Cam-butch in Cambodge... Haha...

Just how OC can I get sometimes? Uhm, here's an example. For long trips, I don't usually just make a list of the clothes to wear, I create an attire guide. Hahaha!

It sounds funny and vain, but it helps me keep track of the clothes that I brought and it eliminates the need to think of what to wear for the day. Haha! Plus, it's also an excuse to go shopping before the trip.

And I'm sure there are a thousand other people who do this. Haha!

So for the HCM/SR trip, I created an attire guide particularly for the visit to the Angkor temples. Haha!

Uhm, since it was a good time to feel proud about being Pinoy, I packed quite a lot of Team Manila shirts and I wore the Gap Manila shirt for the first time, especially for Angkor Wat. Harhar!

I wonder if Team Manila would give me a lifetime discount, since I practically wore TM during the entire trip. Haha!

Just a side comment, I was really happy to have worn the Manila shirts not just because it says where I'm from, but because these shirts used to be a bit body hugging but now, they fit much better. Ergo, the visits to the gym have been doing what it's supposed to do. Yey!

Anyway, some would say that the Angkor temples transform people because of the experience. It does. When I showed the photos to some girl friends, the only comment they had was, "So butch." Harhar!

I actually had a good time playing ultra-straight. The cargo shorts, the cross trainers, the cap worn backwards, the backpack, the shades. Harhar!

While walking along the streets of Saigon and during a tuktuk ride in SR, these shady looking characters would approach us and say, "You want laidee? Special massage?" Haha! I wanted to tell them, "Not laidee." Tignan natin kung di sila mag-tumbling. Nyahaha!

Anyway, just to be clear, I intend to continue playing for the team and stay on the dark side.

All these "acting?" It's just a phase. Haha!

HCMC and Cambodge for the tastebuds...

Like most travelers, one of the things that I enjoy doing when I go to a new place is to try the local cuisine. The Kapampangan in me is almost always ready to try almost anything new to the tastebuds.

(I still have my limits though. I don't think I can eat any Lassie or any of her family members, or an ostrich egg. Hehe! Rabbit, I'm willing to try.)

Anyway, I'm most probably wrong but if you ask me, there are only two food choices in Cambodge and in HCMC - rice and noodles. The only difference is that they come in a wide range of how they are cooked.

For the noodles, it's either with soup or fried. For rice, it's either steamed (partnered with a viand) or fried and because there's already so much extra ingredients in it, you can eat it without any viands anymore. Haha!

When we were in SR, my breakfast would always be the same - noodles with soup. The only ingredient that changes is th meat - pork, chicken or beef. What I did love about the breakfast though is that there's so much vegetables!!! Potatoes, carrots, and other leafy veggies. I love.

As for the rice, Wes concluded that what makes the fried rice yum is their local version of Knorr or Maggi Savor. Haha!

Amok, the local Cambodian dish, didn't look anything new to me. It kind of reminds me of the local dishes we cook in coconut milk. (Wait! Amok is cooked in coconut milk! Haha!) What I did like about it was the leaves that were added, but I wasn't able to ask what the leaves were.

The must-try restaurants (according to the Lonely Planet) which we tried are Pho 24 and Dead Fish Tower. Pho 24 is something like Chowking. I love the spring rolls and their rice combo.

Dead Fish, on the other hand, was so so. I got a curry but I wasn't too happy over the sauce because I thought it would be thick and creamy. Hehe!

More than the food, a reason to eat at Dead Fish Tower is the interior of the place (the owner definitely knew how to make good use of all the space) and the Apsara dancing. Oh, there's free Wifi too, I think.

Don't kick me but the best meals I had during the trip were from a barbecue garden and from a shabu-shabu restaurant (I think). Wes and I stumbled upon the latter by accident. We were looking for a restau near the Water Puppet theater, and we decided to try the restau. Kamusta naman? None of the food servers speak English. And we didn't have enough dong with us. Good thing the owner spoke English and was kind enough to accept US dollars. Haha!

But the food was really good!!! Wes got a clear tom yum soup and pad thai, which I loved!!! I got a (surprise!) green curry fried rice that was good enough to be eaten on its own because there was so much shrimp. Haha!) We also ordered a crispy catfish salad. The fish was already in flakes so what you get looks like adobo flakes, actually.

The two other things that I liked were the baguettes that you could buy from the street and the Tutti Frutti froyo shop in HCMC. So I guess a baguette for HCMC and SR people is what a pan de sal is to us Pinoys. On the way back to HCMC from SR, Wes and I had a baguette for lunch that I bought on the street. For just $1, I was already super full from devouring an entire loaf with sweetened pork and veggies. Haha!

On the other hand, the Tutti Frutti is a favorite because I love it that I get to make my own froyo combo. They have several froyo flavors to choose from. And the choice of toppings are even more. How much your dessert treat costs depends on how much it weighs.

Oh, what I wasn't able to try though were the exotic delicacies in Kampong Thom! During one bus stop, a sidewalk vendor was selling crispy, deep fried tarantulas, day-old chicks and either locusts or grasshoppers! I would have tried it but I was kind of worried about the oil used for frying. I dunno how many days the vendor has been using the same oil to fry the creatures. Haha! Weird, huh? Well, we all have our own concerns.

Lastly, I'm happy because I finally got to try Trung Nguyen Coffee. While walking home from the blasted water puppet show, Wes and I saw a Trung Nguyen coffee shop. I didn't get to try the coffee from that place when I went to HCMC last year so this was definitely a treat. Yey!

As for the budget, in HCMC, maybe about $3-5/meal. In Siem Reap, the food is more expensive in the rural areas. Uhm, it was about $5/dish. According to the Manang from the carinderia at Kabal Spean, it's because all the ingredients come all the way from town. In the city area, you can already have a good meal with $1.50.

So that's it really for the food. Up next, the Temples and a different kind of "sightseeing." Haha! Oh, and I guess I should write about being in HCMC for the second time.

The HCMC/Cambodge trip begins...

"Together we made it
We made it even though we had our backs up against the wall
Forever we waited
And they told us we were never going to get it
But we took it on the road"

If I had to choose an OST for the 7-day Ho Chi Minh-Cambodge trip, it would definitely be "We Made It" by Busta Rhymes feat. Linkin Park. Haha!

I've been dreaming of going to Cambodge to see Angkor for as long as I can remember. The problem was I couldn't find anyone who was that interested to go. Early this year, when I mentioned to guy friend Wes about the Angkor, he said he also wanted to go but had pretty much the same predicament as I did. What do you get when you have a two negatives? A positive, right?! In an instant, I found a travel buddy for Cambodge. Next thing to think about was the plane tickets.

As if the universe was conspiring to make the trip happen, PAL had its seat sale and despite the major problem with the online booking (I think everyone wanted a piece of the good deal), Wes successfully got to book us roundtrip tickets - HCM-Manila-HCM - for only $92/each! That was a good sign, yeah?

In the months that followed, we did some research on Cambodge, and coordinated everything online since we both had our toxic careers. Haha! Thanks to the Internet, we were able to find budget-friendly hotels and figure out how to get to Siem Reap by bus. We even had an itinerary on what we wanted to see, what restaurants to try, and so on.

Almost everything was set, yeah? But then, Ondoy happened... two weeks before the trip! Since my work assignment includes coverage of the company's disaster-response efforts, almost the entire week was spent out of the office and going to the different relief operations. After Ondoy, I thought I had nothing to worry about anymore. Not!

The blasted typhoon lashed Vietnam and Cambodia, too! Okay, by then I was starting to get worried, especially about Cambodge. I wasn't that stressed over Vietnam because I read that HCMC was far from the areas hit by Ketsana.

As for Cambodge, all the news that I read didn't mention exactly which areas were hit. I read about Kampong Thom, but I had no idea where it was. I read that the flooding was massive, but I had no idea how it affected HCMC-SR land trips. To make me worry more, when I emailed the hotel to ask about local conditions, the reply that I got wasn't that good. Town was flooded, and so were the temples. Sigh!

As if these weren't enough, news of typhoon Pepeng came. Could this get any worse, I thought. Haha! If the typhoon did hit the country before my trip, I would probably have to stay for the relief efforts. I was also already preparing myself for the bad news that flights would be canceled and that the trip had to be postponed.

Still, I tried to be very optimistic. I was telling myself to already think of a plan B, in case we didn't get to go to SR. I tried to be logical by thinking that since Ketsana hit the countries a week before my trip, there is a huge possibility that the waters would have subsided and that sun would already be out by the time we got there. Then Pepeng spared us and everything seemed to have started to fall into place. No announcement of flight cancellations. We found a new and better hotel for Siem Reap. And things were really set. (Of course, we know that the damn typhoon had to make a U-turn later on and unleash its fury on North and Central Luzon. The reason why I had to head to Pangasinan a day after I arrived back from my trip. Hehe! But this is another story.)

It also helped that I declared to the universe that I am going to have a good trip, whatever happens, damn it! Haha! Plus, I think I got to stock up on good karma from the "good deeds" the week before. I was really lucky that I was able to redeem the good karma that soon. Haha!

So, on the morning of October 4, I had a big smile on my face when I woke up and found the sun smiling at me. And by 1PM, I had an even bigger smile because Wes and I found ourselves onboard the PAL plane bound for Ho Chi Minh, listening to the pilot announce that we were ready to take off.

Ho Chi Minh and Cambodge, here we come!

Ready to fly...

Look what was delivered to the office this afternoon. Woohooo!!! Hehe! It's nice, nice, nice. I hope I can use it asap. Nope, strike that. I will use it this year. Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia. Hahaha! 2008 won't just be fitness year. It is also travel year. Woohooo!

Flying out of Manila again...

This afternoon, I'm flying out of Manila once again. And this time, destination is Cebu. Will be attending a company event so it'll be work again. I guess that's okay. At least, I get to travel. Hehe! It's my first time to go to Cebu so I'm quite excited. I'm also not too worried about the work because I'm quite sure it wouldn't be as toxic as the Dinagyang Festival coverage. But hey, who knows? Hahaha!

Wow! It's only the first month of the year and already I've flown out of Manila for two (going three) times. Hmmm... I guess it's a good sign, huh? That the Ho Chi Minh and Cambodia trip will push through? Hehehe! It has to. It has to. It has to.