Complaint-Free World bracelet

This violet band aims to promote a complaint-free world.

How does it work?

Scientists believe it takes 21 days to form a new habit.

You’re supposed to wear the bracelet on either of your wrists and each time you find yourself complaining, gossiping or criticizing, you have to move the bracelet on the other wrist. The objective is to keep the bracelet on the same wrist for 21 consecutive days!

A colleague ordered a bunch from www.AComplaintFreeWorld.org and gave us bracelets. And as of today (our first day to wear them), no one seems to be succeeding! Haha…

Zen Living

I just moved in last Sunday in my zen-inspired place. Zen in the sense that I sit on the floor when I eat and I sleep on a mattress on the floor because I don’t have any furniture yet - not even a single chair!:) But hopefully some of my furniture will be delivered tomorrow.

My food has been very healthy too – salad, brown rice, steamed veggies and steamed fish. Not that I’m on a detox diet but I haven’t really had the time to browse through cookbooks and buy ingredients for some serious cooking. Hehe…

More interesting stories when I start attempting to cook real food!:)

Different Strokes: A painting exhibit

Our exhibit is coming up soon! Entitled "Different Strokes: Coming together for a Cause", the opening will be on June 16, 2008 (Monday), 7pm at the Food and Art Gallery, GT Tower, Ayala Avenue, Makati City. There will be 60+ artworks on exhibit by 8 artists – yikes, it makes me cringe to have the guts to consider myself an artist!!! Haha….

Seen on the photo are some of the paintings that will be on display (and for sale). I had to mix mine with the others so they’ll blend in with the nicer paintings! Hehe… I still have to do 4 more paintings! Time to cram!:)

The exhibit will run until July 25. Portion of the proceeds will go to charity (Gawad Kalinga). Hope you can drop by:)

A day in Phnom Penh (Cambodia)

Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia and it’s a 6-hour bus ride from Siem Reap. We were hoping to take the Mekong Express bus or plane going there but both were fully booked so we ended up taking a regular airconditioned bus which turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we chanced upon the shoot of Amazing Race right across where our bus was parked!:) Photo-taking isn't actually allowed but we were able to snap some shots from the bus.:)

Anyway, here are some of the places to see when in Phnom Penh:

Royal Palace. Within the grounds, you can visit not just the Royal Palace but also temples like the Silver Pagoda which houses an emerald Buddha and a golden Buddha weighing close to 500 kgs and encrusted with more than a thousand diamonds. BTW, it’s called silver pagoda because its floor is made of silver.

Russian Market. Some stalls sell factory overruns of branded clothes but it was so hot inside the market that we couldn’t stand going through the goods under such heat so ended up not buying anything at all!:)

Happy Painting Gallery. I love the colorful paintings and I was so tempted to buy (specifically the Happy Bus artwork) but they are so expensive! A small painting costs USD200 and the hand-made limited edition silkscreens cost about USD120. The artworks are by Stef, a French painter, who is quite popular in Cambodia. He paints subjects like happy monks, happy moms, happy Cambodian people because he wants to promote happy images of a nation that suffered a lot. Anyway, I’ll just attempt to paint my own Happy Painting-inspired artwork soon:) But I did buy a Happy Painting shirt - maybe I can just frame it! haha...

Kravan House. This is a shop near our hotel, FCC Phnom Penh (a very nice hotel by the way). The products here (mostly bags and accessories) are made by local villagers and apparently, if you buy an item, proceeds will go to the specific villager who made it. The stuff are really nice and reasonably priced and they’re for a good cause.:)

BTW, can I just tell you that I personally think Cambodian drivers are more highly skilled than Pinoys. They can converse while driving motorcycles side by side on main roads AND in major intersections, all kinds of vehicles - bikes, motorcycles, tuktuk and cars - can just pass through - to each his own - even though there aren't any trafiic lights! It was just unbelievable. haha...

7 Discoveries in Siem Reap (Cambodia)

Cambodia is known for Angkor Wat, Tomb Raider, Maddox and Pol Pot (ok, I intentionally put Tomb Raider and Maddox ahead of Pol Pot! Haha…). But on a recent trip to Cambodia, here are some other interesting things I discovered about the place, particularly Siem Reap:

1. Temples. There are thousands of temples in Cambodia. We were able to visit 10 in Siem Reap and though others say they look the same, I think each one has its own character and charm. My favorite temples are:

Angkor Wat – the best time to go there is either sunrise or sunset. You’d be surprised to see swarms of tourists as early as 5am! I enjoyed exploring the grounds and imagining life inside the palace. Huge, huge palace. There are even 4 pools inside for the king’s wives!

Ta Phrom – this is where Tomb Raider was shot. The gigantic trees are just so overwhelming. I’m 5’7” and yet I look like a dwarf against the trees. The roots alone are higher than me!

Phnom Bakheng – Nice place to view the sunset but I’ve to warn you that the steps are high and steep. Easy to go up but really scary going down. The technique going down is to just focus on one step at a time and to never look beyond each step so you don’t realize how high it is.

2. Killing Fields. The place where we stayed in was actually near the Killing Fields and we passed by the site everyday. At the center of the area, there’s a small glass cabinet that houses skulls and bones of some of those who were killed. I didn’t bother looking at the photo exhibit anymore because I wanted to have happy memories of Cambodia.

3. Khmer Food. What to try – Fish amok (it’s like their version of laing), fried chicken (the one in the photo and it’s really good) and Cambodian barbecue (it’s like our version of shabu-shabu).

4. Cars. The Toyota Camry is just a basic car in Cambodia. Their cabs are mostly Camrys. Apparently, these are reconditioned cars from First world countries.

5. Monks. You can have your photo taken with them (better though if a local will ask permission on your behalf) but make sure you keep a good distance when taking photos. Physical contact with them is taboo.

6. Old market. It’s a nice place to shop! I love their shirts and bought a lot. One of which states a fave expression of Cambodians – SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT. At first we couldn’t quite get what it means. But later on, we actually found ourselves using it! When we went shopping, we tell the seller to give us the same price as the other stores because they are selling the same same t-shirts but different designs! Haha…

7. Language. Most Cambodians have a difficulty pronouncing S at the end of words (if the S is at the start or middle of the word, they can pronounce it). For example, when you say Philippines, they’ll say “Philippine”. We only realized this when our driver was telling us a story about planting something that sounds like “rye”. He was saying over and over “when you plant rye”… “when we harvest rye…”, then we realized he meant rice! A friend who’s based in Cambodia confirmed this. In fact, she said that in their office, one expression that her Cambodian officemates often utter is “Oh my goodne!” But I like Cambodians. I think they are one of the kindest and sincerest people.

Some useful tips:
- Don’t change to the local currency anymore. USD is widely accepted – just make sure you have small bills.
- Car rental is only USD25 per day! They charge an extra USD10 for farther destinations. Drivers/guides are pretty flexible in itineraries. We requested to have naps in between our temple explorations! Hehe..
- If you’re planning to stay in Siem Reap for a couple of days or more, get the temple pass for 3-4 days. It’s about USD40 and will allow you entry to all the temples. Just make sure to bring it all the time.

BTW, if you're planning to go to Siem Reap, you can get in touch with Mr Phansy for tours and hotel reservation. He can be contacted at phansyros@yahoo.com or +85592890005.

Car paint retouch in a day

Just in case your car has unsightly scratches and you never had them fixed because painting work takes time, you can try out Djez Reel Auto Service in Casimiro, Las Pinas (just across Southville International School). They can finish retouches within a day – even in a few hours if the weather is good and the paint mixer can easily achieve the right color shade. (Admittedly, I had my first self-inflicted car scratch 2 weeks ago – after more than 10 years of driving! Sob…).

A colleague of mine referred this service center who did a retouch on his apple green Peugeot. But don’t worry, whether your car is a Peugeot or not, they usually charge PHP1,500 for scratches.

You can look for Mang Danny (the owner). He’s so nice. The first time I went there, I only wanted to get an estimate so I wasn’t bringing any money. He offered to do the work and he said I can just come back another day to pay the balance! His mobile no. is 09274008738 if you want to inquire or make an appointment.

The Heat is On in Saigon

It feels like Manila - especially the heat and the way people drive! haha... It's a little less developed (understandably because it used to be a communist territory) but it has its own charm.

Actually, the reason why I've been wanting to go to Ho Chi Minh is to visit the Cuchi Tunnels used by the Viets during the war but too bad, my travel companions were claustrophobic so we didn't go. Sob... Although I'm a bit claustrophobic too, I can overcome my fear when I'm really determined (by singing while crawling like when we went inside the pyramid of Chephren! Haha...).

Anyway, even without the visit to the Cuchi tunnels, it was a fun adventure. Here are some top things to do when in Ho Chi Minh:

1. Visit the War Museum where you'll see tanks, aircrafts, ammunitions, etc. from the Vietnam-US War. It's also a good place to learn about landmines. A bit depressing though especially when you start looking at the war and landmine photos and preserved deformed fetuses so better not to make it your last stop so you don't leave Saigon with a sad feeling.

2. Eat Vietnamese food -of course!:)

3. Visit the Notre Dame Cathedral and Post Office (would you believe their Post Office is actually a tourist spot!).

4. Have coffee at the Opera House Area - either at the Hotel Continental or Culi Supreme. Ok, I didn't have coffee. I ordered ice cream everytime we stopped over there! haha...

5. Shop! Ben Tham market for local stuff and Diamond Plaza (across the Notre Dame Cathedral) for branded stuff. We chanced upon the mall sale and prices of Samsonite, Nike, Puma, Adidas, etc. were all marked down.

6. Buy paintings. Reproductions of Van Gogh, Picasso, etc. are so cheap. About USD40 for 50x70" sizes. Paintings of local artists are also available. But what I bought is a real masterpiece! Mona Longganisa er... Fernando Botero's Mona Lisa - the tabachoy version! Haha...

2 very important tips when in Saigon:

• Bring small USD bills so you don't change to their currency (dong) anymore. If you exchange USD to dong, there's a surcharge of 3% so better stick to using USD for transactions - shopping, cab fare, food - dollars are widely accepted and you can get change in USD too.
  
• When crossing streets, don't stop in the middle of the road. Bikes and motorcycles are everywhere and you will confuse the drivers if you stop. Just walk straight ahead and let them avoid you.

For last-minute hotel bookings

If you need last-minute hotel bookings when traveling, here's a site you can check out: http://www.ratestogo.com/
The day before we left for Vietnam last week, we could no longer get any hotel booking confirmation in most online travel sites because they usually require at least 3 days' leadtime. So this site spared us from spending the night room-less when we reached Ho Chi Minh at 2am!:)