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.

Thanks for hopping along again.. Please do subscribe to my blog's via RSS or Email and be regularly updated.

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

Living in Phnom Penh: Warm and Friendly Khmers..

Posted by Lui on Aug 28th, 2010 | 6 comments

When we moved here in Phnom Penh, one of my biggest apprehensions was getting along with Khmers. What if they are not nice? What if I find them unapproachable or what if they find me obnoxious? What if I I don’t get along with any of them? I’m famous known among my friends to be aloof and could sometimes be brutally frank. People usually assume at first that I’m unfriendly and I just can’t help the way I am, I’m just not the type to let people close when I hardly know them at all. I’m far from those friendly, ‘social butterfly’ types of person. So, let’s just say, I was scared about how I would fare socially here.

I guess I let my crazy anxieties get the better of me, coz when I got here I was just proven wrong.  I found Khmers to be very friendly and warm. When we arrived I got along famously first with my nephews and nieces mainly because I could easily communicate with them in English. I remember our first day, Hi-ace’s niece set aside half her day so she could tour me around the market and help me buy the things I need. She had always been ready to help with everything.

Cutie Khmer kids..

Khmer ‘Ta’  (grandpa) manning a store..

My Khmer sister-in-law’s are also very very nice. It’s a pity I can only speak and understand a smattering of Khmer but they never left me out and go to some length using sign language to make me understand.

They are tactile sort too. They are touchy and don’t be surprised to see people holding hands even men! I remembered I was really surprised when a few days of knowing me, one of my sister in law walked around in a mall with me and it was just natural for her to hold my arm or drape her hands over my shoulders companionably. I wasn’t used to that, but I must confess I felt touched that she didn’t consider me strange enough to stay aloof from me.

(more…)

@ 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.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

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..

Food Trip Friday 16: Korean Dongas and Bibimbap

Posted by Lui on Aug 20th, 2010 | 9 comments

Not cooking this time, I guess I’m too lazy. I haven’t really tried much of the food courts in malls here mainly because I’m not a fan of the coupon system, its a hassle! And another reason is that I’m not yet even halfway trying those tempting restos all across Phnom Penh.

Anyway, yesterday Chinks wanted to go to the play area in the mall and we discovered that there is an uncrowded, and fairly big play area within Phnom Penh’s Sovanna Mall food court. While waiting for her, my sister and I ended up browsing the food stalls and we were surprised at what we saw. Tempting, yummy food at super affordable prices. The steepest price I saw was about 10,000 Riels for a huge meal!

And since I’m a huge fan of Korean food we ended up making a beeline for the Korean food stall. Not much variety but what we saw we liked. Ouwie who haven’t tried Korean food got herself the Korean version of Dongas, breaded pork cutlets with lots of side dishes, this is of Japanese origin but was adapted by Koreans, I think.

I got myself my all time fave Bibimbap, steamed white rice with lots of veggies, meat, fried/raw egg, with lots of steaming hot sauce and mixed together..

Each set cost just 8,000 R (about $2) and we both made a promise well go back every after few days so we could sample everything they’ve got in that food court. It was that good!

Almost Over..

Posted by Lui on Aug 1st, 2010 | 3 comments

Still here in Bicol and have one more week vacation time. What have I been doing the past week? Well, I took advantage of the sunny weather and hopped on a lot of places and visited friends and relatives. It was a good thing coz just yesterday it was scorching hot and today its so gloomy and rainy. Trust the weather to be that fickle.

For the next two days, I’m staying in the house coz I’m badly sunburned and even the best face cream or sun block could not do much to keep the sun burns at bay. My mom, me and my cousin have plans to do something like a cooking fest, its just too bad my brother is not here to sample the cooking. I remember he is always willing to be the guinea pig for our kitchen experiments.

Before long, I have to pack our stuff again, were leaving for Manila on the 8th, and we have two days to visit friends based in Manila and also to do a bit of malling. I’m crossing my fingers and praying for good weather when we fly to Manila. I’m a bit paranoid about flying when its so rainy and foggy and besides I’m with Chinks!

My dad too for sure would suffer a bit of separation anxiety so were propping him up from now on about our leaving. I remember last time we left it was really hard for him and he could hardly sleep for a week and I’m hopping he’d be a little used to us coming and going. My mom though is okay and besides she has something to look forward to coz next year she’ll be visiting us in Phnom Penh!

Hmmm, I can’t imagine our Pinas vacation is almost over, it was good but we do have to get back to reality. I’ve relaxed a bit here and for the past weeks have been relatively stress free so I’m all set to work and take on whatever the next few months dishes out on me. I also miss Hi-ace so I’m eager to go back to Phnom Penh..

Her Miniature Cactus Collection

Posted by Lui on Jul 24th, 2010 | 1 comment

It was lovely, just lovely to see the place where I grew up. I always thought we were lucky to be raised in a not-so cramped place with loads of space for us to run around and burn out our excess energies. My parents are now both retired and they devote majority of their time gardening. Before we left, my mom was obsessed with raising orchids, bromeliads, anthuriums, and bonzais while my dad loved his cacao trees, fire trees and lately ferns.

My mom though has this really cute collection of small cactuses and I just can’t get enough snapping photos. She also placed them on old tree roots, an ingenious idea if you ask me and it makes an interesting display.

I’ve been helping a bit with gardening and I must say I think I inherited the green thumb and its a good way to exercise. I’m thinking I won’t be needing diet pills to burn extra calories..

I just wish I could have my own garden back in Phnom Penh..