New Try: Le Diplomat Cafe, Plus a good chat with an old friend

This afternoon I tried out another new cafe shop in BKK; it is Le Diplomat Cafe located just the other corner opposite the two Brown Cafe. This is a more expensive place if compared to Costa, Brown, E&M and Nom Cafe. The taste of the iced cappuccino was not much different. Perhaps I am not a good coffee taster anyway. The environment was pleasant, and the staff are serving well. Nice try, but I still prefer Costa after all compared to all others that I have tried out so far. In the near future, I am gonna try out the rest of the coffee shop.

I went to see the International Speech Contest conducted by PUC last two weeks and met Kosal again after I decided not to continue going to Toastmaster. It has been more than one year, and we hadn't had a good talk since then, not to mention that we met. He is still very friendly as he used to be. We talked about this and that, things at work, things about past relationships and some valuable philosophies in relationship and life. The conversation went on uninterruptedly and we continued talking for more than three hours. God! It was more than 3 hours, the whole afternoon! That's quite a long talk, undoubtedly we touched each other more deeply in personal topics. So nice to have such a good friend.

Regrettably, we didn't take any photo.

Cheers,
Jocelyn
2015.03.21
09:55pm

Seeing off...

It was the second time I have seen my younger brother off at the airport who went back to Singapore for his undergraduate study. He will have to go for another two years to complete his bachelor degree. ^^ Actually, it was not quite special to see him off because I used to do it before. What made it special on August 11 was that I also saw a Singaporean off on the same day.

A female intern named Tan Wen-Yi joined the Embassy for a one-month internship. We didn't talk much for the first two weeks though because we rarely saw each other. Until the reception of Singapore Scholarship Award Ceremony when we and Wuisiong started talking about travelling around Phnom Penh and to the countryside esp to Bokor Mountain. To our surprise, Wuisiong suddenly proposed to go to Bokor Mountain on his newly-bought car a few days on a Saturday morning after the conversation during the above-mentioned Ceremony! I could not believe that we could make it even it's not planned ahead and only a short travelling time! We have got to know Wen-Yi better during the short trip and have got closer.

She finished her internship on August 10 and left for Singapore to continue her study in Year 4 at NUS. Wish she good luck with her final year. ^^

By the way, I had an exciting time with Wuisiong and another male intern, Eric, after seeing off Wen-Yi at the airport. We went for karting at Kambol along National Road 4! It was a special experience to play this sport. I was terrified to accelerate at first because I was afraid that I would get hurt if it crashed. However, after the first round, I acelerated as fast as I could and drove and sped up crazily as if I was playing the racing game on my pc.I loved my speed! Hoohoo....

Just forgot to take down some pics of the karting field...:(

Uncontrollable Anticipation

I'm addicted! I can't wait for the day to come. There is always an activity I have been doing with Nith on every Saturday or Sunday, that is, we go cycling. I go cycling almost every morning during weekdays, however, I have rarely go farther than the Wat Phnom, Psar Doeum Ko, or Chak Angre Leu. I have noticed that I really like cycling now, esp with Nith to distant places where I myself alone cannot explore or dare not to explore.

Every week I wish Nith is free enough to accompany and take me to places I have never been too. It is such a good adventure which I long for once a week. I know that this activity may not last forever because Nith will be occupied and I may be as well. However, I wish to enjoy it now until that day comes.

Sporting and adventuring have become my favorites! Thanks to Nith for making them become so.

My Diary_Koh Kong Trip

UNBELIEVEABLE! Totally unbelievable! I’ve been out of town for four times this year, and especially within a period of four months plus a few days. Therefore, in average, I went to provinces almost once a month from July to November! Also what a coincidence! All the trips are two-day-one-night! ;)

+ July 02-03: Trip to Kep, Kep Cave, and Rabbit Island (UC group)

+ Aug 01-02: Trip to Kompong Som and Kbal Chhay (NOKIA group)

+ Oct 31-Nov 01: Trip to Kompong Som (UNFPA group)

+ Nov 09-10: Trip to Koh Kong (Mixed group)

Rabbit Island

Kompong Som with NOKIA

Kompong Som with UNFPA

Koh Kong Trip

However, this post should be exclusive for Koh Kong trip. This trip is in some way special of all because I was also one of the organisers; Vutha was the initiator, and Chetra and I were the co-organisers contributing a bit on budgeting for the trip. I didn’t actively participate in organizing it though, and I was glad that I didn’t have to keep the money.

The right before the trip was relaxing and worry-free; I went to bed at 10pm as usual after facebooking.

There were 29 participants—17 females and 12 males. What was special in this trip was that there were 5 or more distinct groups who gathered at invitation of the trip.

+ Group I: Tharat’s group (8 people)

+ Group II: Bong Rithy’s group (10 people)

+ Group III: UC group (4 people)

+ Group IV: Tuol Tom Poung Group (3 people)

+ Group V: Num group (3 people)

And Wuisiong, my Singaporean colleague from the Embassy.

Schedule for the 2-day-1-night trip had been changed from a 3-day-2-night trip due to time and finance factors. However, personally, I prefer the original plan.

Being woken up by the phone alarm, I got up at 4:45am and got myself prepared well before time to set off. Minea arrived at my house and we went to UC together; I was with my dad’s motorbike and he was with my bro’s after finding no motortaxi.

Unluckily, the plan to meet up in front of UC was cancelled because the roads were blocked due to the National Day. Plan was changed to meet up on the west side of the Langka Pagoda.

The bus arrived at around 7am. We picked up other participants who had to get on the bus on our way to Koh Kong. They included Tola, Tharat’s sis, Vutha, and B. Bunna.

The following is my first day activities:

- Home --> UC --> Sre Ombil Bridge for lunch (9:30am)

- Ta Tai Waterfall --> Koh Kong Town (2pm) --> 2000 Beach (3pm)

- Mangrove Forest (4pm) --> Guesthouse (6:30pm)

- Koh Kong Bridge for dinner (7:30pm) --> Night walk (8:45pm) --> Guesthouse (9:30pm)

- Chitchat (10:10pm) --> Bed (11:30pm)

After the whole night of toss and turn, I finally managed to wait until the 2^nd morning to say hi. I got up at 4:50am and washed my face and got dressed up because I had a morning plan with Nith, Minea, and Vutha for a healthy early exploration of Koh Kong Town. Chetra also joined us. We set off from the guesthouse at 5:45am because Nith was busy looking for his watch which he had stupidly misplaced (Shuu..take this chance to mock him lol…). Time was tough; however, we did have a great morning walk.

Clever enough, we went to have breakfast before others after paying the food expenses to B. Dara who prepared all food for us at Koh Kong during our stay. That was also the time that I noticed that my old disease was about to come back. My small intestine started hurting me, and till now I haven’t fully recovered. The hurt distracted me all day and made me unable to feel full-heartedly happy for the remaining journey.

Let’s see the following activities in my second day there:

- Leave from guesthouse to walk around (5:45am) -->; B. Dara’s house for breakfast (6:30am)

- Back to guesthouse to have shower and get prepared (7:05am) --> B. Dara’s house to get breakfast for participants (7:15am)

- Khmer-Thai border --> Thai Market (9am) --> Casino Beach (10am)

- Khun Chhang Khun Phen Tomb (11am)--> Dorning Tung Market --> B. Dara’s house to get lunch

- Ta Porn Waterfall (12:30pm)--> Phnom Penh (8:30pm)--> Home with Minea (9pm)

  Product from Thai Market

After the trip to Kompong Som with NOKIA group, I have broken my ‘rule’; I have been more active on the bus than before, and I’m glad that I could do so. At the same time, I wish I could do better in any trip I will join in the future. Although the journey seems rushing, I feel excited to have travelled in this way because I could go to and know different places in such a short time. Especially, I had a wonderful time with the ones I wish to travel with and with those I have never know. Nothing would make me more excited than my wish coming true.

Koh Kong is another record in my travel history, and I wish to go to Siam Reap, Rattanakiri, and Mondulkiri next next times. Of course, I sincerely thank Vutha for creating this event, Chetra for co-organising, Nith, Minea, and Visal for participating and accompanying, and others for participating.

Love u, Koh Kong!

Dear friends, more pics can be found on facebook. Thanks for reading. ;)

Rabbit Island, a memorable trip!

Memories from one month ago are still amazingly fresh when I look at the sky and still see the same arrangement and combination of stars that can also be found high above the Rabbit Island. It was an exclusive trip with friends, and I found it the most memorable one of all.

The trip was planned months ahead by Theary, a UC student from weekend class. It was finally scheduled on 2nd and 3rd of July, 2011 for a totally two-day-one night trip to Kep and Rabbit Island. We gathered in front of UC at around 6 a.m. and kicked off at 7a.m. Only one bus was hired and 45 participants were included. The number of boys and that of girls were moderately equal. Breakfast was served on the bus, and on the way, there were not many activities but mostly focused on Karaoke. Despite this, the atmosphere was still great.

At around 11:30 a.m. the bus arrived at Kep Cave, where was our first destination. Kep Cave is actually a cave where we had to go through a dark cave to see a great view at the other side of the world. There were little guides who are the young local boys and girls and who were trying to explain to us about the resemblance of rocks to some significant things. Of course, it needs imagination to visualize the said images. Unfortunately, I’m not that imaginative and creative person. After the visit at Kep Cave, we continued our journey to the next destination—Kep Beach.

After going through the dark cave.

Group picture at Kep Cave (after the visit)

Surprisingly, I was not informed that Theary’s house is just directly opposite to the pavilions where visitors relax and have their lunch. It would be very convenient if I had a house in this location. We went to Theary’s house for around 10 minutes and then prepared to have lunch at the pavilions opposite the road. The pavilions are only around 100 meters from the beach. Notably, the food was tasty; now I miss it.

Some food for lunch; not all are included here though.

It was around 2 p.m. when we hit the road toward the fantastic island that was highly recommended by some participants who used to be there.

The boat we took to go to the island.

To go to the island, boat is the only transportation means. Each boat is allowed to be seated with only 10 people. It is said that it takes approximately 30 minutes to reach the island from the Kep Beach, but I didn’t feel that long. During the boat trip, one of the magnificent views was a moderate-sized fish jumped across the sea and splashed the water around it. From one minute to another, we could see the island bigger and bigger, clearer and clearer… The outstanding coconut trees on the island were swaying resembling to people who were waving their hands to welcome our arrival. When reaching the shore, the seawater was crystal-like clean and sparkling which allowed me to see through the water under which schools of small fish were swimming but were frightened and scattered when the boat approached them.

Going near the island!

We got off the boat and for the first time I stepped on an island! The first thing we did was to head to our rooms where we had to stay over the night. They were not actually rooms but small separate houses which were designed for couples because only a double-sized bed is offered and a bathroom is equipped. The houses were built of wood and coconut leaves—a traditional but natural shelter for visitors who wish for an experience of countryside life. Different from others’, my house was bigger and with two beds, so six people were arranged to stay in it; three people were arranged to stay in each house for other participants.

Houses where we stayed over the night on the island.

The beach is much more beautiful than that in Kep Beach. Sea waves were not very big so that it was quite safe to play around in the water. No matter how many times will I go to sea, I still can’t learn to swim successfully. Do wish to be able to swim some day! In the late evening, Visal, Lak, Virak, Vy, Sandap, Sreyvoat, others, and I played some games in the water which was one of the wonderful times during the trip. After that we had dinner together and enjoyed the dancing time. I was not there for long but lied on the chair and looked at the clear sky with dozens of stars scattering around. That’s romantic and relaxing!

Dinner on the island.

The night in the small house was a bit long since the bed was too small for 3 people. It was difficult to move around and to stretch. However, I still managed to sleep at least 5 hours, I think.

In the morning of the second day, I got up at 5:30 a.m., a bit earlier than the time I usually get up at home. Without changing the pajamas, I headed to the beach to see the morning view of the island. The sun hadn’t got up yet, and the sea water had receded from the shore which made the sea farther to be reached. These two people, Sophorn and Pisey, were picking up some seashells. I found some as well as I joined the activity for a few minutes.

The sun is rising in the morning of the 2nd day.

Phorn and Pisey are picking up shells.

The island has a source of drinking water from the mountain far behind the beach. Vutha and I went to search for it, but we dare not to go farther as it’s dangerous to travel up to the mountain without a guide. Other groups had found it, I think, as I found a picture of Virak nearby a pond of water. In the following picture is another part of the island where seaweeds are planted. The sand there was whiter and finer. I do wish to know how they are planted.

a small path toward the other side of the island.

The morning was quite fast to go by. We waited for our boats at 11 a.m. to take us back to Kep Beach and to have lunch there before we set off our return journey to Phnom Penh. We had lunch at a different location which is hundreds of meters away from the previous one. The food was as tasty as the one we had the day before. After lunch, Visal, Vutha, Lak, Virak, Ratha, a few others, and me went around and took several pictures nearby the big rock crab which is a symbol of Kep City.

while waiting for the boat to take us back to Kep.

At the Rock Crab after lunch.

Certainly, it didn’t end in this point of time. Before going back to Phnom Penh, we headed to the Kep Market to buy some souvenirs, food in particular. Crabs were the priority. I bought some crabs and had it cooked before taking it home. Because of the drop-by, we had to set off from Kep at 4 p.m., which was later than planned.

My crabs are in it!

On the bus, people were less active as normally they were exhausted after the active one day and one night. In contrast, Visal and I seemed to converse much compared to the going-trip. Some of us got off on the way, while many got off at the Caltex station of former Bokor Cinema. Lak, Visal, and I also got off there.

I guess this post has been the longest one I have ever written in my blog. There may be too much description and make the readers feel dull. If so, please accept my apology here. I wish to describe every activity in details so that I could come back to it which is the happiest time I have ever had with friends. However, the description here is not really enough to show my in-depth feelings as many things are still left unmentioned.

All in all, I love nature. The Rabbit Island will be my starting point to further travels. I wish to go around Cambodia before I set off to overseas trip, and I hope that it will become true. To take this opportunity, I do feel thankful to Theary and her plan coordinators (Sandap and Sophorn) who had worked hard to organize this memorable trip for all of us. Although she is not majoring in Tourism and she is not experienced in trip organizing, she did a great job in this trip, and everyone did enjoy much and wishes for another visit to either the same place or another resort.

Group picture on the Rabbit Island!

Hurray, trip to Rabbit Island. Farewell!

Exhibition visit with friends

September 11, 2010
Danith proposed to go to the exhibition of ICT, career, and education which are to be held for 3 days in Koh Pich Center. I thought there would be four of us (Danith, Nareth, Lak, and I) who would go to see the exhibition; however, Visal, Vin, and a friend of Lak also joined us. We walked from one stall to another for almost two hours. After that, we went out and walked around Koh Pich for another one hour or more. In spite of the exhaustion, we were happy to gather like this and had chit-chat about this and that. We also took many pictures.

Vin, Nareth, me, Nith, Lak, and Visal

 

These photos were taken outside the center after we have seen the exhibition.

The Day of Career Forum at Koh Pich

It had been a stressful week for me and I feel the need of relief. There was an exhibition called Career Forum held for two days, May 12 and 13 (Weekend), at Koh Pich Center. My friends and I planned to go there in the morning of the second day.

I didn’t intend to look for a job since I’m now still busy studying, but I was to look at the requirements of the positions in which I’m interested and to get to know the companies better. And another purpose might be to meet some friends and be happy. Therefore, I didn’t prepare my CV, cover letter, or photos in advance. However, Nareth had prepared everything beforehand.

We went from one stall to another and get many leaflets and brochures about each company and organization. Totally I applied for four companies, including Beeline, Farlin, TOTAL, and Coca Cola, which provide application forms for interested visitor. I don’t think I’ll be contacted because I’m still lack of many qualifications to fit the applied jobs. Others also applied for similar companies. We spent almost 4 hours walking in the exhibition center when at lunch time we decided to have lunch together once in a restaurant. After discussion, we finally came to Mercy House, where Nith, Pheak, Nareth, and I used to have lunch together on last Chinese New Year. This time we had two new members including Lak and Visal.

We had different courses based on our appetite. The followings are the photos we took there:

Left (front to back): Visal, Pheak, and Nith.

Right (front to back): Lak, Me, and Nareth.

Suon Soben Chamkapring (Pring Field Dream Park)

A group of five, including Chetra, Nareth, Nith, Lak and me, went to the park on the third day of this Khmer New Year (April 15, 2010) for sightseeing and taking pictures.

Initiated by Chetra who used to go there in Chinese New Year with her family, the plan was set just at the night before the day. Feeling too excited and obsessed with the images of what we would see and what we would do, I could hardly fall asleep. I also woke up early the next morning.

We gathered at 9:00 in front of RUPP and started our journey. We spend around half an hour to reach the destination.

For foreigner’s understanding, I would like to define the name of the park. ‘suon soben’ means ‘dream park’; ‘chamka’ is translated ‘field’; ‘pring’ is a kind of tropical fruit in purple color; there are many this kind of trees in the park. That’s why it is called so. There are also many mango trees planted.

Pring Field Dream Park is a place for public recreation where we can find facilities in amusement park (though they’re rather outdated), place for concert, good picnic site, and views of nature and manmade structures.

Today’s weather was not as hot as previous days when I could concentrate on nothing but playing games in front of the electronic fan. This morning the sun was shining but now and then it was blocked by some clouds with light, cool wind. The environment was fresh and pleasant.

Perhaps it was too early or it is too newly established, there were not many visitors until it was 11:00 am when people came from visiting Samrongandeth pagoda and prepared their lunch in the park, as we supposed.

What I was frustrated at was the behavior of the gang of young residents who gathered on every exit of the roads and tried to stop passengers and asked money from us. If we refuse to give them, they will spread the powder on our face. To avoid the powder, Lak gave them 500 riels. It was not a great amount of money, but this behavior is intolerable and unacceptable. It seems as if they want ßßto have fun with us in the new year occasion, but in fact they just use it as an excuse to get money. This makes passengers feel fearful of!

It was a tired trip since we had been walking, laughing, chatting, and riding motorbike totally for four hours. Despite of this, we had a special, leisured time together.

These are some of the views in the park.

Pictures taken with Nith, Nareth, Lak, and Chetra.

After having toured the whole park, we walked to Samrongandeth pagoda to see what was happening there. It may seem ridiculous to tell people that I’ve never been to a pagoda in Khmer New Year or other Khmer tradition occasions. Each family has their own culture, and my family has never had this culture of going to pagoda.

Another Time of Reunion

Similar to the previous time, the reunion party was celebrated at Kea’s house. The only difference is the absence of Kea who is now in New Zealand. This time we had Kor Lang Phnom which I’ve never tasted before. We prepared everything by ourselves, so we’re satisfied of what we made. It’s always our pleasure to chat about this and that, eat something and take photos together.

However happy the moment is, it does have an end. I may not be good at expressing my feeling verbally, especially orally, but what I felt inside my heart of this event is warmth and happiness.

April 12, 2010

Let's Say it Altogether!

May it be a sweetest time in your life and this sweetness sustaining all thru your life!

Happy Birthday to You!