Tips and Tricks from Cambodia

September 8, 2016


Cellcard Lab offers young Cambodians a fast-track to social business success PRESS RELEASE Released on September 3, 2016
Phnom Penh, September 3 – Young, enterprising Cambodians looking to fast-track their ideas into social business opportunities can make their dream a reality via Cellcard’s first-ever incubator program, Cellcard Lab, in partnership with Impact Hub Phnom Penh.


The unique program, launched by the telco and co-working space Impact Hub Phnom Penh, aims to inspire and guide Cambodians aged 18 to 25 years old by offering them a platform to launch social businesses.

The program, which launches today, Sept 3, will roll out 4 cycles, each of which will entitle 3 lucky applicants to a 3 month program by Impact Hub Phnom Penh.


Each cycle offers participants a three-month work space at Impact Hub Phnom Penh, networking and resource opportunities and access to workshops focusing on customer discovery and validation, strategy roadmaping and pitching. They will also enjoy a full-funded, three-day visit to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to attend a workshop at the prestigious MaGIC (Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre) Acceleration Program and tour the Microsoft office in the capital.


Personalized mentoring and coaching throughout the initiative will be provided by experts in their respective fields. These comprise Maelle Barbancon, the technical coordinator for Friends International; Chhunny Noem, the CEO & founder of Anakot Asia; and Laura Smitheman, the co-founder of Impact Hub. The three mentors will focus on assisting participants build their business model, provide teambuilding and creativity advice and basically, help entrepreneurs better implement, develop and execute their ideas.

“There’s no doubt that Cambodian youth have the ideas, skills and passion, but we believe inspiration and knowledge-sharing by those who have succeeded are equally as important to turn business ideas into reality,” said Cellcard CCO Laszlo Barta. “Cellcard Lab welcomes business ideas of any kind, and in turn, provides successful applicants an invaluable platform that accelerates their ability to gain a complete set of skills and ultimately, bring their product to market.”


He added that as part of the brand’s #KhmerWeCan campaign, Cellcard Lab would complement its overall aim of inspiring Khmer pride and encouraging local youth to realize their potential and achieve their dreams.


Those interested in scaling up with Cellcard Lab can download application forms at https://goo.gl/forms/u6m9pLfPxKGEWvVc2 before October 15 or email melanie.mossard@impacthub.net. Remember, the Lab only admits 3 participants per cycle, totaling twelve participants for the duration of the program, so hurry and apply today!

Disclaimer: This article was written by a third party and falls into Guest Post category. 

July 29, 2016

Here we we go again with translation technique. If you have not read my first post about this, you will have to read the Part 1 first: Translation Technique Part 1

Here I would like to address Google Translate since it's a bit mature now. Everybody knows about Google Translate, but this post is going to give you more confident in using Google Translate. In the event that we don't know the meanings of many words in a paragraph, we will have to spend a lot of time translating those words. With Google Translate, we save times. Since we copy and paste the whole paragraph, and double check if the translation is correct. It is important to stay cautious when we copy and paste from Google Translate.

After copy-paste from Google Translate, I list down the Translation under the English paragraph. I compare sentence by sentence to see the errors. After fixing all of the errors, I deleted the English paragraph, leaving only the Khmer paragraph.

January 9, 2016

There are hundreds of hotels in Bangkok in which you can find in a blink of an eye. However, only if you have stayed at those hotels that you realize how convenient it is. For this post, I am going to introduce you to two hotels which locate in a great location for a reasonable price.

1. Red Planet Hotel, Asoke Bangkok

Red Planet Hotel Asoke is a popular hotel among tourists as it's located just 100 meters from Asoke BTS station and it's also 100 meters from Terminal 21 shopping mall. This hotel room is generally booked. So, be well planned and book before others if you plan to travel in Bangkok.

It's hotel cost is around $30 to $33 per night for 2 people if you book via Red Planet Hotels homepage or via Agoda. Normally, you can get 10% discount if you are a Remembered customer which mean you are a returning customer. So, it's best to book via its homepage, rather than via Agoda. Children aged below 4 years old could stay for free if you don't request for anything extra.

I recommend this hotel because it's convenient to travel from one BTS Asoke to other tourist attractions. For example, if you want to go to Siam paragon, you can just take BTS Asoke to Siam BTS station at ease. BTS is specially popular among Thai people as the traffic is congested and it saves time too.

Read more details and book now!


Inside the hotel is not so spacious, but it guarantees its cleanliness and sleep comfort. The room is definitely for two people as the each of twin bed is enough for one person. 
Its twin bed

There is an app of this Red Planet Hotel for you to book too and there are many branches of Red Planet Hotels. You may browse through for a Red Planet Hotel before you travel to a country. It is not only for you to book, but also to ask friendly staff about services and attractions in Bangkok. 


2. D Varee Xpress Hotel Makkasan Bangkok

This hotel is a three-star hotel, it is located on new Petchaburi road and about 100 meters from Petchaburi MRT. You can use this MRT and connect with BTS at Asoke BTS Station (connected by Makkasan MRT).

This hotel is generally expensive. It could cost up to $151 per night, but if you book via Agoda, it you might get up to 75% discount at $28 per night.

There is a price for free breakfast also, but I did not choose this option since I wanted to walk around and try street food.

I used to stay at this hotel in January 2016 and found it convenient to travel via MRT too. The room is big and incredibly clean. This hotel is 600 meters away from Red Planet Asoke Hotel. It could take up to 20 minutes to walk to Red Planet Hotel.

Read more details and book now!

The look outside of D Varee Xpress

Inside D Varee Xpress Hotel

December 3, 2015

About a year ago, in August 2014, I blogged that I had bought my own solo property in Kampong Speu province. It wasn't a brag. My only sole purpose is to inspire others and to share tactics to accumulate more wealth as I had been inspired by other successful people.

Today I blog about how I've bought a house (Just booked by now). So, this blog is more about my imagination and steps that I am going to take to accumulate this house.
Actually, I went to make the first deposit yesterday on December 02, 2015. The first deposit was $10,000, and I will still have to pay another $130,000 because the former owner agreed to sell for $140,000. It was reduced to this price after 2 weeks negotiation.

This post will explain to you what this house is and how I am going to get it, with the help of others.

Cost of the house:
It costs $140,000. It is not possible for me to buy this alone. So, it's me and my mum together we pay for this. It's $70,000 for me and $70,000 for her. I am not going to mention in the blog how she gets her part, but mine alone. So, basically, I will need to have $70,000. And this is how I am going to get it. (Not successful yet!)

My wealth by now:
- $23,000 (I expect to get this amount if I happen to sell the land I bought earlier in August 2014)
Link to article about the land
- $2,200 (Cost of half a hectare rice farm I bought last year, I do not know how much it costs now)
- $20,000 (I have this in my bank account as I got this from wedding gifts by guests on my wedding day)
- $8,000 (If I happen to get this from tong tin)
- $1,724 (Salary per month)
- $5,000 (Loan from Grandma from USA)

From the amount shown here, it clearly shows that it is impossible for me to rush to sell my property and get the $70,000 because by now I only have $20,000 in my bank account.

So, I approach a bank for the other $50,000. I have collateral for this loan. I got a special interest rate at Mega International Bank. I got this rate $58/month per $10,000. Thus, I'll have to pay $290 interest per month. The rate will decrease as time goes by and as borrowed capital decreases. I am going to repay this capital and interest in installment.

At the same time, I will start selling my properties but no rush. By the time I sell my land plot, I will have $23,000 extra. I will probably lend this $23,000 to someone who is in need for an interest of $100/month per $10,000. So, it will help me pay off the bank too. The reason that I won't use this $23,000 to pay back to the bank directly is that I could get an interest rate at $100 or $150 if I happen to lend it to others.

Also, since the house is in good location. And former house owner used to rent it for $350 per month. I expect to rent this for $400 per month. Thus, it may also help my repayment with the bank. But if I get $400 per month, I will share with my mum. So, I'll get $200 per month from rent.

If everything goes on well, I'll have the house (half of the house). And if the price of the house increases a lot, I might sell it and share half with my mum to find somewhere I can afford to buy alone later.

Phewww!! It's going to be an interesting financial journey for me! Invest!

House location:


The house size 7m*12.5m


Update, November 17, 2016:
It has been a year since I bought the house. I rented it to a tenant for $400 per month 8 months but she already moved out (I got $3200). So, it helped my loan repayment which is $1800 per month, that means I had to pay $1400 per month after deducting monthly $400. Since $1400 is for me and my mum. I alone had to pay $700 per month for my part.

Let's talk about the money I had prior to purchasing the house
+approx $25,000 I have not sold the land in Kampong Speu. Link to article about the land
+$2,200 land. This land is still there.
+$13,000 (Not yet get from tong tin)
+$1,760 (Salary per month)
+$5,000 (Loan from Grandma from USA) - Grandma said she gave us. So, no need to return, but I used it to pay for the house also.
-$20,000 (I have this in my bank account as I got this from wedding gifts by guests on my wedding day) - This money has gone for purchasing the house. So, no more to consider.

Since we have had this bank loan, we have repaid about $10,000 in one year. 6 more years to go.
Whether I can sell this house or find a new tenant, I do have a plan to buy another house which cost around $40,000 in 2017.

December 1, 2015


Normally if we go to buy the ticket directly at the Underwater World Pattaya, it will cost 1 visitor 500 baht, and 300 baht for children with height below 130cm.

However, before going to the Underwater World, I was suggested by a taxi driver to contact Mrs. Pim. She opens a travel agency. The price I got to visit the Underwater World was 450 Baht per person. Together, I went with 8 people, thus I saved 400 Baht. I am quite sure that the taxi driver gets some commission. However, I didn't care as the tickets worked well and I got a discounted price.

If you contact the agent directly, I guess you could get even lower than 450 Baht per person. Give it a try!

Her address is in 336/6 M.9  Central Pattaya Road. Tel: 081 782 7676, 093 111 4407