Living in Phnom Penh: And We Just Got LUCKY!

Posted by Lui on Aug 31st, 2010 | 2 comments

If I’m in the Philippines and I am asked what is the first thing I would think about when the word-LUCKY is mentioned, I would be quick to answer – Lucky Me! Pancit Canton. But here in Phnom Penh, when the word lucky is mentioned I’ll be thinking of —Phnom Penh’s very own, Lucky Burger -The Original Homegrown Cambodian Fastfood! And I actually like it! It’s definitely no McDonald’s but I think it can hold it’s own against those giant fast food franchises. I even prefer it to KFC sometimes.

Yesterday, we’ve been doing a bit of clearing our teeny weeny backyard coz when Hi-ace returns he plans to build an outhouse there and perhaps place a wooden swing set for Chinks. Anyway, after a few hours of sweeping, Chinks had been complaining and wanting to eat out.

Crunchy Lucky Burger french fries..

That’s my chicken burger, fries and Chinkee’s nuggets..

I asked her where she wants to eat and she says she wants Lucky Burger Nuggets! That’s her usual choice and of course, me I always go for their french fries, fried chicken burger. I find them affordable, a hamburger costs about $1 up add up fries and drinks and you get a bill of about $3. Their nuggets cost about $1.90 for a serving of I think 10 pcs? Shh, truth is, its fast becoming my comfort food here..

Anyway, food in Lucky Burger is good and they serve fast. And I kinda like going local and helping those locally grown businesses. If you’re around Phnom Penh, do try Lucky Burger. At least you get to have the local Cambodian version of McDonalds. Check out Lucky Burger website to know more about them.

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Simply Thinking Ahead..

Posted by Lui on Aug 31st, 2010 | 0 comments

I’ll be a little busy tonight. Mostly coz I’m organizing all my papers about my Social Security System (Philippines)  membership. Yes, I have my SSS and I’ve decided to continue on paying my contribution as a voluntary member.

Why? I’m thinking ahead. I know its not much but having some sort of security, a pension to look forward to when I reach the age of 60, medical, disability,calamity, and death benefits and a whole lot of other benefits. You can also avail of loans like business, housing and calamity loans..

When I was working I was a member and had regular contributions. You only need to have at least 120 months of contribution to be eligible for those benefits. But when I stopped working, I was just too negligent to continue but now I’ve decided to pick up where I left off. I was thinking it will be hard to do now that I’m living abroad, but thankfully banking facilities make it much easier. Now I could just pay monthly through BancNet’s Online Banking Facility.

It’s just another form of saving and I’m glad I’m making it..

Are you an OFW or you simply want to become an SSS member? Just checkout their website for more info.

a New Toy…

Posted by Lui on Aug 31st, 2010 | 0 comments

Well not exactly new anymore and truth is somebody sequestered it already from me lol! I’ve blogged about wanting to buy a netbook a gazillion posts ago. I wanted it mostly because I like drafting posts even when I’m traveling or just somewhere else other than in front of my good old reliable desktop. I also wanted something where I could read my e-books but since I don’t want to buy an e-book reader ( I think they are too pricey!), a netbook was the best choice considering its small, handy size.

I decided to do my gadget buying in Manila, and I was actually torn between three choices, a Lenovo S10-3 Premium Mini, a Samsung N150P, or an Asus EEE-PC 1005P. What won in the end? The Asus EEE-PC and why I picked that? I loved how it looked, the overall look is sleek. I also fell for the really nice touchpad and comfy comfy keypads. It already came with Windows 7 plus 250 GB hard disk memory. It was good buy for its price.  I got it for $490 (about Php 21,900) and since I paid in cash, I got myself a free optical mouse, a keypad protector, a headset, a 4GB USB storage device, and a slip case.

It comes in white, pink, midnight blue and black but of course, I picked the black, why? Hehe so when it gets dirty I don’t see the dirt much lol!

I was also supposed to get an Asus Portable DVD+/-R/RW External Drive or a Nokia Mobile Phone to be claimed in ASUS World in Megamall, but I was just so pissed to go there a couple of times and they keep saying they don’t have a stock until the promo claiming period was over. I was disappointed with Asus about this.

But anyway, the netbook was really nice, a great thing to lug around. It has a really long battery life, about 8-9 hours based on my experience, but they did say if you’d be able to use it for at least 11 hours if you maximize the battery and I do wonder how I could do that hehe..

When we got back here in Phnom Penh though, Hi-ace took a liking for it. It’s a tiny thing and very light so he reckons it’ll be better to bring it with him instead of his own laptop. So, now I’m stuck with Hi-ace’s Acer laptop, but I don’t really mind. I rarely use it anyway now that I’m back together with my desktop. Hayyy, what do you know, I guess I’m that old fashioned

@ The Singapore Flyer

Posted by Lui on Aug 27th, 2010 | 1 comment

Chinks and I had a brief stopover in Singapore on the way to Manila from Phnom Penh. We only have two days to do our bit of gallivanting around Singapore but I was just so not in the mood to do a thorough tour. We’ll probably do that again when Hi-ace is with us, but since it was just me and Chinks plus I was a bit under the weather that time, we just decided on eating, a little mall hopping and Chinkee just wants to ride the flyer.

Okay, I would have wanted to check out the newly opened Universal Studios but I’d prefer to have somebody else with us. Traveling with a hyperactive kid is just exhausting. Anyway, Singapore is a small city and their transportation system I found easy and convenient, its clean and for some odd reason I find myself thinking of Insinkerator disposals whenever I see the streets of Singapore. .

After checking in our hotel, we hauled ourselves in a cab and went on to Singapore Flyer. It was drizzling a bit and gloomy, and I was thinking it should have been better if we went there in the evening. Singapore Flyer is in this huge, mall-like complex. There are lots of shops, restos, and nice views all around.

Ticket costs S$29.50 for adults and S$20.65 for the kiddo. We got into the tube and prepared ourselves to be dizzy! But I thought wrong, I couldn’t even feel it move! All I know was that we were moving higher up and the views getting fantastic by each minute. One round takes about 20 minutes and we had a cool time snapping photos. It was lucky too that it was just Chinks me and another couple with one kid on the big capsule.

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Twas’ fun but Chinks said riding a roller coaster is better. Haha!

Lethargic Me..

Posted by Lui on Aug 27th, 2010 | 3 comments

Well, that’s me for the past few days. You might have noticed, I did a few posts, mostly of meme variety. I know I still owe you guys some posts and photos of our vacation, but I guess my procrastination period is not yet on a declining trend, lol!

I  resemble this right now. Really! Except I must say, I’m better looking..lol!

I guess I’m feeling melancholic about not having Hi-ace here and this is not so good for me. When I’m feeling like this I tend to binge. Till now I can’t believe I went on a ice cream and pizza shopping spree the day after hubby left? I ate a pint of ice cream and one whole double pizza just by myself, and I felt horrible afterwards, like I could never get up anymore..

Thankfully, Ouwie and Chinks are with me and keep dragging me everywhere. One lucky thing too, MIL keeps bringing us food, cooked food and fruits so we have no need to cook most of the time. I’m also happy I’ve got friends here in Phnom Penh who I could go out with, pass the time with coffee, girl talk, and thrifting!

I’m keeping busy with my multitude of blogs and I’m ecstatic about some blog experiments I’ve been making. I’ve got a couple of new blogs needing a lot of tweaking and I’m having a grand time doing so. I’m also helping out a cousin with a web project and another cousin with his medical job search. Hmm, my sched is a bit full, so why am I feeling so lazy and bone tired?

Perhaps, I’m in need of some pampering? I should visit a spa and have a scrub or something.. More soon..

Splashing Fun in Springzone, Albay

Posted by Lui on Aug 18th, 2010 | 3 comments

You know one thing I like about our place in Bicol, Philippines? Proximity to resorts! If I want to have a swim in the ocean, my parents place are right in Bacacay Albay where we are surrounded by black sand beaches! The town right next to us, Sto. Domingo also has their fair share of beaches. If I want to go for white sand beaches and a bit of luxury, I could just as easily hop on a boat a head for Cagraray Islands where beaches are almost as superb as other popular beach spots in the country albeit more secluded.

Camarines Sur Water Sports Complex is also just two hours drive while Caramoan peninsula in Camarines Sur can be reached in half-day. So, we didn’t really need to go on long trips to get the swimming my daughter wants to have during our vacation.

Another great discovery we made is that spring and pool resorts are popping out everywhere! This is a good news specially since it does encourage more active tourism and it provides jobs and us a great variety of place to enjoy. Here’s one very near our house – Springzone Resort in San Jose Malilipot Albay. We could get there in less than 15 minutes! Went there early morning so there’s less crowds and Chinks had a happy time splashing around. The water though is from the spring so its really really cold and just perfect to cool you down.

I’m Back and Still Frazzled!

Posted by Lui on Aug 18th, 2010 | 2 comments

Dear heavens, I woke up this morning and realized that I’ve been back for at least seven days and I haven’t updated this blog! Considering that this is my main blog, my personal blog and I forgot! That, I think shows how frazzled and overwhelmed I am this time. I luv this blog and I always keep it updated but not last week. I think I’m just about ready for a opiate detox to calm myself!?

I was looking for a cartoon to let you on how I look and feel today and I think this comes close. I know she looks about 10 years old, but just use your imagination and add up about two decades and that’ll be me..

Chinks and I got back from the Philippines on August 11th. We made another brief stop in Singapore then we took the night flight to Phnom Penh. We had a bit of a scare when there was engine shut down right before the plane took off but thankfully the delay was just less than two hours. But it was frightening, really. I’m just lucky Chinks goes right into sleep whenever she boards a plane so she was oblivious to everything. In any case, we got home safe and sound. The vacation was great but it felt so good to back in Phnom Penh and seeing Hi-ace, my sister Ouwie and my in-laws.

Once I got here I got busy cleaning, doing laundry and also preparing Hi-ace’s stuff. Then yesterday, we brought him to the airport for his flight to Taipei then on to LA. I miss him already, I don’t have anyone to fight banter with hehe.. He’ll be gone till December 21st so I feel really really weird right now. But we’ll manage for the next four months and thankfully my mother in law constantly checks on us, bringing us food and even groceries hehe lucky me! Also, my Khmer nieces and nephew are at my ‘beck and call’ in case we need something or have an errand to run.

I owe you guys more updates, and it’ll be coming in the next few days. It will mainly be about our vacation =).. More later..

It’s Ready To Blast Off!

Posted by Lui on Jul 26th, 2010 | 1 comment

I’ve been thinking, ‘What will I do if I ran out of blogging ideas?’ For a blogger, that is something dreadful and frustrating. And yes, there are times that I am always out of ideas to blog about, especially since I have several blogs to update.

There are times I have in mind to write a post about serious stuff like term life insurance quotes but more often than not I stop myself, coz I keep thinking, duh! stuff like that would not interest anyone, its boring..

Thankfully, as a mom there are a lot more things (some maybe mundane. .) that I could blurb about. One thing I like writing about is my daughter’s advertures and misadvertures and her funny quips. Oh, she does say and do a lot of funny things, some I even forget about, but there sure are things that stand out. Like this one..a word of warning: some ultra sensitive folks might find the topic of ‘poop’ a put off..

On to the story..right now, were on vacation and staying in my parents house in Bicol, Philippines and Chinks have taken to eating a lot and when we arrived she had a hard time following her regular ‘poop’ schedule. I guess the few days of travelling threw her off the routine. But anyway, after two days here, she was in the bathroom trying to err lay her golden eggs without much success.

I figured she was having a hard time so I stayed with her..I’ve been plying her with fluids the past few days to make things easier, but she was still having a hard time. I guess she was getting frustrated that she blurted out, “Mommy, all the things I ate is here in my tummy and not coming out”, but she wouldn’t budge from the toilet seat. And when she was just about to poop, she shouted excitedly, ‘Mommy!!! It’s all ready to blast off!’ I guess, its so like her to describe it as something similar to a space ship being launch in space..

Lol! The joys of having a child..