Khmer New Year

Nilla, Dara and I went on a road trip to Columbia, about 2 hour drive from Kansas City, to join the celebration of Khmer New Year. We joined the traditional ceremony (monk's blessing and preaching...) then had a really good lunch there.

We met a Cambodian family who was really nice to us. They invited us to their home and fed us more after that. Then we hung out with their kids and later on went to the party. We just chilled, listened to Cambodian music and danced. It was a good atmosphere. Everybody was having a good time. I wish I took some pictures...

We left Columbia around 2 am, after eating at IHOP, and got back around 4 am, dead tired.

Why Tom?

I got a lot of people asking me about my name. "Is Tom a Cambodian name?" Of course, I say, although it's rare. My father named me Tom after he read Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer. He enjoyed that character so much. So that's the reason I got my name. It is a unique name and I'm proud of it :).

Pictures taken from my cam-phone

Me @ work


Penguin


Not bad eh?

Hello World!

OK, I have finally decided to use blog for my friends and family to see what's going on with my life as I am so so far away from them. So welcome to my blog!

In case some of you are wondering why I chose "Battambang" for my blog name, it is because Battambang is my hometown where I was born and grew up. So many memories there and I'm proud of it :).