Superstition Vs Choice of Partner

What does superstition do with choices of partner? In European countries, this might not apply, but in Asian countries, particularly, in Chinese tradition, matching of couples inevitably has to deal with superstitions.

In old Chinese tradition, parents are the one who decides on whom their kid should marry with or get married to. When parents from both sides agree to each other, they will find a master to review the birthdates of the children to see if they are a good match, if they live happily ever after and prosperously, and if they will bring good luck and fortune to the whole generation. He will come up with the ideas that a RABBIT should go with a PIG and should never with a COW, and a DRAGON will bring bad luck to a DOG if they form a family. This belief is still working in modern Chinese families, locally and abroad. A book about this kind of fortune-telling is yearly published and people buy it and learn about their luck and how to keep themselves safe.

I believe that a similar superstition is also widespread in Cambodian society because people here also seek some masters for calculating and reviewing the birthdates for marriage. Some in-loved couples just have to break up unwantedly because of the words of a fortune-teller.

This practice is no good at all. I don’t believe in superstitions and any traditional belief, and I don’t want superstitions to interfere my decision of choosing a partner. It’s arguably true that I am originated from a Chinese family and my parents might somehow be affected by superstition in my choice of partner. What if I choose a Cambodian man? I guess we would have to look at both Chinese and Cambodian traditions and superstitions. That’ll be of great complexity and difficulty to find a good match. However, as long as I love someone, I don’t think I will consider about this matter.

Bad things will just come as long as we expect it to be. Why not expect good things? Think and act positively. Please do not let superstitions destine you while your own destiny should be in your own hand.

Family Day with Singapore Embassy

It’s been almost two months we had prepared for the Family Day for the Embassy staff for 2012. Kimrong, Ousphea, and I were chosen to be the organizing committee for the program and were directed by Ms. Catherine. The reason for choosing us was that we are the newcomers to the Embassy in 2011 and that we might have new idea for the yearly celebrated Family Day.


We had discussed over where to go to and what to do for the Family Day. Several ideas came up such as going to Kirirom, Bokor Mountain, Kompot pepper planation, Sokha Hotel in Sihanouk Ville, or just go around Phnom Penh. Finally, Nataya Resort at Kompot was chosen.


Organising a trip is not easy. Kimrong and I were busy contacting people at various resorts, renting the bus, booking breakfast, thinking of games to play over there, buying the T-shirts and items for the goodie bags and other items. That put us into serious headache.

The Family Day was divided into two parts—first part was the Recycling and Recreating Competition and second the trip to Nataya and the team competition. Regarding to the Recycling Competition, all Embassy staff, including both HBS and LRS, were invited to take part by making something out of used items. Three rankings would be chosen for prizes. The announcement started somewhere in early December 2011 and people started thinking and making their things with their creativity. I also started to make mine. With an idea from a Korean TV show, my mother suggested that I fold paper birds and make a Cambodia map. I accepted the idea and started to produce my masterpiece. It required hard work and patience; it was finally born though. I also put my snail artwork into election. The selection day of the winner of this program was on Friday 13^th January 2012 in the Embassy. The judges were those who didn’t participate in the competition, and there were also some votes from HCC and MPA staff. The votes were not counted until Sunday when we were on the bus to Nataya.


On January 15, the day finally came. I was the first one to arrive at the Embassy. There were some problems, but we managed to solve it. We were finally on the bus, and everything was just smooth enough. I felt annoyed by the travel company which provided the bus to us because they changed too often and the driver did not know how to get to the destination! That part was bad!


On the bus, Ousphea was in charge of making the group alive by giving quizzes. Around 15 quizzes were asked and prizes were also given out. After that, the result of the Recycling Competition was announced. Within my expectation, my Cambodia map got the first prize and the snail artwork got the second prize. Ms. Janet got the third prize for her memo and photo calendar stand. I was so excited that I got two prizes, the prizes that I wished to receive. I got the cooler bag for the first prize and the badminton set for the second prize.

At 11am, we finally arrived at Nataya Resort. We were welcomed by Naro, the beverage manager of the resort who gave us welcome drinks. We then started the sand carving competition. B. Yuthnea had prepared in advance the ears, tail, eyes, and whiskers of a rabbit. In three, we had carved a shape of a rabbit in a garden. That’s cool! Our other group members also made marvelous images. Ms. Catherine and B. Chanthy carved a gecko, and again we carved a gold fish. The Blue team had a castle, a turtle, and a crocodile. Naro, the manager, was the judge for the most outstanding one. The rabbit was chosen for the first prize! Cheers to the Green team! My team won for the first game. Next, we played the game—picking the peanuts. The Blue team won it. After these two games, we had lunch at 12:30pm. The buffet cost $20 per person and half price for children between 5 and 12 years old. Cost at Nataya covered a substantial part of the budget. After lunch, we continued our games such as blowing the ping pong ball, picking the rice, and don’t blow the king away. Between that, Kimrong and I went to the Nataya bridge and took pictures. The final result of the team competitions were finally announced, and the winner was the Green team (My team!). Prizes were then distributed. All in all, I received four prizes—two from Recycling competition, one from team competition, and the other one from lucky dip.

We kicked off at 3:30pm and arrived at the Embassy at 7:30pm, two hours later than what we had planned. It was the first time I could go back home with my own motorbike after getting off the bus instead of calling someone to pick me up. I arrived home at 7:40pm.

This trip is the first trip I have been in 2012. The special thing in this trip was that I was one of the organisers and that I experienced the stress in dealing with the budget and the actual expenditures. It was part of my job and I learned things from it. Although I could not free myself during the trip, I did enjoy much and was excited when I could receive so many good prizes. Also, thanks to B. Phalla who gave me a ticket to Phnom Penh Sport Club. I would have a good time there again with Kimrong.


It is a good start for the year! I will go to other provinces for the remaining 11 months. Hopefully, I will be able to go to Siem Reap, Mondulkiri, or Ratanakiri. Cheers!

More pictures are here:

What if I had lots of money?

When I studied the Second Conditional Clause at English schools, I would be asked how I would spend the money if I had plenty of it. My answer varied from time to time due to age and environment. My answers used to be that I would buy many things I had wished for; that I would save in banks; that I would give to my parents and friends; and that I would travel around the world.


What is my answer now? After going cycling in and around Phnom Penh these days, I found that I haven’t yet thoroughly known Phnom Penh City and not to mention the whole Cambodia. I wish to travel to every corner of the City and the Country. Buses are means to travel to long distance; bikes are means to go around the downtown and suburb; boats for going to islands; or just simply go hiking on mountains. Life would be so enjoying and relaxing. There would be no pressure of work and free from worry of no money to spend.

How big is Cambodia? It’s small geographically, but it’s big if you want to travel to every corner of it. How much money will we have to spend to achieve this purpose? Both money and time are crucial factors that do not allow me to achieve this dream. Hopefully, I could have some spare money and go to at least one province yearly.

What about biking around the Angkor City?
What about lying on the bench at the beach on Koh Sangsa with your loved one?
What about going trekking on Bakheng Mountain?
What about biking up to the Bokor Mountain?
What about sleeping in a tent on the beach at Sihanouk Ville (Orcheuteal, Sokha, Ream, Victory…)?
What about strolling with bare foots on the beach on islands?
What about exploring a mountain to find a waterfall?
What about sitting on top of a mountain to look at the sunset and sunrise?

There are still many places I wish to go to. Around the world? No, I prefer to explore Cambodia first! My dear friends, I need your accompany and support to achieve it. :)

Countdown Night in 2011

What does it look like in the night of countdown every year? What do people do at the riverside during that time? How does it look like when the fireworks are shot up into the sky? And how does it feel to watch it with your friends or your beloved?


I have been longing for that the moment, the moment I could hang out with either friends or go hand in hand with the loved one over the countdown night around the riverside. The year 2011 was only the start of change, so I didn’t dare to go out too late with friends so that my Mum will not be too worried about me. I did go out with them (Danith, Visal, Lak, Minea, and Ramy who came later than the others) on that day. We met up at Koh Pich at almost 5 pm. I love the time when we played the flying disc at Koh Pich although it was a bit scary. I start to love extreme games now and am not quite frightened of accidents and insecurity just because I have never encountered one, I think. Just wish God blesses me all along.

After the scary game, we walked to meet up Ramy at the park opposite of Hong Kong Center and headed to the eating corner near Ministry of Environment. We settled there and had a good time of eating and chatting until 6:30pm. We then went to the front side of Naga World to watch the concert and took some pictures.

I left there with Visal and Lak at 7:30pm, a bit earlier than I had expected. In fact, I wished to go the riverside and stayed until 8:30pm. However, I still felt very happy in that particular evening as long as I am with them.

After returning home, I had another good time with my brothers by playing ‘Monopoly Deal’ until the time to count down! I had the count down in front of facebook and heard to the sound of the firework exploding from the distance.

Next year, I will be there in the riverside to count down and see the firework with my own eyes!

Personal Review in Year 2011

02 January 2012

What happened to me throughout 2011? There have been many changes, both expectedly and unexpectedly, pleasant and unpleasant.

At the beginning of the year, I was in my final term at UC and was preparing for the exit exams. I took it in February and finally graduated from the uni. First degree is completed after all! How life will be after that? However, there wasn’t a very big change yet since I still had to complete another degree at RULE and would have it done in August. After finishing the degree at UC, it was about the time to find an institution for internship so as to write the graduation report for the accounting degree at RULE. Nareth and I paired up and searched here and there for internship at the end of February until the beginning of March. It was more difficult than we had expected. Finally, from a friend’s help, we finally managed to find one—Sathapana Limited at Chamkarmon Branch (the Headquarter). The internship started in April 1-29. It was a great opportunity for me to intern there because I could learn about how a microfinance operates.

Before going to Sathapana, I already started working at HRINC (Cambodia) Co., Ltd since March 14. Thanks to Pisey for introducing me to Bunly, the recruitment coordinator at HRINC. It was my first fulltime job ever although I used to work as a part-time English teacher at Hello American. I worked fulltime at HRINC until the beginning of April when I interned at SPN in the morning and worked at HRINC in the afternoon. I was glad that I could feel two different environments at the same time. I am also thankful to HRINC that allowed me to work in this way. I learned many things at HRINC related to business matters. I love working there because of its good physical environment and good people. However, I was there for only six months.

After I graduated from RULE in August, I quitted the job at HRINC and moved to the Embassy of the Republic of Singapore in Phnom Penh to work as a finance officer. In the transitional period between leaving HRINC and going to the Embassy, I was very down and was fearing if I would regret for my decision. On the one hand, I do regret for leaving HRINC because I like everything there although there might be some flaws I don’t like about it. On the other hand, I also wish to work in the Embassy for many people look up to it. However, this reason will not sufficient for making me stay there for the whole of my career life.

Aside from my study and career life, I have got many first-times regarding to travelling, hanging out, and other things. Although it was not my first time to go travelling with friends in 2011, I went to provinces four times this year—Sihanouk Ville 2 times, Koh Kong 1 time, and Kompot 1 time. I could for the first time travel overnight with friends; I could for the first time walk with friends until 9pm on the street; I could for the first time chat with friends at the balcony until 11pm; I could for the first time bike to places I’ve never expected I would go to; I could for the first time hang out with friends until 9pm; I returned home at the latest 9:40pm from school; I dared to say I wish to say and dare to act what my heart tells me to; I love 2011 because I have answered to my heart for what I have doubted.

I am so thankful to all people supporting me, teaching me, and accompanying me throughout 2011. It is the year of revolutions. I have changed a lot from:

- A timid to a straightforward

- A student to an employee

- A know-nothing of business to a know-sth (but not yet a professional)

- A stay-at-home to a dare-to-travel

Of course, there are many other changes that I may not include in here.

Countdown at December 31, 2011 was not what I wish for. I wish for a more wonderful, unforgettable one at the end of 2012. I also wish for continual advancement and sweetness in 2012. Changes are important to me, and I swear I will not stay at the same point throughout and at the end of year.