first I thought it was just a nib, but it became more painful than I thought afterwards. There was two bite marks but no bleeding. Just a little bit of blood when I tried to clean it after. The next day there were bruises around the bite mark. Come to think of it, Bo Bo was either oblivious like me or was just too scared to protect me. I can't count on him to protect me in times of trouble. Sigh... Anyhow... I still love him..


So, that was the very boring story of my bruise. There's another story of my other 2 big bruises with one on each side of arm near my wrist, and one small bruise on the inside of my left arm. I shall continue to bore you with more details. These nasty looking bruises came from my kungfu lesson. "Wing Chun" to be exact. Jon, a student from England has been learning Wing Chun for 5 years. When I found that out I volunteered to learn from him. Hahahaha... The last lesson we had (I've had 3 lessons so far), I did some blocking moves with him and needless to say, his arms are a lot stronger than mine. I needed to use my arms to block his attack and we did that for a few minutes. Later that evening, the bruises started to appear and Judy was like, "Hannah, what's that on your arms!!?? Stop doing that to yourself!!"




If you know me, you'd know that I can't let any bruises go. I have to rub on them, until they're nice and purplish or red. I used to volunteer to rub bruises for others if I see anyone with bruises. Nowadays I have a little more self control so I haven't done that to anyone here or maybe I just don't notice them... Fortunately or unfortunately, I haven't had any lesson since then. Jon and Fran (fellow classmate) went off to Preak Russei to do some survey shortly after and they're not around for most of this week. I guess I should review/practice on my own.

Well, so that's the end of the story of my bruises. *Yawn*.