bolueeleh wrote: ↑Tue Sep 11, 2018 8:04 pm

Duncan wrote: ↑Tue Sep 11, 2018 5:35 pm

kaya14 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 11, 2018 7:56 am Hi all, I'll be moving to Phnom Penh alone in a few months, and was wondering about the below:

- Is there a Ikea equivalent in PP for knick-knacks like cutlery/crockery/containers etc?
- Where do people go for fresh produce (beef/chicken etc)? I heard supermarkets can be a tad expensive.
- are electronic items safe for purchase/use? I heard that the electricity flow can be quite erratic and can cause blackouts/damage to electrical equipment. if so, where can I get surge protectors?
- are there shops selling authentic Korean facial products eg Innisfree, Etude House (I know there's a face shop in Aeon)
- which is better, Grab or PassApp? i'll be travelling from the area around the Royal Palace to near the Russian market everyday (20 min journey, according to Google maps).
- Any safe massage parlours to recommend?
- Any cafes to recommend, for chilling out?
- As I'll be in PP over the Ancestor's Day and Water Festival long holidays, what do people usually do then?
- is there a pest problem in PP e.g. rats/cockroaches/lizards?

thanks in advance!

Yes to all.

dude u gave a neg karma to barang chgout for a one word no n u post a 3 word yes to all which basically same as a one word yes, wats up with tat?

StroppyChops wrote: ↑Tue Sep 11, 2018 5:49 pm

kaya14 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 11, 2018 7:56 am Hi all, I'll be moving to Phnom Penh alone in a few months, and was wondering about the below:

Okay, I'll attempt to answer this inline as I can't be bothered adding quote tags to each line.

- Is there a Ikea equivalent in PP for knick-knacks like cutlery/crockery/containers etc?
No, although there are a number of VERY cheap plastics shops and a couple of Japanese seconds shops. Join one of the Facebook expat groups that specifically focus on this sort of question.

- Where do people go for fresh produce (beef/chicken etc)? I heard supermarkets can be a tad expensive.
Supermarket meat can also be a tad toxic if you are not careful where you buy. Some of the bigger supermarkets are regularly accused of bleaching out of date meat and repackaging it. There are a number of Western suppliers of meat, Strokesy's Meats near Russian Market springs to mind, as does Super Duper, also in Toul Tom Poung - but western grade beef is going to cost you, big time. Don't eat the local beef at home, it is not drained correctly when slaughtered and will give you constipation at best, and make you very sick at worst. If you're brave enough, buy pork from the Khmer markets (e.g. Russian Market) but ONLY early in the morning, and if you're not going to eat it that day, immediately freeze it. As an ex-chef I find the pork to be better than restaurant quality "back home" but the seller has to like you. Chicken breasts can be bought in frozen 1kg packs at many mini-marts and are not only safe to eat, they're cheap and good product. Smallgoods are stupidly expensive. Most brands of fresh milk are not fresh milk, look for the Thai brand Magnolia if you want real milk, or Moo Moo if you want really real milk.

- are electronic items safe for purchase/use? I heard that the electricity flow can be quite erratic and can cause blackouts/damage to electrical equipment. if so, where can I get surge protectors?
You get exactly what you pay for, depending on your bargaining skills. For example, a $20 JBL sound system is knock-off crap, but if you don't know that you deserve to get stung. Yes, power quality is abysmal, and you should buy a decent grade of UPS for EVERY piece of electronics that's important to you. Chantra Computers in TTP is about average on pricing, but don't buy a bunch of small UPSs, get the mid-range ones as the small ones fry very quickly. Once you've installed your UPSs, if they constantly tick ("bashing") your wiring is faulty and needs to be addressed. Incidentally, don't buy surge protectors, you need UPS.

- are there shops selling authentic Korean facial products eg Innisfree, Etude House (I know there's a face shop in Aeon)
yeah, don't care about this one

- which is better, Grab or PassApp? i'll be travelling from the area around the Royal Palace to near the Russian market everyday (20 min journey, according to Google maps).
PassApp has a much larger market share, and you'll have no problems getting pickups between those two points. Alternatively, use both so if one is not accepting your booking, go the other. Caveat - all transport systems are subject to scams, but you get to learn about those on your own as part of acclimatizing.

Google's 20 minutes can be accurate, or about an hour off depending on traffic conditions, the rain, and if HE is on the move.

- Any safe massage parlours to recommend?
If by massage parlour you mean a place where you can get a real therapeutic massage, there are a few but are high priced. If you're female consider Open Arms in TTP.

If by massage parlour you mean rub and tug, every single massage parlour with a 10,000r ($2.50) sign out the front provides that, and probably more - not my area, others are more experienced. The parlours you see on Riverside are all the R&T variety, I'm told, although you can get a decent seated massage (try it, won't bother explaining it) in the public front room at around $7 an hour.

- Any cafes to recommend, for chilling out?
Far too many to mention and asking the question will probably start a poo-storm of derision from long termers. The explosion of the coffee shop market is a point of constant conversation. Avoid Brown (all of them), the coffee sucks. If you want a local but safe alternative, check out Kilik Bakery in TTP. If you're a Christian NGOer, Jars of Clay on Street 155 in TTP is obligatory.

- As I'll be in PP over the Ancestor's Day and Water Festival long holidays, what do people usually do then?
They usually remember their ancestors and participate in water-based events. What do you plan to do?

- is there a pest problem in PP e.g. rats/cockroaches/lizards?
Depends very much on your location and what's around you. PP still has open sewers complete with sewer rats, but rats (two models, one quite large) are common. Ants, referred to by the expat sector as "little fkn black bastards" spend several months a year tormenting anything alive, and some take to flying in swarms. Several types of cockroaches will offer to share your lodgings, unless you undertake chemical warfare. Neighbourhood dogs will bark and roosters will crow all night, but possibly not near Riverside as that would disturb the royal rest. Two main types of lizards - barking geckos that are quite cute and tokay lizards that literally yell "Fuck You, Fuck You" (I'm not making this up, Google it) while in the area. No-one can agree whether tokays are cute or scary, although my Khmer mate tells me they make really good pets if you get them young enough that they don't bite hard yet.

-thanks in advance!
Welcome. Read this - http://www.movetocambodia.com/

kaya14 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 11, 2018 7:56 am Hi all, I'll be moving to Phnom Penh alone in a few months, and was wondering about the below:

- Is there a Ikea equivalent in PP for knick-knacks like cutlery/crockery/containers etc?
- Where do people go for fresh produce (beef/chicken etc)? I heard supermarkets can be a tad expensive.
- are electronic items safe for purchase/use? I heard that the electricity flow can be quite erratic and can cause blackouts/damage to electrical equipment. if so, where can I get surge protectors?
- are there shops selling authentic Korean facial products eg Innisfree, Etude House (I know there's a face shop in Aeon)
- which is better, Grab or PassApp? i'll be travelling from the area around the Royal Palace to near the Russian market everyday (20 min journey, according to Google maps).
- Any safe massage parlours to recommend?
- Any cafes to recommend, for chilling out?
- As I'll be in PP over the Ancestor's Day and Water Festival long holidays, what do people usually do then?
- is there a pest problem in PP e.g. rats/cockroaches/lizards?

thanks in advance!

kaya14 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:30 am Wow thanks for the extremely long and comprehensive reply

Pests - I'll be around the central market / national monument area so... And I'm deathly scared of lizards and cockroaches

beaker wrote: ↑Tue Sep 11, 2018 6:57 pm ikea ---> https://sweetmemorystore.com/ikea-cambodia/

StroppyChops wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 1:50 pm

kaya14 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:30 am Wow thanks for the extremely long and comprehensive reply

You're welcome. Again, answers inline below:

For fresh produce - so does this mean that I should try to eat out instead of cooking at home? Especially I'm not that confident in my culinary skills heh.
No, not at all. Cambodia has an amazing array of fruit and vegetables at very reasonable prices. Most vegetables, for example, can be found at 0.75 USD a kg if you know where to look, and build at least a passing relationship with the seller. Ask them to teach you the names of each fruit and vegetables in Khmer, they love that, and will patiently teach you, give you fair price, and look forward to seeing you back. Warning though, especially for root vegetables, wash everything well and peel vegetables that are normally peeled, as there is almost certainly human poo in the earth they were grown in, or worse. Some people bleach their fruit and vegetables lightly during cleaning, we don't. Some items such as lettuce are grown hydroponically and just need a light rinse.

UPS - absolutely necessary? Are blackouts / electrical failures common?
Depends on how much you like your electronics, and what area you're living in, but I'd say absolutely necessary. The problem is as much brown-outs and chattering power than spikes, so a spike arrestor is only going to prevent a third of problems, and not well. To give a realistic example, our TV/entertainment gear is plugged straight into the wall, my gaming PC and our laptops are on UPS, and phone rechargers etc. are on surge protected powerboards. The major item that seems to be fried by power problems is computers, but if you have a smart TV I'd protect that too. Blackouts and failures are getting better over the years, with blackouts now planned and advertised by EDC. We've unfortunately had three Sundays in a row of 12-hour blackouts, but at least we knew they were coming.

Holidays - I don't have plans but I won't be able to leave phnom Penh. I was wondering if the celebrations will be like in Thailand where it can get quite rowdy.
Ancestors day - not rowdy but very busy, and intense for the participants. They will be wholly fixated on the needs of the ceremonies and not at all on the needs of expats. Water festival can be an open menu of events, you may get waterbombed and then powdered with talcum - take it in good spirit and DON'T get angry.

Pests - I'll be around the central market / national monument area so... And I'm deathly scared of lizards and cockroaches
Great! You've got an opportunity to get over that! Seriously, though, not so bad in those areas, although the tokay lizards go where they will. Geckos don't care how important your neighbours are, they are prevalent right through the country, but I'm not sure what about them is scary. Is it that they can lick their own eyeballs? Mrs Stroppy had a deathly fear of snakes, whereas I hold them without a care - and she recently overcame that by holding a Burmese python without needing to be encouraged to do so. She found herself quite at peace with it, until the bitey end got too close to her face, which startled her, which startled it, and then settled into a loop of each jumping slightly. Good times.

bolueeleh wrote:

Duncan wrote: ↑Tue Sep 11, 2018 5:35 pm

kaya14 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 11, 2018 7:56 am Hi all, I'll be moving to Phnom Penh alone in a few months, and was wondering about the below:

- Is there a Ikea equivalent in PP for knick-knacks like cutlery/crockery/containers etc?
- Where do people go for fresh produce (beef/chicken etc)? I heard supermarkets can be a tad expensive.
- are electronic items safe for purchase/use? I heard that the electricity flow can be quite erratic and can cause blackouts/damage to electrical equipment. if so, where can I get surge protectors?
- are there shops selling authentic Korean facial products eg Innisfree, Etude House (I know there's a face shop in Aeon)
- which is better, Grab or PassApp? i'll be travelling from the area around the Royal Palace to near the Russian market everyday (20 min journey, according to Google maps).
- Any safe massage parlours to recommend?
- Any cafes to recommend, for chilling out?
- As I'll be in PP over the Ancestor's Day and Water Festival long holidays, what do people usually do then?
- is there a pest problem in PP e.g. rats/cockroaches/lizards?

thanks in advance!

Yes to all.

dude u gave a neg karma to barang chgout for a one word no n u post a 3 word yes to all which basically same as a one word yes, wats up with tat?