TheMekongRedDiary

Today marks the last day with the last meeting ended 30min later than scheduled. For the last 4 days, it has cconsistently ended 1h behind schedule. What was this schedule and what was the meeting about? When I received the email requesting me to serve on a selection panel of an important grant award, the frist question Ihad was: how did they find out about myself? It took me more than two weeks to responded and make the arrangement more than a month to be able to say , "kay I will do it." Buddha knows what path I allow myself to walk into. when you had to read 19 packages each package contains more than 150 pages each page requires your brain to focus and your mind to be clear. I felt like I was walking on the sharp rocky path... I felt headset and the sore of the neck and the needs to spit it out... But this evening, when I look back over the last 8 weeks where I had no weekend to myself and where every evening was a reading everning, I was thankful for the coura...

Since Feb 2026 when I last took part in the humanitarian cash distribution of Oxfam as volunteer in Siem Reap, the trip last weekend was my reconnect with ground reality. So I decided to cancel my other planned trip to Areng and join six other friends to Banteay Meanchey O' Bei Chorn communes. We left Pnom Penh at 6am - which meant I left home at 5.30, which meant that I got up at 5am to get ready. My parents who haven't been visiting me the entire of 2026 decided to visit me on Friday and with heavy heart, I left home and them behind to join this trip. After having lunch at mid-day in Battam Bang provincial city, we arrived at the first stop in Rorng Cham Communities at around 1.30pm. The name of the communities gives you a chillling feeling, the people who are in this temporary shelter are in waiting, waiting for the chance to return home safely, waiting for the hope to return to normal life, waiting to get just treatment after the border tension that causesd not only their...

As the day is counting and more and more time is running out of the so-called Sabatical break, I recalle what new things I have been doing over my somewhat 165 days break. Piano Class - This is probably my most ambitous goal within such a short period of time. I realised that the 1h every Tuesday class - just among four students - made me realise that some of the skill require much more practice than you could have imagine. During the hour long class, most of the focus is about instruction and focus on practice with my fingers on the key board. What i enjoyed most is when i am by myself in the practice room, either on the earlier hour of that Tue or any other day that i came to town. it is great that SoundSkull let the student practice as many hours as we wish to. The other great motivation is when I was watching the movie which talk about the pianists - now i cannot remember the title of the movie but it is about pianist and time-travellers. The 2.5 months term ends before March en...

This is June 2026, the last month of my six month long sabattical break. Six-month flies by so quickly but during this period, I am reflecting on three key terms which plays important part in how I spent the six months. Break - Take a Break before the work Break You This was my main reason for needing a break. Many who came to know of my rather long break is wondering what I am doing and os often asked me - What is your plan during the break and my most consistent answer is: I dont have a plan. It is a break. So I plan to do nothing. In time of globalised lifestyle where everyone seems to know what everyone else is doing via their social media. In a time where your success is measured by your level of productivity In a space where your productivities is about how many XXX you achieve, quantifiable subjects because so important to exhibit. In an era where your life is put on the social media plate, from small to big, from overall to maticulous details I am obviously using social med...

Sometimes I ask myself, “Is this my last post on social media?” But I always hesitate to write it because I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it. In 2004 (that’s right, twenty-two years ago), before leaving Geneva, Switzerland to return to Cambodia after finishing my studies, I spent a whole day riding around the city, going to every tram and bus line, because I didn’t know when in my life I would be able to return to this expensive European city. Similarly, in March 2019, when five friends and I hiked up to Poon Hill on the Annapurna range of the Himalayas, we promised to come back and climb again to reach Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). But I didn’t know when I would achieve that goal. It is now mid-2026, my body is not what it used to be, yet I don’t think I’m incapable of hiking. I never thought of myself as a mountaineer, but I have a motto in life: if we set our minds to do something, we can do it within our abilities, possibilities, and determination. What I want to share in this pos...

When COVID-19 struck Cambodia, restrictions confined us to our homes. Like many, I worked online, staying connected through digital platforms. One hot April evening in 2021, in my small apartment in Phnom Penh, I joined a Zoom call with friends. As the call ended, one friend casually asked: “Would you join me in fundraising—to help families in desperate need during the lockdown?” That simple question carried me back to my childhood. In the early 1980s, growing up in a rural Cambodian village torn apart by civil war, hunger was a daily reality. A warm meal shared with my family was a rare joy. So when my friend asked, the answer was obvious. COVID had left me feeling powerless, but here was a chance to make a difference—to bring hope to those most affected. Together with 15 friends, we turned to Facebook for fundraising. Over six months, we raised $10,000 and delivered food packages to more than 2,000 people—women, sex workers, factory workers, garbage truck crews, and families strugg...