A city on the move
Thursday, September 17th, 2009My mother told me to be highly careful while travelling in Germany, especially whenever I want to cross the road. She doesn’t know how admiringly safe the traffic in Germany is. (more…)
My mother told me to be highly careful while travelling in Germany, especially whenever I want to cross the road. She doesn’t know how admiringly safe the traffic in Germany is. (more…)
People gathering to listen to Angela Merkel during the election campaign in Bonn (photo: Channy Chheng)Half an hour had been gone, and the sound of people murmuring to each other vanished. A voice bursts out loudly, announcing the arrival of the German chancellor. (more…)
Welcome to Cambodia, says a small-rectangular billboard, standing handsomely on the right hand side of the road heading east to the city centre of Phnom Penh from the airport. You will smell the air of the kingdom of wonder with thousand of ancient temples waiting for you. (more…)
Pretending to overlook, speeding up with a blushing face, asking me to hurriedly follow her – this is what my Cambodian friend, a 20-year old girl, always does when we pass by people kissing on the street. (more…)
When I first stepped into the dormitory where I was going stay for two months during my summer internship at CARE in Bonn, Germany, I saw the different coloured skins of many students inside. One question came into my mind: What do they do here during summer? (more…)
By Sokunthy Heng.
Feeling mixed writing this last blog, I will leave this beautiful land of Bonn for my country tomorrow. I look forwards to meeting my family. At the same time, I cannot imagine how I will feel on my departure day.

I really enjoyed my time in Germany and with CARE. Now it's already time to say good bye.(Photo:CARE)
It is true that time passes quickly when we are happy. I am feeling happy now. 80 days are enough for me to miss the life here.
By Sokunthy Heng.
Wearing jacket to warm myself up, I am writing from a room in a house with many apple trees at the back yards. The room belongs to Ben, a 15 years old boy who is away for schooling in England.

A child selling lemon in a market in Phnom Penh. (Photo: Heang Lim)
He is the son of my former journalistic lecturer in Cambodia. This week, three friends of mine and I are invited to visit her work place, Die Zeit newspaper, and some other media institutions in Hamburg.
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By Sokunthy Heng.
When people talk about public transportation in the cities of Europe, the word “subway” normally appears.

Many motor bikes on the streets of cambonia. Some motor-taxi drivers are bringing customers by destination. (Photo: Heang Lim)
The same thing, the word “motor taxi” is always mentioned in Cambodia in this context. (In Cambodian language motor taxi is called motor dup).
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By Sokunthy Heng.
For more than one month in Bonn, it was the first time I had a chance to speak Khmer, my language, with a Cambodian woman who lives in Germany.

Kunthy with two friends of her. Mey (left), my friend (middle) and me (right) (Photo by Vuthy Sok)
“Since I am here for nearly three years, I have met no more than ten Cambodian people,” said Chea Xev Mey.
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By Sokunthy Heng.
You might think I might be crazy when you hear me saying, “I want to experience earthquake.” It was three weeks ago that a slight earthquake occurred in Bonn, where I live at the moment.

People on the streets in cambonia. People come out of houses after the rain stoped in Phnom Penh (Photo:Vuthy Sok)
However, I was asleep and I did not realize. Later, I was astonished to learn it from my colleagues the next morning. As I have only seen on television, I want to feel how the earth shakes when a small earthquake occurs. But not a big one!
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