When you look at it, its not overly appetizing. But trust me, its really yummilicous! And healthy to boot. Made of Khmer nom ban chouk noodles, drizzled with sauce made from flaked fish and spices, then topped with veggies. As for veggies, you can take your pick on what to add. I prefer adding monggo sprouts, mint, lotus stem stalks, cucumber.. This has actually become one of my Khmer comfort foods.
Happy Food Trip Friday, everyone!
Cebu Pacific Juan to Fly? Promo:
Manila to Legazpi or Naga | Cebu to Clark, Davao, Ozamiz, Pagadian or Surigao | Davao to Iloilo – P488
Manila to Tagbilaran or Roxas – P788
Manila to Ozamiz – P888
Manila to Ho Chi Minh – P1288
Manila to Brunei, Guangzhou, Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur – P1488
Manila to Osaka – 2088
Today’s gonna be the last day of the sale! So go hurry and grab yourself some cheap tickets and have a vacation. Lol! I know I should have posted it earlier, but I guess I was too preoccupied scoring deals. Heh. I just got back first week of July and now I’m trip planning again. Sigh. The expense, the expense. But I can’t help myself, I miss my family terribly and unless I could find budget rates for conferencing calling, then I’d have to fly home from time to time.
Were going home again for All Soul’s Day, and kiddo and I will be leaving on the last week of October and going back early November. And yay! I scored discount tickets from Cebu Pacific and were traveling via Ho Chi Minh on the way to Manila. I’m quite giddy with the savings I scored coz that is more than enough to pay for our RT ticket from Manila to Legazpi! Imagine, the usual no discount fare for 2 pax Saigon-Manila would be around $200++ but yesterday I booked and paid less than $128!
So yeah, I’m in a pretty good mood. Hahaha. Anyway, its weekend and I’m wondering what to do..Any suggestions?
Phnom Penh has a lot of really interesting buildings, mostly Khmer style buildings. But the city also boasts an impressive collection of [intlink id="1066" type="post"]French colonial buildings[/intlink]. Here’s one prime example. The Main Post Office Building near Wat Phnom. It’s grand and imposing. I find it romantic for some reason, so I’m usually shutter-happy whenever I go near than place..
This building was built during the French Protectorate period in 1895. This is where you get to send your letters and parcels 
). Check out more of my [intlink id="7006" type="category"]Cambodia Photos[/intlink] on my [intlink id="1528" type="page"]Cambodia Gallery[/intlink].
Something that never fails to interest me. Floating houses! Mostly occupied by Vietnamese-Khmers. There are some along the banks of Mekong River here in Phnom Penh. Take a river cruise and the boat passes a few of these houses. At first I thought, this might be uncomfortable for them, but then I realized this is a way of life for them. Hi-ace also talked to one Khmer living in one of these houses and he said, they do own a piece of land and have a house there but they prefer living above water.. Their livelihood is there and they are comfortable there. Makes sense to me.
I have something to celebrate. Yahoo!!!! I’ve got my work and blogging mojo back! After more than 8 weeks of heehawing, indulging my procrastination habit, I’ve finally started doing something productive. For two days now, I have finally managed to move all my files from my blogging desktop PC to my blogging laptop. And last night I’ve been reorganizing, organizing {and I think making more mess as I went along…hahaha} and I’m also starting to restructure my blogs and had been making notes on what to tweak and improve on. So yes, I’m finally back to being alive. Lol!
And I think that deserves a little reward. The other day, I met an old friend and we spent the whole day talking and slurping on our favorite brew. We met up along Phnom Penh’s famous riverside and had our cup at Cafe Fresco. You know another thing I loooooove about Phnom Penh? Every corner there is a coffee shop. Yes, I’m not even kidding. Even those noodle places serve coffee, so the coffee addict in me is just so at home here. One of the more modern, cooly air-conditioned, with lots of perks coffee places here is Cafe Fresco. They have a couple of branches in the city, but I tend to favor the one in the riverside. I find the crew there nice. Anyway, here’s what I rewarded myself with…
…Baklava…
{i always get that ‘i wanna laugh out loud’ feeling whenever I hear this word}
…Flat white coffee…
This would be a long, word heavy post. A rarity for me, I know. I was actually at a loss on what to post about and has been discussing which motorcycle gps would be the coolest to use with hubby and neighbors when it suddenly occurred to me, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the easy and affordable way to travel Manila-Phnom Penh and also about the overland travel between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh. So why not post about my recent trip?
Ever since we started living here in Cambodia, my usualy way when going home to Manila would either be Phnom Penh-Singapore-Manila, or Phnom Penh-Bangkok-Manila or Phnom Penh-Kuala Lumpur-Manila. I preferred this route because I usually traveled with a child. I know of some Pinoy friends who suggest going by bus to Ho Chi Minh then taking the PAL or Cebu Pacific flight to Manila. I got the chance to try the route when I traveled last May alone.
It was a really straight forward, hassle free trip. From Phnom Penh, I simply bought a Mekong Express bus ticket. I took the morning trip (8:30 am) coz I wanted to get to Saigon while its still bright, mainly coz I’m alone and scared. Lol. This is actually my favorite bus to ride when going to Ho Chi Minh. For just $12 you get a comfy seat, a bottle of chilled water and a croissant and a wet towel. They also have an English speaking guide on board who would assist you. Before you get onboard, the staff would check your passport/visa, then if you have luggage to deposit, they will be tagged properly. The trip was smooth going and without hassles. The bus has a restroom but I didn’t try using it. They will stop once for lunch very near the Bavet border, the rest-stop place is clean and has good food options. Then the guide would assist you on crossing the border. The process would take about 30 mins and you have to get your luggage and have it screened when you get to the Vietnam immigration. Before 2 pm I was already in Ho Chi Minh. Travel time is about 6 hours including immigration checks.
Got down in Pham Ngu Lao area, walked around a bit. When it was time to go to the airport I simply hailed a Vinasun {Innova} taxi, fare amounted to 140,000 Dong {about $7}. When in Ho Chi Minh, I would recommend using just Vinasun or Mai Linh taxi as taxi scams are well-known in the area. And do ask insist to use the meter. Then I took the Cebu Pacific flight to Manila which leaves at around 1 am.