Dec 31 2007
The Amigas in Phnom Penh
Do you remember your college friends? How much fun you used to have hanging out in the cafeteria and lamenting school and aping professors and gossiping about boys? Fifty years after college, do you think you would still have the same fun with your college friends as you used to have? Do you think that you and your college friends would still be glamorous and cosmopolitan and energetic as you were then? Or would you and your college friends, having lost all your hair and teeth would be rocking away the rest of your years in nursing homes? Or perhaps, you could be like The Amigas – five women in their 70s and 80s, chatty, glamorous with their dyed hair and designer clothes, adventurous, and galllivanting around Indochina and generally causing our quiet Phnom Penh lives in fun and riotous disarray.
They knew each other in St. Scholastica’s College in the fifties at a time when there was no Friendster nor Facebook for social networking, no e-mail and mobile phones for instant messaging. It was a time when all dates were chaperoned, girls wore dresses and heels, and nuns were pseudo-parents who kept their wards in line under their glaring eyes. Probably, the only thing similar would be that at that time, as now, it was in vogue for colegialas to cheer themselves silly during Ateneo-La Salle basketball games.
More than fifty years hence, The Amigas are still the same giggly girls, though with bigger waistlines and one or two streaks of silver hair. They don’t know how to use Facebook or Friendster, but they not only have kept in touch, using their senior citizen’s cards to get discounts during their monthly luncheons, but they have actually gotten together, not only for a mere party or get-together but for a grand tour of Indochina.
First they went to Ho Chi Minh, then Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat, and then Phnom Penh to visit us. From Phnom Penh, they went on to Hanoi (except for Mom who stayed with us for another week) and then back to Manila.
In Phnom Penh, Honey and I brought them to the Royal Palace and regaled them with stories of the king’s coronation.
But of course, the highlight was the trip to Toul Tompong where they went crazy buying semi-precious stones and other borloloys for their grandchildren. Naturally, I subjected them to the music of my choir, the Koro Filipino, during the annual Christmas Charity Bazaar of the Women’s International Group.
They were funny though. Save for Mom, they were the only people I know who travelled in exotic lands without cameras or cellphones. Honey and I had fun helping them sort out their vietnamese dong from their cambodian riels and their US dollars. And they didn’t complain one bit when they ate out of paper plates and paper cups when we had dinner in our apartment.
Do you think that when you’re 70 years old, you’d travel to exotic places with your college friends or do you think you wouldn’t even be able to remember their names? 
Happy New Year everyone!
Technorati tags: college friends
Phnom Penh
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It’s nice to see friends from school still keeping in touch after more than fifty years. Unfortunately, I’ve kept in touch with but a (select) few of my friends in high school and college. Am not much of an outgoing dude even back then, obviously.
Happy New Year, Tonette.
I was reading a book regarding international affairs. After a while, I read something about Cambodia (your blog was the first thing that came to my mind). It wrote that Cambodia was a politically unstable country.
Toe, I was curious if the statement was true and if yes, is it as politically unstable as our country?
Thanks you and happy new year to you and your family!
I don’t think our personalities really change except mine. One time I met a college friend in Singapore and she used to tell me that I was so quiet. Now I am more talkative. I still am quiet but not that shy.
ANyway, I love to travel and as long as my legs can carry or even not (using wheelchair) I would travel with my friends or family to exotic places.
Happy New Year!
I would definitely visit Cambodia if given a chance but not with college friends because I have no contact with them since I left PUP though I randomly found some of them thru face book, I don’t know, it seems like we’re different people now.
kakaingget tuloy sila
happy new year mam toe
Hi Snglguy! Happy New Year! Sometimes, it’s quite difficult to keep in touch with old schoolmates… mas madali with fellow bloggers, diba?
Hi Gilberto! Happy New Year! Cambodia is still suffering from the effects of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1975 to 1979 where almost two million people died of execution, starvation, malnutrition, disease, etc.. The Khmer Rouge also destroyed all institutions – government, courts, banks, hospitals, churches and temples, schools, and others.
Happy New Year Noemi! Oh, so used to be quiet pala. I hope that I would also be able to travel a lot – especially when I retire.
Manilenya, I don’t know how they do it either.
Maybe, we’ll find more things in common with old schoolmates when we’re older. Sila talaga… they meet regularly. 
Happy New Year Manilenya!
meron kami reunion ng elemnetary after n years kaso natuloy silang wala ako. had to delay my trip back home due to an important errand
happy new year, toe!
i love this kind of friendship. isn’t it nice to be with our classmates till we grow old?
Happy New Year to you and your loved ones Toe!
Friendships that last through decades is a rare gem. I’m impressed they are still bitten by the travel bug, that’s so cool!
Have a happy 2008
That was a nice post! Sana pagtanda ko, ganiyan din ako with my current barkada. The thing is, medyo nasa sulok kasi ako during undergrad, not really close to the batch. Paano ba naman, I was commuting back and forth from San Pedro, Laguna to Diliman. So pagtapos ng klase, uwi agad.
Anyways, I am trying to keep my current friends. One cannot have too many of them, anyways. And funny you mentioned that, but I just received an e-mail from a high-school friend of mine, that I somehow lost track, but he was able to find me by googling my name! It’s been eight years.
By the way, I’m pleased that you liked my shots of Mount Vernon. Don’t worry, I am saving them for a photo series, pero matagal-tagal pa siguro bago lumitaw, since I am not yet done with New York City, and I have plenty of other stuff before Washington DC to post.
not with college friends, Toe, i have not been in touch with anyone of them, maybe, i will try one of these days. will search their names in the net. but as to travel, i will travel for as long as my feet would carry me.
happy new year to you Toe and your Honey, to your family and your loved ones, too.
hopefully i’ll still have the energy to go traipsing around the world with friends at 70. nice to see the amigas enjoyed themselves! =) happy new year! =)
wow! kakainggit… I’d love to reunite with friends especially at that age
Happy New Year Toe!
huwaw. nakakatuwa naman ang The Amigas. Naisip ko tuloy kung umakyat ba sila ng Phnom Bakhaeng at kung paano, hehe. Kase kami nun hirap na hirap tapos noong makita namin mga matatanda umaakyat, tipong bigla kaming lumakas, aba kung kaya nila, kaya din dapat natin.
i am always amazed by people who were able to connect with each other amidst distance and time. i would love to meet my high school friends, 50 years from now. i still see some of them though. ang galing nga e kase karamihan sa kanila nahanap ko pa through friendster. meron ng nasa Dubai at kung saan-saang bahagi ng mundo. minsan, sobrang di ko na talaga sila matandaan na kailangan pa nilang ipaalala sa akin ang ilang mga instances. hehe. mahina ang memory ko minsan.
aba’t andami palang na-travel ng The Amigas. Nakarating pa ng Hanoi. Bonga. Bilib na talaga ako!
Hi Toe! May you have a bright and wonderful year ahead!
Tutubi, wow elementary! That’s amazing… too bad you missed it. Happy New Year Tutubi!
Ipanema, yes… especially the female kind no? Happy New Year to you and your family Ipanema!
Daphne, oh yes… I think they could travel more now during their retirement. Naku, your 2008 is going to be exciting Daphne!
Linguist, ang layo nga ng San Pedro to Diliman, sobra! It’s good that you really get to bond with your current friends. Sana nga we get to keep in touch with our friends even as we age. Padami ng padami no? Yes, your photos are amazing… and they take me to places in the States which I miss though I’ve been there… like Trinity Church… I walk by there but never went in… and Washinton’s estate.
Sexy Mom, hmmm… I’ve never tried that… searching for old friends in the net. Maybe, I’ll do it when I go back to Manila. Traveling could keep us young.
Happy New Year Sexy Mom! 
Carlotta, hehe… ginulo nila kami.
Happy New Year Carlotta! 
Pining, maybe in my next posting, they’d visit me again when they’re all in their eighties.
Happy Ne Year Pining! 
Rayts, hehe… no, I don’t think they went up Phnom Bakheng. Kahit sa Angkor Wat, save for my Mom and another Tita, they just crossed the causeway and stopped there. Alam naman nila yung limits nila… which is good because they all went back home safe and sound.
Ang galing nga nila… they don’t have Friendster yet they still keep in touch. Naku, pareho tayo… mahina din memory ko… dami kong classmates na di ko na naaalala. 
Yes, they went to Hanoi… talo pa nila ko… never been there yet. 
Thanks Rey and Happy New Year to you and your loved ones!
They travel without a camera? That’s real cool, huh? Nice to be surrounded with friends even in ‘old’ age.
I love it!! You know that your mom is my idol and of course my ninang! I love her energy, sincerity and simplicity!! We all can learn many life lessons from her..I know I have. I love her dearly.
Happy New Year, cuz!!
Rosanne
Abaniko, and I didn’t see any credit cards either. They were all paying everything (including hotels ha) in cash. I had quite a reverse culture shock.
Shhhhh about the old age. 
Rosanne, oh thanks… I’m sure Mom would love to read your nice words. She’s amazing, isn’t she? Happy New Year cuzin!!!
Kakatuwa naman yan, I hope at my age I could also travel like them. hehehe. And more importantly with the same travel buddies as well. Happy new year Toe
that is amazing! imagine after more than fifty years, they got together and traveled together. i think the chances of this kind of reunion is one in a million.
Suosdei Chhul Chhnam Thmey to you and your honey, Toe.
Ang saya naman nila!
Ferdz, I’m sure you would… you love traveling too much to let age stop you.
Evi, yeah… I really don’t know how they do it. Last night nga, the old classmates had another party.
ZJ Suosdei cham whatever…. hehehe! Happy New Year ZJ!
Happy New Year Toe and Honey ! Wow this is exciting because keeping in touch isn’t easy. I would like to be in their places, I mean when I get older uhhhmmm medyo tanders na rin ako hehehe I would really like to do the same although I still have contacts of my elementary, high school & college friends even my officemates of different companies, I keep them like diamonds will love to travel with them! Anyway, everytime I go back on vacation to Pinas I always have their warm welcome, let’s say Dinner out…sometimes time isn’t enough to see everyone, yung iba nagtatampo na…sarap ng maraming kaibigan
!
ALL THE BEST FOR 2008 TOE & HONEY !
no camera, no credit cards, also no husbands/chaperones with them?
and they all look good! parang fresh from the saloon habang nagto-tour!
Haze, oh thank you! Happy New Year to you, Frenchie, and your children too!
Aaaah, you have plenty of friends…. it’s good that you still keep in touch with them. And you still meet when you go back to the Philippines. That is so wonderful!
Zherwin, oh yes… they always look fresh and young and made up… I don’t know how they do it.
Wow! that’s great! I can only wish for the same young and fresh looks when I hit their age
Happy New Year Toe!
Momoftwo,that’s my wish too.
Happy New Year Momoftwo! 