This morning  I took our my planner thinking I should really organize myself coz I’m guilty of having done almost nothing this month. And I just had to sigh coz April is almost over.

Everything.. the days of this month just passed me by like it was some tornado. I guess it was the overabundance of Khmer holidays that set me to thinking I have all the time in the world to finish things but really, I am always cramming.

I’m almost done with my Khmer classes, with just a few more weeks to go on. And I’m pretty much pleased with myself coz I could now read (very very slowly – ha!) simple Khmer sentences. Yay! to me. Level 2 would make things easier in terms of speaking and writing and I’m looking forward to enrolling in that class.

During Khmer New Year, we stayed in Phnom Penh deciding we didn’t want to go with the hordes of people traveling out of the city. It was a very good call coz friends and relatives told me a lot of places in the provinces were pretty much crowded. And I loathe that. Too much crowd gives me claustrophobia and we usually stay away from places in need of serious crowd control. We had Phnom Penh very much to ourselves and I loved it.

My husband however didn’t feel that happy that we didn’t go anywhere. Lol. Between the two of us, he has an ‘itchy-er’ feet. And since it was going to be a start a new semester in his university, he decided we need to go somewhere.

So we decided to climb up to Bokor Mountain in Kampot. Have a look around at the new casino, take photos of the awesome mountain views, then go down to Kep for some downtime, swimming and seafood. I’ll be posting about the trip with photos and videos (of the trip up Bokor Mountain) soon. I just need to sort it out and do a bit of editing first.

More later.

Yay! Time for my random blurbs. Why is it that now that I am doubly busy, I am more motivated to blog? I’m weird like that. Or perhaps I just have a lot of stories struggling to be told. Hahaha. I know it sounds serious but what I have are just mundane everyday stuff.

• Phnom Penh was in a bit of a frenzy this past week. The ASEAN Summit was held here so traffic jams, soldiers in full uniforms, attentive police (for once!), journalists, convoys abound. Some universities were told to suspend classes to lessen the traffic jams. And I did have a lot of fun getting stuck in the traffic and watch out for those wang wangs and diplomatic bigwigs and their convoys.

• And yup, a big indicator if there are some foreign dignitaries/visitors in this country: lots and lots of flags scattered throughout the city. Here’s a big lot of them in front of Chaktomouk Theatre along Sisowath Quay.

• I’m very very excited. Why? Khmer New Year is almost upon us and I’m always happy when it comes around. Not that I would stop working on my online projects and blogging, but the one week vacation would be a wonderful reprieve for me. And besides hubby and the kiddo won’t have work/school so we’ll all be together. We might go somewhere else for some R & R but at this time our plans are fluid. Bwahaha.. It’s subject to change and follow our whims.

• My Khmer language classes are going really well. You won’t believe how happy I was the first time I was able to read a sentence written in Khmer. I was practically giddy, I dunno why. Perhaps because I have always thought this language is difficult to learn and here I am actually making some progress in learning it. As of now, I only know about 15 consonants and a couple of vowels and I still have a long long way to go, but right now I’m all positive I could do it.

• Going back to school, even if its just a short course, is bringing some excitement back in my life. Not that my life now is not exciting but I kinda feel old. But going to school and seeing kids like these in the photos makes me feel a bit younger. Ha! I think there really is some truth to some advice I heard or read before that when you surround yourself with young ‘uns you’ll feel younger. See.. The snapshot below looks idyllic. Sigh.

I was browsing my blog last night and it suddenly occurred to me, I had been posting mostly photos the past few months and writing less and less. Sigh. So much for trying to use this blog to practice writing. One of the main reasons I post a whole load of photos is that I’m obsessed with taking snapshots and I have this little belief that my photos share a better story than I do.

But this isn’t exactly how I envisioned my blog to be. And I have to slowly steer myself to writing more, at least alternate the photos with some articles and stories about living in Cambodia.

Right now I wanna get on with my weeky random ramblings..

• Cambodia is now getting sooo hot. It’s scorching hot that I rarely venture out because I always get migraines because of the heat. And were just in mid-March, my husband reckons it’ll be hotter in April. And that just scares me.

• I’m doing a bit of window shopping for some jewelry. My mom fancies some gold chains and we figured we’d gift her with some, if the quality and the price is right. Has anyone of you had any experience buying gold from those shops near Central Market? I also checked out some shops in Russian Market for made-to-order jewelry, but I’m scared about making a mistake and buying some fakes. I don’t know much about jewelry and I doubt I ever will know much. It’s just not an interest with me. But I want to have some nice ones for my mom so..

• I’ve been receiving a lot of emails from readers and I love interacting with them, and answering questions that I can.  Majority of them are very nice folks and its just makes me doubly passionate about blogging knowing that there are indeed a few people who reads this blog.

• Among those who email me, there are also those I find very rude. Some demand information from me  (usually about traveling to Cambodia) without so much as a please. I am NOT a travel agency and while I take pleasure in answering emails or tweets with tips on traveling, please be mindful of your manners too. I find it disgruntling when I receive an email demanding me to book a hotel or send them a hotel address.I would gladly help out with recommendations but please ask nicely. And it’ll be nice too if you learn how to use Google.

• I’m getting busy planning trips. April is my daughter’s birthday and it falls on a holiday. So we are planning going somewhere. She and (both me and hubby too) are not big on parties and during birthdays, we usually travel to someplace where we could enjoy being together and have some relaxation time. I’m looking up some hotels and let’s see where we end up.

• Were also going to the Philippines in June for my father’s 1st death anniversary (how time flies..) and as of now we have plans to also spend a few days in Malaysia. My daughter is itching to go up Petronas. I wonder why when it really just makes me feel queasy. Last time I went there, I went running to the bathroom the moment the ‘tour’ was over. Lol. But since she seems really interested, we’ll brave it again. Then after a few days we’ll fly to Manila. Going back we’ll be trying the Manila-Siem Reap, Cebu Pacific direct flight.

• And uh, its my birthday this weekend. Yay! I’m getting older and yes, more fabulous. Choz! Hahaha. My plans? Hubby wanted to go somewhere to celebrate, but moi? I want to stay here in Phnom Penh, eat a lot of steak, have a total spa pampering (scrub, wrap, massage, sauna–the works!). And my birthday wish is not to do any chores for two whole days. I’ll miss scrubbing the bathroom if its more than 2 days, noh?

Hey, how was your Chinese New Year celebrations? Ours was really fun and merry with lots of food involved. Lol. Khmer-Chinese really celebrate the lunar new year with much fervor. Even local Khmers are now joining in with the festivities! While this is not an official holiday, well, people do take a break. Lots of shops and businesses are closed for three days. So the cities empty out and a lot of people go to provinces to just relax and have a bit of downtime.

Chinese lanterns @ Koh Pich (Diamond Island) Park

As for us, we observed the usual Chinese rituals, offering food, incense and prayers to departed ancestors. Then the next few days were spent eating, playing cards, spending time with the whole clan and it was capped with a road trip.

Now, I’m pretty much tired but revved up. I feel like I’m all in good mood and hearing good music. I guess that little break has done wonders to my mind set.

The food and celebration though has wreaked havoc on my diet so I started today doing vigorous high impact aerobic exercises. I feel really good afterwards and its like my own body metronomes are all in tune and working! And the good news is that when I checked the weighing scale..I didn’t gain any weight. Uh, thank God for healthy Chinese food and the workouts. Lol.

Hey. I’ve been out and about so I didn’t have much time to blog. It’s almost Christmas but I’m not really feeling the season since Cambodia is not really much into it. But the breeze and the weather is just great. Very cool and dry. I could just spend days just lazing around, drinking my espresso and doing nothing. I wish. Lol.

But we’ve been taking advantage of the cool weather to do our bit of gallivanting. For the past three weekends, we’ve been out and about. Our Saturdays usually start with jogging at the parks, drive around and end up having lunch somewhere. Just last week we discovered a great lunch place popular with Khmers. The one with hammocks, raised platforms and nipa huts. We had a hearty Khmer lunch and napped on hammocks. I keep thinking this is what life is about. Heh.

Another weekend we visited a farm belong to Hi-ace’s friend. It was a totally lazy day with us just eating non-stop, lazing around in floating huts like this and trying our best to catch some fish.

Sigh. This is one of the best things I love about living in Cambodia. I really get to stop, relax and have  a look around. And what I see, I really really like.

Next week is back to reality for me. I’m in an ‘almost panic mode’ now coz I haven’t really done any planning for Christmas and New Years. We were supposed to go to some beach for New Year’s Eve but that would cancelled since most hotels we want are now fully booked. We’ll probably be having a party with family and friends instead. So now I’m on hunt for pressies, so spyder jackets here I come! And thankfully, markets and malls here are not as crowded as in Manila. My friend tells me malls in Manila are danger zones now. I know too well how the Christmas rush there goes.