Phnom Penning

DDD retreat, day three

Alicia — Mon, 04 May 2009 06:22:39 +0000

Official fun day where both official and unofficial fun occurred. Officially, we played blindfolded soccer. Unofficially, we all have shin bruises. Officially, there were plenty of planned activities. Unofficially, most people were really excited to lounge on the beach. Officially, there was a scavenger hunt. Unofficially, Thushan’s team won - More sandy, watery, clothes-switching, dancing with strangers fun day action here.

* Some of these photos were taken by our friend Nico Corlin from CIST (Centre for Informations Systems Training), one of DDD’s most amazing partner organizations. CIST turns out some pretty awesome scavenger’ing buddies, too!

DDD retreat, day two

Alicia — Mon, 04 May 2009 04:52:05 +0000

Day two was slightly less fun (OK, only in the morning and only for me). When noon rolled around and I was done with my presentation about DDD’s new intranet, all was well again. You can see more presentations, activities … and then some fun sunset group photos here.

DDD retreat, day one

Alicia — Mon, 04 May 2009 04:19:08 +0000

A company retreat to the southern coastal town of Sihanouk Ville. There was only one official “fun” day, but they were really all pretty fantastic. More photos from day one can be seen here.

We’ve been taking photos, we swear

Alicia — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:57:19 +0000

Apologies for the delay, fine friends. We have been busy at work (and at play) … and promise to make up for the lack of photos soon. Since arriving in Cambodia, we had the pleasure to visit each of DDD’s Asia offices and take photos for the new website. Thushan has put together this super snazzy page of all the shoots. You can also get there by clicking on the photo* below:

*Speaking of clicking on the photo, we think we’ve made a major user-experience faux pas. We didn’t make it all that clear that all the photos on our site are links to galleries. We promise to make it clear in the future if you promise to go back and look if you missed ‘em! So, see? You might have some catching up to do, anyway.

Out on the river

Thushan — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 03:19:19 +0000

We finally got around to partake in one of the Phnom Penh’s gems: a night cruise on the Mekong along the city’s riverside. What do you get when you mix a massive boat rented for $30, cans of Anchor, karaoke, our colleagues from DDD, and deep fried tarantulas? A stunning good time:

Close to home and green

Alicia — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:52:02 +0000

This particular morning, I thought the street sounded a bit crazier than usual, but thought nothing of it … until we heard the sirens stop a little too close to home. Thushan called me out to the balcony to look at the smoke. Yup, way too close for comfort. We walked to the elevator to find it off. Now all signs pointed to “Do not panic. Walk quickly and safely to the nearest exit.” Then, one of the building managers came panting up the stairs to tell us that it is not our building that’s on fire. “No, look.” Right next door:

Sixteen homes and 27 motos, but thankfully zero lives, were lost in the fire.

The day ended on a much more positive note, with green beer in honor of the birthday of one Vintage Cookie (officially, it’s on the 16th but we are 12 hours ahead here so, I mixed the celebration which I think she would have preferred, anyway). I rallied a small gang of “oh yeah, it is St. Patrick’s day, isn’t it?” beer enthusiasts. Turns out none of them were *green* beer enthusiasts. Can’t win them all …

Great conversation flowed easily … good times:

XML & BTB

Alicia — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 09:22:54 +0000

Some photos from around Battambang (BTB) over the weekend. Thushan gave his first XML presentation to the locals with occasional interpreting help from Hemy. He was a fantastic teacher. The office full of super-smarties were asking all the right questions and really took the lesson to the next level, it was great. After that, we had some free time before taking more website photos, so we checked out the “Bamboo Train” (unfortunately we didn’t see the actual train, just the scary bridge tracks*).

Before we headed out on Monday, the BTB team made us lunch - yum. The beef, potato and carrot dish brought me right back to my grandma’s house in the woods at summertime dinnertime circa 1987 … very surreal.

* Special mom FYI: Thushan is not standing over a gap in the bridge. We were right in the middle and there was sturdy metal platform underneath him … I promise!

Rhymes with long*

Alicia — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 04:48:33 +0000

Went to Battambang last weekend. The trip there was not short.

Thushan gave a fantastic XML presentation to local management. He and I also took the last round of office photos for the new website. Battambang proved even sleepier than Vientiane, but the route to and fro was not sleepy in the least. We hit a pre-rainy season downpour, which Hemy and her trusty Corolla handled amazingly well. Once we arrived, we took a nice walk in the park across from the office, and a few pajama’d lovelies made my day.

* Unless you’re from the UK, then it rhymes with “lang” …

Ice cream night

Alicia — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 02:59:30 +0000

We had this icy, coco-nutty goodness after dinner. It had some dried and jellied fruit mixed in with the ice cream and came in a freshly hollowed out coconut, complete with the coconut water on the side. I did not include the coco water in this frame, because … well, I just couldn’t take my eyes off of the main event.

I love ice cream night.

Shave and two hairs cut

Alicia — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:39:08 +0000

Thushan got a much-needed shave and a haircut. And why not? It was right next door to the shop that was fixing our moped’s flat. Later that day I found out that my favorite Vintage Cookie is coming to visit in May! Then we tried to copy K’nyay, one of our local favorites, and made a mean (and ridiculously spicy) banana curry!

Being the copy-cat that I am, I went for a haircut on the way home from work the very next day. The first place I stopped only did up-do’s (it’s big business with all the weddings going on these days). They nicely pointed me across the street, where I made the scissors sign with my fingers and they responded with a positive nod. And so I got a haircut for $1. The exact amount that was to be taken off got lost in translation somehow and it wasn’t much of a cut, but Thushan was quick to point out that at that price, I could get a few more until it was the right length. Truth.