“Mano po” is a gesture showing respect towards the elderly. Growing up in the US, I’ve slowly lost the old customs.. being back in the Philippines brings it all back. Need to re-adopt some of them!
Life
the GOP gets introduced to reality (and facts)
What a spectacular and stunning loss for the GOP. Record numbers of women and minorities (muslims, gays, latinos, asian-pacifics, blacks..) were voted into office on Nov 07, and were for the first time in history a majority of each party’s caucus in the House of Representatives.
For fast-tracking this inevitable reality, I give my heartfelt thanks to the misinformation campaign of Karl Rove, the Faux News spin machine, and the most vile members of the GOP who hijacked the platform to preach dogma, promote hate and blacklist those with opposing views. These charlatans have failed their party and America by keeping their believer base cocooned in a bubble of lies and fear. Without facts to inform GOP strategy, it’s advantage team blue. That this outcome came completely out of left field, and rendered Republicans so speechless that night is icing on the cake for those of us who respect science/math and have been increasingly shocked at the growing contempt for facts over the past decade. They need a reboot to stay relevant cuz America badly needs a viable opposition party (parties!).
Cineplex theaters in Phnom Penh
We used to treat ourselves to a trip to Bangkok just to see a movie on the big screen. I remember we twice checked out the local Khmer films. They sold fruit instead of popcorn, which was nice. But the air con was poor, the sound quality was horrible, and conversations including mobile phone calls were rampant. Once, about halfway or more through the film, the reel unexpectedly stopped and they started it right back at the beginning. Only the three or so foreigners sitting in the theater looked around, baffled, while everyone else seemed fine with it. It was not the theater experience we’re used to.
But now we have two very nice cineplex theaters in the Penh! Seats are big, screen and sound quality is great, and they even start on time! Plus, moviegoers are strongly encouraged to turn mobile phones off or put them on silent/vibrate and attendants make sure everyone complies. We even got to see Prometheus in 3D. Offerings this week include nonstop action with Bourne Legacy, Total Recall, Spiderman playing at both theaters. They also have family friendly Brave and Ice Age 4. And I’m amazed to see The Dictator (Sacha Baron Cohen) here, at Legend. Check out the listings before you go:
Sorya Cineplex
Legend Cinema at City Mall
.
Veterinarian options in Phnom Penh
Got a dog. A co-worker gave me one of his puppies like it was an extra tomato from his garden. Since he started getting increasingly agitated as I protested, I just told him to bring it to my house – it was the middle of a workday, what was I going to do with it? Big mistake. He got a name, Iko. Hubby and our little loved him. So I looked for a vet.
Thankfully there’s a gold-standard in vet care in town (Agrovet), but for routine visits I’m not real interested in paying the high fees, especially after the poor service during puppy’s first visit there. Likely in the case of trauma or severe illness we’d take him back to this clinic (from comments on the Cambodia Parent Network it seems I should specifically ask for the main vet there, Arnaud).
Other friends seem happy with their local Khmer vets, and their pets (some are quite mature now) look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed healthy to me. So here they are, a list of Khmer vets recommended by other expats who’ve lived in Phnom Penh for many years:
(1) One person has been taking her dog to Navetco Vet Clinic for years 097 266 1191
(2) Three people recommended Sophorn, and I found this below on a thread on vets in PP when I googled: http://www.khmer440.com/chat_forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4231
Give this bloke a try: Sophorn 012824991
He’s a ‘proper’ Cambodian vet and as a bonus seems genuinely to like animals. It’s been ~2 years since we last had an animal problem that couldn’t be solved with benevolent neglect – so the number may be out of date. His house/surgery used to be in Tuol Kork…
above the railway line…
left hand side of the map…
at a pointy intersection…
… nah fuck it, can’t remember the address. Lucky the number was still in the phone. Sophorn was good value professionally and financially. He cleared up a nasty skin infection on the family mog and then gave him a neat testicular snipping to end his wicked ways to boot. Can’t remember how much we paid – but $10-$15 all for house calls sounds familiar.
Hell, for $200 bucks I would have done the cat myself with two half bricks.
Sophorn also has a dry sense of humour – after finshing a very nice job of making our male cat into a soprano, with all the family watching in fascination – he looked directly at my six year old son and said, “Right, who’s next?”
The poor kid didn’t uncross his legs for about a week.
(3) Sila was recommended by two people, including this below from the Cambodia Parent Network:
We are not in PP, but i still have a number for a very reliable vet we found. He also helped us with all papers we needed to travel with our dog.
His name is Sila and he comes to your house for extra $5, or you can go to his clinic if you like. I never needed to go there, but it’s around central market what i know.
His number is 012 477 686 and 097 198999.
Sokhamalpheap Animal Clinic
#64 St174
(4) Below, Wayne Weightman had his assistant collect info on various vet options in town. I know it’s a pet shop, but when I went in there to get the puppy groomed ($5 – it’s a small breed) many expats came and went over the span of 20 minutes shopping for various things, and when asked they seemed ok with the vet care they were getting there.
a new color scheme
I’ve been separated a week already from my son and I am still shedding the tension from a year and a half of interrupted sleep/sleeplessness. So here’s one way to de-stress – painting! I had to paint the place anyway (the previous tenants had a toddler who marked up the parts of the wall he could reach) and I had help so I figured, why not have fun with the colors! Seeing the vivid colors go up – stark against the white of the previous walls – made me momentarily think I’ve made a mistake. But now they’re up I love it! More pictures later!
one happy little boy
