Yahoo! Saturday. I was actually almost giddy last night coz I don’t have to get up early to fix breakfast. No classes so I could at least stay in bed till 7. But alas! Hi-ace and the kiddo have different plans. Both woke up so early. And when somebody is up, I can’t really just sleep. And besides the kiddo finds it fun to tickle me till I’ve no choice but to get up.

So what to do? Saturdays are my downtime. I don’t do anything, its my time to be lazy or to do whatever I fancied. So we just drove over to RUPP coz the kiddo wants to feed the fishes there. There’s a couple of small ponds in the university {IFL} with lots of tilapia fishes and she has taken a fancy to those fishes and always goes there to feed them. Then we had breakfast in the cafeteria there. Ssshh, this is one secret indulgence..breakfast in small Khmer eateries. I had…

Iced coffee – I dunno why Khmers like ice coffee for breakfast or anytime of the day, but I’m not complaining. I love coffee here.It’s soooooo good, a must try.

And beef kho kohr with yellow noodle – I lurve this noodle!!! And I like it really spicy so I dump a lot of chili on it! It was hot and so flavorful I almost wish I had Swisher Sweets to take out the spice!

After that burplicious and super cheap breakfast, we just drove around, dropped by a thrift shop then went to market to buy some ingredients for something I want to cook. When we got home I got busy making biko, a Filipino traditional delicacy made with sticky rice, coconut milk, palm sugar.

I had a fab day.. but geez, I realize dieting is making me weird. All photos I took today are of FOOD! Gah!!!

I never thought I’d say this – I Love Veggies! And I’ve got Cambodia to thank for this. Yes, Filipino food is very delicious albeit not so well known. But one complaint I have about Pinoy cuisine is that its heavy with fat, a lot of them fried, uses a lot of meat. And veggies are just an after thought. Pang-halo is the role of the veggies. Consequently, when I was younger, I never much cared for vegetables.

my vegetable  ’suki’ stall

Lol! I also remember distinctly, a friend of my cousin once said, she doesn’t like eating vegetables only coz she feels ‘poor’ while when she eats meat she feels ‘rich’. I know her line of thinking is weird for me now, but if one thinks about being healthy, then you’d know which choice to make.

fresh and cheap veggies @ the wet market

Cambodians though, eat the opposite way. Meats are just sahog, or for flavoring. Though they have viands using meat exclusively, 100% sure that would be served with fresh vegetables as side dish. Example, the grilled or boiled beef, pork cuts you can buy along the streets are served with a big plate of slice cucumber, tomatoes, mint and some other vegetables. Even balut would be served with a plethora of mint and leafy stuff aside from the sauce.

munchies. fried hotdogs, meatballs, fishballs etc always served with cucumber, mint…

Having Khmer in-laws have naturally exposed me more to follow this way of eating. We usually eat weekend lunches with my in laws and they prepare lots and lots and lots of vegetables.  And a lot of them cooked stir fried in wok {less oil}, boiled in soups or blanched|steamed. Pretty healthy eating and I stopped wondering why most of them are very slim and elders have great skin. Eating like that is like having herbal colon cleanse on a daily basis.

boiled pork intestines served with spicy sauce and always – lots of vegetables.

At first I resisted, but then I got used to it. And now life is not the same if I don’t have veggies. I get digestive problems whenever I gorge on just meat, sweets and starchy foods and no leafy veggies even for one day. Plus, buying vegetables in the markets here is sooo cheap. I spend around 15,000 Riels (< $4) for veggies and is enough for us the whole week..

I’m just really thankful, living in Cambodia has made me  discover a love for vegetables. I think this would be saving me a lot of doctor and hospital trips when I’m older.

Cambodia has  a sizable Chinese population and their influence in the Khmer culture is really evident. From their food, language and also their traditions and rituals. It’s hardly surprising that Chinese New Year is celebrated here in a more festive manner than the International New Years.

The Lunar New Year is not an official holiday here in Cambodia but even non-Chinese Khmers look forward to this occasion. Most shops and business are closed for a few days. Everything is quiet and majority just stay home, making offerings and praying, while the rest hightail it to the provinces.

Hubby’s family stays home mostly and observe a lot of rituals. They cook a lot of food (seriously a lot..and can last a few days..), make offerings, visit relatives, give gifts, on the first two days. Then the following days are usually rest days. All in all the celebration-holiday lasts for about 5 days.

Anyway, after we were done with offerings and prayers for the first day, we had nothing else to do. Most businesses were closed so Hi-ace decided we go visit the Chinese temple in Takhmao. So off we went. But it was soooooo crowded. I just ended up taking photos of the temple entrance.

A lot of people – Chinese and non-Chinese alike, were lining up the streets buying sugar cane stalks, pomegranate fruits and leaves and mien fruit which they will take inside the temple to be blessed. They believe sugar cane to bring in good luck, help foster harmonious relationships, the pomegranate they believe to ward off bad luck and evil, and the mien/longgan bring in prosperity and wealth.

We did not go inside the temple but instead went to another Chinese temple a few hundred meters from the first one. I love this temple and regularly visit. It’s pretty colorful, ornate, and not so crowded. There was mini-dragon dance and Chinks loves looking at their turtle pond..

I’ve been getting lots of emails, inquiries about my previous post about Finding the Ideal Internet Service Provider in Phnom Penh. And I also just realized the post was dated 2009 so its really out of date and cannot be of much help to anyone.

Thankfully, the fierce competition between ISP’s and with mobile phone networks joining the fray, has been so beneficial for us subscribers. On my previous post, I lamented the fact that internet here is so pricey. Not anymore. And that deserves a big YAY! from me. Whereas before one has to shell out hundreds just to get a lousy connection at home, now, you don’t have to spend big bucks to have a decent one.

I’m currently using Metfone’s METNET service. For some reason I think someone up above is favoring me and my 256 kbps connection has been reliable most of the time. Note that this uses a cable transmission wire and the only interruptions I’ve experienced was when the wires are cut off because of huge construction trucks annoyingly carting over the cable wires and cutting it off. And METNET’s technical team has been great at rushing over and getting it fixed usually within a few hours after I make a call.

I subscribed to a 256 kbps ($25/month) unlimited subscription. I was given this rate perhaps because were an old subscriber coz when I checked their current rates this is supposed to be $45. Also, whenever I do speed tests, I usually get numbers higher than my subscription.

So that’s why I’m sticking to MetNet for now. BUT, I can only speak for my location {Boeung Tompeun Area} coz some areas I’ve heard MetNet’s service is not as good. So I guess this is all a ‘wait-and-see’ game. If it doesn’t work, then its cheap enough to get another ISP provider.

Here’s a new and updated list of ISP’s here in Phnom Penh..{This is by no means a complete list, if you know new ISP’s, please leave a comment with the link so I could keep it updated}

Phnom Penh Mobile 3G Providers:

• CellCard (Mobitel)
• MFone
• Hello
• Smart (recently merged with Star Cell)
• Beeline
• QB More
• MetFone 3G
• Excell

Most of the providers introduces new packages, promotions, tariffs every so often so I won’t be including their internet packages in this post. Please just visit the links to get the most updated offerings.

Internet Service Providers:

• MFone Broadband
• Ezecom
• ClickNet
• Metfone’s METNET
• Online
• MekongNet
• Camintel
• CamNet
• AngkorNet
• CityLink
• TeleSurf
• PPCTV Broadband
• DigiNet
• Wizion (Chuan Wei)
• WiCam
• NeoCom
• CambodianBroadband

Last week we were hanging out with friends when we decided to have dinner out. We were in New Phnom Penh area so the easy choice was The Terrace. This pretty resto is located along the road to Limkokwing University. It’s quite easy to find the place, just look for the signage that resembles Starbucks but with a photo of Apsara.

Anyway, the place was highly recommended by our friends so I was in the mood to be surprised. And I was. Pleasantly.

Nice ambiance, the food was priced so reasonably, most were in $2-4 price range, and its was really yummy. That’s probably the reason why the place is usually packed from lunch till dinner. They also have buffet lunch for $3 only, which I promised to try out next.

Here’s what we ate. Forgot the names of some already, and besides ordering is a breeze, they have photos on the menu. Also, excuse the grainy quality of the photos. (1) I was starving – which explains the shaking hahaha (2) I forgot to bring my camera so I was using my phone camera…

deep fried quail birds

samlor prohal {Khmer vegetable soup}

Lahb {ground pork with chili, peppermint eaten with fresh vegetables – my runaway favorite}

Nhyom Traoung Chaek {Banana Heart Salad}

As with most Khmer restaurants, rice is unlimited..And this place gets two thumbs up from me. Good food, affordable prices. If I have three thumbs I’d give it a three hahaha.

I’m blogging because I’m bored. Yes!!! I’m bored. The past two days were hectic. Preparing this and that for the lunar new year. And today, I’ve just had my fill of too much food and wanted to hit the shops for some paper supplies and I also wanted to look for some art prints.

Hubby said, though that most shops are closed today and probably will open tomorrow or on Saturday. Wahhhhh! The streets are almost empty, I even told Hi-ace, I’ll have the guts to drive around the city if its empty like today. But that’s quite frustrating too coz I was in a ‘go out’ mood. But what can I do hahaha, that’s the way Khmers celebrate, they usually go hightail it to the provinces.

Anyway, with nothing much to do but eat, sleep, play video games, this morning we decided to go visit the Chinese temples in Tahkmao. Wow! It was packed with people. That’s actually our first time to go there and the past year we usually just make our offerings at home.

Will post photos and talk more about some unique Khmer-Chinese New Year rituals I learned about…soon. For now, I’ll be staying true to my promise. I’ll be relaxing and enjoying the new year downtime till tomorrow. =) Off to sleep now. Ciao!