Angkor Wat & Bangkok Tour

We left manila last thursday around 10:30pm and reached bangkok at 1am. Waited till 4am before travelling to the border of thailand and cambodia. We hired a mini bus going there, it's a toyata hi ace commuter. Our driver's name is BJ. he's a thai & he speaks fair english. good thing his van was new. it's huge and comfortable so we were able to sleep the whole travel time.


Cambodia Trip


It took us about 4 hours before we reached the border. The people there were scary, they look like those we see in movies where there are many poor slaves lined up, all tired and walking fast. The place don't smell good. Anyway, we had to have our passports stamped at immigration before we could cross the border. After which we were brought to the mafia's taxi terminal via the free goverment shuttle. We hired 2 taxi's for $60 each. Before leaving we were warned that the road is bumpy. and indeed the whole 4 hours of that ride was very very very bumpy. Our heads banging here and there. It was an endless bumpy road with a desert like view.. but thank God when we finally reach siem reap. the road condition is better.

We arrived 12.30 at the green garden home where we stayed for 3 nights & 4 days. The guest house was good, the rooms are clean, big & air conditioning is good. Not only that, they have a very cozy pool area. that the moment we arrived we felt the need to dip after the long trip.

The Pool

The Woman in the pool

Blue Medal: "No Touching my Jar"

After which we had dinner at EXPRESS restaurant. In fairness their food was ok, very tasty. Their meal always comes with cucumber and tomato.

Next day is angkor wat day! The reason we came to cambodia. We purchased the 3-day tour pass which cost us $40 each. We went to angkor thom, the bayon temple, Ta Phrom, other small temples and most important of all is the Angkor wat temple.

At the Bayon Temple

At the Ta Phrom Temple

All of the temples are amazingly beautiful. We felt like being transported to the ancient times.

That night we heard mass at a catholic church. The church was made of wood. Shoes inside the church is not allowed. there were no chairs, only matresses (banig) where we sat comfortably on the floor. Anyway,Contrary to what I thought that maybe only few goes to mass, it was well attended. There were french family, german, americans, indians but most of us who attended was filipinos. the priest is funny. We were still laughing on our way back to our place.

The following day we had a boat tour around the muddy river to see the floating houses, floating schools, floating basketball court. This tour didnt impress us coz we have that in the roxas blvd, aight? hahaha.

Cruisin the Muddy River

Later that afternoon we again went back to angkor wat to see more temples and finally trek the mountain to view the the whole angkor wat being lighted by the sunset. The weather was not very sunny so we didnt see the drama of the sunset. Oh well still it was a great experience to visit angkor wat.

With Lovey

With Jo (Still clueless she's havin a baby.hehe)

Come Monday morning, it's time to leave the guest house. we would surely miss the food and the staff there.

Bu-bye Green Garden Home

They are very accomodating and friendly. Especially, Vhutti and the girl who always gives us hot water for our instant noodles. hehe.

Bangkok Trip

And so hello to the bumpy road again. this time it was twice bumpy. maybe becoz it rained the other day before we left. Anyhoo, we successfully arrived back to the border again safely. BJ fetch us again to bring us back to bangkok. We stayed at Omni Tower. It's a serviced apartment.

On a Tuk Tuk

Tuesday, May 1 is officially shopping day for us!! wohoooo.. First stop, Gaysorn Mall. Then The center world and finally the Pratunam area (like divisoria). It wasnt that cheap to shop there as i expected coz their money is a peso and 40 cents in our money. I still find our bargains cheaper here. anyway, we bought some shirts, bags, la budha mask, antique frames, souvenir items etc.

Lovey at the Center World Mall

The following day, BJ, our driver drove us for a quick tour at some of thailand's sacred temples. Quick becoz we need to check out at 1pm. our flight is scheduled at 1.30 am so we have to be at the airport that night.

At the Golden Temple, Thailand

Behind me is the Replica of the Angkor wat, Thailand

After the tour, we headed back to the hotel to check out our things and leave it in the concierge then do a few more shopping. We went to MBK to buy those tamarinds and dilis. So shopping is over and we still have plenty of time before our flight so we went back center world and watched SPIDERMAN 3. Their cinema's are nice, seats are comfortable. We felt like we were just in greenbelt makati when we realized were still in thailand and we still have a plane to catch =) hehe. after the movie, we got our things from the hotel then off we go to the airport. We missed home already. We arrived manila at 5.30am.

3 trees

I just want to post and share this story that was forwarded to me.
This story inspires me and picks me when im feeling down and helpless.


Once there were three trees on a hill
in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and
dreams when the first tree said, "Someday I hope to
be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold,
silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with
intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty."

Then the second tree said, "Someday I
will be a mighty ship. I will take Kings and queens
across the waters and sail to the corners of the
world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the
strength of my hull."

Finally the third tree said, "I want
to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in
the forest. People will see me on top of the Hill
and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens
and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will
be the greatest tree of all time and people will
always remember me."

After a few years of praying that
their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen
came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree
he said, "This looks like a strong tree, I think I
should be able to sell the wood to a Carpenter, "and
he began cutting it down. The tree was happy,
because he knew that the carpenter would make him
into a treasure chest.

At the second tree the woodsman said,
"This looks like a strong tree. I should be able to
sell it to the shipyard." The second tree was happy
because he knew he was on his way to becoming a
mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third
tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that
if they cut him down his dreams would not come true.
One of the Woodsmen said, "I don't need anything
special from my tree, I'll take this one," and he cut it down.


When the first tree arrived at the
carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals.
He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay.
This was not at all what he had prayed for.

The second tree was cut and made into
a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty
ship and carrying kings had come to an end.

The third tree was cut into large pieces, and left alone in the dark.

The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to
the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in
the hay in the feed box that was made from the first
tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib
for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The
tree could feel the importance of this event and
knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.

Years later, a group of men got in the
fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them
was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on
the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't
think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The
men woke the sleeping man, and He stood and said
"Peace" and the Storm stopped. At this time, the
tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the
third tree. It was carried through the streets as
the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When
they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree
and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill.
When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it
was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill
and be as close to God as was possible, because
Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when
things don't seem to be going your way, always know
that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust
in Him, God will give you great gifts.

Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined.

We don't always know what God's plans
are for us. We just know that His ways are not our
ways, but His ways are always best.

Revived

After 16 months..my blog's back. I stopped blogging for a year and 4 coz i dont feel like writing. Either i was busy with work, or there's really nothing BIG to blog about. Lovey and I are doing good. still just the two of us. Enjoying each other at home. I cook, he does the laundry, I prepare the table, he do the dishes, I choose our grocery items, he pays! FAIR -eh? hehehe. Typical week for us is this: Weekdays, we go to work. During saturdays, we go to the mall, do our grocery, shopping, eat out, watch movie sometimes (we rarely watch in cinemas anymore since there's dvds). And on sundays, we hear mass at 9am. have brunch, then after lunch he's off to meet and play with his badminton frens. while im left alone at home watching tv or dvd series. Our not so typical week will includes meeting frens after ofc, weddings on weekends and out of town trips.

Last year our First year wedding anniversary was spent in Cebu. We stayed in Crown regency suite in lapu lapu. Visited churches, tourist spots, cebu malls, shangrila etc.

Credits: Tracy B, The Calm

This year we might just spend it in tagaytay. Im thinking of the boutique "i lust room" or "i dream". Yes, that's right I usually do the planning for our trips and dinner dates. That's simply not loveys forte..hehe. We are goin on low budget on our anniversary bcoz we are flying to bangkok and siem reap,cambodia next week with my friends. this is going to be our first international flight together with frens and lovey. wooohoooo! From bangkok airport we would go straight first to cambodia. im so excited to get the taste of adventure in cambodia and see the famous angkor wat. we are going to spend 3 days there then we'll head back to bangkok for some tour and shopping for another 3 days. Ahhh..LIFE!

Ever after

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This was taken on TJ and Gow's Wedding. How time flies fast..now we are all married. seems like yesterday when we were in highschool where we used to have same sanrio bags on our backs and we would always hang out at mcdonalds searching for boys. hehe. now we've met the man to grow old with. and there we lived happily ever after.

Holloween Layouts

This is STAN. Lala's nephew. isnt he adorable or what? This pic was taken during his 3rd trick or treat office party. Last year he was the late Elvies. And This year he's no other than Mr. bean! How cute!

Credits: (Rakscrap October Monthly kit) Alpha Uppers by Robin Cabana; ghost paper, pumkin, spiders by Rachel dickenson; Stitching and paper edges by christy heins; stamp spider by ateets; font: sylfaen; program used- photoshop



Now this is andie. stan's baby sister. cute kids...ughh hope to have one soon.

Credits: (Rakscrap October Monthly kit) Apha, paper edges, word art, Stripe paper by christy heins; sack epoxy by ateets; Purple stripes by gthibodeau; Pumpkins by Rachel dickenson;program used- photoshop

You Are a Peacemaker Soul

You strive to please others and compromise anyway you can. War or conflict bothers you, and you would do anything to keep the peace. You are a good mediator and a true negotiator. Sometimes you do too much, trying so hard to make people happy. While you keep the peace, you tend to be secretly judgmental. You lose respect for people who don't like to both give and take. On the flip side, you've got a graet sense of humor and wit. You're always dimplomatic and able to give good advice. Souls you are most compatible with: Warrior Soul, Hunter Soul and Visionary Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

Delight Yourself

Lately, I've been feeling like a culinary expert. I try cooking new foods i learned in the sept issue of foods mag. Nakaka tuwa lhat gusto ko lutuin! hehehe. to start off, i cooked prawns ala dampa. And it tasted really good. I was surprised! my potential pala ko! Just look at the mouth watering picture below. yummm.!





This is very easy to cook. I forgot to bring the magazine with me but i kinda memorized it.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo of cleaned tiger prawns
2 cups sprite
2 tablespoon oil
3 tablespoon butter (divided)
3 tablespoons chopped onions
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 small ginger chopped
3 tablespoon tomato ketchup
3 tablespoon sugar
1 table spoon cornstarch mix to
2 tablespoon water

1. Marinate prawns (avoid white prawn, it sogs quickly)in sprite/ 7-up for 30 minutes. Remove Prawns and reserve marinate.

2. In a large skillet, heat oil and 1 tablespoon butter

3. Saute onions, garlic and ginger.

4. Add prawns. turn the prawns as it turns to orange.

5. Add the sprite marinate, ketchup, sugar, salt and pepper. then simmer for 5 mins.

6. Add cornstarch mixture let it simmer until sauce thickens.

7.Turn off stove, then belnd in 2 table spoon butter to prawns.

8. serve with chopped spring onion.

Of course, I served it with dessert. which i learned from the mag also.

just put some chocolate syrup in a plate, add scoops of vanilla ice cream then add 2 dewberry biscuits or any biscuits of your choice and whoalllahh biscuit ala mode!