the wonderful trap of phnom penh

It’s hard to believe a month has gone by since I left Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The last few weeks has flown by. I’ve seem to have adjusted back to Hong Kong and slowly reverting back to the Hong Kong lifestyle and mentality, whether that’s a good thing or not, you decide.

One of the things I struggled with was the fact that there are some people out there who doesn’t really care all that much about what you’ve done in Cambodia or why you were there, they might just not understand and therefore, don’t care much about listening to you or asking questions. I seem to focus so much on those people that it slips my mind there are also those who are very intrigued and loves to learn about it.

Over lunch a few times the last few days, I’ve had the chance to tell some of my colleagues about Cambodia. Because HK is so money and success driven, many of us would not ever think about living in a third world country. They are so intruiged about Cambodia, about why I would want to live there and why I like it there. Many of those questions are hard to answer, but after all those conversations, I always end up coming to the same conclusion in my head. And thus the following:

I’m very priveleged to have lived in Cambodia.

Sure it was not always the most pleasant place to live in but thinking back, there is something so unique about phnom penh and cambodia that attracts and sucks in everyone who goes. The way the traffic is, transportation itself, the way Moto and tuk tuk drivers hassle you one after another, the fact that we have to go to more than one grocery store to buy all the nessesary ingredients to cook or bake, the way Cambodians stare at you straight in the eye when they have no idea who you are, and the list goes on.

No matter how stressful everything about and within Cambodia can become, it is also mysteriously relaxing. Hectic, but slow. Overwelming yet once you’ve adjusted to the daily routine, everything seems easier and more convinent than you think. Ah, yes. However long and painful your day might’ve been, you could always step out at night (despite the heat and the mosquitoes), look up- and sit for hours admiring the beautiful night sky with the thousands of stars shinning down at you.

It’s the best of two worlds. I’m very thankful and blessed to have gotten this chance to meet hundreds of friends from all over the world, to explore the culture and to live somewhere so different from home. Of course, can’t forget to mention my parents who supported me in every aspect of the year.

I’ll be back soon. I, along with a number of others, have fallen into the wonderful trap of Phnom Penh and it cannot keep us away for long! God has a wonderful plan for me and I can’t wait to discover more as the years go by.

I’ll hang out with them when they call me

How many times have you said that to yourself? You don’t want to call a friend to meet up because you think they should be contacting you. Or you do constantly contact them but they never reciprocate the kindness.. how do you feel? Frustrating, I know. It feels like a one way relationship with our friends sometimes and I struggle with that a lot, especially recently since I’ve came back to HK. I wonder if its gotten to the point where they’ve taken me for granted but God spoke to me this morning while going through the last section of Exodus.

What we seem to forget all the timr is that the way we want our friends to give us attention and care about us from contacting us, that’s the way God wants US to be with him. He wants us to speak to him daily, to spend time with him, he wants to get to know us and our daily ramblings! Half the time, we get so caught up in our own lives that we don’t spend time with Him as much as He wants us to but you know what’s great? No matter how little we make the effort to spend time with Him, He continuously knock on our door, sitting right outside for whenever we remember and get the chance to open it- He will be right there sitting on our doorstep.

Perhaps thats the way God wants us to be. He wants us to mold us to be more like Him. It was a reminder that no matter how frustrating it is feeling like I am always making the effort, I need to always be there with a smile for my friends whenever they do come and open the door as I continue to knock and make myself avaliable for them.

“…The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin…” – Exodus 34:6-7

I’m blessed and thankful that God allowed me to have this realization but this by all means does not mean I won’t feel frustrated or upset, but knowing it is a first step to God molding my heart. It’s also realising that I don’t want to be worshipping “The Golden Calf” of The God to relationships- depending on people and our relationships for our happiness and joy.

Perhaps this doesn’t make sense to many people, which is fine because this was more for me and my own thoughts and reminders than anything else. Hope you all had a good weekend!

Side note: I just finished the Book of Exodus and it is GREAT!

Up to 90% SALE!!!

When you see a sign that has over 10 different well known clothing brands named (From Y3 to Addidas…) and says “Warehouse, up to 90% SALE!!”, wouldn’t you run over right away to check out the new hype for the afternoon? Even if we are going to be late back to the office. Well, that’s exactly what my colleagues and I did after lunch today.

We treked up 15 floors, walked through a little alley way and arrived in a huge room with piles of clothes, shoes, bags and different accessories. I wish I had my camera at the time so the image could become clearer to you because no, they weren’t in neat folded piles… everything was a mess and the price tags of everything was tangled up. Along with the piles of items on sale, there were probably 200+ people running around scrambling through items, sort of like rats scrambling for trash in rubbish dumps. A quarter of those people lining up for the cashier.

There were also plastic bags big enough for me to hide in within 2 meters of you anywhere you went, in case you run out of space in your first bag and needed another one! “We are very busy people, places to go, things to do and only have so much time to shop! so you better not make us walk to the front of the shop to get a bag.”

Mind you, this is not the first time I’ve been to a sale like this in HK but this time going, it was a different rush of feelings. As I pretended to scramble through clothes, I observed everyone left and right of me and even caught a bit of their conversations. It was incredible, though the whole enviornment was a bit insane and overwelming to me. I even heard someone say “let’s call back to the office and tell our boss that our lunch meeting for work went overtime and we will be an hour late!”

Nobody was just buying one or two items, everyone in line for the cashier had 2 or more FULL black plastic bags they were dragging along behind them. If you didn’t know better, you would’ve thought everything was free! To be honest, it actually gives me a headache and takes way too much effort to try and scramble through until I find something I would find worth it…

Hong Kong’s shopping mentality never ceases to amaze me. With that being said, I’m sure a sale like this anywhere else in the world would attract just as many people.

If you are reading this and thinking “How come I didn’t know about this sale? Where is it?! I have to go!!!” It’s in the Bazaar on the 13th floor of Times Square. Now go and shop away.

I sit in front of a computer all day typ…

I sit in front of a computer all day typing away so I think instead of writing a long post, I will go and read. Currently reading the Book of Exodus, which is also what we are studying at church these few weeks. I’ll leave you with one word.

Manna- the daily bread God provided when the Israelites’ were in the wilderness for 40 years. They were only allowed to gather enough portion for each day. How does that relate to us? It means take every day at a time, don’t worry about the next day because God takes care of us “ONE day at a time”.

unaware of surroundings

An interesting event happened to me yesterday on my way to work in the morning. I had forgotten about it until I walked past the same place today and therefore, decided I should write about it. Mostly for my own reminder. My parents dropped me off at their work place and I walked to the MTR station to continue my journey to work.

I had just bought some breakfast, looked at the time and decided if I didn’t get a move on I’d be late to work! So I walked faster, hoping to catch the green light on the main road before I have to wait another 3 minutes to cross the road.

As I walked, out of the corner my eye there was a lady on a wheelchair. Unconsiously, I tried to walk faster because I thought she wanted to ask me for donation or such similar to that. I had places to go, people to see and didn’t have the time for that. I walked about a meter ahead of her before I heard her say “Excuse me? Can you help me knock on the bus and let the driver know I’m here?”

There are then it hit me. Was I in that  much of a rush to not care about my surroundings? Had I suddenly converted back to that mentality? I’m sorry. Perhaps it didn’t look like it to her but it doesn’t matter what other people sees and detects, I know what I thought and in a way, it felt like a stab in the heart.

Again, I’m sorry. God continues to teach and mold me.