APAD 116: Summer rain
Yesterday, we finally had rain after several weeks of extreme heat.
The rain was strong enough, with a bit of wind, too.
Having had 38Cs in the past weeks, this is really a welcome change. A cool relief from PhnomPenh’s summer heat. This is probably the first big rain in a long time… six months, more or less, if I am not mistaken.
Just 30mins of rain and our street is already flooded. Why? Because some genius cemented the drains. Drat.
APAD 115: Lotus
My six year old niece, Beebop, has taken a liking for writing. At her age, I am amazed at how adept she is at that, even writing text messages to us. Being a big fan of old-fashioned letter-writing, I encourage her a lot. I think writing, and reading (my other love), are worthwhile pursuits that improves the mind of children without spending a lot of money.
Last year when her father, my younger brother, went home for the Christmas holidays, I sent Beebop a handwritten letter to go with the small present that I bought for her. As her aunt, I want to give something to her that will allow her to practice her love for writing and her creativity. So instead of the usual toys and clothes, I gifted her with a nice writing paper, several rolls of deco tapes and some twines. It is up to her – I thought – what she’ll make of them. She texted me back when she received it. She said she loved it so much.
When her father returned to Phnom Penh, naturally, my niece sent me a parcel in return with my name written on the brown paper bag, in her own handwriting. Inside the parcel were goodies from home – packs of piaya, dried mangoes, etc. – that I sorely missed. But the “star” of the package was the sweet thank you note with cute doodles like any six year old would draw.
So anyway, to encourage her love for written words further, I sent her a postcard last Sunday. It has a nice yellow lotus flower on the stamp.
Postcards and stamps are also good educational tools to learn about the many places and things around the world. With the help of imagination, postcards and stamps take you just about anywhere without leaving your home!
It’s a pity that with everyone around her busy with chores everyday, there is no one she can really turn to. But I hope that by engaging her in a letter exchange with me, she will learn to love the written words through letters as much as I have. And I’m very much here to support her. I wonder how she’ll react when she receives the postcard. I also hope she notices the hand-stamped animals there 🙂
APAD 113: LED street cafe
I like taking photos especially when my husband and I take leisurely drives around and out of the capital. When the car is moving and an interesting subject appears I get excited and start shooting. Sometimes I get the picture, sometimes I don’t.
Here’s one of the interesting sights I was able to take a photo of. It is a local, street cafe called the Led Cafe.
How cool is that?
I really like the led lights decorations. I think it’s brilliant. Pun intended, lol.
The only thing I regretted is that we could not drive back and take a picture of the facade where the main sign, LED Cafe, is.
This cafe is located along Street 163, close to the traffic lights at Street 310, in Chamkarmon district’s Olympic Quarter.
I also would like to shout out to my blog follower (I have one, thank you!), Scott. I’m very happy to hear from him and for hunting down one of the signs that I featured here, the tomato bank.
The Chuck Norris Dimsun Restaurant he mentioned here was also featured in Signs, Signs. You can find the Chuck Norris sign here.
Sadly, I haven’t had the chance yet to dine in there. Thank you for your nice message, Scott, and hopefully you can find the Led Cafe next time you visit Phnom Penh 🙂
APAD 112: Mystical
Pardon the not-so-wordless entry this week.
This photo was taken more than a month ago when my brother, my husband and I explored around Wat Phnom Prasith, an hour’s drive northwest of Phnom Penh. This old stupa attracted my attention. With the gnarly trees surrounding it, it looked interesting so I took photos (one of them is shown above). After camera shots were done, something jolted me.
I sensed something, like a mystical air, blowing through this part of the woods. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. And when I started to walk away, I felt goosebumps on my arms making me quicken my steps to catch up with my husband and brother.
I wonder what that was. I can still remember the odd feeling up to now.
APAD 110: Deity
This is my Monday Mellow Yellows entry for this week, a very colourful decorative wall decor from Nepal. Had there been a smaller version of this, I would’ve bought one to pair it with another wall decor that I bought as souvenir when I went to Sri Lanka years ago.
Sorry that it is not somewhat Cambodia-related though. I will make it up next week. Promise 🙂
So see you then!
APAD 109: Summer coolers
In this scorching summer heat in Phnom Penh, there is no more convincing needed. A friend and I went in.
We weren’t disappointed – we had the most refreshing, satisfying fruit cooler ever.
In case you asked… Nope. As much as it sounded exotic (novel), we didn’t try the watermelon and chili. We both went for the passion fruit and mint. A perfect balance of sweetness and sourness. A bit pricey for $2.25 but, after several hours of shopping at a non-airconditioed market, it’s all worth the price!
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