Shopping at the Russian Market, Cambodia - A Fun Experience!

Since the 1980's, there have been numerous NGOs, church groups and charitable organizations in Cambodia doing a variety of good work to help this country. The same week when we were there, there was another mission team from Hong Kong volunteering at the Girls' Home. We were given permission to tag along with them for a day hitching a ride on their chartered vehicle taking them around.

Early in the morning, We arrived by Tuk Tuk at the girls’ home to meet up with the HK team. Being a little early, we went for a coffee at one of the coffee booths close by. It appears that Cambodians love their coffee and there are coffee shops and coffee stalls everywhere in the city. Due to the hot weather, coffee shops were our favourite places to escape from the heat and to do some of our preparation work while we were there.

The bus arrived right on the dot and it took us to the Market known to the locals as the Russian Market. It is a busy shopping place with numerous stalls selling everything from clothes, shoes, jewelry, toys, dry fruits, species, and fresh food too as well as artwork pieces by local artists. etc. This is also an excellent place to buy souvenirs and gifts to take home for family and friends. I was at the market before but never spending much time to look around.

This time we had more time and I could enjoy myself browsing over everything. Hea. Took us to a dry fruit vendor who brought out samples for us to try. It was funny that whatever samples the vendor gave us to taste, we ended up buying them! I could have lost myself in the Russian Market for at least half a day. But there were many other things on our itinerary so we moved on to the next thing.

We had lunch at a restaurant close by. From the outside, the restaurant looked like a humble place and we could have walked past without noticing it. But it was a nice restaurant with good ambience and the rustic décor giving its customers a feeling of being close to nature. We loved the feel of being outdoor and were busy snapping pictures here and there. The food was delicious too!

We also went to the Independent Square in the downtown area and spent sometime by the waterfront. It was a busy place with many locals and tourists alike on a fine Saturday afternoon! The team went for dinner together and we headed home and had our dinner at S. favourite restaurant close to Joy’s house. A fun day for us!

RT, Russian Market Phnom Penh, Cambodia Jan. 2025

It's the Cambodian People Who Make the Difference!

Since my retirment over a decade ago, I have been volunteering and sharing my skills and experiences with younger teachers and school leaders in a few different countries. My volunteer work has taken me repeatedly to places such as Panama, China, Africa, southern USA and Cambodia.

My husband and I thank God for good health and mobility which enable us to have travlled extensively to many places. For some of these countries, I have visited more than a few times. We have always enjoyed seeing new things, learning about different cultures and meeting new people.

This is my fourth time visiting Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I am no stranger to this country. However, our visit this time is very different and exciting as I am learning and expereicning so much more about the people and culture of Cambodia! What makes the difference this time? The people!

We are being welcome and embraced by the new Cambodian friends we have made online over the past year. What a difference it has made to our visit!

Instead of being in our hotel drinking wines and enjoying the amenities, we are interacting and having fun with the Cambodian people. Instead of dining on fine food by ourselves, we are sharing meals, cracking jokes, playing games and sharing tons of laughter together!

Instead of shopping for meaningless junks for ourselves, we are giving small gifts as tokens of our appreciation to the hardworking teachers, and social workers who are making differences in the lives of the next generation. It gave us so much joy when we saw the young people's faces lit up as they opened their small appreciation gifts.

They also gave us some gifts to show their love for us and for supporting them! Their gesture of appreciation touched us deeply!Thank you, our Cambodian friends, for teaching us that it is better to give than to receive! Thank you for the amazing dinner, your gifts to us and the fantastic time we had together! You are terrific and we can't thank you enough for making our trip to Cambodia such a joyful experience! RT, Phnom Penh Cambodia

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - A Town I Could Hardly Recognize from My Last Visit

Friday, Jan., 2025 We went on our first car trip outside of Phnom Penh today. Because there were six of us incuding the driver, we needed to rent a van for the day. The last time I went to Sihanoukville was more than a decade ago, therefore I was excited to visit this town once again.

I didn't remember going on any highway the last time and it took the bus more than four hours to get to our destination. But with the new highway, it only took us a little more than two hours to get there. Along the highway, we aslo found new pitstop buildings, stores, restaurants and clean washroom facilities which didn't exist before. Progress takes time and we are glad to see that Cambodia is getting better each time we visit the country.

We made a stop at a rural church where a Cambodia minister was holding a bible teaching session for a group of Cambodian pastors and church leaders from the rural area. we learned that most rural pastors do not get a salary but they are tentmakers trying to support themselves. Unable to attend full time bible school, they are doing some intensive training and leanring on the weekend every month. I sincerely salud these dedicated pastors making these kind of sacrifices and serving their people in the rural communities. After visiting the rural church, we drove around Sihanoukville for a quick tour. I could not believe how much this seaside resort town has changed since I visited it last time. It used to be a quiet small resort tomw with only a couple of hotels big enough to accommodate our youth training group and the children of the vacation bible camp. But in a span of a decade, the facade and the feel of this resort town has completely been transformed. Now, there are numerous hotels, restaurants and casinos making Sihanoukville a much busier place than it used to be. These economic development might have brought more business to the city as well as the problems associated with them. It has also taken away the innocence and the tranquility of the Sihanoville we onced knew and loved.

I found one place that didn't change in Sihanoukville. The seafood restaurant by the river where we used to have our nice dinners with our team members. It is still there, just as beautiful as I have remembered it. It is still serving the delicious fresh seafood we so enjoyed a decade ago! We loved sitting by the water, enjoying the breezes the great food and with my current teammates! RT Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Thank God for the Opportunity to Serve Alongside a Fine School Principal in Cambodia

Thursday, Jan., 2025 --- Today was our second full day in Phnom Penh, Cambodia - another busy day of teaching! I stayed up pretty late last night trying to finalize my ppt. It doesn't matter how many times I have presented the same topics to my audiences. I find that I can always have something to add or have changes to make so that the materials presented to my audiences will be the most updated, and relevant to their needs and learning levels. We stayed in the house putting the final touches to our ppt and worked until it was almost time for lunch. Since our Grab app. is not working in Cambodia, we have to depend on other people to order our rides for us. After Hea. used her cell and ordered our Tuk Tuk for us we walked out to the street to meet our driver.

As soon as we got to the street, a tuk tuk pulled up and the driver asked us to hop onto his vehicle. S. told me to do so but I hesitated. ' Why did the tuk tuk get here so quickly? How do I know this is the right tuk tuk?" I refused to get onto the tuk tuk. Instead I called Hea. to confirm. So glad I did! This was the wrong tuk tuk! Because most older Cambodians cannot speak English, it is not easy communicating with them and I have learned to be extra careful from our last trip. We finally got on the right tuk tuk and went to the Jars of Clay Restaurant for lunch. It is a nice restaurant with good ambience. The menu offers a varitey of western, Khmer and Asian food. The school admin team chose this place to treat us for lunch and to express their thanks to us.

This is the group whom I have been supporting via a monthly zoom meeting from Toronto. Young, energetic, dedicated and with an excellent sense of humour, this group of school leaders is fun to be around. We shared some jokes and good laughs, got to know each other better and enjoyed an excellent meal together!

After lunch we went back to the school and did our second day of training for the teachers. It has been fun working together with my husband and collaborating together on this training program. S. was very serious about this volunteer assignment and worked hard on preparing for the workshops. He surprised me at how good he was at it. The teachers enjoyed his teaching while I shared some teaching methods and strategies with them.

At the end of our training, we presented each teacher with a small gift and shared a few words of encouragement with them. We also took this opportunity to recognize and thank the principal of this school who has dedicated her life to helping the people of Cambodia. The principal is the driving force behind the teacher and leadership training and has been working hard to bring about the programs to the staff. She is like an angel! We thank God for giving us this opportunity to serve along with her - to witness God to His people and to bring hope to this nation! It is truly a blessing! RT Phnom Penh, Cambodia jan2025

Meeting Cambodian Students in Person for the First Time

Tuesday, Jan, 2025 --- After months of planning and coordinating, we finally landed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia during the second week of January, 2025. Though we didn't apply for the e-visa online for our stay in Cambodia, the process of obtaining a visa after landing in the Cambodia airport was quick and painless. I must say that the process has improved a lot since the last time we visited this country.

This time we are in Cambodia to provide some training to staff of a couple of schools and some charitable organizations supporting girls needing assistance. Hea. came and picked us up from the airport and took us for our first Cambodian meal. After lunch, we bought some refreshments at a supermarket for our meeting with the teachers next day. Hea. drove us to a Cambodia missionary's house where we would be staying during our visit here. We were tired but couldn't rest as S. and I would start our work the next day and needed to finalize our power point presentatons before heading to bed.

Wednesday, Jan. 2025 --- Though S. bought a SIM card at the airport yesterday upon our arrival to Cambodia, unfortunately, we were unable to use our cell phones to order our rides through GRAB, the counterpart of UBER in Phnom Penh. We had to ask Hea. to order a ride from her cell in order to get to the girls home. Located in Phnom Penh, the Pleroma Home for the Girls is a safe place for girls having been rescued from difficult and dangerous situations. We visited this home last year for the first time and since then I have been working with some of the staff there online for almost a year. We revisited this home again on this trip. It was different and exciting as we have established a good relationship with some staff members! As soon as we walked through the door of the home, So. recognized me and ran to me giving me the biggest bear hug I have ever had in my life! It startled everyone in the room including myself. Though we have been seeing each other in our class through Zoom on a weekly basis, we had never met in person until today. So. was so excited meeting me in person for the first time that I was afraid she might burst anytime! She and my other students were very sweet and welcome us with such warmth and enthusiasm that I was deeply touched by their love! We had so much to catch up and talk about! But we were aware that this was their work hours and needed to be considerate of their time. We made plans to meet the next day and we went on to tour the facility of this home. There was another mission team from Hong Kong doing some activities for the residents of this home. We sat and observed the activities in progress.

We left the girls' home and were driven to the primary school where our first teacher workshop would be held. There were a couple of specific workshops requested by the teachers. S. and I decided to work on the preparation and to co-present these workshops this time. I shared some basic background theories on the different styles of learning for students while S. did the interactive part of having the teachers to practise of what they had just learned. The teachers were attentive and eager to improve their skills. We had a lot of fun sharing our experiences and interesting life stories regarding teaching and learning. There were a lot of laughter and our hour long workshop flew by in no time! Yes, the snacks we served to the teachers were a hit! After a day if teaching, teachers were exhausted and appreciate some drinks and food to give them some energy before the training workshop. I must remember to do that again next time! It was a very productive day indeed! RT Phnom Penh, Cambodia Jan2025

Most Precious Gift of All - Happy Gatherings and Celebrations with Loved Ones

The world has truly become a global village! Living in Canada, we are able to meet and make friends with people from the four corners of the world. At the same time, our frineds and loved ones are scattered all over the world outside of Canada. It is a joyous time when we can get together with family, and friends. As we age, we treasure these times of reunions and celebrations more and more. One of the times we look forward to all year when we can be reunited with our loved ones is the month of December when Christmas celebrations and gatherings are taking place throughout the whole month with some gatherings beginning as early as late November.

We were busy but very happy at the same time during the last month of 2024. While some people may be weary of all the excitement and planning for dinners and gatherings in December, we consider it a privileage every year to be able to host these dinner parties and invite friends and families to share with us.

We got together with many of our friends and family members. We tried to invite those who might not have their families with them in Canada. We also needed to consider the languages spoken by our guests to make sure that they were comfortable with each other. E. always comes home for Christmas and this year was no exception. This year his plane landed on Sunday morning when we were at church. Paul offered to pick him up from the Billy Bishop's airport and then drove him to meet with Joanne and her family for dim sum, more chance for the young people to get together.

E. had more opporunities to meet families when we were invited to Rosie's house on Christmas day. It was a fun time as we learned a new card game after dinner. We had a great time indeed! I took this game and also played it at our parties in the following week. All our guests enjoyed this new game and had a marvellous time at our house. Having our loved ones together for dinners and Watching our guests enjoying themselves made us very happy! We should have these gatherings and dinners more often and connect with our families and friends more! RT, Toronto 122024

A Review of Hyatt Regency, Downtown San Francisco

It is always a pleasure when we can get away from our home city and travel around to see and try new things. It makes it our holiday more special and enjoyable when we stay at a hotel that is a little above the notch with more luxurious amenities.

Vacationing in San Francisco recently, we enjoyed our week long stay at the Hyatt Regency which provided us with a very comfortable and positive experience. We loved our stay at Hyatt Regency because of the following:

  1. Our spacious suite - Located on the 18th floor, our room was upgraded to a suite which was spacious with a lovely living room with a roomy corner workspace commanding a lovely view of the city below. I especially liked looking the view at night. 

The living area was furnished tastefully with a L shape long sofa making it possible for a guest to sleep over. E. did just that when we needed to get up early for our Turkey Trot the next day. 

 2. Beautiful and spacious lobby - As we were there during the American Thanksgiving weekend, the lobby was decorated with numerous Christmas trees and other festive decorations.


There were different seating areas and beautiful art pieces placed strategically throughout the lobby creating a warm and cozy ambience inviting guests to pause and linger a while.

3. Helpful and courteous front desk and hotel staff - Whenever we needed something or changed something, we could always ask the hotel staff who assisted us in a courteous manner. Another amenity which we could enjoy everyday was the beautiful and quiet Lounge located on the main floor serving an evening snack from 6 to 8 p.m. daily to Hyatt Regency guests with a certain points accumulated on their rewards program. 

 We didn't visit the Lounge everyday during our week long stay there, but it was nice when we did saving us from wandering around the streets of San Francisco looking for some snacks.

We did enjoy our buffet breakfast in the dining room every morning with a nice variety of hot and cold items from which to choose. 

The Hyatt Regency deserves a 5 star in our book! Highly recommend it to travelers to SF, USA!

 
 R.T.

 Visited SF recently from Canada