Back from Cambo, and safely

Just dropping a short note to say I’m back from Cambodia. No time to blog now, inundated with work, but if you click on my Flickr you can see some pics we took there.

Promise I’ll be uploading more pictures and put a full post up soon!

Arrived here in Cambodia… safely!

Hello from Cambodia!

This is my first ever international posting. Lydia and myself are now in a Cambodian cafe, hunched over a semi- current machine (it’s got an LCD screen!) setting my away from office message and taking advantage of this time to post a quick blog.

We arrived in Phnom Penh safely at about 5:00 p.m. (Malaysian time) yesterday and promptly took a car taxi to our hotel. There are many variations of taxis here from a motorcycle taxi (US$ 2) to a car taxi we’re pretty familiar with (US$ 7). The cabby was chatty and offered to take us around the city before we head for the hotel. On hindsight, he could have wanted more money for that.

So, without much fuss, we check into our hotel. Shame I don’t have my cable with me, otherwise I could post a couple of pictures on how it looks. First impression? Disappointment. Lydia turned to me and asked me “how come you chose such a cheap hotel?”

Okay, it isn’t exactly a cheap hotel (US$22 per night). But we started checking into a room with no pillows! It took me three trips up and down to the lobby, before pillows were finally delivered. Ah, but with the pillows, it started to look better. Lydia said: “Not so bad after all.”

We walked out for a bit in the evening to this nearby shopping complex (supposed to be the best in Phnom Penh.) The name was Suria, so we imagined KLCC. The dome from afar made our imagination trickle even further. But when we reached there… it was… Kota Raya! The ground floor was 50% jewellery sellers, with the other half divided between food, an icecream shop and some clothiers. Upstairs, you had rows and rows of clothing shops.

We had dinner at an el cheapo beef noodle shop. And at a more expensive beef noodles shop this afternoon for lunch.

I’m runninng out of time for this post. We spent a lot of time walking around the Central Market and National Museum this morning. One thing I realise – they have a lot of gods in Cambodia. I think 80% of the stuff they display in the National Museum are statues of gods! From Shiva, to Ganesa, to Garuda and Vishnu.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat) and a better hotel (hopefully) on a 7 hour bus. Hopefully, we’ll get there safely in one piece. Cheers!

About being married…

I waited for Louis to finally post up some pictures from our wedding onto his blog to post this up. So… been married for eight days now, and everytime someone asks me about it, I can only say it’s great.

Married life isn’t about fear and trepidation about the fact you’re committed to just one other human being for the rest of your life. It’s about joy of belonging to someone.

I’ve been with Lydia for six years (that’s an awful long time, I know) and you know what, it’s a changed feeling now. I used to feel very sad everytime the clock strikes eleven and either she has to go home, or I have to go home. You know…like a detached emptiness.

Now, I’m so happy I get the chance to tuck her into bed (she sleeps earlier than me) and pat her hair back so it doesn’t land on her face. Married life is sweet. You don’t have to say, “Goodbye, goodnight.”

So as I’m reflecting on what’s changed, I realise, these are the first few steps towards creating a home. A place where we both belong, uniquely. We got the keys to our house just last weekened, and though it’s really bare now (and dusty!), we both can’t wait to clean up the place, renovate it lightly, and just move in.

This is so exciting.

"Our" Night out

Both Lydia and I had our “night out” last Friday at this place in the middle of town called “Passion” with our best, best church friends.

Before I go further, I just want to thank everyone who showed up for taking the time and effort to make it. I know we had to sit through a long and irritating jam all the way to Jalan P.Ramlee, but it was worth it.

So, back to the story. We were supposed to meet there at 9:00 p.m., then later 9:30 p.m., but by the time most of us arrived, it was 10:00 p.m. Randy called me at about 9:30 p.m. asking me where everyone was – he was the first and most punctual guy waiting in front of the place like a… (insert own expressive). That’s a good thing, Randy Khoo!

Anyway, to cut the long story short – pictures paint a thousand words so here’s one of the crowd who were there (spot any familiar faces):

The guys pinned me down and made me tell old girlfriend stories, and dared me to get some girl in the bar to dance. Okay, so I admit, this was my first time approaching two Malay girls to get on the dance floor with me. The worst part – I totally don’t know how to dance.

I guess everyone gets this once in their lifestime, so after some 30 minutes of meandering, I actually got off my bottom and asked. And one of them accepted. I don’t have any pictures of that dance, but someone has, I’m sure (can someone send it to me?).

Anyway, other highlights of the night was:

5. Yuke Bin demonstrating that the lame can dance! Despite his heavily bandaged leg, our friend was nicely snaking his way across the dancefloor.

4. Kee Leong, hands up high and shaking and waving like tomorrow is never gonna come.

3. Yvonne! Never knew you were so strong. It took four women to hold you down.

2. Co-ed bathrooms. There’s a freaky feeling when you see girls preening outside and taking photos of themselves just before you get into the cubicle to peel.

1. Everyone attended! This was a very meaningful night, not just coz we’re gonna get married, but because you all came.

I have a more images loaded up on my Flickr photostream. Click on them to the right if you wanna browse through.

Eight more days…

Today was my wedding rehearsal. Standing in front, by the aisle evokes the most introspective feeling ever. I’m getting married.

There’s just a rush of joy in the room – close friends clapping, mother beaming, father a bit flustered, Lydia’s dad being a bit shy, brothers playing a fool and Lydia, of course, can’t stop smiling. Everyone’s happy.

I had to say the words today: “For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health- till death do us part.” Those came out surprisingly easy, but don’t be misled. Each word was weighty in its own right, and each one a bottomless wellspring of thought.

This is what getting married feels like – perhaps the purest few moments of bliss you’d get here on earth. And I’m thankful for that. I didn’t get a chance to whip out my camera to take a picture, but Louis took loads. If I have time, I’ll ask him for some tomorrow and post them up, but until then, here’s one picture from our wedding collection to share:

Can’t wait for the real day.