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APAD 012: Sunday BBQ

Posted by The Insider on Mar 21, 2011 in Uncategorized | 8 comments

Sunday is BBQ day!

APAD 011: Downtown Phnom Penh

Posted by The Insider on Mar 20, 2011 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

Driving at the back streets of Phnom Penh on our way home. A lot of Chinese-Khmers live in this area and most of them have small businesses at the ground floor of their apartments – mostly restaurants. Traffic could really get heavy in this area, especially because of the cars and tuktuks that are parked haphazardly on the sides of the streets.

APAD 010: Driving Duo

Posted by The Insider on Mar 19, 2011 in Uncategorized | 3 comments

The traffic in Phnom Penh is the most common conversation topic amongst expats and tourists alike. When driving in the city, expect chaos and the constant challenge posed by vehicles coming from every direction at various speed levels. Motorcycles, especially, pull out – or worse, do a U-turn – from the roadside and right in front of your car and then drive utterly slowly in the middle of the lane.

This is what exactly happened to us this morning… and they were even laughing and holding each other’s shoulders while driving, unmindful of the other vehicles behind them…. What-the…!

So, what would you do if you were driving behind these two motorcycles?

APAD 009: Wat Ounalom

Posted by The Insider on Mar 18, 2011 in Uncategorized | 3 comments

The halls of Wat Ounalom as photographed from a moving boat.

Wat Ounalom (Ounalom Temple) is located right along Sisowath Quay and considered to be one of the most important temples in the capital, Phnom Penh.

The temple was built in the 1440s to keep a relic (hair) of the Buddha. Before the Khmer Rouge regime, about 500monks lived in Wat Ounalom. When the KR came to occupy the city, a large number of the monks were massacred including the abbot and vandalized the temple and looted off its treasures. The temple was restored when the Vietnamese came to free Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge. Today, Wat Ounalom serves as the centre of Cambodian Buddhism and houses the country’s top religious administration and its top monk.

More Skywatch Friday participants here.

APAD 008: A shop called 88

Posted by The Insider on Mar 17, 2011 in Uncategorized | 4 comments

This is actually a secondhand shop located in the outskirts of Phnom Penh. All the items are from Japan, furnitures, bags, crockery, all sorts (except clothings). I have been here only once and scored a nice Villeroy & Boch Vilbofour Amanpola quiche dish/pie plate. I love scouring secondhand and thrift-shops. To me they are a treasure trove. You’ll never know what you’re going to get. All you need is patience and a set of sharp eyes to see something worth purchasing. Some people frown on people who frequent secondhand stores, thrift shops, yard and garage sales. But for me, I think and feel that sometimes there is really no reason for buying new stuffs. Well, it’s just me.