I am so proud of you baby!

Special thanks to Coach Ken for the photos and continuous training of the CIA Football team.

We have waited for almost a year since Boss Nick booked our tickets to Kuala Lumpur as a gift to the family and finally the long waiting is through. Together with Manang Lucre, Pong, Andrea, Aaron, and Aiken, we all packed our bags and headed to one of the first world countries in Asia.

Knowing that we have very limited amount of time to stroll around the city, we decided to visit the places that will be fun and exciting for the kids.

When we landed in Kuala Lumpur International Airport-LCCT, my cousin Taj Mahal was already waiting for us at Old Town Coffee Shop. It’s such a blessing to have someone we know in the city for we managed to save a lot of money that’s supposed to be spent for taxi because she’s got her own car, oh yeah! The ride from KLIA-LCCT took us a while as it’s really far from the city proper. It’s an hour ride by taxi and it’ll cost you about  RM90-RM120 or about US$30-U$40. Along the way, kids loved the scenery of fast ride and beautiful city lights. At 10PM, we finally arrived our hotel.

Jalan Alor is known as the “hawkers” street in KL. At night the whole street transforms to an eccentric food haven where many tourists enjoys different Chinese cuisines. Food here is cheap and tasty too!

Hotel – we stayed in Season’s View which is also located in Jalan Alor. It became an advantage for us because we’re situated in the Golden Triangle where places are very accessible. Our room with large beds is only $50/night. It comes with a complimentary breakfast too at the Old Town Cafe.

Where did we go? The trip was devoted for the kids and with that in mind all the places we visited are for them. We went to Menara Tower (one of the tallest towers in the world), Menara’s Mini-Zoo, Aquaria at KLCC, Petrosains (Museum), Petronas Tower (the tallest building in the world), the Pavillion, National Geographic center. We basically had the whole day wondering to these places so we weren’t able to visit some more. Hopefully next time we’ll be able to stay a little bit longer.

I’ll be writing a detailed story about our trip next time, especially for those who are interested to know where to stay and what to do in KL. For now, I’ll wrap my story with a BIG smile Xiao!

Shells! Shells! Please buy some shells!

Foot massage? Only $6 for an hour…

Num pan chok, 2000riels ($0.50) per order

Samba

Arrived at 12 noon, we all headed immediately to our hotel rooms to place our bags and soon we went to the seaside for our lunch. Occheateal Beach is the best place for swimming and seafood. There are plenty of cottages for everyone to rent and food is not expensive. They have a wide range of choices to choose from and since were in the beach, we feasted on many crabs, fish, squids, prawns, and so much more!

So what did we do? We spent Saturday afternoon swimming in the calm waters of Occheateal, picture taking with the “hot” teachers of CIA, danced to the beat of Apsara music during dinner time, we had dance exercise early morning of Sunday with our fab Teacher Winnie, went on island tour, and swam with lots of fish! Hell yah, we all had fun

I hope next year more teachers will come

For those who are planning a holiday in Sihanoukville, here’s some info that you may find helpful:

$6.00 (Mekong Bus Tours) – Bus ticket from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville

$30.00-$40.00/room at Seaside Hotel or White Beach Hotel. These hotels are just right in front of Occheateal Beach. You can also get a room from $15-$25 located in the main roads. There’s no need for luxury cabins as there’s a wide range of choices for you to choose.

$10-$15 per cottage

The food’s price depends on what you order

$10 for 10 minute ride of banana boat

$30 for 30 minute ride of jetski

$40 for half day rent of boat going to the islands. This includes life jackets, snorkels, and goggles.

$1/pax for a whole day play at the beach’s inflatables

During November, Cambodians look forward in celebrating Water Festival where millions of people gather in the city to watch the colorful boats and fireworks at night. And for our school activity, Teacher Chris Frost of Grade 10 and I agreed to conduct a small boat race for our students. What’s interesting here is the boat must be powered by a dishwashing liquid. The students were stunned when they learned about this and most of them thought how this will work.

Here is the criteria for winning:

1. The boat most be no more than 150 mm.

2. Students are allowed to use any materials they wish.

3. The boat must be able to carry Mr. Marble from the beginning of the race till it reach the finish line.

4. Mrs. Marble will choose the best designed boat on the race day.

5. Students have 4 days to design and practice for the race.

The big day came and all the participants gathered in the pool for the grand race of their lifetime

At first, the boats were powered by dishwashing liquids but after a while, it ended up hand powered as the students waved their hands in the water to push their boats into the finish line.Everybody had fun!

My favorite part of the activity is when Teacher Chris jumped in the pool to “destroy” all the boats. You can see from the picture below how powerful his landing is All the boats toppled over while in the water as the force is too strong.

For those who are curious and wants do this activity at home or school, watch the video and follow the simple instructions. Oh how we love science!

This place became an instant favorite because it give the kids a chance to enjoy the meal by simply cooking their own food. Kahit mejo natatalsikan na sila ng mantika, sige pa din I’m thinking of buying the same cookware because the one they have in the resto has a combined grill and pot in the middle. I wonder if it’s available here in the city. Anyhow, I think I can place an order at Ebay and ship it here in Phnom Penh.

If you are like my family who loves to venture on different cuisines, I strongly suggest you to try this restaurant. They’ve got a 20% off till the end of the year which makes me think of escaping Christmas preparations, hahaha! However, my big boss Nestle don’t like my idea of not cooking anything for Christmas as it’s been a tradition in our family to have delicious meals during this time of the year.

I got a chance to play today after attending church with these men…again, I am the only female who played, what a winner, hahaha!

Though my team lost in the games, I liked my style of playing as I’m more aggressive to attack the enemies, I’d say better than my previous plays. I got hit but it doesn’t matter coz it’s part of the game, you don’t wanna be hit then stay on the bench and watch. I’m not the one who whines after being hit by the opponent

Andrea and Aaron got their fair chance to play as well. Wearing their C9 pants, they hit the smaller field to practice their skills.

Next week I’ll play again, I need to renew my love for this sport since everybody in the family is very keen in playing. Hopefully, I’ll develop more and get a chance to watch at Hainan, China with Pong for the China Cup

The Wedding Planners has launched a Creative Couple Photo Contest in Facebook and the one above is our official entry for the competition. The contest aims to gather photos of couples which are not done by a PRO.

The one we have submitted is from our trip in Mui Ne, Vietnam, 2007. Truly it was a memorable trip and the photo was taken by the kids who rents the slide for the sand dunes

Guys,

We are needing your help to win the contest. By simply liking The Wedding Planners page in Facebook, you will be able to LIKE our entry. Part of the criteria to win is the number of people who will like OUR PHOTO. So please, help us win this trip to Hoi An, Vietnam 

Your click is so much appreciated

Follow this link http://www.facebook.com/pages/Phnom-Penh-Cambodia/The-Wedding-Planners/131641530188351#!/pages/Phnom-Penh-Cambodia/The-Wedding-Planners/131641530188351

Click LIKE and go to the bottom left of the page to LIKE our PHOTO.

THANK YOU

a little signage on the door – it’s really quiet in here once you’re inside, minus Aiken because she’ll mess you up when you gave her the chance to sneak in, hahaha!

there’s my algebra 1 book sitting on my table, plus other books not included in the photo, all waiting for me to open them. And look at my husband’s desktop (HP’s down, so I’m using his to edit my photos) all messy!

I still have a lot of books in the living room, I’m not gonna bring them in here anymore because I want to have some space when working.

Aiken and Andre’s morning play time session. Once they’ve started they’ll never end…Ooops! They do once they fall asleep

I guess there’s something to do with my being as a neat freak – I can’t stand to work when I see mess, my eyes get blurry and my blood pressure goes up! So as soon as things get sorted out, I can keep my pace to date

I’m going out for a while…gonna get hubby and Manang Lucre’s passports at the embassy then will get some  freshly roasted coffee to sustain my energy.

It’s my first time to be at Kirirom together with my husband Nestle, he came with me because he’s after the Chambok waterfalls which is up in the mountain, but sadly, we didn’t go there as the trails are quite dangerous. In the resort, you can do quite a few things – visit the mini-zoo, ride the ponies, do the rope slide (which scared the hell out of me!), biking, swimming, kayaking, and enjoying nature. The place is perfect for families who wants to escape the busy life in the city. There are many cottages where you can relax and do some BBQ. The resort also have rooms rooms for ren just in case you want to spend more time with your love ones.

My students are all game to try the activities they have and we really had a great time bonding together, plus they’re all nice and quiet during the trip, no one is a pain in butt all through our journey. Most of them spent their time biking around while me, Neath, Dara, Rithy, David, and Him went to try the rope slide. I was so amazed with the little kids who did the slide first, I mean they’re way smaller than me and all of them were not scared to jump off the base. While when it’s my turn, they had trouble sending me off because I don’t wanna let go, hahaha! My knees were all shaking and I could feel my heart beating fast, as if it’s going to jump first out of my chest, geez! I will admit that I am afraid of heights and after that jump I swear that I will never do it again

Rithy

Neath

David

Dara

Teacher Joyce

The short field trip brought me and my students closer together and we are looking forward for more activities like this. To those who’d like to come to Kirirom, it is advisable to rent a car to make your travel easier. You can book it to any local travel agencies here in the Penh. It’s been a long day…I hope all the teachers had a good time with their youngsters. I’m out to sleep now