Tag Archives: Phnom Penh

Living in Phnom Penh: Summer Time!

I was reading a friend’s blog and she had me on her blog list with the latest blog feed featured. I was shocked to see my last post for this blog was five weeks ago. Wow! Five weeks!! And I have never gone from blogging that long. Even when I was on travel, I always made it a point to drop by and blabber a bit even if just to talk about indoor wall fountains for your home. So what’s up with Lui in Penh this March?

To be honest, nothing much. Really. I’m just not coping that well with the extreme heat here. Were averaging 35° here in Phnom Penh (some days even hotter!) and not even a spatter of rain in the horizon. There’s also constant power cuts around the city. Thank God, the area around our house isn’t that badly hit. We get an hour or two power cut per week at most. But I know some areas get daily power cuts from 1 hour to as long as 10 hours. I feel for them coz its really hard to be without at least a fan these days.

I also celebrated my birthday two weeks ago. Ha! It was a quiet but very happy celebration. I just did what I wanted to do. You know, gone are the days when I want to have a big party with lots and lots of people. Nowadays, my birthdays are spent doing what I want. I decided I wanted to be pampered. So I did zero chores, I was literally like a queen hahaha. And I did not cook. Nope, I didn’t touch the stove, not even to boil water. I also indulged myself and went online shopping like crazy. That was my gift to self. And since I didn’t want to cook, we ate out. In three different restaurants in a span of 2 hours. So it was a simple celebration, but I was really content. What mattered most was that my family was with me.

I’m counting the days till summer time is over, and while I dread torrential rains I just wish we could have just a few minutes of rain here. Dear heavens! I’m getting cooked here already! My husband kids me, of course, that Phnom Penh is like a free sauna. True. Just go out and you shed gallons of sweat. I should take advantage of this freebie, no? But I’m no masochist.

So Phnom Penh folks, stay indoors, keep hydrated. Buy truckloads of watermelon. That’s the best advice I could give. Hahaha. And hopefully, I won’t be too lazy and blog more often from now.

Now in Phnom Penh

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It’s been five days already since I got back here in Cambodia from an almost month-long Philippine holiday. But yeah, I’m only just updating now. Hahaha. I’m such a diligent blogger, noh? My only excuse is that, I’m still on a holiday mood.

And I can’t help it too. It must be all those fatty foods I gobbled up uncontrollably while on Christmas break. We flew back on the 6th and we dropped by Siem Reap for 3 days since my mom and my aunt were with us and visiting Cambodia for the first time. So we got to do our bit of touristy stuff, visiting Angkor, shopping at the night market, having massages etc etc.

I keep wanting to hurry up and come back to Phnom Penh. I do miss the place (imagine that! lol), even the careening motos. Also, I spent loads during the holidays so I was so eager to get back online and start work. I’ve got tons of design work pending as well as blog updating to do. But I don’t want to spoil my mom’s vacation and besides I kinda missed Siem Reap, so business cards design online were put on hold.

But right now, were in Phnom Penh already and busy touring around the city. It’s actually nice to play tourist and I find new appreciation for things I take for granted coz I see them almost daily. But now that my mom and aunt are having fun taking snapshots of the city, I can’t help but be infected with their Phnom Penh fever. Hahaha!

sweep panorama shot of the park in front of the Royal Palace, Phnom Penh..(click on image to view full size)

Just the photo above of the park in front of the Royal Palace is enough to make me gush and say, wow! I’m living in a lovely lovely place. I know, for sure this place isn’t perfect but I realized the longer you live in any place you lose appreciation of it. So it’s nice to be able to re-visit Phnom Penh, my second home..

Cambodia Snapshot: Fresh Seafood

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On weekends, we usually alot a half day just for cruisin’ the local market. I don’t know, but I find them extra fascinating. There are lots of interesting things you can find. The sights, smell, the chaos, the colors, they are just so awesome.

Last time, we went to Central Market looking for some house warming gifts for my sister, so we were browsing some TGGS Home. But for some reason, we ended up in the seafood section. Hahaha! I don’t know why. Hi-ace said, its because we got lost, but I think we just gravitated naturally to that area. The smell beckons, you know.

And I’m glad we did go there, coz I saw the one above. It’s some kind of shell fish. I don’t know what its called and I haven’t tried a cooked one. But it sure looks seafood-licious!

Living in Phnom Penh: Got Caught

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I’ve had a really eventful week. For a change.

This past week, I’ve been running around, doing errands. Also, my friend and I are planning on putting up a small business here and we have decided to visit ‘competitors’ {hahaha! as if!} and check out their range of products and see if we can find some niches with not much available items here. We set aside a day to do that, drove around the city and did our stealthy research. Lol.

After that we got really hungry and we decided to have lunch at Mike’s Burger along Russian Blvd..But driving along that road is a bit tricky coz they now have barriers in place so we had to find a way so we can get to the right lane. Now, there are lots of small streets there and we eventually turned into a small street, no signs at all there so we drove on. Only to be stopped in the corner by a traffic police, saying were on a One- Way Street.

I was a bit exasperated since I seriously didn’t see any signs saying that. But the police pointed out a faded arrow on the street. Fine. So, my license out {my pristine, pristine license!} and the cop said he needed to get it, submit it for a ticket and reclaiming it would be a hassle. If we wanted to have it easy, we just needed to payout. He said $5. But we told him we don’t have that amount. In fact, he saw that we just had $2 and a couple of riels. He said that’s okay. So, I got my license back, just like that.

So there goes my first traffic police incident. I’m usually a very careful driver {yes, my speed limit is below 40 kmh, ok?!} but this time I really admit I was at fault. Sigh. They say there is always a first time for everything. But I do hope that’s the last time I get caught. And I’m also thankful the police officer was actually nice.

One lesson learned: Don’t keep a lot of money in your purse. I think it really helped that when he saw that my small purse just had a few riels. I figured he pitied the poor me. Ha!

Cambodia Snapshots: Bank Krohom

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My most recent Cambodia Snapshot post was dated September 14th! Wow. So more than two months have passed. I have really been a lousy blogger as of late. I do hope I could get back into the habit of posting regularly.

So what’s my snapshot for this week? This is the Cambodian National Bank headquarters along Norodom Blvd, Phnom Penh. Khmers usually refer to this building as Bank Krohom {Red Bank} because of the bold red-pink exterior paint. Definitely a city landmark. I do wonder if this will continue to function as the National Bank since a new, huge National Bank complex is being constructed along Hanoi Road..

Living in Phnom Penh: Sun is Up!

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I’ve been hibernating. Ha! And tell me, just who, could resist going into hibernation mode with the weather we had here in Phnom Penh these past few days? It’s been raining, raining, raining non-stop. And I couldn’t resist just curling up on the couch, reading books, watching TV, surfing the net… you know lazy stuff.

I can only say, thank God, the sun is up and I could now dry my laundry. Hahaha!

For a little more than a week, we’ve been having incessant rains here. Yes, its the rainy season and just recently there was also a typhoon from South China Sea that just wasn’t content on ravaging Vietnam but decided to visit Cambodia. I can’t say it was a ‘real typhoon’ coz it was just rain all throughout. But it still was bad enough coz you know how easy it is for flooding to take over Phnom Penh.

Street Flooding in Phnom Penh during Rainy Season

The photo above is the usual scene (in some parts) when there is strong rain here. I just feel lucky that our place doesn’t get flooded but my MIL’s house, usually gets flooded. So rainy season is really not something they appreciate. Also, even if its not flooded in our place, its still hard to go anywhere. It just scares me to go somewhere and what if its flooded there?

So I put off a lot of errands. Hubby asked me to look for north face vest mens coz a friend of his is asking for it, but I haven’t even begun hunting for it. I loathed going out to pay the bills, going to market etc, when everything is wet! So, lets just say I’ve been existing on Mama and Indomee noodles and canned food the past few days. The only good thing about it is that it was cold, so we haven’t turned on aircon for weeks already, so I’m so looking forward to a cheaper electric bill next month.

Anyway, I have a couple of friends too who are asking when is the best time to visit Phnom Penh. Well, I could straight up answer you, not this time (unless touring around like a wet rat is your thing). Not the rainy monsoon season, best come from November – January where its cool and dry. If you’re visiting or new here, when its raining hard, best stay indoors. You wouldn’t want to be caught up in flash flood. That happens easily here, water rises up fast and thankfully, recedes fast too.

Just a month to go, and we’ll be having that cool and dry weather. I’m so looking forward to that.