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General O/T Chit Chat Thead II

Meanwhile I moderate a FB group about Cambodian trains. There are only two train lines. One from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville in the south, and the other to Poipet in the northwest, which connects to Thailand for freight. Passenger services were stopped during covid, but resumed in March. And interestingly, trains started running in both directions on both lines every day (previously only Fri-Mon).

Since then, the FB group has exploded with young Cambodians joining the group, and posting videos of their trips both there and elsewhere on social media. So it's kinda cool that social media is making train travel cool and popular with young people, and is literally strengthening it as a business.

Hopefully the Poipet line will fully reopen as it's currently ony open as far a Battambang. The trains were finally supposed to connect to Thailand in March 2020, but ofc covid put an end to that. But one day it would be cool to be able to travel by train from Phnom Penh to Bangkok.

And I'm not really a trainspotter myself, but I do like to travel by train. Shame there are no trains in Siem Reap though.
 
Oh, meant to post a link as an example. FB one so I hope it works:


Who knew influencers could actually do good in this world? 😂 😂 😂
 
Well it's been another devastating week for me. I went down to Phnom Penh to visit friends and animals, and was particularly looking forward to being reunited with my little friend Lucky Licky at the pagoda. It was only after I arrived I learned he'd died three weeks ago, and nobody had told me.

He and his two siblings all had chronic kidney disease. Buddy died in September and Lucy Titswobble followed at the same time I moved to Siem Reap at the start of March.

As crushed as I am, I'm not looking for sympathy, but I'd like you to enjoy this short clip of the three of them in 2020, at the peak of their short lives. I hope they are playing together again over the rainbow bridge.

The all-tan one is Lucy, Lucky Licky is the lighter boy, and Buddy the darker one. These were my names for them. I didn't know their Khmer names except for Lucy's which was Sruoch, which means sharp, a reference to her pointy nose. Cute.

I am so sorry it has been another tough week for you. I like to think they will all be like that playing together with no pain over the rainbow bridge, happy to be reunited.
 
I am so sorry it has been another tough week for you. I like to think they will all be like that playing together with no pain over the rainbow bridge, happy to be reunited.
Thanks love, there's gonna be quite a crowd by the time I join them! Occupational hazard really, because I mostly only brought cats home because they were in a bad way. Rina, Mo and River all spent their final months with me so that was literally three in a row which made it very hard. Just looking out for two dogs who live around the corner now. Scarlet's cured of her TVT and just been spayed, and her buddy has a terrible mange problem so I'm giving them both medication for that. Hopefully they'll both be 100% in the coming months. I thought Scarlet was a stray but it turned out she "belongs" to some people with a restaurant. You'd think they would feed her a bit more, but no. Times are tough and the TVT treatment cost US$60 and spay a further $55, and the mange/parasite treatment $50 for six months' worth for the two dogs. Locals can't afford that.
 
Thanks love, there's gonna be quite a crowd by the time I join them! Occupational hazard really, because I mostly only brought cats home because they were in a bad way. Rina, Mo and River all spent their final months with me so that was literally three in a row which made it very hard. Just looking out for two dogs who live around the corner now. Scarlet's cured of her TVT and just been spayed, and her buddy has a terrible mange problem so I'm giving them both medication for that. Hopefully they'll both be 100% in the coming months. I thought Scarlet was a stray but it turned out she "belongs" to some people with a restaurant. You'd think they would feed her a bit more, but no. Times are tough and the TVT treatment cost US$60 and spay a further $55, and the mange/parasite treatment $50 for six months' worth for the two dogs. Locals can't afford that.
I have had to learn this week about feline diabetes. The matriarch of the cats here seemed uncomfortable and grooming herself last weekend and kept going back to the kitty litter. we realised she was having trouble peeing and when she did she had blood in her urine so we took her to the vet and they gave us some antibotics and pain relief, but got her in a couple of days later for an xray because the vet thought he could feel a lump. No tumor luckily but the bloods indicated diabetes, Which can bring on utis with cats.

So few days in with the vets so they could monitor her blood glucose levels, and we now have to feed her special food at special times and inject her with insulin every 12 hours.
 
I have had to learn this week about feline diabetes. The matriarch of the cats here seemed uncomfortable and grooming herself last weekend and kept going back to the kitty litter. we realised she was having trouble peeing and when she did she had blood in her urine so we took her to the vet and they gave us some antibotics and pain relief, but got her in a couple of days later for an xray because the vet thought he could feel a lump. No tumor luckily but the bloods indicated diabetes, Which can bring on utis with cats.

So few days in with the vets so they could monitor her blood glucose levels, and we now have to feed her special food at special times and inject her with insulin every 12 hours.
Oh no, at least you figured out what was going on and are on top of it. ❤️

The three pagoda dogs should have been put on the special renal food after they got diagnosed, but at US$26/bag there was zero chance of that. What an insane price. Western imported goods are very pricey here. Towards the end of last year, Foodworks posted on FB they were going to open a supermarket in PP in January, but for some reason it never eventuated. I was looking forward to that! They already run a booze chain here called S Liquor so already have an ongoing business. I wonder why the supermarket never opened. Having Aussie goods on sale here would be great.
 
I’ve started the lady shake diet. I’m hoping by the beginning of next year I’m back to where I want to be. I’m taking it slow and am okay with that because I’m also back to working at my fitness. Here’s hoping
 
I’ve started the lady shake diet. I’m hoping by the beginning of next year I’m back to where I want to be. I’m taking it slow and am okay with that because I’m also back to working at my fitness. Here’s hoping
I need to diet! I’ve got a couple of boxes of optifast in the pantry 😫😫
 
I’ve started the lady shake diet. I’m hoping by the beginning of next year I’m back to where I want to be. I’m taking it slow and am okay with that because I’m also back to working at my fitness. Here’s hoping

Ooh good luck! Is it two meal replacements a day?
 
I was on the keto diet last year sometime or maybe the year before but I was on it for health reasons and I actually lost so much weight, it was actually kind of discouraging for me to continue. When I say so much I mean around 8kg but this was in less than a month and it made me quite underweight according to my BMI.

So I personally can attest to the keto diet.
 
I was on the keto diet last year sometime or maybe the year before but I was on it for health reasons and I actually lost so much weight, it was actually kind of discouraging for me to continue. When I say so much I mean around 8kg but this was in less than a month and it made me quite underweight according to my BMI.

So I personally can attest to the keto diet.
I’m totally okay with losing that much weight- that’s exactly how much weight I want to lose- 8kgs and I’ll be back to myself.

And yes it’s two meal replacements a day, plus a Carmen protein bar in there for good measure. I bought the vanilla ones because I do blend it sometimes with some berries.
 
I’m totally okay with losing that much weight- that’s exactly how much weight I want to lose- 8kgs and I’ll be back to myself.

And yes it’s two meal replacements a day, plus a Carmen protein bar in there for good measure. I bought the vanilla ones because I do blend it sometimes with some berries.
Did you see Carmen got a write up in The good Weekend today? In The Age/SMH etc. The owner at least. She can tell you eat vanilla bars just by looking at you apparently!
 
Did you see Carmen got a write up in The good Weekend today? In The Age/SMH etc. The owner at least. She can tell you eat vanilla bars just by looking at you apparently!
No I haven’t! I need to read it! How funny! I’d like to know how she bases her opinions.
 
I’m totally okay with losing that much weight- that’s exactly how much weight I want to lose- 8kgs and I’ll be back to myself.

And yes it’s two meal replacements a day, plus a Carmen protein bar in there for good measure. I bought the vanilla ones because I do blend it sometimes with some berries.

Oh good luck! I don’t necessarily recommend keto, I just know for me weight just dropped off so quickly. I also had withdrawals from carbs/sugar and was vomiting, which is somewhat embarrassing really.

Hopefully you get the results you are after. I guess it’s all in the discipline and your ability to stick to the diet, which I’m sure you can do.
 
So I’m pretty lucky to have survived this relatively unharmed but I was a victim of a random pepper spray attack last night on my way home from a friends bachelorette party. Since COVID random acts of violence have been quite common in our downtown core. I have no memory of leaving the bar or how the attack happened.
 
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So I’m pretty lucky to have survived this relatively unharmed but I was a victim of a random pepper spray attack last night on my way home from a friends bachelorette party. Since COVID random acts of violence have been quite common in our downtown core. I have no memory of leaving the bar or how the attack happened.
Jebus, that's scary. Hope you're ok.
 
So I’m pretty lucky to have survived this relatively unharmed but I was a victim of a random pepper spray attack last night on my way home from a friends bachelorette party. Since COVID random acts of violence have been quite common in our downtown core. I have no memory of leaving the bar or how the attack happened.
Wow, that sux.. Pity someone didn't catch the perpetrator - those kinds of assaults can be dangerous, that person needs to be locked up. Glad your ok...
 
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