SIgns | Inside Cambodia

APAD 054: Hobby

Posted by The Insider on Dec 20, 2012 in Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cambodia life, Cycle 2, Expat Life, sights, Signs of Times, That's My World, Uncategorized | 1 comment

This is my second favourite area at the Post Office:

The Philately counter has a friendly and considerate staff.

The staff there knows me already as I regularly come see her to buy postcards and philately stuff. Also, she was nice enough to hand-stamp my postcards last December 12, when the main counter at the PO where you buy stamps refused to do so. You see, the 12-12-12 postmark is an auspicious one and many collectors the world over have been swapping for postcards and covers bearing this. It will never happen again in our lifetime so this is considered valuable.

Oh, and in case you are wondering what’s my most favourite area at the PO, it’s the hallway where all the post boxes are located, including mine 🙂

APAD 049: Strange and ancient

Posted by The Insider on Dec 6, 2012 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cambodia life, Cycle 2, Expat Life, sights, Signs of Times, That's My World, What's On in Cambodia | 3 comments

Saw this sign outside a shop selling what look like antique wooden furniture along Sothearos Boulevard.

“Strange” and “ancient” furniture are sold here, according to this sign.

I don’t know what a “strange” furniture is. Do you? I was curious to find out but forgot to ask because my husband and I were busy looking at chairs and work tables.

I doubt it if the stuff sold there are genuine antique pieces. They are poorly made. The work table (with drawers) I was eyeing for my craft table this morning looked great on the top portion. But underneath, upon closer inspection, I noticed that the drawers were poorly joined, some nails are exposed, and there were lots of scratches.

APAD 044: Crazy burger

Posted by The Insider on Nov 29, 2012 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Around the World, Cambodia life, Cycle 2, Expat Life, food, Signs of Times, That's My World, What's On in Cambodia | 7 comments

Anyone craving for a tasty burger (like me) in the Penh is most likely going to end up at Mike’s Burger House along Russian Boulevard. I’ve been hearing about it since forever but, despite living in the same district, I haven’t been there yet.

The other week, by a stroke of pure coincidence, my friend and I found ourselves in close proximity with the burger house so we agreed to have a quick lunch there. We didn’t get there as fast as we wished because of the barriers; so we circled around the block to get on the correct lane only to find ourselves pulled over by a traffic police for apparently violating the no entry (or was it a one-way street) sign. My friend and I were sure that no such sign was visible but mister police officer insisted there was one there… where? There, pointing with his mouth. Needless to say, an amount was paid as per mister police’s advise in return for letting us get off the hook and avoid the annoying bureaucracy in reclaiming the license. Luckily, my friend didn’t carry a lot of cash in her wallet but I still felt awful and sorry for her who had to experience this for the first time and with me. I asked myself how could I, a four-eyed person, have missed the sign. Except when there was really no sign in sight in the first place. Now, I have to admit that encounters with uniformed men scare me to death. This stemmed from a previous encounter for a similar offence with an aggressive officer who emptied my husband’s wallet himself. That officer had the gall to fish out the money from the wallet and dropped it on my husband’s lap like it was a hot potato. Merde!

Some fun we had, eh? All in the name of burger!

After a few moments of regaining our composure and some nervous giggles, we giggled some more at the sign that greeted us at the doorstep:

I would love to try this crazy burger. Next time, I’d go back crazy hungry to be able to finish a foot-long burger.

I’m no expert when it comes to food but I love food and I love my burger. I ordered a sloppy joe and it was oh-so-glorious. Definitely a love at first bite. The chili con carne that was smothered all over the patty made it messy to eat but all those goodies made for a tasty, finger-lickin’ meal! Little stuff like the gherkin and mustard spelled all the difference to me, too.

Hopefully next time I’ll have the guts to order the 12-inch crazy burger. Imagine two patties, two fried eggs, two slices of cheese, bacon, lettuce, and a host of other components of a regular burger. Who’s coming with me?