Turning Point - Back Home to Where I Belong

This is it. Goodbye New Zealand and Hello Cambodia.
14th February 2010 marks the start of new life journey!

Alaska, North to the Future or Land of Promise

Having recently seen a chick flick comedy inspires me to have Alaska as another must-do travel destination.
There is this thing about this place that I found very intriguing and desperate to be there one day. That is the geographical fact that in some villages the sun does not set for 84 days in a year and also the twilight phenomenon referred to as "The Midnight Sun". It is already good enough as a substitute for dream destination - Antarctica.

From the movie, Alaska has abundant of eagles. Puppies are not allowed outdoor without supervision as the giant birds might snatch them away.
The scenery is exquisite from the scenes plus it's a mixed of American and Russian culture which you would have the benefit of immersing in both at once.

In the mean time, upcoming Christmas holiday has been planned out - the date has been set, leave application approved and air ticket purchased.
Cambodia, here I come again. See you on December, 19.

Been youtubing and found a beautiful Khmer Song, not entirely sure though if it was Khmer Version of Chinese or possibly Korean.

09.09.09 "Pretended Birthday"

Bumping up kids' birth date was a common practice in the 80s. My folks were amongst those who had done that.
I ended up going to school with almost half of the class sharing the same birthday, the lucky and powerful 09 September.


Birthday Bouquet Courtesy of Boss

I had the choice of correcting it during senior high school but couldn't be bothered.
So, the official birthday is 09th September. Having 2 birthdays is great, it translates into 2 sets of present a year, i.e., from work and from family - what more could I ask for :)

Mom & dad's BD Present Earlier This Year

Daffodil Day

It is the mark of a charitable event, 28th of August to be exact.
Daffodil is a kind of flowers which its bloom is referred by most to be the commencement of joyful season, Spring and the end of the gloomy Winter. As of this year, although the official day of Spring is 1st September, these yellow spirits came out 2 weeks early.
The NZ Cancer Society set out to collect donations from the general public by selling daffodils. 3 dollars is the minimum.
About 20 blooms have been sitting in our vase. Hopefully, they will last for at least one week.
Unfortunately unlike Christchurch , Auckland is not a garden city. Despite that, driving in the rush hours along busy streets at this time of the year doesn’t cause too much distress compared with when trees along the streets or roads standing there with barely a soul of leaves or flowers. In fact, getting stuck in the traffic is quite enjoyable with so many cherry blossoms surrounding. This does not apply to motorway though.

So much has been debated over how charitable money is being used. General public has demanded all charitable organisations to be transparent in every aspect of their expenditures. To our surprise as revealed recently, not so much was received by the poor souls. An estimate of only 20 to 25 percent of the money collected actually goes to intended receivers. A majority of the funds was used on publicity. Other fractions go to administrations & allowances of staff members.
It is recommended that you do your research properly before giving away your sweat and blood hard-earned cash as it has been found that some heads of organisations flew business class on money received from donors.

Winter, Don't we just have enough of it!!

Spring is on its way, only 8 more days to go.



That means, it's time to get out of hibernation mode and into being active and keeping fit.
Spring resolution: lose 5 kilos!

Lake Taupo

We hit the road on Saturday morning with the intent on doing hot spring at Rotorua. But at the junction where the road split between Rotorua and Taupo, somehow, I've changed my mind. So we ended up going to Taupo with the hope of a peep of snow capped Mt Ruapehu . We went into Huka Fall Prawn Farm, about 5 mns drive from Lake Taupo thought we might go prawn fishing but then changed of plan again.
So, eventually we had brunch at Taste Cafe and took a stroll down to the lake.




Lake Taupo

Swine Flu & Flu Season

That's what people are talking about at the moment. It's also constantly on the news and the weather doesn't help either. Cold blast is taking over the whole country which brings snows down South.
Auckland is lucky enough to not to have to endure the nippy snowy weather & the slippery roads, but still, it's freezing cold for me.

Despite the fact that Swine Flu is on the spread, that doesn't seem to deter people from travelling. Quite a few people from work are going on leave and going on overseas trip.

I haven't had flu in the past 7 years, it's probably to do with lifestyle and diet. Been having lots of fruits lately and I mean lots and lots....including passion, kiwi, mandarin, avocados, apples, which contain ample of Vitamin C... guess the immune system is strong enough to fight the flu virus. So, it pays off to adapt to the half-vegetarian lifestyle!!

So, people if you don't want to fall prey to influenza....rules of thumb is -> up your Vitamin C intake!

All in all, good eating habits are conducive to good health.



Fruit Platter - Passion Fruits and Gold & Green Kiwi Fruits

Orzo Salad

It has become one of my favourites. Haven't had it in a while, since relocating to New Market Office. Bar Italiano, right next door to Takapuna Office, was the only cafe I know of that has this salad on offer. Unfortunately, they close in the weekend. So, that means no more Orzo Salad for me :( unless I come up with excuses to pop over to Takapuna Office over lunch :D or perhaps googling for the recipe on how to make this yummy food and try it out for myself.

Seoul, South Korea Trip

The holiday is over. Apparently, it's my third week back at work this week. Don't you just wish that holiday went forever, especially, when it's winter here and it chills down to your spine. Missing the hot, the sweat and the fruits back there already.

We managed to make a one week trip to Seoul, Korea. It was Spring there, the weather was perfect and the view was fabulous.



Coex InterContinental Hotel


Gyeongbok Palace


Gyeongbok Palace


The Blue House - Government Building.

Cambodia, Here I come!

It's been a year and four months since the last trip back home. Upcoming home trip is not far off, four more days to go and I'll be home sweet home, so excited!

Will be flying out this Friday night.

Flight Schedule
Fri, 10 Apr 2009 SQ0282
Auckland(AKL) 23:50
Sat, 11 Apr 2009
Singapore(SIN) 06:40

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 MI0602
Singapore(SIN) 08:00
Sat, 11 Apr 2009
Phnom Penh(PNH) 08:55

Good thing that Singapore Airline has got night flights throughout the week, which means, no more long wait at the transit lounge in Changi Airport. I probably can live with 3 to 4 hour wait, by browsing around those duty free shops. Anything longer than that? might need a day room to recharge.
Considering that NZD has depreciated so much over the last 6 months, buying duty free stuffs at Changi might be off the list. One has to be frugal in such state of economy, it's not like the good old day when the NZ dollar was on a par with the Singapore Dollar.

"Earth Hour", Did you do your bit?

People were encouraged to dim their non-essential lights from 8:30 to 9:30 pm on 28of March to raise Global Warming Awareness.
According a local papers, the country saved about 3.5% on power consumption during last night's Earth Hour.
Have you done your part? I have done mine :)

Every Cloud Has Its Silver Lining

News about dooms and glooms of world's economy is everywhere. Firms have gone belly up, people get laid off, investors tend to take lesser risk approach when it comes to investment by going for a less volatile institutions despite promising lower returns so they can have a good night's sleep and the list goes on.

The government has declared we are in the peak of recession and this will stay until at least the end of the year.
I remember at the end of last year the government tried to encourage people to save up and refrain from unnecessary spendings, but last week, when it dropped the OCR rate to an 8 year low of 3.5 percent, it stimulates consumer spending, which in a way confused people but it all comes down to putting the credit market to be back up and running again.

Everyone can only do so much, keeping their fingers cross, hoping that there is a silver lining and that there is light at the end of the tunnel, most importantly, getting life back on track again.

It would be nice if you can hide away from all the problems including not having to read and watch all form of medias by indulging yourself on a trip to a retreat like Necker Island :) That would have been a dream!!!

Holiday Season is Over

Deer Farm - Elevated 360 degree Alpine View over Queenstown
The last time mom and dad were here was October 2006. We didn't do much of the travel around the country then. So, this time South Island trip was a must as dad hadn't step a foot on the South land, not even when I was studying at Otago University, down in Dunedin.
There are two ways to get to the South, either by flight or by ferry. Ferry is out of the picture because dad is not a fan of the sea, especially the blowy Cook Strait, separating the North and the South Island.

So, I got us 4 air tickets to Queenstown on Xmas day and we flew back from Christchurch on new year's eve.

The highlights of the trip were Queenstown, Christchurch and Dunedin.
Two nights alone were spent in Queenstown, the most scenic town in NZ as the locals refer. Christchurch, the city of flowers and old architectures, was remarkable despite the scorching hot weather. We managed to find our way around after getting lost few times.
Dunedin Railway Station


Dad wanted to see my old school, where I lived, so, we popped by Dunedin or the second name "Student Town". If you have seen "Scarfies" then you would know what it's like being a student in this city. Old memories flashing back, good and bad ones. It was quite an experience, woke up in the morning for the 8am lectures during winter, the car's windscreen froze and I had to throw hot water from the tape as a quick fix to get to class on time, the snow day when school had to shut and my first part time as a caregiver in a rest home....

We made it to Christchurch through West Coast, where all the glaciers lie. The scenery was picturesque.

It's probably true when they say "NZ is the land of the long white cloud".

Parnell Garden

On a beautiful sunny day!

Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae

Yay, it's finally friday! it's been the longest week ever, even though I took Monday morning off work after getting back from Sydney.
This was probably because my body went on palpitation mode completely last week and never wanted to wake up. Now that it's Friday I can catch up on some sleep.



Get attached to this song, been listening over and over again!

New Sky Train in Phnom Penh

Dad was on the news!


http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2008120222981/Business/New-sky-train-to-ease-growing-traffic-snarls-in-the-capital-govt-says.html

Sad or what?

Was youtubing around and came across this MV. In some way, the storyline is fairly similar to a Korean MV.
Watching the clip is somewhat depressing. It's no longer my type of music so to speak..It amazes me how things change along with your line of thoughts as you age.

Cherimoya Anyone?

Have seen them around for several years, but wasn't keen on trying one. So today as I swing by the supermarket in the neighbourhood on my way home from work, picked up 2 from the shelf as i felt like I had a crave for 'Teab Barang', one of my favourites, and this fruit happens to have similar look.
Got home, put away the shopping bags and started to cut one of' em up. It's definitely 'Teab Barang', so I thought. But after one bite, the taste was so weird, no sour sensation as I expected of. Somehow, I managed to finish the whole fruit though it's only the size of the fist.

I really miss all the fruits back home, especially, those with combo of sweet and sour taste. Dad usually said those who had sour-taste-bud were extremely pigheaded. Is it true or just a myth? It's probably true to a certain extent. But I just couldn't figure out if there was a cause and effect relationship between the two.
Anyhow, I dont think I can finish the second one tonight. At this instance, I don't know if I like it. I might do after a few attempts :) just like avocado & feijoa, I hated the fruits when first tried but have become two of my favourites now.

Look like this year home trip is not going to happen since mom and dad are coming over late December - something to look forward to. So, planning to take holiday in April. I know it's gonna be scorching hot but that doesn't deter me from making this trip. It's going to be my first real Khmer New Year at home in 8 years. Yep 8 big fat years!!!

Another Spring is almost gone!

Can't believe time really does fly. When you write the date on reports, it's number 11 which tells you it's the eleventh month of 2008. 11 down, only one more to go and we all will age another year..sigh!

Copper Room

Since Takapuna branch has been doing pretty good in the first month of opening, we decided that we should go out celebrate. So, last night we went for dinner at Shahi Cafe - an indian cuisine in Milford. I had Sea Chess - it's the name of the dish which was a comination of seafood, fish, calamari, spice & herbs and tamarind sauce. I had no confident when I made the order since I had bad experience with Indian food before, but the dish turned out over and above expectation. I give it 4.5 rating out of 5.

Straight after dinner, we headed off to Copper Room. It's a pub/restaurant down at Takapuna beach. It's a place that reflects Kiwi culture. Everything has some element of Kiwiana, from the food right down to the music.
Tuesday night is quiz night. Each team put forward their preferred name and a type of question they think they have best knowledge of. Some questions I wouldn't have a clue of, especially when it comes to music and artist names, it can be as old as before I was born.
However, we did pretty good, our team came third and was given 5 free glass of wine vouchers.
One of the questions I was most interested in was "Which nation am I? I am in Central America and have the third largest economy in the region. I am the only place where Golden Frogs live and rainy season runs from May through November". See if you can answer this question without googling!

Overall, it was a fun night.