Ivy's Wall

Ivy and I have known each other for 10 years. That is quite a big chunk of our lives. Somehow we managed to keep in touch all these years, even though we were classmates for only a few months.

Ivy and I had totally different personalities. She was the quiet, demure snow white, madly pursued by dreamy romeos. One of them burnt a few gallons of midnight oil just to meticulously glue together hundreds of pearly white buttons to make her a cinderella shoe. I think the shoe was actually her size. And of course, the romeos used me as a messenger to send her little notes. The cinderella-shoe romeo used to say that she was cute, sweet and concise -- what the @#$% did concise mean?? Cinderella-shoe romeo looked at me and said, well, she comes in a smaller package. So I guess if she was the angel with the harp, I was simply the tuba. And if she was the more cliché swan, I was the ... turkey.

Ok, I guess not turkey. Cinderella-shoe romeo ended up giving me an owl carved out of soap as graduation gift. That was really nice. I think I would rather be an owl than a swan.

Ivy never fell for any of those romeos though. She chose down-to-earth EP, who probably would never spend nights making a shoe for her, but would take great care of her for the rest of their lives.

Ivy wanted some splashes of colour in her new home. She said orange and pink. I hope she will like this mini-series.


Just for you, Ivy.

Cambodian Breeze

Phnom Penh was a lot more vibrant than I had imagined. And also extremely hot the first day we arrived. Noy said it was the very end of summer, and winter would set in around early November. Fortunately on the second day the heat was not as scorching, and Awe had a good time sweeping up beautifully crafted silk at the Russian Market.

Two days was about enough to make a quick trip around the major tourist spots in Phnom Penh. Yet the hospitality of our wonderful Cambodian friends made me want to stay a lot longer. They went to great lengths to ensure our comfort, taking care of every detail throughout our stay. It just seemed like second nature to them that they should take such good care of their guests.

We saw the Wat Phnom, Royal Palace, National Museum, and drove 42km south of Phnom Penh to Tonle Bati, also known as Mini Angkor, built in the late 12th century. Awe seemed to know a lot about the history and religious characters of the region.

While that was all very interesting, I found myself most attracted to the simplicity of the country scenery, the occasional breeze and the fresh scent of grass. My fascination with random things like an odd lotus pond in the middle of a wild field by the dusty road must have seemed strange to Raeksmay and Sokna. I was the city rat intrigued by the different shades of green that seemed unique to each country. The greenery that mother nature gave so unreservedly to those who would cherish it. Just like the warmth and friendship that were so generously showered on us.