AsiaLIFE Cambodia 73

012013 ISSUE73

In the mind’s eye www.asialifemagazine.com

note from the editor AsiaLIFE Group Group Editor-in-Chief / Director Cambodia: Mark Bibby Jackson mark@asialife.asia

Group Director Sales & Marketing / Director Vietnam: Jonny Edbrooke jonny@asialife.asia

Managing Editor Cambodia: Ellie Dyer ellie@asialife.asia

Director Thailand: Nattamon Limthanachai (Oh) oh@asialife.asia

Associate Editor: Bridget Di Certo bridget.dicerto@gmail.com

Group Creative Director: Johnny Murphy johnny@asialife.asia

Editor-at-Large Cambodia: Mai Lynn Miller Nguyen

Art Director Cambodia: Steve Tierney www.teaguesart.com

Siem Reap: Nicky McGavin nicky@asialife.asia

Ellie Dyer Many regard mental health as a topic that is not suitable for the dinner table, with psychiatric and psychological concerns brushed under the carpet or spoken of in hushed tones. In worst case scenarios, sufferers can be stigmatised, looked down upon or even become subjects of abuse.

Mental health is, however, an important topic to tackle. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are thought to suffer from depression, and many of us know people coping with psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Psychological pressures from divorce, a death, poverty or life upheavals can also affect us all.

In Cambodia, the pressures are perhaps greater.

Thanks to decades of unrest and warfare, many Cambodians have lived through periods of extreme trauma, and some are still coming to terms with their experiences.

Expats can also face challenges in living far away from home, without familiar support networks and social norms. In an environment where vices such as alcohol can be free flowing, some people’s lives spiral out of control. I expect we’ve all seen friends go “off the rails in Phnom Penh” (there’s even a book about it) without knowing how to help.

The good news is that there are places to seek support in Cambodia. Though the country’s mental health system lacks funds and, in many respects, is in its infancy, a small group of professional psychiatrists, psychologists and counsellors are dedicated to supporting the national psyche through professional training, treatment and sheer hard work. Take a look at our cover feature to find out more.

In light of the New Year and our escape from the Mayan apocalypse, we’ve also tackled the more light-hearted subject of interior decoration. Bridget Di Certo has met up with some of the country’s top stylists to advise readers on how to create a home sweet home for 2013. Writer Claire Slattery has also delved into times past in her illuminating examination into favoured holiday spot Kep and the future of its villas, including the royal residence.

On a final note, AsiaLIFE would like to thank Nicky McGavin, our Siem Reap writer, for all her hard work as she heads to pastures new. We wish her all the best in her new life outside Cambodia.

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Social Media and Marketing: Kate Burbidge kate@asialife.asia Sales Manager Cambodia: Sorn Chantha chantha@asialife.asia

Photographers: Chatti Phal, Conor Wall & Yoki Coco Editorial Assistant: Seth Rinoza Distribution: Sam Ath Ouk 012 319 172

Sales and Accounts: Seang Seyha & Seang Satya For advertising enquiries call Chantha on 012 576 878 Special thanks to: Darren Gall, Gemma Jones, Trevor Keidan, Daniel Otis, David Preece, Claire Slattery, Cambodia Restaurant Assoication, Dr Christoph Bendick and Lim Meng Y - for their contribution to this issue.

On the Cover Model: Panchakna Khlok Photographer: Conor Wall Art Direction: Steve Tierney AsiaLIFE is a registered trademark.

No content may be reproduced in any form without prior authorisation of the owners. © 360º Media.

012013 ISSUE73

front

12 Picks of the Month 14 Openings

getaway

42 Water Water Everywhere

food

44 Beer Goggles

17 Dispatches 18 Phnom Penh Calendar 20 Photo Essay 24 Q&A: Patrick Samnang Mey

on the cover

26 In the Mind's Eye

storyboard

32 The Beauty of Kep

46 Food Review: Wasabi 47 Food Talk: T-Bone

style & design

48 Too Bad On Your Birthday

back

53 Listings

34 Bumpy Ride

88 Phnom Penh Map

36 Hell On Earth

98 Pub Quiz

38 Home Sweet Home

34 6 asialife Cambodia

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Scars of Cambodia

Jan 2013

Sundance Premiere

A River Changes Course — a film that documents the lives of three Cambodians struggling to overcome the challenges of debt, overfishing and deforestation — is set to premiere at the 2013 Sundance film festival, its director has announced.

In October, the film was screened in Phnom Penh, Koh Kong, and Siem Reap.

“After the screenings, many people spoke about how touched they were by the beauty of the film and that the film made them feel very proud to be Cambodian,” said Kalyanee Mam, who produced and directed the film. The film is set to be shown to students, villagers and community organisers in coming months.

Scars of Cambodia

French photographer Emilie Arfeuil and film director Alexandre Liebert have come together to produce Scars of Cambodia, a project that aims to provide a testimony of the Khmer Rouge regime through a portrait of a man bearing scars of its rule. Tut, a 52-yearold fisherman, shows the

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duo the hard treatment he experienced in a prison the year he turned 15. The silent film that resulted from his experiences will be shown at the Bophana centre in Phnom Penh until Jan. 3, with an accompanying photograph exhibition running until Jan. 5.

Star Performance

Music lovers should head to the InterContinental hotel this month to catch the first part

of the Catch a Cambodian Star concerts, which are set to raise funds for scholarship for young musicians. Boris Slutsky, a world-renowned Russian-American Pianist and chair of the piano department at The Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, will be performing along with violinist Igor Yuzefovich, Hong Kong Philharmonic Concertmaster, on Jan. 26 from 6pm.

Flash Mob for Airport

Siem Reap became the first airport in Cambodia to handle 2 million passengers when SilkAir’s flight MI 633 touched down the runway on Dec. 3 at 4.15pm. Lee Kui Bao, a Singaporean national, was the 2 millionth visitor to pass through the airport. This figure comprises the total of passengers both arriving and departing from the airport. A flash

mob, featuring a welcoming dance by airport personnel, celebrated this milestone.

To enjoy their energetic dance, visit www.youtube. com/watch?v=lIaqrZCAfk0.

City of Light

This year could see a renovation and expansion of the capital’s street lighting after an agreement was signed on Dec. 3 between Phnom Penh city hall and the French company Citelum.

It is planned the deal will lead to improvements in residential comfort, public and traffic safety and further beautification of the city.

It is also hope the new lighting will help provide employment and improve trade within Phnom Penh.

Wrecked

Javier Areán’s exhibition Wrecked is showing Java Gallery until Jan. 13.

The Mexico City-born

PPAWS Pet of the Month

Zoe needs a home. This beautiful, healthy nine-month-old female cat has been spayed, de-wormed and vaccinated.

She is litter-box trained, clean and quiet. She is a little shy but gains confidence quickly with patience and attention.

Zoe, who has tabby markings and a full-length tail, has been fostered in a home with other cats and dogs since she was very young and now needs a forever home that can provide her with the attention she craves. Please SMS Nicky at 017 293 654, or contact PPAWS through Facebook.com/ PPAWSCambodia if you think she is right for your family.

L'Osteria opens on Alley West

There is a new place to join the throng of lovers of Italian cuisine in Siem Reap. L’Osteria opened on the increasingly attractive Alley West in December, offering a location that is central and intimate, without the hustle of Pub Street.

Bringing together influences from his Neapolitan hometown and Milan, Francesco De Leo has created a small menu of regional specialities that he hopes represents the whole

Central School of Ballet

of Italy. He also hopes to improve the cultural, as well as the culinary, scene, with music evenings, and perhaps even literary ones too. As the man says: “That’s amore.”

Night Market Blaze

Tragedy struck Siem Reap last month when a fire ripped through the town’s night market, killing eight people. The Cambodia Daily newspaper said four children were among the dead and authorities suspected it was started by an electric fault. More than 100 stalls in the popular tourist market were reportedly destroyed.

Jeremie Montessuis

exhibitor’s work includes a series of paintings and works that document abandoned automobiles. “On occasion, the cars remain in that particular state of calmness that follows an accident or natural disaster, while in others they become a part of the landscape as a result of abandonment and the passage of time. Deprived of their utility and function, these cars are objects that dwell in our memory as evidence of an interrupted destiny,” a release states. It is his second show at Java Gallery. The first in 2007 featured a series of portraits.

In The Mood for Boheme

Cambodian company Artisans Angkor has worked with French fashion designer, reporter and textile enthusiast Magali An Berthon to produce a new collection. The range of clothes, called ‘In The Mood for Boheme’, features handmade silk designs and was launched in Phnom Penh on Dec. 12. An Berthon has previously worked with Kenzo, Judy Ross and Nelli Rody.

Ballet Steps

Just eight months after opening its doors, the Central School of Ballet Phnom Penh held its inaugural performance at the Department of Performing Arts on Dec. 8 and 9. The triple-bill,

titled Beginnings, featured a contemporary duet, a 20 minute one-act ballet, and a community dance by young Cambodians trained as part of the school's community engagement programme.

The school performed to a full house on both nights.

picks of the month See: Lacquer-work

Jean-Francois Perigois

Surf: Coursera.org

French artist Eric Stocker has been intrigued by lacquer-work since the age of 16 and, in 1988, spent three years training young Cambodian the techniques used in the art form. After working with Artisans Angkor and setting up a company called Angkor Artwork with his brother Thierry, his customers now include decorators and designers throughout the region. An exhibition of the brothers’ intricate works — featuring plant designs on copper — starts at 6pm on Jan. 4 at the Plantation hotel in Phnom Penh and runs until Feb. 1.

Read: A Woman of Angkor Former Washington Post correspondent John Burgess looks at life in 12th century Cambodia in his gripping novel, A Woman of Angkor. By following the life of Sray — the wife of a one-eared canal dredger who has a secret to hide — Burgess paints a vivid picture of life in the Angkorian era, as seen through a woman’s eyes. The book charts the twists and turns of the family’s fortunes through political upheavals in the brutal, passionate world of Angkor’s Royal complex. Page-turning drama, coupled with sensitive and at times witty prose, makes this historical fiction a must-read.

Plan: New Year’s Resolutions Dust off the cobwebs of your celebration hangover and bring in the new year with a commitment to a better and brighter you. Pledge to get a gym membership or sign up to one of the many yoga schools in the city to bring in 2013. Roll forward by investing in a detox or cleansing diet with a little help from ARTillery’s bio-cleanse pack. Or make it a priority to cut down on stress and check in on your mental health.

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Many harbour dreams of returning to school someday to obtain an advanced degree, or perhaps just to learn something new. But with increasing tuition prices, money can often be an obstacle.

Coursera offers a way around this with 204 courses in 20 different categories from 34 universities worldwide, all for free. Most courses last five to 10 weeks and include homework and quizzes. All you have to do is sign up and learn on your computer. Courses include an Introduction to Sustainability, A History of the World since 1300, and Social Network Analysis.

See: Angkor Film Festival The Angkor Wat International Film Festival returns for a second year to Cambodia on Sunday, Jan. 27, with a gala kickoff in the capital’s Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra Resort. The event is free to attend and presents four feature films from 2pm onwards. The festival is celebrating Cambodian culture by screening movies dedicated to environmental and cultural preservation. This year’s screenings have a particular focus on Cambodian youth. Showings will be hosted at the Sofitel in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap throughout the following week.

Kate & Wills Britain gets an early Christmas present as the Royal sweethearts announce they are expecting a baby Hello Two becomes one as major Cambodian mobile providers Hello and Smart merge N. Korean Rocket The world might object, but Pyongyang’s celebrating its successful rocket launch LGBT Rights Cambodian PM Hun Sen calls for society to show respect for the gay community Christmas Santas abound as the Christian festival proves popular worldwide

GOING UP GOING DOWN Computer Games Concerns mount as circular reportedly bans internet cafés from operating within 500 metres of a school Mam Sonando Supporters take to the streets after jailed Cambodian broadcasters denied bail Health Kicks Cravings for a greasy post-hangover fry-up sink many a resolution World Music The genre suffers a loss as Indian artist Ravi Shanker, named the “godfather of world music” by George Harrison, dies aged 92 Armageddon Naysayers proved wrong when the 2012 Mayan prophecies go without a bang

openings Sky is the Limit

Eclipse

With a panoramic view of the city lights below, Eclipse Sky Bar and Restaurant on top of Phnom Penh Tower provides a romantic dinner setting close to the clouds, and comes complete with dim lighting and attentive staff. Set menus featuring Western-Khmer fusion cuisine, including steak, scallops and salmon, are priced from $24 to $43. Snacks, which cost from $4.50 to $7, include skewers, platters and chicken wings. For those looking for a drink after work, happy hour runs from 5.30pm to 7pm.

Eclipse Sky Bar and Restaurant, Phnom Penh Tower rooftop, Monivong Boulevard. Tel: 017 936 466, open daily from 4.30pm until late.

Treasure Hunt

Trunkh Eclectic new store Trunkh provides a trunk-load of trinkets and items to make sure you never forget Phnom Penh. The owners, Doug and Marianne, created the store thanks to their fascination for unique items.

Each object displayed in the shop has its own story, with plethora of hand-crafted items, recycled goods, and printed t-shirts with Cambodian imagery on display. Coffee tables inlaid with blue window shutters, animals from a carousel, and a metallic Japanese army chest are just some of the unique offerings to catch your attention.

Trunkh, 17ABEo Street 294, corner with Sothearos.

Tel: 078 900 932, open daily from 10am to 7pm.

Royal Addition This contemporary building is the latest addition to the Frangipani Villa Hotel chain, a seven-strong group that includes Hotel Siem Reap, the Living Arts Hotel & Spa and the Fine Arts Hotel. Located on busy Street 178, Frangipani Royal Palace Hotel & Spa is a few steps away from the city’s most-visited spots. It lies adjacent to the National Museum and is a stone's throw away from a myriad of bars, restaurants and art shops. The hotel offers three different kinds of rooms — the Villa, Royal Balcony Suite and the Royal Garden Suite — from $90 to $150.

Frangipani Royal Palace Hotel & Spa, 27 Street 178, Tel: 023 220 422, reservations@frangipanihotel.com.

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Frangipani Royal Palace Hotel & Spa

Authentic Thai Experience

SabAidee Thai Massage & Spa

Surrounded by luscious gardens, Sabaidee Thai Massage & Spa includes more than the name suggests. The spa is integrated with a restaurant that specialises in northern Thai cuisine. The Kao Soy or egg noodles ($4), consisting of a thin curry soup topped with chicken or beef and crispy fried noodles, is a bestseller. After a sumptuous meal, one can head over to their massage parlour. A two-hour massage is priced at $15 with four Thai and five Khmer therapists available to soothe stress.

With very attentive and courteous staff on site, Sabaidee will prove a feel-good experience.

Sabaidee Thai Massage & Spa, 245 Street 51. Tel: 012 850 065, open daily from 10am to 10pm.

INNOVATIVE BREAKFAST

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facebook.com/gastrobarbotanico asialife Cambodia 15

Covering Ground

Costa Coffee The ever-increasing number of Phnom Penh-based coffee shops have a new rival in the form of UK coffee chain Costa Coffee.

The second-largest chain in the world has opened its doors to the Cambodian public, serving a distinct slow-roasted blend of Mocha Italia.

As of the last quarter of 2012, Costa Coffee has more than 2,200 stores worldwide. The branch in BKK1 is eye-catching thanks to its black and white, windowed façade. The interior exudes a peaceful atmosphere that is perfect for a late afternoon visit.

Costa Coffee, Street 51 corner Street 294. Tel: 017 912 913, open Mondays to Fridays from 7.30am to 9pm and 7.30am to 4pm on Saturdays.

Raising the Bar

ETON HOUSE

Eton House International School is a Singaporebased, franchised school present in nine countries, including South Korea, Japan, China and Malaysia.

Covering four floors, the building it occupies was stripped down to the wiring before being rebuilt and renovated to ensure a safe environment for children. Teachers come from a diverse range of nationalities and are carefully selected in order to fit the standards that the school requires. Equipped with swimming pools, a modern and spacious playground, and 22 state-of-the-art classes with top quality materials and equipment, you won’t have to worry about your child not reaching their full potential.

Eton House International School, 16 Mao Tse Toung Boulevard. Tel: 023 228 818. Now open for enrollment.

Pharmacy & Beauty store Services - International cosmetic brands - Largest selection of medicines with original brand products - Professional advice - Central locations in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

www.ucarepharma.com

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DISPATCHES

Travel news from around the region and beyond

Wow Factor

With a new hotel opening in Bangkok every five minutes, it’s hard to get excited. But the W Hotel is a different story. Its massive silver doors lead to a place that’s glamorous and uber-stylish. Soft-opened on Dec. 7, the W Bangkok is part of a large Sathorn Square mixed-use development, comprising a 40-storey office block and a 30-storey hotel on the grounds of the former Russian Embassy. Rather than knock down this century-old, European-inspired heritage building, the original embassy has been retained. The interiors should be restored to their colonial-style glory by March.

Information can be found at whotels.com/Bangkok or call +66 2344 4000.

International Award

Malaysia’s The Datai Langkawi was the only Southeast Asian hotel to win an award at the Tatler Travel Award 2013 ceremony at The Ritz Hotel in London, where it earned the title of ‘Enduring Excellence’. Tatler magazine features 101 hotels in its annual travel guide, visiting each of the sites narrowed down for recognition. Located on the northwest tip of Langkawi island, the hideaway is surrounded by an ancient tropical rainforest, a white sand beach and the azure waters of the Andaman Sea. More details can be found at dataihotels.com.

Sofitel Hanoi Offer

Sofitel Plaza Hanoi is offering a winter special through to March, when guests can book two nights but stay for three. The promotion comes with a free chocolate buffet of truffles, pure cacao cream, praline-filled chocolate, and other treats, plus a late checkout at 3pm. Book at H3553-RE@sofitel.com or call +84 438 23 88 88, ext 5222.

240PHNOMPENH.COM

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Have an event coming up?

Send information and dates to k8bluesky@gmail.com

CALENDAR PHNOM PENH JAN

The Plantation will host an exhibition of lacquer-oncopper work by brothers Eric and Thierry Stocker.

These delicate pieces take plants as the inspiration for intricate designs. Eric has spent three years training young Cambodians in the subtleties of this art form and many regional designers and decorators number among his clients. The show opens at 6pm and will run until Feb. 1 at The Plantation Hotel, 28 Street 184. For more information visit theplantatation.asia.

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Gypsy Music with Diego at One More Pub on Street 294, from 8pm until late.

Me and My Society, an exhibition by Bo Rithy, will open at Romeet Gallery from Jan. 22. Romeet Gallery, 34E Street 178. For more information visit romeet.com

Jean-Francois Perigois

are the implications for democracy in Pakistan?

JAN What Before his sudden resignation, filmmakers got to

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discuss this issue with former President Musharraf in the production Dinner with the President. The 4pm screening of the film at Meta House in Phnom Penh is followed at 7pm by a photography exhibition and Q&A

by British photojournalist Charles Fox on the grim lives of Mumbai’s male masseurs. At 9pm, Fusion will play deep house music, mixed by DJ MoodyDann.

JAN

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An exhibition called Good Deed When the Moon is Bright by Ben Thynal will be displayed at The Insider Gallery at the InterContinental hotel from Jan. 17 to Feb. 24. The series of painting and collage works on canvas depict elderly Khmer people. Entrance is free.

JAN

Fresh from their success at the ZKB awards, Amrita Performing Arts is using its prize funding to develop a new contemporary performance piece in collaboration with Korean choreographer Chung Yeun Soo, the artistic director of Seoul-based Post Ego Dance. Featuring six Cambodian dancers from Amrita, the long-awaited performance is the first to be funded by the prize money from ZKB. The show will be held at 6.30pm at the Department of Performing Arts. More information can be found at Amrita Performing Arts, 128G 9 Sothearos Blvd, Tel: 023 220424.

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JAN

Circus show by Phare Ponleu Selpak. The scenery is dark, the eerie atmosphere set by ominous music.

Everything is set to give you chills.

Two strange creatures, one of them handling a bloody head, make their way among inanimate bodies. Slowly, the bodies wake up, springing off the floor in fear. The circus show Chills, being shown at the Beeline Arena at 6pm, is intended to address the fears and anxieties of human beings in a poetic and symbolic way. Tickets cost between $4 and $5 and are available at Monument Books on Norodom Boulevard or Blue Pumpkin on Riverside and BKKI. For more information, visit banzaicambodia. com or call 067 71 65 65.

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a Cambodian Star Gala Benefit Concert.

JAN Catch The InterCon is hosting a classical music concert

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featuring international musicians Boris Slutsky and Igor Yuzefovich, with proceeds going towards providing scholarships and study opportunities for talented young Cambodian musicians. There will be a second benefit gala in May. From 6pm onwards at Hotel InterContinental, 296 Mao Tse Tung Blvd. Tickets cost $20 each.

DEC

The Angkor Wat International Film Festival returns for a second year to Cambodia on Sunday, Jan. 27, with a gala kickoff in the capital’s Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra Resort. The event is free to attend and presents four feature films from 2pm onwards.

The festival is celebrating Cambodian culture by screening movies dedicated to environmental and cultural preservation. This year’s screenings have a particular focus on Cambodian youth. Showings will be hosted at the Sofitel in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap throughout the following week.

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Wine and Cheese Night at Lobby Lounge and Bar at InterContinental Hotel, Phnom Penh. From 6.30pm to 9pm, $28 per person.

Restaurant & Bar

EVERY DAY

Yoga classes with Alison and Oskar. For more information, please visit yogaphnompenh. com or enquire at 012 739 284.

Salsa Classes at Ebony Tree on Street 29. Beginners class from 7pm to 8pm.

Intermediate class from 8pm to 9pm. $5 for expats, $2.50 for locals.

Every afternoon Sofitel in Phnom Penh will serve a redthemed afternoon tea from 3pm to 5pm. Tickets cost $25 for sparkling rosé wine, abundant fruits and delights.

EVERY THURSDAY

EVERY MONDAY TO SATURDAY

Steak Night at The Empire.

Weekly special at a big discount.

Cambodia Living Arts traditional arts performances program, Plae Pakaa, runs every Monday to Saturday at 7pm until Mar. 31. This is a rotating program of three performances: classical and folk dance (Children of Bassac), a Yike Opera story (Mak Therng) and the music and theatre show called Passage of Life. Tickets for the National Museum show are $10 for adults, $6 for children.

EVERY MONDAY

Mad Monday at The Empire, 6pm.

Early morning Ashtanga with Oskar and Vinyasa Flow Yoga with Alison at Yoga Phnom Penh. See yogaphnompenh. com or call 012 739 419/ 012 739 284.

EVERY WEDNESDAY

Drink & Draw at ARTillery, 7pm.

Get your creative engines going with a live model, a couple of drinks and a whole lot of creative fun.

Open Mic at Paddy Rice Irish Sports Bar.

Women’s Night at The Riverhouse.

Swing dancing at Equinox on Street 278, Phnom Penh.

EVERY FRIDAY

Vinyasa Flow, Ashtanga and Beginner Yoga classes at Phnom Penh Yoga. For more information, please visit yogaphnompenh.com or enquire at 012 739 284.

EVERY SATURDAY

Vinayasa Flow Yoga at 10am and Yoga Strength and Tone at 3pm at Phnom Penh Yoga.

For more information, please visit yogaphnompenh.com or enquire at 012 739 284.

EVERY SUNDAY

Sunday Escape at the Regency Café, InterContinental hotel. Free flow wine, from $34 per person.

Salsa with DJ Jimmy at Equinox on Street 278, Phnom Penh.

Morning, non-denominational Meditation and Buddhist Lecture at Phnom Penh Yoga.

For more information, please visit yogaphnompenh.com or inquire at 012 739 284.

Trivia in the garden at The Willow, $2 entry and 7.30pm start.

Phnom Penh Hash House Harriers’ run. Meet at 2.15pm at the railway station.

Latin Fever at The Latin Quarter.

New Lunch Set Menu &

#649, Preah Sisovath Quay, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Tel: (+855) 23 999 950 Fax: (+855) 23 999 951

www.stonegrill.com.kh

P H O T O E S S AY

The Cham community has fished the waters of the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers around the Chroy Changvar peninsula since the fall of the Pol Pot regime, but members feel their livelihoods are increasingly under threat. In August, under threat of an eviction that made local news headlines, the Chams agreed to relocate from their usual mooring spot, on the shallow waters of the Tonle Sap, to the deeper, choppier waters at the head of the peninsula. They do not know how long they will be allowed to stay there.

Photographer Conor Wall’s 2009 photo essay documents their culture.

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Patrick Samnang Mey Cambodian-French novelist Patrick Samnang Mey, 33, wowed the Kingdom in 2011 with his graphic novel Eugénie, which tells the love story of Cambodian and French couple Eugénie and Orian. An English edition was published late last year. Lim Meng Y interviews the artist, with photography by Conor Wall.

You were born and raised in France, why did you come back to Cambodia?

I’ve always felt that I wasn’t totally French, that as a human being, something was missing.

I used to hear Khmer at home every day, I ate Cambodian food and saw so many pictures and paintings of Angkor Wat. I heard the names of Pol Pot, Lon Nol, Ranariddh, Hun Sen, Sam Rainsy without knowing who they were. Cambodia has always been somewhere inside.

I had to come back.

I came here every year for about seven years and then finally settled here when I was offered a teaching position in the French school, Lycée Descartes. I worked there for a year before starting work on my graphic novel.

How did you become a graphic novelist?

There are a lot of ways to tell a story, such as making a movie, writing a novel or a graphic novel. Yet since I was a child I liked drawing and painting and it’s my passion, so I decided to write a story and started drawing pictures.

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I sent a letter to a big comic company in America when I was 18 years old because I wanted to draw for them.

They replied that my drawing wasn’t good enough, and told me to read a few books related to comic drawing. [I read] not only a few, I read a lot of books regarding drawing and novels and, finally, I decided to have my novel self-published.

Can you tell us about your work?

Basically, the main idea of the story is about ideal love and the consequences of divorce. Both main characters in the novel come from divorced families.

They both were really hurt because of the divorce of their parents.

One day, both of them meet each other. They fall in love and get married five or six years after that. The thing is that they decide to divorce too when they get into an argument. They produced the same thing as their parents did. So, the main idea here is to focus on how both main characters thought about their past: how much they hurt when their parents

divorced, how their parents cheated on each other. That reflects in their present life.

What is the hardest part of creating a graphic novel?

I put everything in my own hands. I did all the tasks including painting, drawing, writing, designing and publishing. I first wrote the story seven years ago and started drawing for a year and a half. I spent 15 to 20 hours a day on a page and worked like this from Monday to Sunday to finish the entire graphic novel.

Talking about technical details, it was really hard, especially putting light in the pictures. I had to use the right materials for different perspectives and angles. That’s why it took so much time.

Tell us a little bit about how you organised the storyboard and depicted the figures for each character.

All the plots and characters came from all the memories of my childhood. The main male character is French, while I drew the main female character as a Cambodian-Chinese

figure because I used to live in Shanghai and that’s what I had memories of.

I took some aspects of my personality and I developed them more for the main male cast member. And for the rest, I used my imagination. I, myself, haven’t got married, so I talked to many friends about married life and divorce so that I had some idea [of how] to depict my novel naturally.

Graphic novels are new to Cambodia, what are your expectations in bringing this art form here?

I don’t think an author can earn money from selling books here in Cambodia. The market is still small if compared to other countries, because not many people would spend their money to buy a $20 book. I have a story to tell readers, and I just want to tell it. [It] is nothing to do with earning money. My novel is out at bookstores, but what I appreciated the most is that it’s put at the French school’s library. Having people read my novel is the reason I put in all the effort for these seven years.

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From depression to addiction and anxiety, it’s all too easy for it to seem that life is slipping out of control. Ellie Dyer looks at the state of Cambodia’s mental health system and discovers what is available for those seeking help.

Photography by Conor Wall.

In the mind's eye Fast forward to 2030 and the World Health Organisation forecasts that depression will be the single largest contributor to the burden of disease worldwide.

Despite such warnings and the estimated 450 million people currently suffering from mental health disorders, the subject remains shrouded in stigma in many societies including Cambodia, where some people with severe mental health problems are locked in cages or chained up by their families.

“Mental health is like leprosy 2,000 years ago. Everyone is scared of it,” one health practitioner is quoted as saying in a 2012 study on Cambodian mental health, published by two experts from the Leitner Centre for International Law and Justice at New York’s Fordham Law School.

Such issues — which can include major psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, psychosocial problems such as mild anxiety disorders, and also intellectual disabilities caused by conditions such as Down Syndrome — can touch us all. A local expert estimates that at least five percent of people suffer from a psychological problem.

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28 asialife Cambodia

Cambodia’s Burden

Such concerns are of particular importance to Cambodia which, due to a combination of factors, is seen as a country that contains significant risk factors for poor mental health.

A recent survey by the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) estimates that Cambodia’s suicide rate was 42.35 per 100,000 people in 2011, compared to a worldwide average of around 16. Anxiety and depression are also measured at well above average.

Many point to Cambodia’s traumatic history as a factor. An entire generation was touched by decades of unrest, especially during the brutal Khmer Rouge regime of 1975 to 1979, during which up to two million people died. Numerous studies document high levels of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the country, and experts say trauma can trickle down through generations.

“Everyone had family before the war, and after the war everyone lost a member… they did not give us enough to eat, they pushed us to work like a prisoner… they killed people in front of you, and you became traumatised,” explains Sek Sisokhom, a regime survivor who now heads RUPP’s psychology department.

“Those who were suffering from that time, now they are mothers and parents.

They did not get any treatment, and issues continue from them to the young generation.”

Using attachment theory as an example, she says those who experienced food shortages during the regime may still save meat for fear that supplies will run out.

Families may also want their children to stay at home, due to concerns over safety, which can make the young feel as if “they have no freedom”.

Trauma is not the only influence on mental health. A 2011 essay by international experts and Youk Chhang, from the Documentation Centre of Cambodia research institute, points out that “the current life conditions of most of the people with mental health problems in Cambodia are not conducive to psychological recovery”.

Domestic violence and substance abuse continue to be factors in people’s day-today lives, while some argue poverty also has an effect.

“Common mental disorders are about twice as frequent among the poor as among the rich,” explains World Health Organisation representative Steven Iddings to a recent psychology conference in Phnom Penh. “Evidence indicates that depression is 1.5 to 2 times more prevalent among the low income groups of a population.”

Dealing with Problems

Despite the risk factors, psychological and psychiatric services remain limited in Cambodia. In 2010, just 35 trained psychiatrists and 45 psychiatric nurses were catering for the entire country, according to the Leitner report.

Though Cambodia has two psychiatric in-patient units in Phnom Penh and additional out-patient services, mental health workers are still overloaded with patients. Dr Chak Thida, of the KhmerSoviet Friendship Hospital, was quoted in the report as saying that the hospital’s mental health services see 200 to 300 people a morning, which averages at 30 to 40 patients per doctor per day.

A lack of knowledge can also affect potential patients. Some don’t know where to go and Sek says people can turn to traditional healers, relatives, monks and pharmacists before considering mental health services.

“Psychology for Cambodian people is quite young, it’s quite new. I think that, so far… they still [do] not understand what psychology is,” she says. “There’s a lot that needs to be done in the future.”

Without receiving the necessary support, families can quickly become overwhelmed, especially when treatment options are limited and cases severe. Some believe that their loved ones are possessed by bad spirits, studies indicate.

Health professionals, cited in the Leitner report, estimate that between 10 and 40 percent of those suffering from severe mental disabilities are chained up or locked in cages. One mother recalls that she had “locked her daughter in a bamboo cage for several years” before professionals provided her treatment for psychosis.

“Generally, in the community, people like my son are looked down on, called crazy, beaten,” a father of a mentally disabled child tells researchers.

"...people like my son are looked down on, called crazy, beaten”

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30 asialife Cambodia

Where to Seek Help

Nevertheless, for locals and expats alike who are suffering from mental health issues or feel their lives are spinning out of control, a range of services are available.

One organisation offering psychological services in Phnom Penh is Indigo. American counsellor Boyd Bergeson says that his mostly Western clients are commonly dealing with issues such as anxiety, depression, money management or former drug use. Phnom Penh is also place where “everything is available” in a higher concentration than in many expat’s home countries.

“This is kind of like the Las Vegas of Asia.

A lot of us had already gone through that phase in our college years… but [for] some Westerners, this is their first stop and it’s kind of like a playground that they get lost in. The sandbox swallows them up, so to speak,” he says.

“Some go through the phase and come out unscathed, and that’s great. Other people get addicted to methamphetamines, other people get addicted to prostitutes.

Some people start beating their girlfriends, and it needs to be dealt with.”

Counselling can help, but if someone is not receptive to professional help, friends can consider staging an ‘intervention’.

“You don’t want to surround the person and shine a spotlight in their face,” Bergeson says. “It has to be done in a very peaceful, gentle approach where the person feels like they’re in control. You remind them that ‘we’re your friends, and we care about you. You might not see this, but we’ve noticed lately that you’re a little depressed, or been drinking a lot more than usual, and we want to help you.’”

Support services born out of personal experiences have also been set up to deal with pressures associated with working in isolated, challenging environments. It was such an experience in Nanning, China, that sparked Australian Weh Yeoh to help found a pilot scheme to support development workers, whose careers can involve living and working in remote locations.

“The isolation is the one that gets to you, it gets to anybody really, and you feel that very strongly. But also at work you don’t often know whether what you’re doing is right — you need someone to bounce ideas off,” says the development worker, now based in Cambodia.

In a bid to help workers seeking similar support, he — along with three counterparts and with advice from a careers coach and a clinical psychologist — runs a peer-coaching service through an online forum called WhyDev. It matches up workers in the hope that the pairs can provide emotional and professional support to one another via Skype, email or, if they are located close by, face to face contact.

“People are increasingly more willing to open up about talking about some of these issues, but traditionally it hasn’t always

been the case,” Yeoh says, emphasising that the service has limitations and users can be referred on to counsellors. “Having somebody who understands what you are going through and maybe has experienced the same thing is invaluable.”

Taking Action

And, as calls for increased mental health funding in Cambodia are made, programmes are also underway to train people to provide mental support. RUPP offers masters and bachelor programmes in psychology. Masters students need to work on 100 cases and write a thesis in order to complete their programme.

NGOs are also branching out. Last month, the Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation Cambodia (TPO), which offers counselling as well as psychological support to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, launched a new training scheme called Mental Health First Aid. The pilot scheme will provide local health and Cambodian Red Cross volunteers with the necessary knowledge to enable them to listen, assess, support and advise people who could be suffering from psychological strain in the community, providing a frontline service for mental health concerns.

“We know that mental health professionals are lacking in every part of the world, and Cambodia is one of the countries that is also lacking,” explains Sotheara Chhim, TPO’s executive director, at a project launch attended by many members from Cambodia’s psychological community.

“There is huge work that needs to be done,” he tells the audience. “So a small group of mental health professionals — I don’t think you are able to deal with all the work... you will be burnt out with all the problems.”

Conditions The World Health Organisation defines these mental health issues as follows: Depression is different from usual mood fluctuations and short-lived emotional responses to challenges in everyday life. It is characterised by low energy, sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep/ appetite and poor concentration.

Especially when long-lasting and with moderate or severe intensity, depression may become a serious health condition. At its worst, depression can lead to suicide.

Schizophrenia is a severe form of mental illness affecting about seven per thousand of the adult population, mostly in the age group 15 to 35 years. There are effective interventions (pharmacological and psychosocial) available and the cost of treatment of a person suffering from chronic schizophrenia is about $2 per month. The earlier the treatment is initiated, the more effective it will be.

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The Beauty of Kep

The sleepy town of Kep in southern Cambodia is at a crossroads. Writer Claire Slattery discovers its glamorous past, and looks towards its future.

Additional reporting by Oudom Tat, photograph by Claire Slattery.

In the 1969 film Crepuscule, a fictional Cambodian prince drives a Chevrolet Camaro sports car along a shady coastal road, next to the tranquil waters of the Gulf of Siam. The scene was shot in the seaside hamlet of Kep, with the character played by real prince and then Prime Minister Norodom Sihanouk.

While Kep only features briefly in the movie, Serge Remy of the Vimana Association, a conservation NGO, believes it provides a valuable glimpse of the town at a time that many remember as Cambodia’s ‘golden era’.

“It’s one of the few moving 32 asialife Cambodia

pictures we have of the city of Kep. Most of the documents we have are fixed pictures. [But] when you look at the movie of the King it’s so amazing to see the beach, to look at the cars… and the people, they’re really fashionable,” he says.

In the 1950s and 60s, following independence from French colonial rule, Cambodia experienced a renaissance of creativity and development, particularly in architecture.

Sihanouk personally oversaw the construction of new buildings and the development of urban plans across the country.

The former King had a vision

to turn the sleepy fishing village of Kep into the ‘French Riviera’ of Southeast Asia. The town had been a popular destination for the French since the early 20th century but became the holiday resort of choice for the Phnom Penh elite, who constructed villas in the New Khmer modernist style.

“Kep was like a laboratory, for architecture, for urbanism, for cinema, for leisure — because it was also the beginning of [the concept of taking] holidays for Cambodians,” says Remy.

During the Khmer Rouge Regime, Kep was abandoned.

Today all that’s left of the golden

era are the eerie, decaying remains of 157 villas owned by members of the royal family and high-ranking officials. Many are now inhabited by jungle and monkeys.

Kep drips with a bittersweet nostalgia, but it is also somewhere on the precipice of potential change, as tourists return and developers circle the prime coastal real estate. For Remy, now is a vital time to plan for the city’s future.

“Kep is developing in the same way as the rest of Cambodia — it’s booming. And the authorities want to increase tourism there, but they aren’t

The Beauty of Kep

Kep Beach, 1964. Archival image supplied.

Left: The late King Father Sihannouk's House, Kep.

Nestled In the curving bay Where gentle palm trees Endlessly do sway Lying, By the sapphire sea Where joyous swallows Fly so wild and free My sweet, do you remember distant years When on this shore We built a kingdom for love’s hopes and fears Evermore?

The former King had a vision to turn the sleepy fishing village of Kep into the ‘French Riviera’ of Southeast Asia.

sure if they want to do it in the same way as Sihanoukville or Siem Reap.”

For the past 12 months the Vimana-Cambodia Association has been developing Kep Expo, a project that documents the town’s past and creates new visions for its future. More than 60 volunteers are involved in the scheme, which has also partnered with Phnom Penh’s Bophana Audiovisual Resource Centre and the Cambodia Film Commission.

Part of the aim is to provide authorities with alternative proposals that support Kep’s sustainable development.

French and Khmer architecture students have analysed the abandoned villas and developed plans for their refurbishment or renovation that will be proposed to owners.

“In Asia and when you talk about nostalgia and heritage and the past sometimes people look at you and say ‘Why are you foreigners and especially Westerners always in the past and always talking about heritage?’” Remy says. “But in order to look at the future it’s important to know what’s happened before.”

Perhaps Kep’s most significant remnant is Sihanouk’s own villa, which was built in the mid-60s and designed by French architects. Known as the State House, it is nestled on the headland, looking out to ocean views stretching from the Vietnamese border to Bokor Mountain.

The building is now inhabited by two families who are paid a small salary to act as caretakers.

While it is not officially open to the public, according to caretaker Somurn, an average of one or two tourists a day come to snoop around.

Somurn considers it a huge privilege to live at the most esteemed address in town, but she wants to see the property’s future guaranteed. “My wish is

that it will be a good place — I want it to be restored and to make it a proper place to honour our king.”

Kep Expo will suggest the building is renovated to become a museum, but ultimately it is up to the royal family and the Ministry of the Royal Palace to decide its future. The ministry declined to comment, but Sihanouk’s close friend and former advisor, Prince Sisowath Tomico, said that while he is supportive of the idea, he’s unaware of any immediate plans for the building.

In a country where development is rampant, it’s easy to be cynical about the future of Kep. Already, on a block of land near the city port, an old villa has been demolished to make way for the development of a large modern hotel.

But, according to the deputy of Kep Provincial Hall Prum Chomran, the council’s planning department closely monitors building proposals and regularly asks for modifications or rejects applications outright. The city’s 20-year masterplan places an emphasis on tourism and preserving the environment, she says, and planning zones limit development, particularly along the beachfront.

“I expect Kep will change

Oh! Kep Let your restless sea Remain a heaven For my love and me Written by Norodom Sihanouk (1968). An instrumental version features in the film Crepuscule (Twilight)

and develop a lot in the next few years, but we won’t be allowing skyscrapers to be built. We want to allow Kep to develop in response to tourist’s demands, but using what we have. We will allow some large buildings, but not many, and not concentrated.”

Given Sihanouk’s vision was the construction of buildings that were the epitome of modernity and sophistication in the 1960s, it could be seen as hypocritical to ask for the Kep of today not to develop.

But, over the course of this year, Remy has seen a dramatic change in the mentality of the students involved in Kep Expo.

“I think that they fell in love in Kep,” he explains. “I think that’s because, step-by-step and day-by-day, they discovered a part of their history that they didn’t know existed, and they became truly interested. They realised that it’s necessary to know what’s happened before, in order to know what we can build for the future.”

Kep Expo is hoping to raise enough money to hold an exhibition in Phnom Penh, marking the 60th anniversary of Cambodia’s independence. It’s hoped the show will also be exhibited in Paris and Kep. This article was produced in partnership with the Cambodian Centre for Independent Media. asialife Cambodia 33

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34 asialife Cambodia

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If llen n ... cha on tha Each takes on the few special parts wheels are better hopper e resort to with my $5,000 ass som me Gr t h ug bea and l tho es stil e, Bik gle can y y ing the Fly sweat ularly r sections reg kie o leisure tric wh r r ula list ove reg es cyc lds bik the ir ho bike,” adds carrying the Adventures finishes in another rider is countryside around organise events and to the in ps es hel of the forest course and rid m’s top ‘A1’ class. ken a collarbone ther afield. second place in Kiriro rumoured to have bro Phnom Penh and fur the ped te hel spi De has n. , visit www. o on itio wh n ati pet Another ma during the com For more inform es2 or insiders say rt is Seang Makara. bik ed, ing spo olv /fly the e inv com rag ges ok. ou llen ebo enc cha fac d with the larity in om. ure pu s.c po mo in ure ena g ent nin ing adv gai om is After bec the sport grasshopper g a second-hand ’s perceptions of discipline after buyin Cambodia as people cycling change. asialife Cambodia 35

Thousands of traumatised dogs are languishing in shelters across Thailand. Max Crosbie-Jones talks to John Dalley of the Soi Dog Foundation about the cross-border trade in dog meat that put them there. Photography by Nick McGrath.

The undercover footage is hard to watch.

Using nooses or iron tongs, dogs big and small are wrestled off Thai streets or farms, crammed into rusty metal pens and driven northeast to the Mekong River. After being shipped illegally across the river into Laos, usually at night, they are driven hundreds of miles in blazing heat or driving rain to the slaughterhouses of Vietnam — up to half a million dogs a year according to pessimistic estimates.

“The dog meat trade is inhumanity at its worst,” says John Dalley, director of the Soi Dog Foundation, a Phuket-based NGO spearheading the expat-led arm of the ongoing rescue and government-lobbying 36 asialife Cambodia

efforts. “The lucky ones suffocate to death on the journey, and the unlucky ones survive and are then killed in accordance with local beliefs — beaten or their legs broken, skinned or boiled alive.”

Vietnam's taste for dog meat is well documented, part of a cultural tradition stretching back centuries. That some people in Tha Rae, an impoverished district in northeast Thailand with a large Vietnamese immigrant population, also eat it and are involved in dog-smuggling syndicates worth millions of dollars is also old news. It's only recently, after a string of interceptions by the authorities, that the Thai end of the supply chain has made headlines.

Social media-savvy animal welfare groups like Soi Dog have been exposing the trade and trying to shame the authorities into action, as has traditional media. The aforementioned undercover footage, which surfaced recently in a documentary, Hell on Earth, that's available to view on YouTube, has also helped. But there's another, more emotive reason the dog meat trade is suddenly very hard to ignore — pets.

Until recently the dogs sent for export were strays that loiter on streets or on the edge of farms and that many Thai officials were secretly happy to see the back of. No longer, explains Dalley.

“As well as the old fashioned method of purchasing unwanted animals in exchange for plastic buckets from poor parts of the country, gangs are now snatching dogs,” he says. “We reckon as many as 90 percent are stolen pets. You can tell by their collars and how friendly they are.”

Channelling the outrage A broad coalition that includes the Soi Dog Foundation, Animal Activists Alliance, Thai Veterinary Medical Association, politicians and celebrities is pushing for animal cruelty laws to be introduced.

Online petitions with tens of thousands of signatories and Bangkok demonstrations — the last of which in early September drew 1,000 people — are signs there is widespread public support for such a move, although according to Pheu Thai politician Somsak Kiatsuranont, “it could take two or three years” for animal welfare laws to be ratified by Parliament.

For its part, the Soi Dog Foundation is pushing for stronger enforcement of existing laws, with limited success. “Since we started our 'Trade of Shame' campaign a year ago, more arrests of smugglers have been made than in the preceding 15 years, but they're still not being prosecuted,” says Dalley.

Even when the Thai police, navy or border patrol units do intercept dogs, the law courts often rule that the traders can have them back. Dalley cites a recent case in which 70 dogs were rescued only for the judge to rule that the Tha Rae-bound smuggler could continue with his cargo if

he paid a 9,000 baht fine. “Fortunately, he didn’t have it, so we paid it and in effect became their owners,” he says.

Poverty is another reason why the trade thrives. “Many of those out rounding up dogs are poor rice farmers who need an alternative income source during the rainy season,” says Dalley. “I've heard that the Thai livestock department may start educating them about different ways to make money.”

The underlying reason why this barbaric black-market exists, however, is because demand exists. And that's not likely to change soon. With the opening of the new highway from Laos direct to southern China — another dog meat marketplace — it may even increase in the coming years.

Shouldering the burden None of this bodes well for Soi Dog's depleted coffers. The organisation, founded in 2003 to look after strays in Phuket, is, to an extent, a victim of its own campaign's success. Now supplying

food, veterinary care, vaccinations and medicine for more than 3,000 dogs at four government-owned livestock shelters (three in the northeast, one in Kanchanaburi) its operating costs are currently running 40 percent higher than normal.

Dalley believes things may soon reach a tipping point. Not just because finances are tight, but also because there's no more shelter space to go round. “If there's another big interception the authorities are going to be stuck for somewhere to house them,” he says.

Adoption offers the best possible hope for a better life believes Dalley. “In the past three months about 300 dogs have been adopted by people in Thailand and overseas, but that’s still only a small minority,” he says.

As for the rest, the sad reality is that, having escaped the dinner table, they are destined to grow old in captivity — that is unless they starve, succumb to disease or, worse still, fall back into the clutches of the dog catchers . asialife Cambodia 37

Space to Place Overwhelmed by bland walls? Stuck with seemingly impractical wooden couches or wicker coffee tables? Bridget Di Certo finds out how to bring a little more ‘you’ into your surroundings.

Photography by Chatti Phal.

38 asialife Cambodia

Turning a high ceilinged, somewhat dark and likely tiled living space with barred windows into a place to call home can prove a challenge in Cambodia.

“It is quite tough, the architecture that is done here,” says French architect Stephane Dawant, the brains behind interior design and architecture firm IChing.

“There is no garden, there are no trees. The city is concrete, concrete, concrete. So when you come home, I think that space should give a soft and relaxing atmosphere.”

Major renovations aside, designers recommend some simple tricks and tips to help tenants change the feel of a space, starting with colour.

“When I had a client with a budget who did not want the major renovation, the first thing we did was to change the colours of the wall. ‘Finally,’ he said, ‘I feel at home’,” Dawant recalls.

Colour and Light

There are no firm rules on colour selection, and personal preference plays a large role, but using an earthy colour scheme as a generic base can help brighten and makeover most rooms. “Beige, cream, brown, grey — take that as your general chart and then introduce some spots of more vivid colour,” the architect says.

Curtains and blinds can be vibrant additions to a living room or bedroom, breaking up the monotony of the all-cream scheme common in rented

apartments. Even a colourful cushion or rug, a dramatic glass vase featuring fluorescent swirls, or a lamp can be enough to shake up a room.

“As well as colour, lighting can completely change a room,” Dawant adds. “The buildings in Cambodia can be very dark and the first thing is to try to bring the light in.”

A bespoke standing lamp, for instance, not only makes for an attractive room feature but is also a versatile investment that is easy to travel with in the future.

Keep It Simple

For those on a budget, Dawant recommends picking one room to work with, using the living room as a first stop. Start by introducing a coloured item, be it a wall, a sofa or a painting.

Sometimes just a small change can make a big impact.

Product designer and founder of design store Beyond Interiors, Bronwyn Blue, echoes such advice.

“Keep it simple. Balance the layout and go step by step,” she suggests. “By ‘step by step’ I mean add the pieces you really need now to feel comfortable.

After that, add other elements, like having a photo taken on a recent vacation printed in a large format onto canvas and framed. This turns a bare, drab wall into a memory of your travels.”

The designer recommends investing in key pieces of furniture, first and foremost a sofa and a bed, as a foundation for any new home. “After that,

often people look for other pieces that can turn a house into a home — like artwork, a great dining table and gorgeous bed covers,” Blue adds, explaining that fitting out a home office is also an emerging trend among her clients.

Tricks of the Trade

Decorating tricks can improve other interior concerns. A common expat complaint relating to Cambodian architecture is the thundering acoustics associated with concrete, tiles and fibro-board.

But a room that resonates a little too clearly can also be helped, to some degree, with furnishing.

“Sometimes when the sound of a room is very clear and you can hear an echo, you can help soften the acoustics with curtains and bed linen,” Dawant says.

Cambodian-made fabrics are often thick and luxurious, offering almost infinite design possibilities. A plain fabric in a stellar colour can be taken to a whole new level if a bespoke print is embossed onto the reel. Using such materials as an upholstery base for dining room chairs or a designer sofa will leave a personal mark on your home, and furniture can be taken from place to place if you move on.

With items as simple as a powerful picture frame able to change the atmosphere of a room, whether the desired change is big or small, options abound to transform a uniform space into an ideal, personalised place. asialife Cambodia 39

Collections Grab some of these items to make your house a home.

Clockwise from top left: Glassware — glass from $5 to $11; vases from $20 to $40, iChing.

Modern Sofa Sectional Full Set $1,160, Beyond Interiors.

40 asialife Cambodia

Orange lamp $95, Table Lamp $125, Print pillow $35, Gray pillow $45, White pillow $45, Painting by Chinese artist Ting Shao Kuang, prices range from $4,000 to $10,000, all from Beyond Interiors.

Gray vase $125, Two seater sofa $480, iChing.

Oval Mat $45 from Beyond Interiors.

Water Water Everywhere As Myanmar opens its doors to business and tourism, Mark Bibby Jackson tries the fairways of Yangon’s Pun Hlaing Golf Club to test the country’s potential for golf tourism. Photography by Nick McGrath.

42 asialife Cambodia

My ball soars, as if guided by angels, straight towards the inviting green ahead. A 520-yard par five, the eighteenth is the longest hole on the Pun Hlaing Golf Club. It also proves to be my nemesis.

The vast lake surrounding it claims my umpteenth ball of the day — I have already had to send back for reinforcements. I check with my caddy before placing my last remaining ball on dry land on the far side of the water hazard.

The Royal and Ancient Rules that govern golf will have to wait for drier times. Eventually I putt out.

The day started in more auspicious circumstances. Early 20th century travellers described the 1901-built Strand Yangon as “the finest hostelry East of Suez”.

Graced by the likes of Somerset Maugham, George Orwell, Sir Noel Coward and Rudyard Kipling, it was to be my home for two nights.

From the colonnaded exterior to the marble lobby and four poster beds, the Strand exudes a timeless elegance that has somehow survived the economic embargo of the country.

That is more than can be said for the limousine that takes me to the golf course some eight miles west of the city. At least it has a functioning seat belt and a semiefficient air-con unit, unlike the car that took me from the airport the day before.

While the Pun Hlaing Golf Club is imbued with green tranquility, the route to the course is far from that. With motorbikes banned from the city, Yangon’s

streets are littered with beaten up cars playing a game of dodgems on the streets, as pedestrians stand in line awaiting a break in the endless stream of traffic.

Since my last visit some 18 months previous, there has been an increase in the number of new cars — coinciding with the opening up of the country — but the banger is still de rigueur.

The journey to the course can take anything from 40 minutes to an hour and a half and, as we plough our way over a clunketyclunk bridge on the outskirts of town, I can see why. The queue of traffic going the other way bodes ill for our journey back.

Designed by Gary Player, the Pun Hlaing Golf Club is set on a peninsula between two rivers, but it is the water located on the course that is the stand out feature. Water flanks the fairways and any errant drive is likely to suffer an early bath, as I find out to my cost. Having hosted the Myanmar Open in 2010, it is arguably the best course in the country.

The first drive I hit is straight and true, but unfortunately this proves the highlight of the day.

The following hole, the first par five of the day, is the first time I find water — twice off the tee. According to my caddy’s generous scoring I escape with a triple-bogey, but she is not fooling me: this is going to be a long round.

Although not as picturesque as the Dalat Palace course in Vietnam — surely the most aesthetically pleasing course in

Water flanks the fairways and any errant drive is likely to suffer an early bath, as I find out to my cost.

the region — Pun Hlaing is not without its charms.

The par-four fourteenth is a stand out hole. Golfers must drive over a lake and onto the narrow fairway for an approach to the green. The surrounding fairways resemble an English garden, albeit with orchids substituting for petunias. Somehow I manage to clear the water and, despite triple putting, escape with a double bogey.

It is however, the eighteenth that is both the most striking and the most challenging hole on the course. The green is an island set within the ubiquitous water, linked to the fairway by a narrow causeway. It is here that I am destined to lose three balls before throwing in the towel.

My last encounter with water is undeniably the most pleasant.

With a noon tee-off, a shower is essential, along with a change of clothes.

The traffic is still steady as we cross the bridge back to Yangon, but at least I know that the Strand awaits. Paying off the driver, I enter the hotel bar to enjoy an early evening’s gin tonic and imagine what the hotel’s previous famed guests would have thought of my golf.

Mark Twain may never have said the famous phrase attributed to him, “golf is a good walk spoilt,” and he certainly never stayed at the Strand, but it is this saying that I recall. For me, it was not so much the golf as the water that spoilt my walk. At least in the bar the only water to be found is tonic. asialife Cambodia 43

Beer

Goggles There’s more to the Phnom Penh beer scene than an Angkor served on ice. Bridget Di Certo lifts the lid on an emerging trend for boutique beers in the capital. Photography by Conor Wall.

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It’s more than the taste. It’s the texture, the feel of the liquid in your mouth. Then there is the temperature, the vintage and delicate hints of something vivid — a cherry, honey or a cigar. Would the drink work well with a slow-cooked stew, rich in earthy vegetables and meat, or better with a zesty salad, spiced with bitter vinaigrette with citrus flavours?

But this isn’t fine wine being swirled in a crystal glass by an elderly man in a smoky, oak panelled room. There is a new generation of restaurateurs in Phnom Penh whose beverage of choice is beer.

With the local scene saturated with mass-produced commercial products, most based on a typical lager format with more complex wheat or darker beers almost absent, a new wave of boutique beer is brewing in Cambodia.

“The movement of craft beer is making its wave to Southeast Asia. More developed countries are already seeing the boom in this scene,” says Neo Say Wee, the master brewer behind the new microbrewery at Phnom Penh’s Himawari hotel.

“Lager is always the 'preferred choice' as consumers are very much influenced by marketing bombarded by major breweries that produce for the mass market,” adds the Singapore-based brewer.

“Discerning consumers are more receptive to different beer styles and open to try new tastes” Such customers were the target for a boutique beer festival held in the capital last year at Tepui and GastroBar Botanico.

“It’s about balance,” says Antonio Lopez de Haro, manager of the two restaurants, where 52 brews imported from the UK, Europe, Australia, Mexico and Japan, were paired

with a special food menu. “You don’t want a beer so strong that you can’t taste the food, but you also don’t want a heavy dish so that you can’t taste the beer.”

Pairing boutique beer with a degustation menu was a novel concept for the Venezuelan restaurateur, who is now planning a future festival that will hopefully feature 100 varieties, but it brought the opportunity to enhance demand for exclusive international beers in Phnom Penh.

Coupling brews with dishes is not necessarily a risky concept, agrees Himawari marketing manager Richard Stanton, who is overseeing the hotel’s microbrewery and an accompanying food menu.

From staples like beer battered fish and chips to geographical exclusives such as Cambodian mussels cooked in beer, it has been designed to accompany the three kinds of drink made on the premises.

“People in Cambodia are really getting to be connoisseurs,” Stanton says.

“Like a fine wine or a whiskey, there is a benefit to freshly produced beer.”

Highlights at the brewery include a light larger, The Nelson Blonde, the more bitter Gem & Jade and the Honey Sap, which is brewed with Mondulkiri honey. The repertoire is destined for expansion.

“At the moment we are producing and selling at capacity, but maybe that can be expanded in the future,” Stanton says. “A cider would be great, especially for the ladies.

It is light and can be drunk with ice, perfect for Cambodia. We’ve been speaking about expanding to that already.”

Moves are also being made to put brewing skills in local hands. Neo is contracted to oversee the launch of the

“Like a fine wine or a whiskey, there is a benefit to freshly produced beer.”

microbrewery but is slowly devolving responsibility for the brewing to the Cambodia staff on premise.

“There is professional education from different universities that equip a person with the knowledge of brewing.

However, [it's] only with hands on experience that a brewer will understand how to put this knowledge from books into practise,” he says.

Retailers say that the market is still small but demand is increasing, though there can be trouble guaranteeing shipments in time to meet demand.

“The logistics of supplying international beers to Cambodia can be difficult,” says Lopez de Haro.

But, given the success of microbreweries like Munich German Beer House on Sothearos Boulevard and Himawari, and the demand for specialty beers offered as part of the Tepui’s Birre Festival, the future for specialty beers in the Kingdom is promising. asialife Cambodia 45

Wasabi The eye-watering potency of wasabi, or Japanese horseradish, is well known. When ground up into a vibrant green paste it adds a nose-burning zing to the clean, clear flavours typical of Japanese sushi and sashimi.

The Cambodian version of Wasabi is, however, a wellappointed restaurant off Kampuchea Krom Boulevard.

Featuring a small wooden bridge over a zen-like fish pond, diners can get a taste of the Orient as soon as they walk through the door.

The calm may not last long, as the eatery is a frenzy of activity.

A line of chefs can be found hard at work, carefully wrapping seaweed, rice and raw fish at the sushi station located in the restaurant’s centre. Waitresses carry towering piles of fresh salmon and king prawns to 46 asialife Cambodia

Searching for a taste of Tokyo, Ellie Dyer goes sushi mad at Wasabi Japanese Restaurant in Phnom Penh. Photography by Conor Wall.

diners sitting in both the secluded red leather and dark wood booths, as well as the eatery’s many screened private rooms.

For those unfamiliar with the cuisine, Wasabi’s buffet option ($18.99 per person) is a good place to start. Though the price reflects the relatively high price typical of Japanese food in the capital, it is no ordinary deal.

Diners can order as many fresh dishes from the buffet menu as desired, with orders electronically transmitted to the kitchen and sushi station via phone.

Taking on the challenge, we start with sushi options accompanied by towering piles of wasabi paste. Raw Norwegian salmon is put to good use in a variety of dishes. It is drenched in vinegar for a Japanese-style ceviche, and thinly sliced in a simple sashimi dish that

highlights its natural flavours.

Given the price, the raw tuna that also features in numerous dishes is not the high-grade found at Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji Fish Market, but is nevertheless well placed in a spicy maki roll, slathered in a hot chilli sauce.

Add some wasabi, and it packs serious punch.

A stand-out dish is the Katsu Karé. Despite being on the buffet menu, it is a meal in itself.

Potatoes and onions are drenched in a mild, yet rich, curry sauce that comes with rice and a breaded pork fillet. The meat adds satisfying crunch to the dish, which is a warming staple in Japan.

Soba noodles, softened in a cold broth for a minute or two, are also satisfying. The shredded seaweed adds a tasty, yet understated fishy flavour. The prawn tempura are

generously sized and covered in a light batter that has a slight greasy edge. Dip them in the accompanying gingery sauce and gulp down a mouthful of hot sake for a potent mix.

For those who can manage, try and leave room a dessert — pancake ice cream. A deliciously bitter green tea ice cream comes wrapped in a thick pancake cover. As the waitress pours a pot of flaming sauce over the dish, it becomes clear that Wasabi is not the only fiery dish on the menu.

Overall, Wasabi may not offer the top-grade ingredients of elite Tokyo cuisine, but it’s undoubtedly good value for money and a solid option in Phnom Penh’s rapidly expanding Japanese food scene.

Wasabi Japanese Restaurant, 49-153E Street 169, Phnom Penh.

T-Bone In 2009, launching a two-storey steakhouse on the southern end of Monivong Boulevard was an ambitious venture. Not only was it the first steakhouse in Phnom Penh but its location was predominantly occupied by locals who, for the most part, were unfamiliar with the concept.

“The idea was to open an international standard steakhouse in Cambodia,” recalls Julie Thaï, the French-Cambodian owner and general director of T-Bone Steak House. “We came onto Monivong Boulevard as an idea to attract more Asian customers. For the French, Australians, Americans — they would easily find [it] because they were aware of the concept.”

The trick to making steak a standout, Thaï says, is keeping the meat in a cold room for up to three weeks to allow it to tenderise.

During this period, it is cleaned

Julie Thaï packed her bags from Paris for Phnom Penh for a two month adventure 10 years ago. Bridget Di Certo looks at how passion for her heritage — both French and Cambodian – encouraged her to open the doors to Cambodia’s first steakhouse. Photography by Chatti Phal. several times and inedible parts cut out and discarded.

“When you purchase the meat at the markets, they kill the animal and sell the meat straight away, so that makes the meat very tough,” she explains.

Patrons are often surprised by the tenderness of Cambodian beef, says the career restaurateur, who after working in Paris eateries opened her first restaurant — Le Wok on Street 178 — in 2007.

“We have a very good quality in Cambodia. [There is] much less fat — I believe you have seen some cows here!” she says. “Most customers are surprised with the quality of the Cambodian beef.

They think that Cambodian beef is very tough.”

As well as bringing out the best in local cuts, the menu regularly features imported Australian and New Zealand meats, with

occasional highlights of United States beef. Steak is served according to the patrons’ choice of cut, dressing and sides. The most popular are baked potatoes and garlic mushrooms.

Prices vary depending on sides, the choice of cut and the origin of the meat, with Cambodian steak the cheapest on the menu. Cuts include rib-eye, tenderloin and, of course, the t-bone.

“I don’t know if this comes from the name of the restaurant, but it is a very American cut and by far our most popular,” Thaï says.

The restaurant’s name also demonstrates that, first and foremost, the venture is about offering fine steak. The idea was to create an atmosphere that concentrated on the plate of food rather than the decoration or finish of the restaurant.

Starting from the plate, however, faced its first challenge with the Asian tradition of meal sharing.

“In Cambodian cuisine and Asian cuisine it is difficult to make them understand that it was one plate per person. I am really a fan of Lok Lak, but eating the Lok Lak beef and eating a steak is a very different experience,” she laughs.

A uniquely Cambodian accompaniment requested at T-Bone Steak House is the lime and pepper sauce commonly served with Lok Lak, which Thaï says “can work”.

“In Cambodia a lot of the local ingredients here actually are wonderful for the steak,” she adds, pointing to Kampot pepper as a perfect accompaniment.

T-Bone Steak House, 392BEo Monivong Boulevard, Phnom Penh. info@tbone-steakhouse.com. asialife Cambodia 47

too bad on your birthday

asialife Cambodia 49

50 asialife Cambodia

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Model: Anna Mischke Makeup: Syna' Styling Hair: The Dollhouse Photographer: Chatti Phal Clothes and Accessories Provided by: First Floor Department Store and PaperDolls. Suit (p51) by colorblind available at First Floor Department Store.

52 asialife Cambodia

Listings

hotel & travel Airlines & Agencies Air Asia 66 Mao Tse Tung Blvd.

Tel: 023 356 011.

Air France Phnom Penh Tower, 11th Floor 445, Monivong Blvd, cnr of St. 232 Tel: 023 965 500 Angkor Airways 32 Norodom Blvd.

Tel: 023 222 056 Asiana Airlines A-16 Domestic Arrival Terminal Phnom Penh International Airport Tel: 023 890 440-2 Bangkok Airways 61A Street 214 Tel: 023 722 545 China Airlines 32 Norodom Blvd.

Tel: 023 222 393 Dragon Air 168 Monireth Blvd.

Tel: 023 424 300 www.dragonair.com/kh, pnh.res@dragonair.com

Vietnam Airlines 41 Street 214 Tel: 023 363 396.

Eva Air 298 Mao Tse Tung Blvd.

Tel: 023 219 911

Battambang

Jet Star Asia 333B Monivong Blvd.

Tel: 023 220 909 Korean Air F3-R03, 254 Monivong Blvd.

Tel: 023 224 047/8 Lao Airlines 58C Sihanouk Blvd.

Tel: 023 216 563 Malaysia Airlines 172 Monivong Blvd.

Tel: 023 218 923 Silk Air 313 Sisowath Quay (Himawari Hotel) Tel: 023 426 808 Sunbird International Cambodia Ltd. PGCT Center 2F, St. 274 Tel: 023 99 1010/ 023 98 3333 sunbirdintl@yahoo.co.kr PSA of Korean Air, PSA of Asiana Airlines, Worldwide Air ticket, Visa, License.Open Mon~Fri 8am ~5:30pm & Sat 8am~1pm Thai Airways 294 Mao Tse Tung Blvd.

Tel: 023 214 359

La Villa 185 Pom Romchek 5 Tel: 017 411 880 / 053 730 151, lavilla.battambang@gmail.com, www.lavilla-battambang.com Beautifully restored 1930s colonial house with six rooms is the premium hotel in the country’s second city and with an excellent kitchen and bar.

Riverside Balcony Bar & Restaurant West bank of river Tel: 012 437 421 Traditional wooden house with great views of the river and good food, ideal for a sunset cocktail lounging over the river. Open Tues – Sun, 4pm - 11pm.

Kampot

Blissful Guest House Tel: 012 848 390 www.blissfulguesthouse.com Small guest house, with 11 rooms, set in a quiet part of town with downstairs restaurant and bar, and communal TV room upstairs.

Bokor Mountain Lodge Riverfront Tel: 033 932 314 017 712 062 www.bokorlodge.com Beautiful French colonial building situated on riverfront with well-fitted

air-conditioned rooms. Has a good restaurant and bar.

Epic Arts Café Old Market Street Employing deaf staff, this café next to the old market has a good range of bagels, shakes, brownies and coffee. Is also the centre for the community arts programme.

Open from 7am - 6pm.

Les Manguiers 2km north of Kampot Tel: 092 330 050 Small resort with bungalows and rooms set in beautiful gardens overlooking the river with a restaurant which has daily changing, freshly prepared food.

Mea Culpa 44 Sovansokar Tel: 012 504 769 meaculpakampot@gmail.com Accommodation established by the former manager of Bokor Mountain Lodge set in the French Quarter. Six rooms have air con, hot water, DVD and TV. The large garden has a patio pizzeria and bar.

Nataya Coral Bay Resort Prek Ampil, Kampot, Tel: 016 226 471/ 012 902 823. natayaresort@yahoo.com Only 16km from Kampot, this topend hideaway comes complete with eight beachfront bungalows, a 25m infinity pool, a 2km private beach, stilt huts off a 300m pier, and simply oodles of relaxation.

Rikitikitavi Riverfront Tel: 012 274 820 012 235 102 www.rikitikitavi-kampot.com Western food served in large portions in this river-facing restaurant, bar and three-room guesthouse. A more upmarket venue for Kampot, the upstairs seating affords great sunset views. Restaurant and bar open 7 days a week.

Rusty Keyhole Riverfront This British pub is the place for expats to chew the fat over a pint. Friendly British owner has recreated the atmosphere of a rural pub in outer Kampot, or at least as close as it gets. The ribs remain as good as ever.

Open 8.30am until midnight.

Kep

Breezes Route 33.

Tel: 097 675 9072 Situated on the main coast road about halfway between Kep Beach and the ferry to Rabbit Island, this stylish restaurant and lounge is located right by the sea in a green, wooded area. The food is a fusion of Asian and western with a focus on small dishes with plenty of seafood. Free pick-up and return to Kep hotels.

Kep Lodge Tel: 092 435 330. www.keplodge.com Nestled just below the calm Kep National Park, this boutique resort offers only 10 standard and luxury bungalows, all with private balcony, hot water and sea view. The comfortable restaurant pampers you with local and Swiss specialties and the lively bar. The beautiful infinity salt water pool has one of the best views in Kep and is the perfect place for a sunset.

Knai Bang Chatt Resort Tel: 017 917 452 www.knaibangchatt.com Exclusive seaside resort just along from the crab stalls, which has opened up its doors to the public.

Elegant swimming pool, air-con, gym, library and fantastic gardens, this resort is the ideal place to get away from Phnom Penh. Good restaurant with fantastic views of the sea. Check for special offers.

Also has a Sailing Club next door with bar and restaurant, as well as Hoby Cats.

Le Bout du Monde Kep, Tel: 011 964 181 www.leboutdumondekep.com Individual and separate bungalows in traditional Khmer architecture located at a top of a hill with good views and nice gardens. Serves French and Khmer cuisine. Rooms have hot water, mini-bar, fan and safe.

Saravoan Hotel Thmey Village, Kep, Tel: 036 639 3909 / 012 715 588 012 357 729 Recently renovated building with 17 rooms has all the modern amenities including an inviting swimming pool and sweeping views of the sea.

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Veranda Natural Resort Tel: 033 399 035, 012 888 619, www.veranda-resort.com Traditional wooden bungalows set in the hillside. Settle down for the night and listen to the jungle purr. Has a good restaurant and bar with some quite stunning sweeping views down to the coast.

Phnom Penh – Deluxe

Amanjaya 1 Sisowath Quay.

Tel: 023 214 747 www.amanjaya-pancam-hotel.com Large hotel with a great central location along the riverfront. The rooms are spacious and wellequipped with tasteful Khmer decorations. The downstairs restaurant doubles up as the aircon K-West bar.

Cambodiana 313 Sisowath Quay.

Tel: 023 426 288 www.hotelcambodiana.com Great riverside location with spectacular sweeping views of the confluence of three rivers. Large rooms with air-con, in-room safes and good bathrooms. Live band plays nightly (except Mondays) from 8.15pm until late.

The Governor’s House 3 Mao Tse Tung Blvd. nr cnr Norodom Blvd. Tel: 023 987 025

www.governorshouse.net Welcome to The Governor’s House Colonial Boutique Hotel in Phnom Penh. The Governor’s house offers an exclusive 10 rooms 5-star boutique hotel embodied in an original colonial-style mansion in the heart of BKK I, surrounded by the top residential area in downtown Phnom Penh city, Kingdom of Wonder.

Himawari 313 Sisowath Quay.

Tel: 023 214 555 www.himawarihotel.com The 115 beautifully-designed suites have air-con, cable TV, IDD, Internet, in-room safes and large bathrooms. Nice swimming pool and good gym facilities as well as two good tennis courts.

Imperial Garden Hotel 315 Sisowath Quay Tel: 023 219 991 Large hotel and villa complex next to the Cambodiana. Has a swimming pool, gym and tennis court.

InterContinental 296 Mao Tse Tung.

Tel: 023 424 888 www.intercontinental.com One of Phnom Penh’s most luxurious 5-star hotels, the 346 air-con rooms have all the expected facilities including in-

room safes and king size beds.

Also has a large swimming pool, a fitness centre and a spa.

Raffles Hotel Le Royal Street 92 Tel: 023 981 888 www.phnompenh.raffles.com Emanates the same class as its more famous namesake in Singapore. The Elephant Bar is a popular expat haunt during the 4pm to 8pm happy hour.

Beautiful gardens with a separate swimming pool for kids plus reasonably priced apartments for long stays. The rooms at the front are particularly special.

Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra 28 Old August Site, Sothearos Blvd. Tel: 023 999 200 www.sofitel.com Set riverside amongst landscaped gardens this 12-storey colonial style hotel is close to key attractions, embassies and the central business district. Along with 201 luxurious rooms and suites with Mekong or Bassac river views, are chic restaurants and bars, an upscale spa, two swimming pools, a sports club and the finest conferencing facilities in Cambodia.

Phnom Penh – Mid Almond Hotel 128F Sothearos Blvd.

Tel: 023 220 822 www.almondhotel.com.kh 56-room hotel located close to the Royal Palace and the riverfront with spacious rooms with WiFi. Downstairs restaurant serves dim sum and Cantonese food.

AQUA Boutique Hotel 2 Street 278 Tel: 012414596 info@aqua-pp.com Modern Indochina villa offers 7 rooms in a stunning Art Deco building, All en-suite with A/C. and on-sight pool, sun bed, wine bar and tapas restaurant.

Asia Club 456 Monivong Blvd.

Tel: 023 721 766 An oasis of water and green in the city, the five bungalows and four rooms with air-con and bath, large safe and flatscreen tv. The beautiful swimming pool is tucked around the back of Man Han Lou Restaurant and you can have drinks and food delivered from Man Han Lou Restaurant.

Blue Lime 42 Street 19z (off Street 19), Tel: 023 222 260 www.bluelime.asia Centrally-located mini-hotel with a great swimming pool and contemporary rooms is a good flashpacker option.

FCC Phnom Penh 362 Sisowath Quay Tel: 012 253 222 www.fcccambodia.com

Phnom Penh’s landmark restaurant has seven rooms with balconies offering views of the river. Each is individually designed and meticulously outfitted with high-speed Internet access and the latest mod cons.

Hotel Cara 18 Street 47 & 84 Tel: 023 430 066 / 023 998 422 stay@hotelcara.com www.hotelcara.com Just north of Wat Phnom, this stylish boutique hotel has wellfitted rooms at very reasonable rates and a great sushi restaurant.

Lebiz Hotel & Library 79F Street 128 Tel: 023 998 608 / 610 info@lebizhotel.com www.lebizhotel.com Luxury accommodation with a competitive edge and sleek modern design offers a full range of specialty services tailored to business needs, and cutting-edge technology to maximise comfort and productivity. Has unique library.

Paddy Rice 213-217 Sisowath Quay Tel: 023 990 321 www.paddyrice.net Former Hope and Anchor has newly refurbished rooms with solar hot water, cable TV, air conditioning, WiFi and great views of the river from its balconies. Downstairs restaurant offers full western and Asian cuisine

Splash Inn Hotel 5 Street 244 Tel: 023 986 174 www.splashinncambodia.com The Splash Inn opened in March 2011 after full renovations to two traditional Khmer villas, one block from the Royal Palace. All rooms boast handmade furniture, en-suite bathroom, flat-screen LCD TV, DVD, Wi-fi, fridge and mini-bar.

River 108 2 Street 108 Tel: 023 218 785 www.river108.com Art deco hotel aimed at the flashpacker set, the river view rooms are extremely comfortable with flat screen TV and separate bathroom and toilet. Efficient WiFi, good working space and spacious rooms make this the perfect business option.

The Little Garden 8 Street 398 Tel: 078 217 871 Stylish boutique hotel with a swimming pool. A quiet retreat from the city’s chaos. Rooms feature attractive Cambodian furniture and gorgeous colonial tiles.

The Plantation Urban Resort and Spa 28 Street 184.

Tel: 023 215 151 http://theplantatation.asia 70 rooms – including a penthouse suite, two swimming pools, a restaurant, two bars, a gym, a spa and a meeting

room. Centrally situated close to most of Phnom Penh’s main attractions.

The Pavilion 227 Street 19.

Tel: 023 222 280 www.pavilion-cambodia.com Beautiful boutique hotel set in a colonial building with large, unique rooms, each with either a small balcony or garden. Outdoor swimming pool, free WiFi and a small poolside restaurant.

The Quay Sisowath Quay.

Tel: 023 224 894 http://thequayhotel.com Five-storey, 16-room riverside boutique hotel has beautiful contemporary rooms designed by Gary Fell. The stand-out features are the roof-top jacuzzi and the very contemporary ground-floor bar and Chow Restaurant with WiFi. Queen Boutique Hotel 49A Street 214.

Tel: 023 211 683 om@queenboutique.asia Boutique hotel located conveniently close to all the major attractions including the Royal Palace and National Museum.

Villa SALT 4 Street 294 Tel: 012 815 066 villasalt@sentosasilk.com Whether you are touring Phnom Penh or planning a long vacation, Villa SALT along with SentosaSilk,

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create an atmosphere that makes you feel at home. Explore 14 artistically decorated rooms, each created to give you that authentic sense of uniqueness.

Phnom Penh - Budget

California 2 79 Sisowath Quay Tel: 077 503 144 www.cafecaliforniaphnompenh.com New guest house and bar on the river front with well-priced rooms with air con and security box.

Downstairs bar has great Tex-Mex food and pool table.

Feeling Home Cnr. Streets 278 & 63 Tel: 023 221 522 www.feelinghomecambodia.com Stylish nine-room boutique hotel with ample rooms at competitive rates, including flatscreen TV, aircon, security box and great beds.

Also has two apartments, an Asian restaurant and a Café Sentiment coffee house.

L’Imprevu Highway 1, 7km past Monivong Bridge Tel: 024 390 405 Complex with twenty-four bungalows just outside of Phnom Penh. Tennis courts and excellent swimming pool make this a good break from the city.

Le Rit’s 71 Street 240 Tel: 023-213-160 Small & charming 6-room guesthouse with spacious rooms is managed by NYEMO NGO, part of its hospitality training. Rooms equipped with queen sized bed, cable TV,

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private bathroom. The restaurant has a European set lunch menu and serves authentic Khmer food a la carte for diner.

family rooms also available. Has a welcoming bar with excellent TV screen, slate pool table and excellent Mexican cuisine.

Tonle Sap Guest House 4-6 Street 104Tel: 023 986 722 www.tonlesapguesthouse.com Clean, well-kept guesthouse upstairs with 15 rooms, with air-con, fans, hot water, cable TV. Downstairs Pickled Parrot bar open 24 hours.

Scuba Nation Lane off road to Serendipity Beach Tel: 012 604 680/ 012 715 785 www.divecambodia.com Five-star PADI centre offering daily trips to the area’s many islands and reefs including the decent dive sites at Koh Rung Samloem and Koh Kon, also runs a range of PADI-certified courses, and has an office in Phnom Penh.

Sihanoukville

Club RED 25 Tola St., Ochheuteal Beach, Tel: 068 319 481 Located in the very heart of the city, this unique nightclub, bar, and lounge is open every night of the week. Great music, dance shows and live entertainment. Enjoy exclusive drinks and cocktails served in stylish surroundings by our friendly staff. Open 8pm till late.

Independence Hotel Independence Beach Tel: 012 728 090 www.independencehotel.net Beautifully restored hotel on Independence Beach, originally opened in 1963, reopened in 2007 following a complete refurbishment.

Has sweeping ocean views from most rooms. Also has a gym, conference rooms and circular restaurant.

Reef Resort Road to Serendipity Beach Tel: 012 315 338 www.reefresort.com.kh Guesthouse set around a beautiful pool with well apportioned air-con rooms, in-room safe and cable TV,

Sokha Beach Resort Sokha Beach Tel: 034 935 999 With its own private beach, excellent swimming pool and fine restaurants, Sokha is the most up-market place to stay in Sihanoukville. A live Filipino band plays around the cocktail bar at night.

The Secret Garden Otres Beach Tel: 0976 495 131 www.secretgardenotres.com Modern beachside air-con bungalows with hot water, jungle showers or baths, TV, WiFi and Otres Beach’s only swimming pool.

Restaurant run by professional Australian chef with draught and imported beers.

Zoco Independence Hotel Road to Serendipity Beach Two fashion boutiques – one on the way to Serendipity Beach, the other in Independence Hotel – run by the Spanish-born Nuria, sells dresses, skirts, bags and accessories.

Travel

Cambodia Uncovered 11B Street 370 Tel: 012 507 097 www.cambodiauncovered.com Offers village and cultural tours in Phnom Penh and surrounds including road trips, Mekong cruises, accommodation, cooking classes and other activities.

Exotissimo Travel No. 66, Norodom Blvd.

Tel: 023 218 948 www.exotissimo.com Excellent French-owned agency specialising in adventure tourism, flight bookings, package holidays and a range of tours of Southeast Asia.

Helicopters Cambodia 10 Street 310 Tel: 012 814 500 www.helicopterscambodia.com Over 12 years experience operating in the Kingdom offers scenic flights around the Temples of Angkor and beyond. Is a wholly owned subsidiary of Helicopters New Zealand Group.

Intrepid Travel 468 Sivutha Blvd. Tel: 063 966 655 For travellers with a yearning to get off the beaten track, Intrepid opens up a whole new world of adventure travel. With a huge variety of tours available.

Travel Indochina 43-44EO Street 108 Tel: 023 991 978 www.travelindochina.com.au Australian-owned and managed travel company specialising in small group journeys around Asia that can tailor trips for individuals.

Listings

siem reap Siem Reap - Bars

AHA The Passage. Tel: 063 965 501 Sophisticated and beautifully designed wine bar selling a wide range of wines from around the world and tapas, as well as great cheese and Lavazza coffee. Open 10.30am to 10.30pm.

Angkor What?

Pub Street. Tel: 012 181 4001 “Promoting irresponsible drinking since 1998,” this graffiti-laden bar is the mainstay of Pub Street. A healthy mix of loud rock, punk and grunge, buckets of vodka and red bull for $6.

Fresh at Chilli Si-Dang East River. Tel: 012 723 488 Riverside dining, balcony views, a relaxing lounge downstairs, and a pool table. Fresh food, including traditional Khmer cuisine, cheese, sandwiches, a generous selection of vegetarian food.

Laundry Bar Old Market Extremely chilled music bar just off

Pub Street with great mellow decor and extremely cool t-shirts. Free drink during the 6pm to 9pm washing hours.

Open 6pm until late.

Linga Bar Alley behind Pub Street Tel: 012 246 912. www.lingabar.com Laid back, gay-friendly bar with extremely chilled Buddha Bar tunes and some amazing light boxes that serves a great range of cocktails. Free WiFi. Open 5pm until late.

Little Pari The Lane, off Pub Street, The newest and bluest bar in town! Very sweet, very stylish little jewel of a bar, much like the eponymous owner herself, Pari. This jazz/wine bar serves delicious Asianised cocktails, wines and beers.

Open from 7pm until closing.

Miss Wong Lane off Pub Street. Tel: 092 428 332 Imagine yourself in China at the turn of the last century and you won’t go much wrong in Miss Wong with excellent and original cocktails and dim sum.

Open late.

Nest Sivutha Blvd.

Tel: 017 925 181 A step up for Siem Reap, Nest is high level drinking and dining, serving light Mediterranean and Asian food in a unique, highly stylised setting, with loungers and table settings.

Picasso Alley West A very cosy wine and tapas bar, with artful décor and a curved bar making conversation easy and fun. Good selection of wines and delicious tapas make this a

regular haunt for expats.

Open 5pm until midnight.

The Station Wine Bar Street 7, close to Pub Street Tel: 097 850 4043 www.thestationwinebarsiemreap.com For lovers and lovers of wine offers a selection of fine wines, always 20 by the glass and a list of over 100 by the bottle.

Good music and pleasant decor in air conditioned comfort. Tuesdays, varietal wine tastings and every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday our Lady Boy Variety Show.

The Warehouse Old Market Tel: 012 530 227 Popular expat bar plays great music with good Asian-Western fusion cuisine. Best stocked bar in town and homemade infused vodkas. Open 10am to 3am.

Siem Reap - Cafés

Blue Pumpkin Old Market Tel: 012 946 227/ 063 463 574 www.tbpumpkin.com Popular café with a great range of freshly baked breads and pastries, shakes and coffee. Also at Angkor Wat and the airport.

Open daily from 6am to 10pm. Free WiFi. Café de la Paix Sivutha BlvdTel: 063 966 000 www.hoteldelapaixangkor.com Like the adjoining Hotel de la Paix, this small café exudes contemporary chic. Excellent Lavazza coffee, bagels, salads and free WiFi dished up in air-con surroundings.

Siem Reap - Galleries

Arts Lounge Hotel de la Paix, Sivutha Boulevard Tel: 063 966 000

Large space in the ground floor of the hotel showcases the works of Cambodian and international artists. All pieces focus on Cambodian subjects.

Diwo Galleries One at Vat Svay, Tonle Sap Road and another between Monument Books and Ta Prohm Hotel on the riverside Features a selection of refined Khmer statues and Buddhas. The larger Vat Svay location features a gallery exhibition of Thierry Diwo’s photography, as well as sells home decor and books. Drinks are available in the garden and on the terrace.

McDermott Gallery I & II FCC Complex Pokambor Avenue, Alley behind Pub Street Tel: 092 668 181 www.mcdermottgallery.com Two galleries devoted to photographic works. with permanent exhibition of photographs taken by John McDermott.

Open 10am to 10pm.

Siem Reap - Hotels

FCC Angkor Pokambor Avenue Tel: 023 992 284 www.fcccambodia.com Boutique hotel with 31 contemporary Asian-designed rooms spread around the garden and swimming pool. Free WiFi for guests both in rooms and around the pool.

Golden Orange Off East River Road Tel: 063 965 389 reservations@goldenorangehotel.com www.goldenorangehotel.com Mini-hotel with good sized air-con rooms that tends to have customers when others are empty. Nice outside bar makes for a good place to sit and have a few beers.

Hotel de la Paix Sivutha Boulevard Tel: 063 966 000 www.hoteldelapaixangkor.com

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With stoneware bathtubs in the rooms, mini-iPods, flexible reading flashlights above the decadently lavish beds and inset photographic galleries along all the corridors, de la Paix is a modern design classic.

Raffles Grand Hotel D’Angkor 1 Charles de Gaulle Tel: 063 963 888 www.raffles.com Elegant hotel with opulent gardens and a spectacular swimming pool in its grounds.

Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra Golf & Spa Resort Vithei Charles de Gaulle Tel: 063 964 600/ 610 www.sofitel.com Ultimate in comfort and refinement, combining the traditional architecture of Cambodia with elegant French colonial style. 5-star accommodation, 5 bars and restaurants, swimming pool, spa and international standard18-hole 72-par golf course, 16km outside Siem Reap.

Siem Reap - Leisure

Body Tune 293-290 Pokambor Av. (next to the old market along Riverside) Tel: 063 764 141 www.bodytune.co.th When you need to re-balance and rejuvenate your body in between daily routines, BODY TUNE is the perfect place to regain your energy. Open daily 10:00am - 10:30pm.

Helicopters Cambodia 658 Hup Quan Street Tel: 063 963 316 Professionally run company that has flights over the temples and beyond in modern, safe helicopters.

Khmer Ways Wat Svay Village Tel: 077 367 790 www.khmerways.com Ride specially adapted motor-scooters to explore parts of Siem Reap nobody else gets to, including villages, temples and waterfalls. No previous experience required. Lunch, water, sunscreen and snacks provided.

Sam Veasna Centre Wat Bo Area Tel: 063 96 37 10 Wild Asia Responsible Tourism Award winner. Some of the rarest birds in Asia can be seen at Prek Toal and Ang Trapang Thmor, a day-trip from Siem Reap, or combine bird watching with temple trips to Koh Ker and Beng Melea.

Phokeethra Country Club Sofitel Royal Angkor Resort & Spa Vithei Charles de Gaulle Tel: 056 396 4600, golf@sofitel-royal-angkora.com International standard 18-hole, 72-par golf course 16km outside of Siem Reap.

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Siem Reap - Restaurants

FCC Angkor FCC Complex, Pokambor Avenue Tel: 063 760 280 Elegant bar and restaurant serves a mix of Asian and international cuisine. The complex includes shops, the McDermott Gallery, Visaya Spa and boutique hotel.

Le Malraux Street No. 7 Tel: 063 966 041 Beautiful French restaurant offering alfresco, café and brasserie style dining with a menu catering to a range of budgets and tastes.

Both food and service is consistently good. An attractive wine list rounds out this restaurant’s promise.

L’Oasi East River Road Tel: 092 418 917 The best Italian restaurant in, or rather just outside of, town. The combination of the beautiful garden and home-cooked Italian pasta and pizza makes the trip well worth it.

Marum 8a Route B, btwn Wat Polanka & Catholic Church Tel: 017 363 284 contact@marum-restaurant.org Great food, good service. Part of the Mith Samlanh group that trains marginalized and vulnerable young people for a career in the hospitality industry. Profits go back into the training programme.

Siem Reap - Shops

De Silk 18 Oum Khun Blvd.

Tel: 063 761 198 011 775 168 www desilk.com Boutique offering 24/7 tailoring services using 100% Khmer traditional silk, that has expertise in making clothes and accessories.

Eric Raisina 53 Veal Village Tel: 012 965 207/ 063 963 207 Accessories, decor, textiles and clothing created by Madagascan-born and Frenchtrained designer. Phone in advance for an appointment.

Jasmine Boutique FCC Angkor, Pokambor Avenue Tel: 063 760 610 Same sophisticated, stylish boutique as on Street 240 in Phnom Penh.

Smateria The Alley West Tel: 063 964 343 www.smateria.com Boutique specialising in accessories made from recycled materials including a range of bags and wallets made from old cartons, plastic bags and mosquito nets.

siem reap

Food For Thought Nicky McGavin When feeding the conscience we’re often obliged to sacrifice our stomachs — hence the penitent’s attitude of fasting or keeping to an austere diet of black bread and water. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and Siem Reap is proving it by offering serious temptations to thrill body and soul.

There are plenty of NGO restaurants in town, but the best happen to be the ones established to provide hospitality training for disadvantaged young adults.

New additions Marum and Haven, plus the old hand Sala Baï, serve top notch nosh that is creative, delicious and, the best sauce of all, doing some good in the world.

Sala Baï celebrated ten years of operation and 1,000 graduations last November.

The 100 graduates from the previous year are already safely employed and taking their first steps towards a future of their own design.

The intimate restaurant looking out onto the busy, dusty backpacker street of Taphul Road has a bookish air that presents a pleasing contrast with its surroundings.

The menu is short, well thought out and good value, but keep an eye out for the Asian and western set menus that change every two weeks.

The head chef and his deputy, who have both worked in five-star restaurants, let their creativity fly with wonderful results. Whether it’s a beef Carpaccio with a celeriac mousse, or a perfectlycooked beetroot risotto with goat’s cheese, walnuts and a pork chop, this is food that

rivals anything from the finest restaurants, at a fraction of the price. Two courses from the set menu cost $7, while three cost $9.

Meanwhile, Marum has opened its own doors for the first time. Friends International’s third restaurant in Cambodia will be recognisable to fans of Romdeng and Friends The Restaurant in Phnom Penh. The same high design standards define the restaurant, which is modern, with lots of clean lines and strong colours. The menu is creative Cambodian and includes favourites such as a spicy smoked eggplant dip, or the crispy rice noodle and tofu salad with sweet potato and coriander spring rolls, or the lotus root salad with chicken and galangal dressing.

While Friends and Sala Baï jointly have 20 years of experience behind them, Haven was created by a young Swiss couple with little experience, but an awful lot of heart. They have created from scratch a modern restaurant with a refreshing stone garden, and stylish interior.

The menu is as straightforward and honest as the creators, featuring lots of healthy classics and some good old fashioned comfort food, and loads of options for vegetarians. Their dedication never fails to shine through; whether it’s for the genuinely vegetarian pasta sauces (no rennet) and Asian dishes (no fish sauces, or prahok), or the time they take to listen to their customers. This is not the kind of place you’ll be happy to only visit once.

Listings

Fortune Palace NagaWorld, Hun Sen Park Chinese restaurant with authentic Greater Chinese cuisine and all-youcan-eat Dim Sum buffet on Sundays.

Open from 11am - 3pm, 5pm - 10pm.

food & drink

Fu Lu Zu Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra 26 Old August Site, Sothearos Blvd.

023 999 200 x 6613 Elegant Chinese restaurant specialising in contemporary Cantonese delicacies and dim sum with private rooms for intimate ambience.

Open from 11.30am - 2.30pm, 6.30pm - 10.30pm. Dim Sum weekend from 8am - 2.30pm.

Cambodian

Khmer Surin 9 Street 57 Tel 012 887 320 Elegant restaurant featuring wood and silk décor with a tropical garden that serves Cambodian and Thai favourites.

Dishes are well prepsred and large enough to share.

K’NYAY 25K Suramarit Blvd. (Street 268) Tel: 023 225 225 / 092 665 225, www.knyay.com knyay@hotmail.com Modern Khmer restaurant tucked away down an alley off Sihanouk Blvd, with a menu including a selection of freshly prepared, vegan dishes, along with traditional Cambodian specialities. Offers a selection of cakes, ice creams and sorbets, using all vegan ingredients.

Open 12pm - 9pm (Mon - Fri), 7am 9pm (Sat), closed Sunday.

Malis 136 Norodom Bvd. Tel: 023 221 022 www.malisrestaurant.com Beautiful modern Khmer restaurant with a courtyard set around narrow water channels and decorated with terracotta floor tiles. Has air-con rooms inside for those who find the midday sun too much. The cuisine is modern Khmer, with no MSG. Restaurant Le Royal Raffles Hotel Le Royal Tel: 023 981 888 (see also restaurants, French) Romdeng 74 Street 174 Tel: 092 219 565 Come to Romdeng and order some delicious Khmer food for you and also for your children from our new kid’s menu, serving creative and healthy treats for little one! While waiting for your dishes, let you kids enjoy the playroom while you relax by the pool…

And before leaving don’t miss our new gift shop in the first floor. Special lunch set menu everyday.

Open 11am - 9pm.

The Local 39C Street 454 Tel: 077 905 522 Café with a courtyard, art deco style mezzanine bar and dining room displaying art from the Apsara gallery with menu established by Khmer chef and cookbook author Sok Chhong.

Open Tues to Sun, 10am - 11pm.

Chinese Emperors of China 19 Street 163 Tel: 097 929 2699 Up-market Chinese restaurant, popular with the capital’s large Chinese community, private dinning rooms, specializes in Peking duck and dim sum.

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Hua Nam 753 Monivong Bvd. Tel: 023 364 005 Large Chinese restaurant that specialises in seafood and duck and has a good selection of wines, with VIP rooms.

Open 11am - 2pm, 5pm - 10pm.

Man Han Lou Restaurant 456 Monivong Blvd.

Tel: 023 721 966 Micro-brewery with four types of German-style beer. Has extensive Chinese, Thai, Khmer and Vietnamese menus, as well as dim sum breakfast.

Open from 6am - 10am.

Sam Doo 56-58 Kampuchea Krom Tel: 023 218 773 The place for dim sum in Phnom Penh, baskets of steamed prawn dumplings, pork buns and more go for a pittance. The wonton soup and other tasty meals are a steal.

Open 7am - 2am.

Xiang Palace InterContinental Phnom Penh 2/F, 296 Mao Tse Toung Blvd.

Tel: 023 424 888 x 3562 Xiang Palace is locally acclaimed for its authentic Cantonese cuisine and delicious dim sum, all prepared with the finest ingredients.

Open daily for lunch and dinner.

Yi Sang Chinese Restaurant 128F Sothearos Blvd.

Tel: 023 220 922 www.almondhotel.com.kh Set on the ground floor of the Almond Hotel, this stylish restaurant specialises in Cantonese food and dim sum that fuses the traditional with the contemporary, including excellent dim sum.

Open from 6.30am - 10am, 11.30am - 2pm and 5.30pm - 10pm – Dim Sum not served in the evening.

French Armand’s 33 Street 108 Tel: 015 548 966 A true bistro experience in a cosy wood-panelled space, despite the informal and relaxed ambience it has the menu to even satisfy high-rollers.

Open 5pm until late. Closed Mondays.

Brasserie du Port 49E Sisowath Quay, cnr Street 84 Tel: 012 607 507 Seaside bistro featuring eclectic menu of haute cuisine mixed with pasta and ish specials. French classics including flambéed duck, pork filet mignon and home-made fois gras available at reasonable prices. Open daily for lunch and dinner, Brasserie’s long wooden bar is the perfect spot

for enjoying a sea breeze and the restaurant’s comprehensive wine list.

Open daily, 8am – 11pm.

Comme à la Maison 13 Street 57 Tel: 012 951 869 www.commealamaisondelicatessen.com Sophisticated French restaurant with a beautiful outdoor terrace area at the front, yet secluded from the street.

One of the best French kitchens in town. Small delicatessen at the back of the restaurant.

Open daily from 6am - 10.30pm.

K West 1 Street 154, cnr. Sisowath Quay Tel: 023 214 747 Stylish aircon bar and restaurant below the Amanjaya with an excelllent steak menu and good value happy hour from 6pm to 8pm Fridays. Now has a brasserie menu with daily specials. Also has free WiFi. Open 6.30am until midnight.

La Marmite Cnr Streets 108 & 51 Tel: 012 391 746 This small, reasonably priced French bistro has two adjoining rooms (one non-smoking) creating a relaxed, cosy atmosphere. Serves excellent fish, steaks and offal as well as daily specials, for a taste of real homecooked French cuisine.

Open 11am - 2.30pm, 6pm 10.30pm.

La Residence Restaurant 22/24 Street 214, Tel: 023 224 582 Fine dining on an international scale in this sophisticated restaurant, where French classics meet gourmet, modern cuisine.

Open from 11.30am - 2pm, 6.30pm 10.30pm.

Le Café Mith Samlanh French Institute, Street 184 Tel: 092 471 791 Set in the lush garden of the French Institute (formerly CCF), Le Café offers an extensive à la carte menu with Khmer and French dishes. All proceeds go towards Mith Samlanh’s programmes for marginalised youth.

Open 7am - 5pm, closed Sundays.

Le Gourmet NagaWorld Hotel and Casino, Hun Sen Park Tel: 023 228 822.

Kitsch meets tradition at this up-scale restaurant. Quality ingredients come together in beautiful presentation on the plate, with the luxury of the surroundings complemented by professional and attentive service.

Open daily from 12pm - 3pm and 6pm - 10pm.

Le Jardin 16 Street 360 Tel: 011 723 399 Beautiful shaded restaurant with large garden and spacious outdoor play area for kids with excellent ice cream.

Open 8am - 10pm (closed Mondays).

MIRO Restaurant & Lounge 43 Sihanouk Blvd.

Tel: 023 217 991 One of Phnom Penh’s recently opened restaurants, Miro is a chic and trendy addition to the city’s dining scene.

Stylishly outfitted in tones of green and black with padded velvet couches and a sweeping granite staircase, this dining spot provides a taste of Basque

cuisine with a French influence.

Open 12pm until late.

Restaurant Le Royal Raffles Hotel Le Royal Tel: 023 981 888 www.raffles.com/phnompenh dining. phompenh@raffles.com Treat yourself to the finest French & Khmer cuisine in one of Indochina’s most elegant restaurants. The Chef’s Degustation menu allows you to try a myriad of dishes in a single meal in a refined atmosphere. Private rooms are available on request.

Open from 6.30pm - 10.30pm.

The Wine Restaurant 219 Street 19 Tel: 023 223 527 Excellent fine dining restaurant in the same grounds as Open Wine deli. The fresh food and extensive selection of wines make this one of the exclusive places to dine in town.

Topaz 182 Norodom Blvd.

Tel: 012 346 555/ 023 221 622 Sophisticated, air-con restaurant with outside dining, upstairs bar, wine shop, cigar room and private rooms. One of Phnom Penh’s finest restaurants. Has a popular piano bar, night club upstairs.

Open 11am - 2pm, 6pm - 11pm.

Van’s Restaurant 5 Street 102 Tel: 023 722 067 French fine-dining in a grand setting awaits at Van’s, located on the second floor of a well preserved colonial era building near the city’s Post Office.

Open daily 11.30am - 2.30pm, 5pm - 10.30pm.

Indian Sub-Continent

Dosa Corner 15 Street 51, Tel: 012 673 276 This small south Indian restaurant opened in January. True to its name it has a wide range of very good value dosa as well as thali and biryani dishes. Air-conditioned.

Open 7am - 10pm.

East India 9 Street 114 Tel: 023 992 007 South Indian cuisine predominates in this pristine restaurant with excellent breads including nine types of dosa.

Open 11am - 2pm, 5.30pm - 10.30pm.

Flavours of India 158 Street 63, Tel: 012 886 374, Relaxing Indian and Nepalese restaurant with friendly staff and a good range of dishes including good value vegetarian and meat thalis.

Open 10am - 11pm.

Mumtaz 162 Street 63 Tel: 023 726 761 Popular Vietnamese chain of Indian restaurants comes to Phnom Penh.

Excellent tandoori and southern Indian delicacies including dosa with chefs from both north and south.

Shiva Shakti 70 Sihanouk Blvd.

Tel: 012 813 817/ 023 213 062 Decidedly upmarket and sophisticated Indian restaurant in a beautiful setting with prices to match. Good place for an Indian treat.

Open from 11am - 2pm, 6pm 10.30pm. Closed Mondays.

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Indochine

Indochine NagaWorld, Hun Sen Park With a focus on Southeast Asian cuisine, Indochine offers tradition dishes from Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in a sophisticated space.

Open 11am - 11pm.

Irrawaddi 24 Street 334. Tel: 012 979 510 Authentic Myanmar food at very reasonable prices in a clean setting with paintings of the Burmese countryside decorating the walls.

Open 10am - 10pm, closed Mondays.

Lemongrass 14 Street 130 Tel: 012 996 707 Elegant Thai-managed restaurant with stylish use of heavy wood and artefacts to create a far more luxurious ambience than the reasonable prices would suggest.

Open 10am - 10pm.

Le Wok 33 Street 178 Tel: 092 821 857 Light and modern pan-Asian and French eatery with dishes such as prawns with lime and wasabi and Mekong lobster thermidor, and a comprehensive list of wines and cocktails.

Open daily 9am - 11pm.

Ngon 60 Sihanouk Blvd.

Tel: 023 987 151 www.ngonpnh.com Open air restaurant that features a vast range of Vietnamese food in a garden environment. Meaning delicious, although the food does not live up to its name, the ambience makes up for it.

Pangea Fusion Restaurant NagaWorld Hotel and Casino, Hun Sen Park Tel: 023 228 822 Pan-Asian fusion restaurant with a western flair that specialises in allyou-can-eat dinner buffets.

Open daily 6am - 10.30pm.

Singapore Kitchen 110 Street 360 Tel: 092 201 304/ 017 821 480 Specialising in classic Singapore hawker food, try the laksa – full of wholesome ingredients and with a great spicy sauce or those wanting a more subtle flavour could do worse than trying the Hainanese chicken rice. Open daliy 11am - 9.30pm, does delivery.

International

AQUA Modern Eatery 2 Street 278, Tel: 012414596 Reservations: info@aqua-pp.com Asian influenced wine bar with sophisticated tapas & mezze dishes to indulge in at the bar, by the pool or in the Imperial Chinese Bed. A modern veranda restaurant featuring avantgarde globally-inspired fusion dishes with a French focus.

Open 11:30am – 2:30pm and 6pm -10:30pm. Closed on Monday nights.

Aussie XL Café 205A Street 51, Tel: 023 301 301 Aussie style bistro food with quick lunch menu and a good selection of house wines and retail wines.

Open 7am - 11pm.

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Beirut Resto-Café 117 Sisowath Quay,(after night market) Tel: 023 720 011/ 092 483 759 The only authentic Lebanese halal cuisine and Sisha Lounge in the town.

Offering middle east flavours including mezze tapas – hummus, shish kebab, baba ganouj, falafel, vegetarian and non-vegetarian kebab wraps. Delivery, takeaway, catering.

Open daily 10am until late.

Cafe Monivong Raffles Hotel Le Royal Tel: 023 981 888 Wicker armchairs and marble tables covered with crisp white tablecloths create the perfect place to relax and linger over a delightful alfresco breakfast, lunch or dinner. Western and Asian cuisines are available buffet-style or a la carte. Private rooms are available on request.

Buffet from 6am - 10am, 12pm 2.30pm, 6pm - 10pm, A la carte from 11am - 11pm.

Central Food Station Corner of Street 154 & 81 (near Sorya Shopping Mall), Tel: 012 955 038 www.central-food-station.com Based on a food court concept, if you need a quick bite, Central is located 5 minutes walk from Sorya Shopping Mall has everything your hungry heart desires. Your choices will seem endless - hearty deli sandwiches, South East Asian specialties, Italian best recipes. Central has Air-con, outside smoking terrace, kids’ corner, wi-fi. Open daily 6am - 10pm.

Doors Restaurant 18, Street 47 & 84 Tel : 023 998 114 www.doorspp.com New tapas restaurant, opening October 2012.

Open 11am until late eLYXIR 3 Street 466 (near Thai embassy), Tel: 023 211 711 Elyxir is dedicated to wine, luxury and gastronomy. Each course was dreamed up in order to marry perfectly the wines on our menu. Elyxir includes a swimming pool, champagne bar, private rooms & all our wines are available at our Wine Shop.

Open Tuesday - Sunday, 10am until late.

FCC Phnom Penh 363 Sisowath Quay Tel: 023 724 014 The first stop for newcomers and it’s easy to see why. Set in a beautiful colonial house with sumptuous views across the river on one side and the National Museum to the other, it’s best to come at sunset when the streets below are most crowded, the cocktails are half price and draft beer goes for $1. Open daily from 7am to midnight.

Fish Sisowath Quay, cnr of Street 108, Tel: 023 222 685, fishphnompenh.com Contemporary, modern restaurant specialising in all things oceanic.

Menu includes everything from lobster through sushi to gourmet fish and chips for upmarket, but reasonable prices. Open 7am - late.

Flavours Cnrs. Street 51 & 282 Tel: 017 765 896

Creative Local Cuisine

Phnom Penh

Friends the Restaurant #215, Street 13, Phnom Penh • Tuesday to Sunday, 11am-9pm Closed 1pm-5pm on Tuesday and Thursday for student training 012 802 072 • contact@friends-restaurant.org

Romdeng #74, Street 174, Phnom Penh • Monday to Saturday, 11am-9pm Closed 1pm-5pm on Wednesday and Friday for student training 092 219 565 • contact@romdeng-restaurant.org

Sihanoukville TREE – Training Restaurants for Employment and Entrepreneurship Building futures for marginalized youth and adults in Cambodia A project powered by Friends-International

Sandan 100 meters from the Golden Lions Circle on the road to Sokha Beach, Sihanoukville • Monday to Saturday, 5pm-9pm 034 452 4000 • contact@sandan-restaurant.org

Siem ReaP

Marum #8A,B between Wat (Pagoda) Polanka & Catholic Church Phum Slorkram, Siem Reap • Monday to Saturday, 5pm-9 pm 017 363 284 • contact@marum-restaurant.org

Relaxing restaurant and popular bar run by Quebecois with comfortable chairs that fall out onto the street.

The mix of Asian and western cuisine has proved so popular that they have a copycat restaurant opposite. Open 7am - late.

Friends 215 Street 13 Tel: 012 802 072 Non-profit training restaurant where all the proceeds go to the neighbouring street-kid school. Food is a reliable mix of Mediterranean and Asian with tapas thrown in if you are not feeling too hungry. Great juices. Another one of Phnom Penh’s places designed to take it easy, but this time with a clear conscience. Open 11am - 9pm.

Garden Centre Café 60-61 Street 108 Tel: 023 997 850 / 092 429 968. www.gardencentercafe.com Popular expat restaurant with fresh ingredients and lots of healthy options.

Another location is at 4B Street 57.

Open from 7am - 10pm (closed Mondays).

Gasolina 56/58 Street 57 Tel: 012 373 009 The largest garden bar in town has an extensive menu. Crèche facilities make this a popular choice with families at weekends. Has regular events with live music and DJs, even fashion shows.

Open from 8am - 12am.

Gastrobar Botanico 9b Street 29 Tel: 017 873 101 info@gastrobarbotanico.com Located in its own habitat with over 2,000 plants. Open-air. Offers tapas, salads, sandwich, and straightforward food, yet with character, in lush garden setting. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in between. Espresso bar. Cocktails, wines, fruit shakes.

Open daily 8am - 9:30pm.

Green Vespa 95 Sisowath Quay, Tel: 012 887 228 Superb daily breakfast selection, varied lunch and dinner specials and the best roast meal in town on the weekends. Traditional accompaniments to great food include Branston pickle, Colemans mustard, mint and horseradish sauce, HP and Heinz Ketchup. Open 6am - 11pm.

Irina Russian Restaurant 15 Street 352 Tel: 012 833 524/ 092 833 524 Russian restaurant of iconic Phnom Penh status. If you can walk out of the restaurant after hitting the vodkas then you are doing well.

Open daily from 11am until the vodka runs out.

Java Cafe & Gallery 56 Sihanouk Blvd.

Tel: 023 987 420. www.javaarts.org Great coffees, salads, mix-and-match sandwiches and juices served in an elegant setting. The upstairs terrace, overlooking the Independence Monument, is a good place to watch the chaos below, while the downstairs space is a great place for coffee and catching up on your emails. Has exhibitions both upstairs and down.

Open 7am - 10pm.

Kandal House 239 Sisowath Quay Tel: 023 986 803 Very friendly riverside established

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serving good and reasonably priced homemade pasta and a variety of Asian dishes. Open 8am - late.

La Coupole Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra 26 Old August Site, Sothearos Blvd.

Tel: 023 999 200 www.sofitel.com Casual and authentic Indochinese and French cuisine with live cooking by chefs in an open kitchen concept.

Offers breakfast, lunch, dinner and the Sunday brunch, all set in a stunning restaurant with high ceilings and natural light.

La Croisette 241 Sisowath Quay. Tel: 023 220 554 Riverfront restaurant with an ample outside dining area screened off by trees that serves good, reasonablypriced food, also has a cool, air-con restaurant inside. Often arranges special events.

Open 7am until late.

La Plaza Spanish Tapas Bar 22B Street 278, nr cnr Street 57 Tel: 012 825 443 Phnom Penh’s one and only Spanish tapas bar. It recreates to perfection the best known and most delicious Spanish tapas, making of seafood Paella its signature dish. Tapas are the result of hundreds of years of Spanish culinary history and evolution.

Simple, tasty and healthy dishes have become a standard to be enjoyed with friends while drinking large amounts of sangría. Open 11am - 2pm,5pm 10pm. All day on the weekend.

Latin Quarter Cnr Street 178 and Street 19 Tel: 093 319 081.

Latin restaurant and bar that serves excellent tapas and mains with extra salsa. Beautiful courtyard often hosts live music and salsa dancing while the air-con restaurant is available for private hire. Open from breakfast until the music stops.

Le Quay Café Cnr. Sisowath Quay & Street 110 Tel: 023 998 730, www.amaraspa.hotelcara.com Enjoy the menu of sushi, salads, paninis, crepes and Asian specialities, with a wide range of healthy power juices, smoothies, cocktails, coffees, beers and wines, either beside a relaxing water feature or on the riverside terrace. Smoke free environment for lunch and dinner.

Open from 10.30am to 10.30pm.

Lime Restaurant + Bar 79F Street 128 Tel: 023 998 608/ 610 info@lebizhotel.com, www.lebizhotel.com Located in Lebiz Hotel Lime serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, offering a stylish mix of Asian and western favourites with a focus on fresh, healthy and local ingredients, with regular changes to the menu.

Lotus Blanc 152 Street 51. Tel: 017 602 251 Run by local NGO Pour un Sourire d’Enfant, this centrally located training restaurant has a monthly changing lunch menu as well as a la carte Khmer dishes. Serves both Asian and continental breakfast. Open Monday – Saturday, 7am - 10 pm.

Metro Café Cnr. Sisowath Quay & Street 148 Tel: 023 222 275

Metro has much more than a cool décor and changing light boxes, with reasonably priced Tiger and house wines and a great range of Martinis, try the Expresso. Gets very popular late on, while during the day is a good time to enjoy the free WiFi while enjoying a coffee in a smoke free environment. Open 7:30am - 1am.

Sonoma Oyster Bar 159 Street 278 Tel: 023 223 617/ 077 723 911 Phnom Penh’s first and only independent oyster bar has drawn a crowd of expats and Cambodians seeking high-quality oysters in a cosy setting. Open daily 10:30am – 2:00pm, 5:00pm - 11:00pm.

Mike’s Burger House Russian Blvd, inside Sokimex Petrol Station.

Tel: 012 633 971 Hugely popular burger bar that serves food with plastic knives and forks and equally plastic French fries with cheese sauce. Ideal for those who believe that American culture starts with a Mc.

Stella Restaurant 55 Street 75 Tel: 099 574 188/ 012 735 002 A cosy restaurant located near Wat Phnom, Stella serves pizzas, grilled food and Asian cuisine in a peaceful garden atmosphere.

New York Steakhouse 264 Street 63 cnr Mao Tse Tung Blvd.

Tel: 023 987 500, www.steakhouse.com.kh Indulge in a seductive dining experience in the famed Phnom Penh Steak restaurant. The innovative menu features New-York Steakhouse signature prime cuts of beef charred to perfection accompanied by decadent sides and desserts. Open Daily from 11am - 2pm and 15pm -Midnight.

Ocean 11 Street 288.

Tel: 017 766 690 European managed Mediterranean restaurant that dishes up some of the best fish and seafood in town. Try the red snapper or the squid with rocket.

Often has exhibitions around the understated walls.

One More Pub 16E Street 294 Tel: 017 327 378 (see bars) Paddy Rice 213-217 Sisowath Quay Tel: 023990321 www.paddyrice.net (see bars) Restaurant Tell 13 Street 90. Tel: 023 430 650 Up-market eatery that re-creates the genuine feel of an Alpine chalet, has a spacious indoor restaurant and outdoor terrace with rotisserie and bar. European menu with imported steaks, fondue, raclette and an extensive wine list.

Open 11.30am - 2pm, 5pm - 11pm.

Rising Sun 20 Street 178 Tel: 012 970 718 (see bars) Riverside Bistro Cnr. Sisowath Quay & Street 148 Tel: 012 277 882/ 023 213 898 Popular restaurant with expats and tourists alike mainly due to its large outdoor terrace area to view the river.

Serves a mixture of Asian and western food with an emphasis on German cuisine. Has rock music videos and a pool table in the music bar at the back. Open from 7am - 2am.

Samba Brazilian Steakhouse 64 Sihanouk Blvd. (Nr Independence Monument) Tel: 023 222 599 Experience the unique Brazilian Churrasco way of cookingwith a large variety of meats skewered and roasted to perfection and served piping hot direct from the skewers to your plate!

Open daily 11am - 3pm, 5pm 10:30pm.

Steve’s Steakhouse 8 Street 240. Tel: 023 987 320 Longstanding restaurant specialising in local grain-fed beef as well as a large variety of imported steaks, hamburgers, ribs and Greek cuisine.

Has a terraced lounge with pool tables upstairs as well as a sports bar with large screen TV and happy hour from 12pm to 7pm.

Open daily 11am - 10.30pm.

Stonegrill 649 Sisovath Quay Tel: 023 999 950 www.stonegrill.com.kh Stonegrill offers a unique interactive dining experience where diners meals are served cooking at the table on a natural volcanic stones heated to 400C (752F). Open daily 11am midnight.

T-Bone Steak House 392 Monivong Boulevard & Street 360 Tel: 012 900 138 Contemporary restaurant serving a premium selection of both imported and Cambodian beef, in a sophisticated air-conditioned setting – a carnivore’s delight.

Open 12pm - 2pm, 5pm -11pm.

Tepui Restaurant Lounge Chinese House, 45 Sisowath Quay Tel: 023 991 514 Located on the second floor of Chinese House, Tepui offers a mix of Mediterranean and South American small plates with Asian accents.The skilled Venezuelan chef is considered one of the city’s best culinary talents.

Open 6pm - 10.30pm, closed Mondays.

The Exchange / The Vault 28 Street 47. Tel: 078 886 889 Large colonial mansion contains The Vault, Phnom Penh’s first private member’s club for thoses who have $1000 to burn. Underneath, the Exchange has elegany exposed brickwork and low lighting as well as an impressive fusion menu.

Open daily, 10am - midnight.

The Quay 277 Sisowath Quay Tel: 023 224 894 Rooftop deck with spectacular views of the river is a great place to enjoy a drink during half price 4pm-8pm happy hour. Food is a mix of tapas and more substantial offerings, including an excellent duck confit.

Open daily 7am – 11pm.

The Lost Room 43 Street 2. Tel: 078 700 001 Eclectic from floor to ceiling, including the food on offer. From the former owners of Talkin’ to A Stranger, The Lost Room offers share size global dishes of fresh, local and imported produce in an urban environment.

Bookings essential.

Open from 5pm, kitchen closes at 9.30pm. Closed Sundays. Lunch by appointment only.

traditional way and baked in a blazing wood-fired oven.

Open daily 11:30am- 2:30pm, 6pm10:30pm

Italian

Luna d’Autumno 6C Street 29. Tel: 023 220 895 Beautiful courtyard or stylish interior air-con restaurant, whichever you choose, Luna has more classical pizzas, both red and white, to choose from than most restaurants. Also serves excellent pasta and other upmarket Italian food. Good wine cellar on view in the restaurant.

Open 11am - 2.30pm, 5.30pm 10.30pm.

Aria D’Italia 41EO Street 310 Tel: 012 840 705 Cute little Italian pizzeria tucked away between Street 57 and Street 63. Well-priced lunch set menu and homemade ravioli. Home delivery available.

Open 10.30am - 2pm, 5.30pm 10pm.

Bistro Romano NagaWorld Hotel and Casino, Hun Sen Park Tel: 023 228 822 Best known for its sumptuous Sunday Prosecco Brunch, this stylised Italian restaurant in the NagaWorld complex specialises in Italian cuisine. Open daily 11am - 11pm.

Casa Italia Sisowath Quay Tel: 092 230 207 Small house with terrace and lounge in front of the Cambodiana Hotel, across the garden. Specialising in fish dishes with a good wine selection, shakes, gelati and frappe.

Open from 3pm until late evening, closed Sundays.

Cafe Monivong Raffles Hotel Le Royal, Tel: 023 981 888 Indulge in home made antipasti, fresh prepared pasta and risotto as well as oven-baked, crispy pizzas and pair it all with the finest selection of Italian wines, every Saturday night 6pm 10pm.

Do Forni Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra 26 Sothearos Blvd.

Tel: 023 999 200 Sophisticated Italian diner set in the grounds of the Sofitel hotel, dishes up much more than your basic pizza and pasta. Excellent range of wines, dimmed lighting and plush surroundings make this an excellent romantic meal for two option.

Open daily 6.30pm - 10pm.

Dolce Italia da Giorgio 96 Sothearos Blvd.

Tel: 012 562 892 Authentic neapolitan pizzeria ristorante. Pizza prepared in traditional wood-fired oven.

Open from 11:30am - 2pm and from 6pm - 10pm, closed on Sunday.

Genova Italian Restaurant 19Eo Street 154. Tel: 012 390 039 This small restaurant has the feel of an Italian trattoria with food just like mamma made. The spaghetti al pesto Genovese is its signature dish. Good range of meat and fish dishes as well as some Khmer dishes. Open daily 10am - midnight.

La Volpaia 20–22 Street 13. Tel: 023 992 739 Part of a global pizzeria chain that includes Florence, Tokyo, Seoul and Phnom Penh, the cuisine is excellent with pizza and pasta cooked fresh in front of your eyes.

Limoncallo 81E0 Sisowath Quay Tel: 081 800 210/ 081 800 240 Authentic Italian cuisine with pasta, risotto and pizzas prepared in the

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Pasta & Vino 45 Street 288. Tel: 086 314 400 Cosy Italian spaghetteria that specialises in well-priced authentic Italian pasta and wines in a smokeless air-con environment.

Open daily 12pm - 2pm, 6pm - 10pm.

Pop Café da Giorgio 371 Sisowath Quay Tel: 012 562 892 Sophisticated, small Italian restaurant located next to the FCC that serves light, contemporary Italian cuisine including fresh pasta and pizzas.

Open daily 11.30am - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10pm.

Japanese & Korean

Fusion Sushi Cnr. Streets 47 & 84 Tel: 023 986 114 Located inside Cara Hotel this beautifully decorated restaurant dishes up excellent Japanese and Korean food.

Hachi Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra, 26 Sothearos Blvd.

Tel: 023 999 200 ext.: 6612 A taste of Japan in a Zen atmosphere with tatami rooms and sushi bar.

Open daily, 11.30am - 2.30pm, 6.30pm - 10.30pm.

Kan Ji Japanese Restaurant 128F Sothearos Blvd.

Tel: 016 318 383/ 016 312 828.

Kan Ji is three floors of Japanese culinary delight in a bright and modern setting. Open for lunch and dinner, it features a stylish mix of ancient and modern creative cuisine.

Open daily, 11.30am – 2.30pm, 5.30pm – 10.30pm.

Le Seoul 62 Monivong Blvd.

Tel: 012 971 516 Popular up-market South Korean restaurant specialising in BBQ, each table is equipped with its own charcoal burner, with all beef imported from the U.S. Open daily, 11am 2.30pm, 5pm - 10pm.

Origami 88 Sothearos Bvd. Tel: 012 968 095 Up-market, contemporary Japanese restaurant with a spacious air-con area downstairs and four private rooms upstairs. Specialises in sushi and tempura, and has Asahi, Kirin and Sapporo beers. Open daily 11.30am 2pm, 5.30pm - 9.30pm.

Rahu 159 Sisowath Quay Tel 023 215 179 Stunning, upscale atmosphere with a mix of modern Chinese décor, high ceilings, muted colors and rich woods.

Japanese food takes the main stage but there is also Khmer and Western fusion cooking. A good place to go

late night for sushi or a bowl of congee.

Open daily 5pm - 2am.

Yumi Restaurant, Bar and Grill 29a Street 288 Tel: 092 163 903 Elegant but inexpensive English-run Yakitori restaurant nestled in a quiet street in BKK that serves top-notch Japanese nibbles, hot and cold sake, plum wine, wine and beer. Don’t leave without trying the salt and chilli squid.

Mexican & Tex-Mex

Alley Cat Café Off Street 19 (side street behind Royal Art School) Tel: 012 306 845 Small, friendly patio café serving good Mexican food and claiming to have the biggest burgers in town. Hard to find, Alley Cat is tucked down an alley at the back of the National Museum, the first on the right if you are coming from Street 178.

California II 79 Sisowath Qua Tel: 077 503 144 American-style bar with some of the best Mexican food in town, the excellent pool table and great tunes make this a good place to while away a few hours on the riverfront. Open 24/7 with good rooms upstairs.

Cantina 347 Sisowath Quay Tel: 023 222 502 A mainstay of the riverside scene, this is a popular meeting place for local expats with a large selection of Mexican beers and tequilas, and sinfully good margaritas. Serves good Mexican fare, and features photographs that capture the changing face of Cambodia.

Kitchen open 3pm - 10:30pm. Closed Saturdays.

Casa Lika 16 Street 136. Tel. 012 429 542 American-run family restaurant serving up good Mexican fare in an authentic setting with rustic brick walls and colourful Mexican artwork, great music and even better tacos make this a good place to share some Coronas with friends. Open 10am - midnight, closed on Mondays.

Freebird 69 Street 240, Tel: 023 224 712 Aircon American bar with neon lighting, a variety of memorabilia, comfortable seats and rock music. International menu with good lunch offers, an excellent range of bottled sauces, excellent International, Mexican food and burgers. Be prepared for some good solid R&R. Open 7am - midnight.

La Citá 13 Street 282 Tel: 092 388 123/ 092 626 123 www.lacita.ox2net.com Get ready to change your tune about what you think Mexican food is! Just one taste of our hand-rolled burritos, tacos and quesadillas will tell you how much effort we put into our mouthwatering products.

Open daily, 9am-10pm.

Taqueria Corona 14E Street 51 (btwn Sihanouk Blvd and Street 242) Tel: 089 281 626 / 012 629 986 Enjoy our mexican specialties, barbacoa, cochinita pebil, texas chile, carnitas, pollo and carne asoda in our festive dining room. Open daily from11.30am - 2pm, 6pm - 10pm (Sunday evenings only).

Vegetarian

Fresh Salad Bar 37E0 Street 310 Tel: 081 555 559 / 016 977 790 The first salad bar in Phnom Penh which provides healthy organic salad and other foods to help you maintain you healthy lifestyle. We serve salad coffee and bakery goods. Free Wifi. Free delivery, call Jung on 081 555 559.

Open daily, 8am - 10pm.

K’nyay (see restaurants Cambodian) The Vegetarian 11 Street 200. Tel: 012 905 766 A cosy, colourful restaurant focused on wholesome Asian and Western cuisine with all natural, fresh vegetarian ingredients. Open 10am - 3pm, closed on Sundays.

The Vegetarian II 158 Street 19 Tel: 077 900 766 With a lush garden space in the heart of Phnom Penh, The Treez provides a relaxing dining experience. Whether it be amok, curry or tom yam, The Treez, creates vegetarian versions of popular Cambodian, Indian and Thai dishes.

Open 10:30am - 8:30pm, closed Sundays.

Vego’s 3E0 Street 51 Tel: 012 984 596 Salad bar with an emphasis on greens and a menu of healthy western items.

Also offering bagels, salads and wraps with a wide array of super fresh toppings.

Choose from ready-made or d.i.y. options. Also on offer are a vegetarian soup of the day as well as freshsqueezed juices, yogurt and granola.

Cafés

Art Café 37 Sothearos Blvd.

Tel: 012 834 517 Elegant bistro in the style of a European coffee house is now transposed to the Meta House with regular classical music performances.

Blue Pumpkin 245 Sisowath Quay and at Monument Books on Norodom Blvd Tel: 023 998 153 Siem Reap’s favourite café also offers two locations in Phnom Penh, serving breakfast sets, Asian and Western entrées and an array of ice cream flavours. Open daily from 6am - 11pm.

Botanic Cafe-Art gallery 126 Street 19 Tel: 077589458 botaniccafe@yahoo.com, www.botanica-gallerycafe.com Cafe and food inside over 80 year old building, with garden is display art works, pot plants and premium souvenirs. First floor exhibition and event space is for promote local artists. We have special lunch and dinner set for your special times.

Open daily 8am – 9pm.

Brown Coffee & Bakery 17 Street 214. Tel: 023 217 262 Stylish, locally owned café with bakery on the premises serves a variety of coffees and pastries, with the green tea latte a house speciality.

Open 7.30am - 8pm.

Café El Mundo 219 Sisowath Quay. Tel: 012 520 775 Affordable and stylish riverside café and restaurant with adjacent apartments for short-term hire. Seating available on the mezzanine lounge, ground-floor restaurant and on the streetside terrace.

Open 6.30am - 10.30pm.

Café Fresco 363 Sisowath Quay, Tel: 023 217 041 Cnr. Streets 51 & 306, Tel: 023 224 891 The FCC’s café chain sells strong Illy coffee and mix-and-match sandwiches.

Interiors have a slight retro 70s feel to it and there are pleasant outside seating areas. There are currently four outlets in town Open 6am to pm.

Café Living Room 9 Street 306, Tel: 023 726 139 Set in a stylish villa, Living Room has healthy salads and snack plates, plus a great tea and coffee menu. Has a kid’s playroom and baby changing room and

uses organic and fair trade produce.

Open everyday from 7am to 8.30pm.

Café Namu 28b Cnr Streets 30 & 57, Tel: 023 220 074 Breakfast, brunch and lunch venue.

Serving pizza, cakes, cookies, desserts, teas, coffees and fresh juices.

Café Yejj 170 Street 450, Tel: 012 543 360, 092 600 750 Quiet, cosy café serving bistro-style western cuisine, with extensive range of coffees, pasta dishes, pannini and wraps and fabulous cheesecake making this an ideal spot to escape the bustle of the nearby Russian Market. Open every day from 7am - 9pm.

Chill Ice Cream & Coffee Lounge 219D Sisowath Quay, Tel: 092 547 534 Pretty, casual lounge on the riverside offering coffee, sandwiches, cocktails, and some of the best homemade ice cream in town, as well as inventive ice cream cocktails. Open 11am - midnight.

Coffee Room 385 Street 215, Tel: 098 518 888 The first coffee house in Phnom Penh to have an electronic menu, at the Coffee Room you simply tap in your order and wait for your order to arrive. Serves coffees, juices. Pastries and breakfast.

Open daily from 7.30am - 6pm.

Cross Town Café 193 Street 29, Tel: 017665204 Japanese-owned restaurant with welcoming wooden interior. which spreads from floor to bar. A recently opened venue serving traditional Japanese cuisine with an added twist, the restaurant aims to add new dishes to its menu every week. Open daily from 11am - 10pm.

Daughters of Cambodia 65E0 Street 178, Tel: 077 657 678 www.daughtersofcambodia.org The cafe, called Sugar ‘n Spice, serves light lunches (salads, sandwiches), a few main courses, home baked goods, desserts, coffee and some original smoothies. The cafe is a place for vocational training, where trainees will train and then have the opportunity to graduate into working in top end restaurants and hotels. Value for money. Free Wifi. There’s also a shop selling clothing, accessories and jewellery made on site. Or relax in the spa which offers head, shoulder, face and hand and foot treatments.

Happy 2013, from everybody at The Shop. asialife Cambodia 67

www.daughtersofcambodia.org

Visitor Centre

(café, shop, spa, DVD presentation) #65Eo, Street 178, Phnom Penh Tel: 078 657 678

Sugar ‘n Spice Garden Café #130A, Street 430, Phnom Penh

café

shop

(café only) Tel: 070 372 660

spa

lunch • dessert • jewelry • bags • men’s accessories • mani-pedis • massage

Gloria Jean’s Corner of Street 51 & Street 310, Tel : 092 404 365 Sisowath Quay along Phnom Penh Port, Tel: 092 555 973 Canadia Tower Monivong Blvd., Tel: 092 555 937 Popular cafe in three differences area BKK 1, on the riverside and inside the commercial building Canadia Tower.

Enjoy various of delicious coffees, teas, smootheis and more.

Java Café & Gallery 56 Sihanouk Blvd, Tel: 023 987 420 (see restaurants, international) Kiriya Café No.174, St.51 Cnr St.370 Tel: 016 363 730 Opening Nov 1. This Japanese café chain offers good locally sourced coffee, delicious desserts and a relaxing atmosphere.

Open daily 6am - 2am.

Morning Café 32C Street 592, Tel: 023 982 109 Cosy air-conditioned coffee house with relaxed atmosphere, located in Toul Kork district serves Khmer, Thai and European cuisine. Open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner from 6am to 9pm.

The Deli 13 Street 178, Tel: 012 851 234 Chic delicatessen, bakery and small restaurant serving excellent bread and pastries, with take-away menu. Open from 7am to 9pm (closed Sundays).

The Shop 39 Street 240, Tel: 092 955 963, 023 986 964 Stylish café, with a wide range of fresh bread, tempting patisseries and juices, excellent salads and sandwiches.

Crowded at lunchtime, but the small, cool courtyard at the back creates a perfect haven from the sun. Has a Chocolate Shop three doors along, and a second outlet in Tuol Kork.

Open 7am to 7pm (Mon. to Sat, 7am to 3pm Sun.)

Bars

Aristocrat Cigar Bar NagaWorld Hotel and Casino, Hun Sen Park, Tel: 023 228 822 Club aimed at attracting wealthy expats and Khmers who like a good cigar and glass of wine. Not as stuffy as you might imagine with cigars from $10. Open daily from noon to midnight.

AQVARIVM Bar 23 Street 55 Corner Street 254, Tel: 077 536 342 Drop by for Happy Hour drinks and nibbles from 5:00-9:00 PM. Available for special occasion and group discounts. AQVARIVM: Drink like a fish!

Cadillac Bar and Grill 219 E0 Sisowath Quay, Tel: 011 713 567 Riverfront air-con bar and restaurant.

Has good American cuisine as well as ariverfront vantage to watch the world go by.

California II 79 Sisowath Quay, Tel: 077 503 144 (see Mexican & Tex-Mex restaurants) Cantina 347 Sisowath Quay, Tel: 023 222 502 (see Mexican & Tex-Mex restaurants)

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Chow 277 Sisowath Quay, Tel: 023 224 894 Contemporary and sophisticated riverfront restaurant that serves Southeast Asian cuisine, a wide range of cocktails, juices and Illy coffee. The rooftop deck with spectacular views of the river is a great place to have a drink during its half-price 4pm to 8pm happy hour. Open daily from 7am to 11pm.

Do It All Pub & Bistro 61 Street 174, Tel: 023 220 904 Dishes out African, Asian and Western cuisine, with hip hop and reggae played into the early hours of the morning. Open daily 9am to 4am.

Elephant Bar Raffles Hotel Le Royal, Street 92 Tel: 023 981 888 Flamboyant carpet, comfortable wicker chairs and hotel pianist provide a sense of a time gone by, you can imagine Jackie Kennedy drinking here. Its many signature cocktails, including the femme fatale make this a popular place with expats especially during the two-for-one happy hours (4pm to 8pm). Open 2pm to midnight from Monday to Friday. Saturday and Sunday from 12pm to midnight.

Equinox 3A Street 278, Tel: 012 586 139 or 092 791 958 (see Restaurants, International) FCC 363 Sisowath Quay, Tel: 023 724 014 (see Restaurants, International) Freebird 69 Street 240, Tel: 023 224 712 (see Mexican & Tex-Mex restaurants) Green Vespa 95 Sisowath Quay, Tel: 012 887 228 (see Restaurants International) Harem Shisha Lounge 157 Sisowath Quay, Tel: 023 990 244 Share in an ancient ritual and enjoy the many fruity flavours of the shisha pipe at Harem. With lavish golden surroundings and chilled world house beats, the Penh’s first shisha bar offers signature cocktails and exotic Middle Eastern tapas menu. Open from 5pm till late.

Howie’s Bar 32 Street 51 Air-conditioned and open until very very late, this is the Heart’s unofficial chill-out bar although the sound system could give its neighbour a run for its money. Tends to be a popular late night hang-out, especially around the ‘mini’ pool table. Open 7pm to 6am.

K West 1 Street 154 (Cnr. Sisowath Quay), Tel: 023 214 747 (see Restaurants, French) Le Bar Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra, 26 Sothearos Blvd. Tel: 023 999 200 A modern colonial style lobby bar with a fine selection of comfort food, tapas, champagnes, wines, premium spirits and large selection of coffees and teas.

Le Moon Cnr of Sisowath Quay and Street 154 Tel: 023 214 747 Rooftop terrace bar at Amanjaya Hotel has arguably the view of the river of any of the city’s rooftop bars. Full bar

street cuisine

Num Grawlaan (Bamboo Tube Cakes) Conor Wall Price: 1,000 to 3,000 riel each, depending on size.

Ingredients: Bamboo tube cakes are a quintessentially rural Khmer treat, but can still be found on sale on city streets.

There are no additives, fancy cooking appliances or environmentally-damaging packaging here. Instead the ingredients, method of preparation and even the presentation are 100 percent natural. As a result ‘num grawlaan’ ooze old-school Khmer charm. First, bamboo stalks are cut into ruler length sections, so that one end is blocked by the knuckle of the bamboo and the other end is open. Rice grains, soya beans, coconut shavings, salt and sugar are mixed together and stuffed inside the hollow stalks. Water is added before the bamboo is sealed with folded leaves.

Once a group of stalks has been prepared, they are stuck about two inches into the ground, knuckle end first.

A fire is then made around the protruding bamboo stalks and maintained for about three hours until the cake is cooked.

Served: Once cooked, the exterior of the bamboo is charred and burned. It is then carefully peeled off, exposing the more aesthetic, brown-coloured stalk interior. The cakes are then ready to be sold.

Taste: Some brute force is needed to access the ‘num grawlaan’.

First the dried banana leaves, which seal one end, are removed. Next the bark has to be pulled back hard until it tears. Section by section, rip by rip, the bamboo can be pulled back unveiling the inner ingredients. The cake itself looks just like boiled rice with scatterings of soya beans. The texture is soft and somewhat dry. The cake tastes like slightly sweetened rice with an occasional soya bean kick. All in all, the final product is a little bland. The process of eating it, however, definitely isn’t. (3/5) Where to get it: Available from a variety of friendly sellers walking the city streets with beautiful baskets expertly balanced atop of beautiful heads.

Other Info: Usually available all day.

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and small food menu, while the service is slow enough to afford you sufficient time to soak up the view.

Liquid 3B Street 278, Tel: 023 720 157 Welcoming open air bar on golden street run by the same owner as Flavours. Has one of the best pool tables in town with happy hour from 5pm to 8pm.

Lobby Lounge 296 Mao Tse Tung Blvd (InterContinental Hotel), Tel: 023 424 888 An elegant lounge situated in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel. Reasonable prices and excellent service. Open daily from 10am – 11:30pm. .

Lunch: 11:30 am – 2:00 pm Dinner: 6 pm – 10 pm

Meta House 37 Sothearos Blvd, opposite Phnom Penh centre. Tel: 012 607 465 / 067 867 305 www.meta-house.com Multi-media arts centre established by German film-maker Nico Mesterham has a very cool bar. Open from 2pm till midnight. Closed Mondays.

Metro Café Cnr. Sisowath Quay & Street 148, Tel: 023 222 275 (see Restaurants International) One More Pub 16E Street 294, Tel: 017 327 378 English-style bar with comfortable wooden bar stools. No hip hop or techno, only great classic 60s & 70s music. Has terracotta-tiled terrace and 3 guest rooms upstairs. Open from 5pm to late, happy hour from 5pm to 7pm, closed Sundays.

Paddy Rice 213-217 Sisowath Quay, Tel: 023990321, www.paddyrice.net Irish sports bar on riverside with big screen live sports, serves home cooked western and Asian favourites alongside a fully stocked bar including Guinness and a fine selection Irish whiskeys with daily happy hour from 4pm to 8pm. Often has live music events and a weekly pub quiz.

Open 7.30am to late.

Rising Sun 20 Street 178, Tel: 012 970 718 English-style pub with reliable breakfast, meat pies and hamburgers. Has a regular following around the bar at night especially on Fridays. Great posters of British films and TV classics adorn the walls. Ideal for that touch of nostalgia and good fish and chips – though not wrapped in a newspaper. Open daily from 7am till late.

Aircon Restaurant Art Exhibitions Dance Theatre German Classes Film School Musical Events Fixed +855 (0)23 224 140 Mobile +855 (0)10 312 333 Homepage: www.meta-house.com Email: mesterharm@gmx.net

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Workshop Space Open-Air-Cinema

Riverside Bistro Cnr. Sisowath Quay & Street 148, Tel: 012 277 882 / 023 213 898 (see Restaurants International) Sharky Bar 126 Street 130, Tel: 012 228 045 , www.sharkybar.blogspot.com Countless pool tables and a large balcony to look out over the street.

Guaranteed to be lively – a place where anything can happen, especially if you get a bit too close to the local clientele.

Serves good Mexican food, and has frequent live music. Open 4pm to 2am, take away 5pm til late.

The Bungalows Mekong River, Tel: 077 555 447 Stylish simplicity located within a quick cruise from Sisowath Quay port. The floating bar serves basic drinks and nibbles. Open Saturdays and Sundays from 3pm to 8pm, available for private events if booked at least two days in advance.

The Chinese House 128 Sothearos Blvd., Tel: 023 356 399 Decadent cocktail bar set in beautiful old Chinese house. Has art exhibitions, film nights and parties down stairs and opulence upstairs.

Open from 6pm until late, closed on Tuesdays.

The Tap Room Kingdom Breweries 1748 National Road 5 Tel: 023 430 180 www.kingdombreweries.com Sate of the art European brewery specialising in premium pilsner. Tours of the facility are organised on a regular basis, culminating in frothy cold ones at the brewery’s bar overlooking the Tonle Sap. Zeppelin Bar 109C Street 51 Tel: 012 881 181 Over 1,000 vinyl albums played by stonefaced DJ owner in small bar next to the infamous Walkabout. Remarkably good food considering the setting, especially late at night. Try the dumplings. Open daily 5pm - 4am.

Wine Bars Bouchon Wine Bar 3-4 Street 246 Tel: 077 881 103 Sophisticated wine bar with a very French ambience and a wide range of French wines and bar food. Often has music as well as a mellow jazz sound track. Open noon until midnight.

Elyxir 3 Street 466 (near Thai Embassy) Tel: 023 211 711 Elyxir is dedicated to wine, luxury and gastronomy. Each dish was dreamed up to marry perfectly with the wines on our menu. Elyxir boasts a swimming pool, champagne bar and private rooms. All our wines are available at our Wine Shop.

Open 10am until late, closed Mondays.

Le Sauvignon 6B Street 302 Tel: 092 730 250 Contemporary wine ban ad restaurant serves a variety of wines with a focus on high-end French whites. Open Monday to Saturday, 12pm until late.

Open Wine 219 Street 19 Tel: 023 233 527 Large wine shop and deli with wellpriced wines from around the world. Has outside dining area.

Open daily 7am - 11pm.

Rubies Cnr Street s 240 & 19 Tel: 015 670 024 Intimate wood-pannelled wine bar that is a mainstay of the female expat population with well-priced wines. Often has parties at the weekend.

Gay

Blue Chilli 36 Street 178 Tel: 012 566 353 www.bluechillibar.com This welcoming bar run by Thai national Oak is currently the number one gay bar in town. Chic décor makes this one of the coolest bars in town, even if you’re straight. The drag shows on Friday and Saturday are an additional draw. Open 5pm until late.

K2 25k Street 268. Tel: 093 665 225 www.fb.com/K2Bar.PhnomPenh Classy addition to the Phnom Penh scene and it’s first straight-friendly, chill-out bar. Contemporary design and LGBTIQ artwork. Secluded space, attracting a socially conscious, Khmer crowd who mix easily with expats/ visitors. Open 6pm until late.

imbibe

Been Doon So Long Darren Gall The first time I met winemaker Randall Grahm was at the eponymous international gathering of the Masters of Wine in 1997. The expectant crowd of wine industry enthusiasts was seated classroom style for a much anticipated Shiraz /Syrah master class.

The tasting was to be hosted

by Mark Chapoutier from the M. Chapoutier winery, producer of some of the world’s finest Rhone Valley Syrah wines, John Duval, who at the time was custodian and winemaker of Australia’s famous Penfolds Grange, and representing the Americans, Randall Grahm, known at the time as the ‘Rhone Ranger’ for a fanatical devotion to Rhone varieties at his Bonny Doon winery.

Chapoutier went first, employing classic music references to describe his wines.

Duval followed and picked up the theme with a jazz analogy.

By the time we reached Gahm, the ever quick-witted American explained that he too was reminded of a piece of music that summed up his own predicament at finding himself the final act following the equivalent of Shiraz/Syrah royalty — ‘Welcome to my Nightmare’ by Alice Cooper.

This is the enigma and brilliance of the man and his wines. Randall Grahm is considered in equal parts marketing guru, philosopher, non-conformist hippie, comic

mad hatter and extremely gifted winemaker. His irreverent and humourous marketing have at times made it hard for wine traditionalists to overlook the fun and see the indisputable quality of the wine in the bottle. Initially, many in the wine media perhaps found it risky to take seriously a winery that seemed to revel in poking fun and making jokes at its own expense.

Over his career Grahm has produced a great many memorable wines and just as many memorable brands and labels including Big House Red, a wine named for its vineyard’s close proximity to a local correctional facility. Then there is Grahm’s famous and equally infamous wine label Cigar Volant, named in recognition of a group of Chateaunuef du Pape winemakers who in 1954 had an ordinance passed to prevent UFOs (flying cigars) from landing in their vineyards.

There was also the warning on the back label of his Pacific Rim Chenin Blanc, which featured a small caricature of a car driving off with the friendly note that read ‘Remember, friends to serve friends White Zinfandel.’

I am delighted to learn that Bonny Doon wines are now available in Cambodia. Buy them for their sense of fun or to enjoy their sheer drinkability. Try Red Apron and other leading fine wine outlets or discerning wine lists to get your hands on a bottle.

Darren Gall has spent a quarter of a century involved in virtually every aspect of the wine industry, the passionate pursuit of the next great bottle continues. He currently resides in Cambodia developing the wine market with Celliers d’ Asie. gall.darren@ yahoo.com

Fine Wine & Dine

#15-17, Street 240, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia Tel: 855 (0)23 990 951 H.P.: 855 (0)17 588 191 Email: contact@redaproncambodia.com

The Rainbow Bar 73 Street 172.

Tel: 097 741 4187 Intimate bar designed to get to know people better has a range of welldesigned cocktails to make the night go with a swing.

Nightclubs

Bouchon Wine Bar (see Wine Bars) Occasional performances by jazz bands Darlin Darlin NagaWorld Hotel and Casino, Hun Sen Park, Tel: 023 228 822 Top-end nightclub with live music popular among the high-flyers of the city. Semiprivate booths in a chic environment make for an unrivalled experience. Open daily from 7pm until late.

Equinox (see Restaurants – Intrenational) Has regular live music from expat and cal bands at weekends and swing dancing on Thursdays.

Heart of Darkness 38 Street 51 Tel: 023 222 415 The most famous of the city’s nightspots with a good-sized dance floor make this the in-place in town. Has well priced spirits and mixers and is totally packed out on Friday and Saturday nights. Open 8:30pm to 4am.

Mao’s Cnr Street 106 & Sisowath Quay Tel: 023 992 726 Chairman Mao has been reconstructed into one of Phnom Penh’s liveliest nightspots with djs and occasional live

bands. What would the chairman have said? Open 5pm -2am.

Memphis 3 Street 118 Tel: 012 871 263 Only permanent rock venue in town with a house band that plays covers from 10pm til 1:30am, later at weekends. Also has open mike sessions on Mondays. Open from 8pm til late, closed Sundays. 2-for-1 cocktails everday from 8pm until 10pm.

Paddy Rice (see Bars) Often has live music events.

Pontoon Street 172. Now no longer the Penh’s floating hotspot, Pontoon still manages to pack in the punters, especially when international DJs are in town.

Riverhouse Lounge 6 Street 110 Tel: 023 212 302 The alternative dance venue for both expats and young Khmers with a selfcontained air-con dance room and great balcony to chill out. Mon-Wed, Fri is hip hop, Thu is Ladies night, Sat is house and Sun is dance remix. Open daily 4pm - 2am.

Saint Tropez 31 Street 174 Tel: 077 212 100 / 097 9000 401 Upscale club, complete with fake beach, deck bar, that suggests the French Riviera.

Open daily 6pm - 2pm.

Sharky Bar 126 Street 130. Tel: 012 228 045 www.sharkybar.blogspot.com Has regular live gigs at weekends involving local and expat bands with an emphasis on heavy rock.

recipe

Braised Beef with Bread - Park Cafe MAIN INGREDIENTS Braised Beef Bayon Bread 1 piece Bean Sprouts 50g Lemon 10g Basil 10g Long Leaves 10g Maam 10g Onion 10g

INGREDIENTS FOR BRAISED BEEF Beef Onion Shallot Garlic Dry Bell Pepper Sugar Palm Sweet Wood Chan Flower White Sugar Salt 30g Fish Sauce Lemongrass (Stump) Mideng Knorr Chicken Seasoning Chicken Sauce liquid (Mickey) Mineral water Coriander Oyster Sauce

STEP ONE For the beef, braise the related ingredients well for six to seven hours in a big pan.

STEP TWO Toast the bread and prepare the fresh vegetables— bean sprouts, onion, basil and long leaves — on one plate STEP THREE Put the braised beef in to the bowl and served with the bread and a plate of fresh vegetables on the side.

Recipes provided by members of:

Listings

culture Cinemas

The Flicks 39B Street 95 Tel: 078 809 429, theflicks-cambodia.com A festival movie house with a revolving weekly schedule of international films. Also offers possibility for movie parties, with option to hire the movie room for a private session (max 30 people).

Screenings generally at 2pm, 4pm, 6pm or 8pm, but check the website for schedule and ticket prices.

The Cineplex 5th Floor Sorya Shopping Centre, Tel: 017 666 210 www.thecineplexs.com International-standard three-screen cineplex featuring the latest Digital 3D technology and the most recent Hollywood and international releases, located in the heart of downtown with ample parking, shopping and eating options.

Open 9am - 10:30pm.

Le Cinema French Institute 218 Street 184 Tel: 023 213 124. 100-seat cinema shows international art house and mainstream movies with occasional films in English.

Children’s cinema on Saturday mornings at 10am. cinema on Saturday mornings at 10 am.

Legend Cinema 3rd Floor City Mall, Monireth Blvd.

Tel: 088 954 9857 www.legend-cinemas.com International quality cinema showing Hollywood releases in air-conditioned environment including 3D. Screenings:10am - 9pm, box office: 10am - 9pm.

Meta House 37 Sothearos Blvd., (opp. Phnom Penh centre) Tel: 012 607 465 Movie shorts and documentaries from Cambodia and the rest of Asia.

Movies normally start at 7pm, closed Mondays.

Galleries

TROPICAL & TRAVELLERS MEDICAL CLINIC Dr.Scott BSc.MBChB. DRCOG.DipVen. (U.K.) -20 years of medical experience in Cambodia

Tel: 012 898981 No.88 St.108 Phnom Penh www.travellersmedicalclinic.com

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Bophana Audiovisual Resource Centre 64 Street 200 Tel: 023 992 174 Preserving much of Cambodia’s audiovisual material, has regular exhibitions.

Open 8am - 6pm Mon - Fri, 2pm - 6pm Sat. Dori Thy Gallery 9 Street 278 Tel: 012 661 552 Features the black and white photographs of German photographer, Doris Boettcher.

Open Saturday and Sunday 10am-6pm.

Equinox (see Restaurants, International) Cool French-run restaurant and bar has art exhibitions each month.

FCC Phnom Penh (see Restaurants, International) Phnom Penh’s landmark restaurant has a permanent, rotating exhibition devoted to photography.

French Institute 218 Street 184Tel: 023 213 124

Formerly the Alliance Française, the French Culture Centre (CCF) is one of Phnom Penh’s major venues for the arts. Promoting French culture and Khmer Ongoing cultural activities include exhibitions, festivals, and film screenings. Onsite shop Carnets d’Asie offers a selection of French books.

Java Café & Gallery (see Restaurants, International) Contemporary art gallery with regular exhibitions of Cambodian and international artists. Has second gallery on the ground floor. Website has details about Cambodia’s contemporary art scene.

Meta House 37 Sothearos Blvd. Tel: 012 607 465 Multimedia arts centre on three floors has regular exhibitions, interviews with filmmakers and short films, contains the Art Café.

Open Tues – Sun, 2pm - 10pm.

Reyum Institute of Arts & Culture 47 Street 178 Tel: 023 217 149 Gallery with regular exhibitions of Cambodian artists. Part of an NGO established to preserve traditional and contemporary Cambodian arts.

Sa Sa Bassac 18 Sothearos Boulevard, Upstairs.

An expansion of the Sa Sa Art Gallery and a merger with Bassac Art Projects, Sa Sa Bassac is an artist-run gallery for contemporary art. Includes a library, reading and workshop room, and a 60-metre gallery space. Ongoing visual literacy programmes.

The 240 83 Street 240 Tel: 023 218 450 Adjacent to its lobby, The 240 Hotel houses a gallery space dedicated to contemporary art. Picking up where The Chinese House left off, the gallery space presents an ongoing programme of local and international artists.

Open daily from 7am to 10pm.

Performing Arts

Amrita Performing Arts 128-G9 Sothearos Blvd. Tel: 023 220 424 www.amritaperformingarts.org Performance art company that puts on contemporary & classical music and theatre.

Apsara Arts Association 71 Street 598 Tel: 011 550 302 Organisation that promotes Cambodian arts & culture. Open from 7.30am - 10.30am Cambodian Living Arts 407 Street 246 Art organisation devoted to the revival of traditional Khmer performing arts that puts on occasional performances.

Chaktomuk Conference Hall Sisowath Quay Tel: 023 725 119 Designed by master Cambodian architect Vann Molyvann, this under-utilised building is worth a visit. Open from 7am to 11.30am and 2pm to 5pm (Mon. to Fri.).

Chenla Theatre Cnr. Mao Tse Tung & Monireth Blvds.

Tel: 023 883 050 www.culturalcenter-cambodia.com One of the capital’s major theatres, it has regular performances of theatre, dance and music.

Epic Arts 1DE0 Sothearos Blvd. Tel: 023 998 474 www.epicarts.org.uk Organisation that uses art to empower people with disabilities.

Sovanna Phum Khmer Art Association 166 Street 99 corner of 484 Tel: 023 987 564 Theatre with performances of shadow puppetry, classical and masked dances every Friday and Saturday at 7.30pm.

Listings

leisure & wellness Amusement

Cambodian Country Club Street 2004, Group 6 Toeuk Thla Tel: 012 231 755 A peaceful heaven providing tennis, swimming, badminton, fitness centre and horse riding, 15 minutes away from the city. Open from 6.30am until late.

Parkway Square 113 Mao Tse Tung Blvd.

Ten-pin bowling alley and dodgem track.

Phnom Penh Water Park 50 Street 110, Tel: 023 881 008 Traditional mix of slides and wave pools is open daily from 9.30am to 5.30pm.

Phnom Tamao Wildlife Park Phnom Tamao, 44 kilometres out of the capital along Highway 2.

Cambodia’s top wildlife centre. All animals are either rescued from traders or bred at the centre.

Many of the animals are critically endangered.

Open daily 8am - 4pm.

Boat Cruises

The Butterfly Cambodia Tel: 012 602 955 thebutterflycambodia@gmail.com Cambodian river adventures, sunset cruises, birthdays and events to floating villages, Silk Island. Plan your trip, per hour, half-day and fullday rates available.

Classes

Thla, Tel: 015 231 755 012 704 759 With 31 ponies and horses, an international sized arena and spacious stables, the only horseriding centre in Phnom Penh Tuesdays to Sundays, 9am to 11am and 2pm to 5.30pm The Flicks Community Movie House 39b, Street 95, @The Empire, 34, Street 130. theflicks-cambodia.com Daily classes in yoga and pilates, check website for schedule, prices and sign-up form. Stress relief massage therapy sessions by appointment.

Global Art 1 Street 181 & Street 475 (nr Chinese Embassy) Tel: 023 222 084/ 087 222 084 World renowned art and creativity program for young children.

Franchisee of Global Art Group.

Available in 17 countries with more than 400 centres worldwide.

Music Arts School 9A Street 370. Tel: 023 997 290 www.music-arts-school.org New NGO school providing music training for Cambodians and expats - of all ages and levels - at affordable tuition fees. Learn guitar, piano, violin, vocals, and tradtional Khmer instruments. Also has a scholarship fund to provide music education to the less fortunate.

Nataraj Yoga Center 52 Street 302. Tel 012 250 817 www.yogacambodia.com Daily classes in yoga and pilates, check website for schedule and prices.

Photography Tours 126 Street 136. Tel: 092 526 706 www.nathanhortonphotography.com Weekend photography tuition and guided tours to Kampong Chnang and Udong, covering technical and creative considerations in the context of travel photography.

Cambodian Cooking Class Frizz Restaurant, 67 Street 240 Tel: 012 524 801 First and only Khmer cooking school for travellers & expats in Phnom Penh, includes transport to the market and a colourful 16-page recipe booklet. Open 10am - 10pm.

Scuba Nation Dive Centre 18 Sothearos Blvd. Tel: 012 715 785 Learn to scuba dive in Phnom Penh. The academic part of the course takes place in a local hotel pool, while the real diving is in Sihanoukville.

Open 9am – 6pm, Sun 9am – 5pm.

Capoeira Home of English, Building D 10B Street 57, Tel: 012 242 396 Lessons in this rhythmic Brazilian cross between dance and martial arts are held every Tuesday from 6.30pm to 8pm.

Simphony Music School No. 243, Street 51, BKKI, Phnom Penh Tel: 023 727 345/ 097 888 8787 www.simphony.com.kh Simphony Music School is the first official music school in Cambodia recognized by the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Royal government of Cambodia. The faculty is composed by experienced and qualified music teachers from overseas, speaking fluent English, Chinese, and French.

Our curriculum is based on USA curriculum following Orff and Kodály music teaching methods.

Central School of Ballet Phnom Penh 10 Street 183 (entrance on Street 406 www.centralschoolofballet.com Cambodia’s first purpose-built ballet school offering classical ballet training for children in the afternoons, contemporary dance, ballet and dance conditioning for adults in the evenings. Spacious dance studio equipped with large, custom-made mirrors, barres and a professional, sprung dance floor.

Equestrian Centre CCC, Street 2004, Group 6 Toeuk

The Tennis Club CCC, Street 2004, Group 6 Toeuk Thla, Tel: 017 847 802 The two courts are equipped with specially adapted flooring unique in Cambodia, and with quality lightning

allowing play past sunset. Skilled English and Cambodian speaking teachers available for private or group lessons. Open daily.

Yoga for life 126 Street 19. Tel: 077589458 Learn to release stress and tension, find peace and live a healthy life with yoga classes taught by yoga and massage virtuoso, Azmi Samdjaga from Singapore. Classes every Wednesday from 7:30pm witht more classes starting late June 2012. Healthy food and Wifi are also available.

Yoga Phnom Penh 172z2 Norodom Blvd. (alley nest to Sushi Bean) www.yogaphnompenh.com 012 739 419 / 012 739 284 Daily drop-in yoga asana classes for everybodys body. Classes include Ashtanga, Vinyasa Flow and core power yoga. Join our great teachers to improve your flexibility, strength, balance, posture and reduce stress.

Also offering private 1-2-1 or small group classes ,regular workshops and retreats.

Chemists

U-Care Pharmacy 26-28 Sothearos Bvd. Tel: 023 222 499 14 Sihanouk Bvd. Tel: 023 224 099 High quality western-style chemist and pharmacy that sells the full range of beauty products, including international brands.

Counselling Services

Alcoholics Anonymous 11 Street 420, Tel: 012 813 731 www.aacambodia.org Meets on Friday, Wednesday & Sunday.

Indigo Psychological Services 28 Street 460. Tel: 023 222 614, indigocambodia@gmail.com Professional counselling services in English, French or Khmer for adults, adolescents, children, couples, and families. Assessment and intervention services for children and adolescents with learning and developmental difficulties.

Narcotics Anonymous 11 Street 420, Tel: 012 813 731 NA meets on Monday, Thursday at 8pm and Saturday at 7pm.

Dance

Dance Workshop Cambodia Tel 012 634 008 danceworkshopcambodia@gmail.com The International Dance Connection’ Since 2007, Professional Tuition in R.A.D Ballet, Modern dance and Jazz, Tap, Neo Classical and Contemporary, Classes held after school, 3-6 years, 7-9 years, 1012 years, 13-16 years, and open adult classes for beginners and intermediate to advanced..

Dental

European Dental Clinic 160A, Norodom Blvd.

Tel: 023 211 363 www.europeandentalclinic-asia.com Total dental care, Implant, Orthodontist Treatment by expat dentists. Open Mon - Fri 8am-12pm, 2pm-7pm. Sat, 8am-1pm International Dental Clinic Phnom Penh 193 Street 208.

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Tel 023 212 909 www.imiclinic.com Siem Reap 545 National Road N6, Banteay Chas, Stor Kram, Tel: 063 767 618 IMI Dental Cosmetic and Restorative Dentistry Centre has been successfully creating beautiful smiles in Phnom Penh and throughout Cambodia.

Open Mon – Sat, 8am -7pm, Sun 9am - 12pm.

MALIS dental clinic 445 Monivong Blvd.

Tel: 012 513 222 / 023 964 142 info@malis-dental.com Facebook: MALIS Dental Clinic A Japanese dentist provides professional and high-quality service.

Shigeta Dental Clinic 25 Street 294 cnr Street21 Tel: 023 223 225 / 010705083 Email: info@shigetadental.com Faebook: shigetadentalclinic High-end Japanese Dental Clinic that caters your dental needs. Open from Monday to Sunday, 8am - 8pm.

SOS Dental Clinic 161 Street 51. Tel: 023 216 911 International standard dental clinic providing family dental care, from routine cleanings and fluoride treatments to crowns and root canals. Dr. Deborah Moore is a UK dentist with a gentle manner suitable for children and nervous patients.

Open 9am - 12pm, 2pm - 6pm Mon – Fri, 9am - 12pm Sat. Open 24/7 for emergencies.

Gyms

The InterContinental Fitness Center 3/F Mao Tse Toung Boulevard, Tel: 023 424 888 ext. 5000 A sophisticated retreat from the crowds, The InterContinental Fitness Center is the place to attain peak performance and wellbeing. Pump up with a full body workout on state-ofthe-art equipment, benefit from the experience and guidance of qualified trainers, and relax all year round in the open-air swimming pool.

Fitness Centre CCC, Street 2004, Group 6 Toeuk Thla, Tel: 015 704 759 Achieve individual targets whether sports specific or to tone, lose weight, build strength or improve cardiovascular fitness for a healthier and fitter lifestyle. Open daily 6.30am until late.

Raffles Amrita Spa Raffles Le Royal Hotel Tel: 023 981 888 Modern gym and pool in Phnom Penh’s most elegant hotel. Use of gym, pool, sauna and Jacuzzi is available to non-guests. Open 6am - 10pm.

Physique Club Hotel Cambodiana, 313 Sisowath Quay Tel: 012 810 432 Reasonable selection of equipment in the gym and a pool overlooking the river. Open 6am - 10pm.

The Gym at The Place 90 Sihanouk Blvd. Tel: 023 999 699 Modern establishment featuring a fully equipped gym and weekly classes in dance, yoga and aerobics.

Open 6am - 10pm , Mon – Fri, 8am - 10pm Sat/Sun

Hairdressers

De Gran 19 Street 352. Tel: 023 999 707 Classy yet affordable Japanese-run hair salon in beautiful premises with excellent service.

Open 10am – 8pm, closed Tues The Dollhouse 46AE0 Street 322 Tel: 010 329 999 016 620 907 www.dollhousecambodia.com Salon offers cutting, colouring and various treatments, including the Brazilian Keratin Treatment with Collagen to replenish the condition of your hair. Western hairdresser with international experience. Open Tues – Sat 9am- 7pm, Sun 11am-7pm, closed Monday.

The French Element Himawari Hotel Unit D, 313 Sisowath Quay Tel: 077 263 332 www.thefrenchelement.com Over-looking the Tonle Sap, wonderful spot to relax and pamper yourself.

Offering all hair services such as highlights, colour, cut, Brazilian Keratin Treatment and more.

International hairdresser.

Open 10am - 8pm, closed Sun. Hair & Nail Studio 51D Street 214.

Tel: 023 992 626 Sleek Cambodian-run beauty salon offers quality nail care using OPI products, and hair, body and facial treatments. Open 9am - 8pm.

La Reine Salon 57 Sihanouk Boulevard Tel: 023 212 621 / 092 610 111 www.lareinefashion.com http://www.facebook.com/La%20 Reine We provide Hair cut, Make-up, Hair style, Hair color, Hair perm, HandsFeet Spa, Manicure – Pedicure, Nail color using OPI products with excellent services and reasonable price. Open daily 8 am – 8 pm.

Medical

American Medical Centre Ground Floor Cambodiana Hotel 313 Sisowath Quay. Tel: 023 991 863 Led by American surgeon, team of international and Khmer doctors provide general practice services to clients. Can arrange emergency evacuation. 24/7 service.

International Chiropractic Clinic, 67 Bis Street 240, (100m from Monivong Blvd Tel: 023 223 101 www.cambodiachiropractic.com First and only Chiropractic clinic licensed in Cambodia. Our chiropractors are US trained and we provide modern Chiropractic care, physiotherapy and custom made medical grade orthotics. Common conditions treated include neck and back pain, sports injuries, knee pain.

Open Mon - Fri 8.30am-6pm , Sat 8.30am-1pm.

General physiotherapy practice specialising in manual therapy, sports injuries and acupuncture Royal Rattanak Hospital 11 Street 592, Toul Kork Tel. 023 991 000 www.royalrattanakhospital.com A Thai owned and run private hospital with extensive services that strives to provide high standard and quality medical care by professional care team.

Optics

Grand Optics 11 Norodom Bvd. 337 Monivong Bvd. 150 Sihanouk Blvd.

Tel: 023 213 585 Modern opticians with the latest equipment including free computerised eye test. Makes prescription glasses and lenses.

Pools

Asia Club 456 Monivong Bvd. Tel: 023 721 766 Beautiful swimming pool at rear of Man Han Lou Restaurant. Members get a discount at both restaurant and Master Kang Health Care Centre.

Spas

Amara Spa Cnr Sisowath Quay & St.110 Tel: 023 998 730 www.amaraspa.hotelcara.com Comprehensive day spa providing a wide selection of facials, body massages and treatments, arranged in a four-storey modern facility at riverfront.

Open 11am - 11pm.

Aziadee Spa 16 a/b Street 282.

Tel: 023 996 921 aziadee1@yahoo.fr French-run spa offering a good choice of treatments, a range of massages, scrubs, facials, floral baths, manicures, pedicures and waxing in relaxing and tranquil surroundings.

Open 9am-9pm Bi Nail Salon 213a E0 Stret 310 Tel: 023 6324 524 / 097 798 1122 Bi NAiL is a full service nail salon, for both women and men. Our Japanesetrained nail artists have years of experience. We provide expert personal care in a quiet and relaxing atmosphere. Full Set Care (Manicure and Pedicure) More than 250 Nail Lacquers and More than 350 Nail Design Simples. Acrylic and Gel Nail (Gel Colors) are available. Open daily 8am – 7pm.

Bliss 29 Street 240 Tel: 023 215 754 Health spa at back and upstairs in this beautiful French colonial building.

Open 9am - 9pm, closed Monday.

International SOS Medical Clinic 161 Street 51. Tel: 023 216 911 Global provider of medical assistance and international healthcare. Expat and Khmer doctors offer general practice, specialist and emergency medical services. Appointments 8am - 5:30pm Mon – Fri, 8am - 12pm, Sat. Open 24/7 for emergencies.

Bodia Spa 26-28 Sothearos Blvd.

Tel: 023 226 199 www.bodia-spa.com Using natural, own-brand products Bodia spa offers body wraps, floral baths, scrubs, facials, aromatherapy, massages and mani-pedies, alongdside Jacuzzi and steam. The peaceful atmosphere is enhanced by scented oils and soft music. Open daily 9am – 9pm.

Physiotherapy Phnom Penh 45C Street 456. Tel: 023 99 63 44

Derma-Care Skin Clinic 161B Norodom

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Tel: 023 720 042 012 415 552 Two qualified dermatologists, this professional skin clinic offers a range of beauty treatments using American Derma-Rx products, minor dermatologic surgery, antioxidant boosters, chemical peeling, and lipolysis. Open 9am - 9pm.

sos

Derma-MK Skin Center 183 Street 63 Tel: 023 452 5626 Focused on Dermalogica products, this care facility offers facial treatments, including anti-aging and brightening, as well as body treatments such as body scrubs and massage.

The Ouch Factor Dr Christoph Bendick Tropical surroundings involve a higher frequency of insects than we are used to in countries with temperate climates. In particular, mosquitoes can pose a danger due to their capacity to transmit serious infectious diseases. Apart from that, the itchy, red and irritated skin inflicted by mosquito bites is unpleasant and can lead to compromised well-being.

Bedbug and flea bites, on the other hand, are more a nuisance than a danger. Often acquired in unclean beds or, in the case of fleas, transmitted by pets, they rarely carry diseases but can be highly itchy and are thus in danger of being infected with pusproducing germs, a condition that usually requires medical attention.

‘Sand-fly’ is an umbrella term for a number of different biting and stinging animals found in sandy areas. Their activity is mostly noticed after a stay at the beach and can produce red, intensely itchy, skin. They also do not transmit diseases.

Ant bites are usually seen after outdoor activities. They are itchy and in the case of fire ants very painful, requiring medication against the ensuing inflammation. Spider bites can also be very painful, leading to swollen red skin and sometimes resulting in slow-healing scars. In

particular, the bite of the Black Widow can cause considerable complications and requires medical attention.

While irritated, itchy bites and stings are very common, sometimes a small lump may develop up to 24 hours after a bite. This lasts typically for several days, sometimes even weeks to months, before fading away. For individuals who are very sensitive to insects, highly itchy wheals and even blisters can develop.

The best strategy is to avoid insects by applying mosquito repellent. Lotions, creams and sprays containing DEET are recommended (except for infants) because they provide long lasting and reliable protection. Preparations containing citronella oil as a natural ingredient are also helpful, but require more frequent application.

If insect bites or stings have occurred, home remedies like a cold compress or the application of cooling powder or Calamine lotion are helpful.

Hydrocortisone one percent cream, which is sold over-thecounter, can also be used to decrease itch and inflammation.

Severe, painful or infected reactions should be seen by a physician. And always keep in mind that fever, nausea or malaise after an insect bite might be indicators of serious infections like malaria or dengue.

Dr Christoph Bendick is a dermatologist and STI specialist. He works at the International SOS Clinic in Phnom Penh. If you have any enquiries regarding this or any other medical matter please contact Aine.Flanaghan@internationalsos.com.

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Dermal Spa 4C Street 57 Tel: 023 720 042 / 012 415 552 Spa offering beauty salon, foot massage and body massage servies, specializes in Dermalogica skin and beauty products.

Open daily 9am – 9pm.

EL Skin and Wellness Centre 115E0 Street 101 Tel: 012 681 948 Using Dermalogica, L’Oréal, Jane Iredale and OPI products for a variety of face and body treatments, spa provides a professional, relaxed ambience for customers to sample products before purchase. Open 9am - 7pm.

Master Kang Health Care Centre 456 Monivong Blvd. Tel: 023 721 765 Health centre next to Man Han Lou Restaurant offers foot massage in public or private rooms, with both Chinese and oil massage. A grand piano is played in the evenings. Open 10am - 12pm.

Passion Spa & Salon 29 Street 302 Tel: 081 998 227 / 089 998 227 Dedicated to helping you celebrate a happier, healthier lifestyle. Your Day in a healthy, beautiful way.

Open daily 9am – 10pm.

Raffles Amrita Spa Tel: 023 981 888 Raffles Amrita Spa offers relaxation and rejuvenation through a wide selection of services and facilities including treatment rooms, outdoor lap and fun pool, Jacuzzi, fitness centre, sauna and steam room.

Open daily 6am - 10pm.

The Spa at NagaWorld Hun Sen Park Tel: 023 228 822 This luxurious spa promises to bring the ancient Cambodian spa therapy to the world, and claims to be the only all-suite unisex spa in Cambodia.

Therapy rooms with sauna, steam and flower bath are inviting, and the spa uses Tomichik flowers as part of its treatment. Open 10am - 3am.

So SPA with L’Occitane Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra Tel: 063 964 600 Offers rejuvenating world traditions combined with French cosmetology in the privacy of an intimate setting.

Treatments are provided with international and local high-end products.Open daily: 10am – 10pm Thida Salon 16 Street 63 btwn Mao Tse Toung Blvd & Street 466 Tel: 023 223 270 / 012 692 360 www.facebook.com/thidasalon Recently opened in August, 2012. The staff are trained in the use of Japanese

Nail and Esthetics technology. There is also a comfortable café with free Wifi. Japanese sun-care products and jewelry manufactured in Japan by Japanese designer are on sale.

Open 9am-7pm, closed Tue. Villa Spa 456 Monivong Blvd., (cnr. Street 466) Tel: 023 721 765 012 357 561 www.asiagarden.com.kh Aromatherapy massage in private boutique VIP rooms (villa and bungalow style) from professional Chinese and Khmer therapists from Master Kang; women customers only.

Sports General

Ball Hockey Played every Thursday night at City Villa, corner of Streets 360 and 71 at 7pm. To play, contact Mike: michaelwarford@ispp.edu.kh Beeline Arena Sangkat Chroychangva, Phnom Penh Tel: 067 716 565 www.banzaicambodia.com Located on the Chroy Changvar peninsula, facing the city of Phnom Penh, the Beeline Arena is the first multi-purpose sports arena in Cambodia with international standard, including Multi-surface state of the art FIFA regulation pitch, 2,000 person capacity, VIP lounge and restaurant.

Rental for futsal, basketball, volleyball, events and more.

Open daily 8am until late.

Cambodian Federation of Rugby cambodianfederationofrugby.com Proper 15-a-side rugby league with four senior teams as well as kid’s touch and women’s rugby teams. Contact Larry: khmer_rugby@yahoo.co.uk for more details.

Cambodia Golf & Country Club Route 4, Kompong Speur Tel: 023 363 666 International standard, 18-hole golf course. Open 6am until dark.

Football: The Bayon Wanderers www.bayonwanderers.com Mixed Khmer and western team.

Training at the City Villa court on Wednesday and Friday, 8pm to 10pm, Old Stadium on Tuesday from 4.30 pm.

Contact Billy Barnaart on 012 803 040 (available from 11am to 10pm). Sunday play at 2pm.

Hash House Harriers 8, Street 360 (cnr. Street 71) Meets at the railway station every Sunday at 2:15pm. An ideal way to see the countryside walking or running.

Contact 012 832 509.

Phokeethra Country Club Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra Tel:063 964 600 reservation.angkor@phokeethragolf. com International standard 18-hole, 72-par golf. Clubhouse facilities: pro shop, rental equipment, restaurant.

Phnom Penh Ultimate Frisbee A fast paced fun game that is open to everyone, regardless of skill set or gender, Phnom Penh Ultimate has weekly games at ISPP and Northbridge.

Contact CraigDGerard@gmail.com for details on times and locations.

Touch Rugby Mixed touch rugby is played most Saturday afternoons at 3-5pm at ISPP. Contact pptouchrugby@gmail.com.

Listings

family Cafés & Restaurants

Café Fresco II Cnr. Streets 51 & 306 Tel: 023 224 891 Let your children play with puzzles and Lego on beanbags, watch films like the Lion King looked after by a trained staff as you enjoy your cappuccino. Open daily 6am - 9pm.

Café Living Room 9 Street 306 Tel: 023 726 139 The playroom is stocked with books, games, a wooden dollhouse and even a rattan crib, while the kid’s menu has bite-sized portions. Contact Living Room to see what classes they are currently running. Open daily 7am - 8.30pm.

Java Café 56 Sihanouk Blvd. Tel: 023 987 420 Kid’s menu includes chicken nuggets and pizza bagels. Colouring pages and crayons to keep the kids amused.

High-chair is available on request and baby-changing facilities are in the toilet.

Open daily 7am - 10pm Le Jardin 16 Street 360. Tel: 011 723 399 This garden retreat has a great kids’ area with playhouse and sandbox, specialises in birthday parties, with cake, decorations, toys and drawing materials provided for children of all ages. Open Tue – Sun, 8am - 8pm.

Entertainment

Cambodian Country Club Street 2004, Group 6 Toeuk Thla, Tel: 012 231 755 Sports centre and a peaceful heaven providing tennis, swimming, badminton, fitness centre and horse riding in an amazing landscape 15 minutes away from the city. Dedicated to leisure, rest and entertainment, CCC is suitable for children.

Open daily 6.30am until late.

Dragon Water Park Diamond Island (Koh Pich)

Tel: 023 45 54 023/ 023 224 776 Clean-Safe-Exciting! Wonderful Water World just in the biggest amusement land, fit for all ages. Have fun with Crystal Blue Clear Water, immense pools, giant slides up to 15m high and water toys. Open daily 10:30am until late.

Monkey Business Paragon Department Store, Second Floor.

Tel: 023 319 319 Kids can rejoice now that this indoor children’s play centre offers clean, safe facilities. Available for private parties. Open daily 9am - 8pm.

Phnom Tamao Wildlife Park Phnom Tamao Cambodia’s best wildlife centre. All the animals are either rescued from traders or bred at the centre. Many of the animals are critically endangered. Open 8am - 4pm.

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International Schools

Eton House International School 16 Mao Tse Tung Blvd Tel: 023 22 8818 www.ehis.co Eton House is committed to the pursuit of excellence in education. Eton House is represented in 10 countries with over 56 pre-schools and schools around the world.

In our early years program we offer a playbased, ‘Inquire, Think, Learn” pedagogy.

This programme has been inspired by the I.B program and the Reggio Emilia schools of Northern Italy. Ages: 18months - 6years. Full and Half Day Programs Footprints School 220 Street 430, Tumnub Teuk, Phnom Penh Tel: 077 222084 www.footprintsschool.edu.kh Established in 2007 Footprints School offers nursery (age 2) through grade 6 and has 4 campuses. The curriculum is designed for the dynamic needs and interests of our students and the staff are hired for their experience and love for children.

Giving Tree International Elementary School of Phnom Penh 40 Street 334 Tel: 017 997 112 www.thegivingtreeschool.com Established to provide an exceptional, affordable, and unique learning environment, based on small class sizes and a international curriculum incorporating compassion, communication, conservation, contemplation, creativity, conscience and global citizenship.

ICan International School 85 Sothearos Blvd.

Tel: 023 222 418 www.ican.edu.kh Offers affordable, high quality education to 330 children, aged 2-12, from 31 different nationalities, using British curriculum. iCAN

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is a contemporary, purpose-built school and is the first in Cambodia with interactive whiteboards in every classroom.

International School of Phnom Penh 146 Norodom Blvd. Tel: 023 213 103 www.ispp.edu.kh Founded in 1989, this non-profit, nonsectarian international school currently has over 600 students from Pre-K to Grade 12.

The largest international school with over 70 professional teachers, and the only fully authorized IB Programme in the country.

Lycée Français René Descartes Street 96, Tel: 023 722 044 French school offering primary and secondary level education, extra-curricula activities include basketball, football, rugby.

THAILAND | CAMBODIA | VIETNAM

CROSSING BORDERS

Tchou Tchou 13 Street 21. Tel: 023 362 899, www.tchou-tchou.com Kindergarten and pre-school for 18 months to 5-year-olds, open from 7.30am to 12pm (Mon to Fri). French is the main language, although English and Khmer is also practised.

Zaman International School 2843 Street 3 Tel: 023 214 040 www.zamanisc.org International school that teaches a full curriculum to children from four to 18.

Facilities include basketball and volleyball courts, a football field and a science lab.

Monument Toys 111 Norodom Bvd. Tel: 023 217 617 To the rear of Monument Books is a well-stocked toy section. It features an excellent range of well-known board games and toys including Barbie dolls, Transformers, Magic 8 balls and more.

It has to be the best place in the city for brand name toys and games.

Open daily 7.30am - 8pm.

DK Schoolhouse No. 7 St. 466 078 777 466 / 095 777 466 desk@dkschoolhouse.com www.dkschoolhouse.com DK Schoolhouse is an early learning preschool/kindergarten for children aged 2-6. Established by long time residents of the Kingdom, DK Schoolhouse aims to minimize the gap between quality and cost in education while providing a safe and stimulating learning environment.

Our staff are native English speaking, qualified early childhood educators.

Open Mon-Fri 8:00-4:00pm Sat 9:0011:00am (by appointment only) Gecko & Garden Pre-school 3 Street 21 Tel: 092 575 431 www.geckogarden-preschool.org This is a not-for-profit pre-school, established over ten years ago, which emphasises learning through creative play in a supportive environment forchildren aged 18 months to 5 years. Open daily 7:30am - 12pm. An after school program offering a range of fun activities is available 2:30pm - 5pm daily.

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Sambo’s Tots www.sambostots.com Playhouse and playschool provides fun edutainment experience for babies and toddlers from 3 months to 5 years where imagination comes to life.

Northbridge School 1km off National Road 4 on the way to the airport.

Tel: 023 886 000 www.nisc.edu.kh Founded in 1997, NISC is an authorized IB World School with a growing enrollment of 410 students age 3 to Grade 12.

Spectacular purpose built campus unlike any in Cambodia.

Pre-Schools

www.asialifemagazine.com

The Giving Tree Nursery and Preschool House #17, Street 71, Bkk Tel: 017 997 112 www.thegivingtreeschool.com Preschool committed to providing a nurturing and supportive environment that supports and extends the child’s overall development. With an international, experienced team of teachers the school offers a play-based programme that is fun and motivating.

Shops

Shade 7 Outdoor Living Co Ltd Showroon; Borey Chamkarmon Tel: 077 962 467 david@shade7.com www.shade7.com www.springfreetrampoline.com Supplier of Shade7 premium aluminium umbrellas and exclusive distributor of original Springfree range. World class products now available in Cambodia!

Stock in country for immediate supply.

Toys & Me 159A Mao Tse Toung Blvd.

Tel: 023 212 081 / 016 808 676 www.toysnme.net Established in 2007, Toys & Me is a leading toys shop in Cambodia. A onestop shop you can trust when it comes to educational needs for your children.

Willi Shop 769 Monivong Blvd. Tel: 023 211 652 All products are imported from France, including bébé brand baby products, the range includes prams, baby care, cots and toys. Open 8am - 8pm.

kids corner

We supply best on:

∙ All kind of offset printing ∙ All kind of inkjet printing ∙ All kind of plastic printing ∙ In-outdoor advs production ∙ Graphic design

Little nippers Gemma Jones Most childcare settings and schools will have to deal with the rather difficult situation of one child biting another. Usually this results in hand-wringing from the parents of the child who was bitten, but also from the parents of the biter.

It may sound bizarre, but toddlers sometimes bite as a way to show love. Young children struggle to express their feelings, which can result in intense ways of showing them.

Remember this is fairly normal behaviour for little ones, so even if your child has started biting, it does not mean you are raising a monster. Toddlers are learning how their body works and they often put things in their mouth and take a bite. If they do hurt somebody by doing so, it is unlikely that it was their intention — it is not dissimilar to when a baby is teething and likes to nibble on a finger.

On the other hand, your child could be feeling anxious, emotional or threatened. If he or she cannot talk they may use biting as a defence. It can also be a way of gaining power, as this behaviour will get him or her attention, even if that attention is negative.

If it happens when your child is in your presence, act fast but keep cool. It’s important that you do not teach them that

violence causes violence by hitting or biting your child back (believe it or not, many parents do this). But they do need to know immediately that it is inappropriate behaviour.

It is also useful to teach your child how to express their feelings in a less painful way. If you notice your little nibbler is biting to show love, teach them to hug instead. If they are doing it to defend themselves, show them how to find an adult to help, or try teaching them to say “stop” to other children.

If the biting seems to be a means of gaining attention, then give no more than a firm “no!” and focus on the victim. Give the child or adult who has been bitten lots of sympathy. This will send a clear message that biting is not a way to get attention.

Stand or sit your child away from everyone else for a short while and take any toys away (this is what we call a ‘timeout’). Ensure your commands are clear and positive — try not to be too negative but do raise your voice a little.

Most importantly, always praise good behaviour and make it clear when your child is being kind and gentle that they are behaving well. Your child will almost definitely grow out of the biting stage but there is no harm in nipping it in the bud that bit quicker.

No. 1297B, Street Luo 5, Stoeung Mean Chey, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia.

HP: (855)-11/12 939 255 Email: sokheng.printing@gmail.com

Gemma Jones has been working in child care for more than 10 years. She holds an NNEB diploma in nursery nursing and is currently a creative writing teacher at Zaman International School in Phnom Penh.

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services

money matters

Getting Advice Trevor Keidan Most of us have financial aims and desires to achieve, and simply dreaming about them is not the way to get there.

Hitting an early retirement target, funding a child’s schooling, or saving enough to get a super-car or a megayacht means that you should get your money to work as hard for you as you do for it.

You may have no idea how to get from your daydream to a financial reality, but that is where a good adviser can help. The first thing to do is identify a goal. Having a tangible target to aim for is a powerful incentive to keep your financial plan on track.

As an example, let’s say the target is attempting to retire early. You may have an idea of the age at which you want to retire and how much you think it will cost, but the chances are you will need longer than you think to save for retirement or more money than is available.

A good adviser should help you to understand whether a target is reachable and, if it proves too tough, encourage you to reassess. Once a realistic retirement goal is established, it is important to work out how to achieve it.

Creating a financial plan

with an adviser could include the amount to save each month and also any future plans that could put pressure on finances. It will provide a financial road map. This is key because, as the old adage, states: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

Revisit a financial plan regularly to check it’s still on track. Leaving it too long between reviews can prevent you from achieving your aim, especially if circumstances change.

For example, a large unexpected bill, an illness or a loss of income could all be obstacles to putting away enough to hit a retirement target.

Conversely, if things are going well and you can save more than you intended or the returns on your fund are better than expected, a goal could be reached sooner.

Getting the most from your money should not be a chore, but people do have to work at it. Take a little time and meet regularly with an adviser to check financial plans are on track.

That way you can realise your dreams, whatever they may be.

Trevor Keidan is Managing Director of Infinity Financial Solutions. This company provides impartial, tailor-made, personal financial advice to clients in Cambodia and Southeast Asia.

Should you wish to contact Trevor, please send an email to info@infinitysolutions.com or visit infinitysolutions.com.

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Western managed renovation company specialising in swimming pools and Jacuzzi construction in fibreglass and concrete.

business & services

I Ching Decor 85 Sothearos Blvd.

Tel: 023 220 873. 012 558 000 092 660 746, Boutique interior design shop offering advice on architectural work and interior design, as well as providing custom-made furniture, home accessories, kitchenware, lighting and bedroom suites.

Open 9am - 6pm, closed Sun.

Architecture, Interior Design & Construction

Beyond Interiors 14e Street 306 Tel: 023 987 840/ 012 930 332 ww.beyondinteriors.biz Managed by Australian designer Bronwyn Blue, this interior design showroom can provide the ultimate design solution to your interior dilemma. All products from Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia have been treated to withstand any climate. Open 9am - 7pm Bill Grant Landscape Design Tel: 012 932 225/ 012 738 134 The city’s most talented landscape designer.

Green Goal Ltd 10 Street 296 Tel: 023 223 861 Consultancy offers sustainable and creative architectural and construction services to clients taking into account environmental considerations.

Hemisphere Design & Interiors Tel: 012 602 955 william@norbert-munns.com

The Room Design Studio 9AB Street 288, Tel: 023 992 620 Interior design and architectural company that has 12 years’ experience of designing flats, villas, offices, shops, homes and offices in Asia.

Bikes & Mechanics

Dara Motorbike 43 Street 136 Tel: 012 335 499 Off-road specialist offers repairs, parts and accessories. Tours can be arranged by appointment.

Emerald Garage 11 Street 456 Mechanics specialising in maintenance and repair of vehicles, including oil changing and body painting.

The Bike Shop 31 Street 302 Tel: 012 851 776 Repairs trusty steeds as well as renting them out in the first place.

Also provides dirt bike tours.

Western Service Centre 24 Street 420 Tel: 012 477 831

www.wmg-cambodia.com admin@wmg-cambodia.com A garage with Western and Khmer staff that emphasises communication and trained, attentive skills. Motto is “We don’t know all, we find out all, then we fix.”

Business Groups

Australian Business Association of Cambodia (ABAC) 20 Street 114 (cnr. Street 67) For information, contact Derek Mayes 012 385 157 abacambodia@gmail.com British Business Association of Cambodia (BBAC) 35 Sihanouk Blvd.

Tel: 012 803 891 Contact enquiries@bbacambodia. com.

Chambre de Commerce FrancoCambodgienne Office 2nd floor, 33 Street 178 Tel: 023 221 453 www.ccfcambodge.org Canadian Cooperation Office Cambodia Commissioner Service Canadian Embassy 50 Street 334. Tel: 023 215 496 www.cco-cambodia.org Malaysian Business Council of Cambodia Unit G21, Ground Floor, Parkway Square 113, Mao Tse Tung Blvd. mbcc.secretariat@gmail.com

Car Rental

ACC Car Rental Services 43 Street 160z Toul Kork Tel. 012 456 003/ 015 456 003.

Professional, prompt and organised rental service that provides vehicles

for rent with or without a driver. ACC also rents a range of buses that seat from 12 to 45 people. All vehicles can be delivered to your door.

Asia Vehicle Rental 27 Street 134 Tel: 078 666 557 www.avrcambodia.com With the motto “leave your driving to us”, the rental service offers sedans, pick-ups, SUVs and minibuses in 2WD or 4WD for self-drive or with driver. Insurance offered.

Larryta Trading & Travel Co. Ltd. 9 Street 310 Tel: 023 994 748 www.larrytacarrental.com.kh Vehicle rental for all types of cars, vans and mini-buses with flexible go-anywhere packages to all areas of Cambodia and neighbouring countries by the day, week or month.

Royal Limousine Services Attwood Business Center, Russian Confederation Blvd.

Tel : 023 218 808 www.royallimousine.com.kh Fleet of late model Mercedes that provides transport for hotels, embassies and luxury tour operators as well as foreign delegates.

Commercial Banks

Acleda Bank 61 Monivong Blvd.

Tel: 023 998 777 www.acledabank.com.kh Specialises in micro, small and medium loans to people throughout the country.

ANZ Royal Bank Main Branch, 20 Street 114 www.anzroyal.com Cambodia’s major commercial bank

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services

Listings

services

has brought international standards of banking to Cambodia, with a large number of ATM machines around Phnom Penh. Can arrange money transfers.

CIMB Bank PLC 20AB Norodom Blvd.

Tel: 023 988 388 www.cimbbank.com.kh Full range of commercial and consumer banking products and services for both Cambodian and foreign businesses and individuals.

The first Japanese bank in Cambodia.

Maruhan Japan Bank 83 Norodom Blvd.

Tel: 023 999 010 First Japanese bank in Phnom Penh.

Bikes & Mechanics

Dara Motorbike 43 Street 136 Tel: 012 335 499 Off-road specialist offers repairs, parts and accessories. Tours can be arranged by appointment.

Emerald Garage 11 Street 456 Mechanics specialising in maintenance and repair of vehicles, including oil changing and body painting.

The Bike Shop 31 Street 302 Tel: 012 851 776 Repairs trusty steeds as well as renting them out in the first place.

Also provides dirt bike tours.

Western Service Centre 24 Street 420 Tel: 012 477 831

www.wmg-cambodia.com admin@wmg-cambodia.com A garage with Western and Khmer staff that emphasises communication and trained, attentive skills. Motto is “We don’t know all, we find out all, then we fix.”

IT & Software

Cresittel Co., Ltd. Office 705, KT Tower, 23 Street 112 Tel 098 518 888 Company that provides software solutions and systems, point of sales systems for bars and restaurants, website designing and telecoms consulting. Has showroom at 385 Street 215.

Netpro Cambodia 11 Street 422 Tel: 023 215 141 www.netpro-cambodia.com, IT supports company that delivers high quality and reliable services to home and small to medium size organisations in Cambodia.

Ocean Technology T-20 St Topaz, Sovanna Shopping Centre Tel: 023 211 700 010 624 001 www.ocean-tech.biz Technology company that offers GPS navigation systems, an online map directory and vehicle tracking system.

Internet Provider

EMAXX 99 Norodom Blvd.

Tel: 023 999 818 EMAXX offers fast internet access via WiMAX , Optical Fiber , and Satellite.

Insurance

AG Cambodia Hotel Cambodiana, 313 Sovanna Sisowath Quay Tel: 017 360 333 info@agcambodia.com Professional insurance agent offering health, home, car, factory, employee and hotel insurance packages.

Infinity Insurance 126 Norodom Blvd.

Tel: 023 999 888 Prfessional insurance company offers motor, property, home, marine cargo, personal accident, healthcare, construction and engineering insurance. Group policies can be customized.

Legal

BNG Legal 64 Street 111 Tel: 023 212 671 023 212 740 www.bnglegal.com BNG Legal is a leading Cambodian law firm providing comprehensive legal services to foreign and local clients. We differentiate ourselves by coupling a deep understanding of the local business environment with international professionalism and integrity.

DFDL Legal and Tax Advisors 33 Street 294 Tel: 023 210 400 www.dfdlmekong.com Law firm providing tailored international standard legal and tax solutions with extensive local and cross-border experience with offices in neighbouring countries.

Gordon and Associates Asia (Cambodia) 21 Street 214 Tel: 023 218 257 US lawyer works with local Cambodian lawyers to provide international quality advice.

Specialises in foreign investment, joint ventures and advising entrepreneurs with an in depth knowledge of the telecoms, agriculture, banking and hospitality sectors.

Sciaroni & Associates 24 Street 462 Tel: 023 210 225 Law firm with a good reputation. Just the ticket if you get into a spot of bother.

Media & Design

Anon Creative Energy Tel: 089 812 123 anoncambodia@gmail.com Internationally trained advertising talent at your service. Strong, strategic ideas. Available for freelance art and copy writing projects.

Asia Media Lab Tel: 012 818 917, www.asiamedialab.com Full service video production company specialises in the creation of dynamic visual content to help bring NGO stories to life for fundraising and advocacy.

Miscellaneous

Sunbird Angkor Co. Ltd. 78 Monireth Blvd.

Tel: 023 98 3333/ 023 99 1010 sunbirdangkor@yahoo.co.kr Worldwide Hotel Reservation, Car Rental Service, Worldwide Medical

Why financial planning matters Financial planning – it may not sound that exciting, but when it’s done properly, it can help you to achieve your goals in life ...whatever they may be. It’s what Infinity is here for.

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As one of the leading financial services companies in Asia, we have all of the skills and experience needed to help you to protect and increase your wealth for the future security of you and your family.

Get in touch today.

Call Malaysia +60 3 2164 6585 Email info@infinitysolutions.com Visit infinitysolutions.com Visit our website to find our offices across Asia An associate of Infinity General Insurance

Infinity_ASIAlife_January 13 Ad_HP.indd 1

The possibilities are endless 12/10/12 11:14 AM

Real Estate and Property Services

Post Office

240Condo 50B Street 240 Tel: 012 271 636 www.240phnompenh.com 240 ids the home of 42 luxury serviced apartments set in the most stylish area of Phnom Penh with spectacular river and city views. The condominium was designed by leading international architects gfab and represents the most contemporary luxury apartment development currently available in Cambodia.

Photography

Bizzy Beez 47B Street 466 Tel: 012 755 913 bizzybeezservices@gmail.com Premier handyman service does renovations, construction work, electrics, plumbing, painting and landscaping.

Sunbird Global Co., Ltd. 78 St. Monireth Blvd.

Tel: 023 98 3333/023 99 1010 sunbirdglobal@yahoo.co.kr Insurance Service, Air Cargo, Worldwide Express, Trading.

Open Mon~Fri 8am ~5:30pm & Sat 8am~1pm

Main Post Office Cnr. Streets 102 & 13 The place to go if you want to send something overseas or get a PO Box. Open 6.30am -9pm.

AsiaMotion Tel: 092 806 117 www.asiamotion.net Photographic agency established in November 2008 as a cooperation between local and international photographers.

Nathan Horton Photography Tel: 092 526 706 www.nathanhortonphotography.com Full service professional photographer.

Hotels, bars, restaurants, spas and location work. Call for Travel Photography workshops and tours.

Printing

Sok Heng Printing House 1297B Street Luo 5, Stoeung Mean Chey Tel: 011 939 255/ 012 939 255 Modern print house providing a full range of printing services. Graphic design available.

CB Richard Ellis (Cambodia) Co., Ltd. 9th Floor, Hyundai Phnom Penh Tower 445 Monivong Blvd. Tel: 023 964 099 www.cbre.com.kh The world’s largest commercial real estate services company offering premier quality real estate, valutions, consultancy, investment and property services.

Property Care Services (PCS) 2A Road 7 Tel: 017 555 203 Solution for property support services, including waste management, security, pest control and cleaning. Only company to clean high-rise windows with abseilers.

Relocation, Shipping

Asian Tigers Transport International (Cambodia ) Ltd 86 Street 160 Toul Kork

Tel. 023 880 951 One of Asia’s leading move management specialists has 1,500 staff as well as the largest fleet of trucks and the most warehouse space in the Far East.

Crown 115-116 Street 335 Tel: 023 881 004 www.crownrelo.com Global transportation and relocation company with over 150 offices in 50 countries, specialising in expat support and household shipment.

Open 8:30am - 5:30pm Mon - Fri, 8:30am - 12pm, Sat. Home Connect Cambodia 86 Street 160 Tel: 023 88 56 85 www.homeconnect.asia Home search company, dedicated to making the home search process easy and specializing in finding rental homes for the expatriate community. Best of all for our clients, our services are FREE JVK – NAGA 1157 National Road 2 Tel: 023 216 781 Asian-based relocation company with years of experience operating in most major Asian cities, offers record management and warehouse and distribution services.

Taxi Services

Choice Taxi Tel: 023 888 023 / 090 882 882 Metered taxi service with rates from US$1 for first 2km.

Giant Ibis Transport Phnom Penh 3 Street 106, next to Night Market.

Tel: 023 999 333

www.giantibis.com Siem Reap 64 Street Sivatha, Mondol 1, Svay Dankum.

Travel “Affordable Luxury” to Siem Reap and other destinations in brand new 2012 buses with comforablt reclining seats, spacious leg room, A/C, Wi-fi, complementary snacks and pick-up service.

Global Meter Taxi Tel: 011 311 888 092 889 962 016 680 118 Modern metered taxi fleet with rates from less than US$1 for first two km.

Telecoms

Ezecom 7D Russian Blvd.

Tel: 023 888 181 www.ezecom.com.kh Internet service provider that promises boundless internet packages suited to everyone’s needs. Good packages for those looking for unlimited downloads.

Mobitel 33 Sihanouk Blvd.

Tel: 012 801 801 Largest ISP in the country. Major mobile phone company which issues the 012 SIM card.

Smart Mobile 464A Preah Monivong Blvd.

Tel: 010 201 000 www.smart.com.kh facebook.com/SmartMobileKH One of the most dynamic and fastest growing mobile telecom service providers in the country. Issues the 010, 069, 070, 086, 093 and 098 prefixes.

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services

Service, Convention, Marketing.

Open Mon~Fri 8am ~5:30pm & Sat 8am~1pm

Listings

shopping Art

Happy Painting Gallery 363 Sisowath Quay (nr. FCC) Tel : 023 221 732 www.happypainting.net Established in 1995 this art gallery is dedicated to Stef, a local icon artist with a very personal and positive insight into everyday life in Cambodia.

Open 8am - 10pm

Beauty Products

Angkor Soap 16C Street 374 Tel: 023 223 720/ 015 935 789. www. angkorsoaps.com Specialising in handmade soaps and natural spa products.

Open daily 8am - 5pm Raffles Amrita Spa Raffles Hotel Le Royal Tel: 023 981 888 www.raffles.com/phnompenh spa. phnompenh@raffles.com Distinctive collection of Raffles Amrita spa private label and international spa products are available for purchase.

Open 6am - 10pm.

Books & CDS

Carnets d’Asie French Cultural Centre 218 Street 184 Tel: 012 799 959 French-language bookshop has sections on Cambodia and Asia as well as general fiction, with a good range of French magazines and newspapers.

Open 8am - 8pm D’s Books 12E Street 178 & 79 Street 240 Tel: 092 675 629 Second-hand book shop with over 20,000 copies and some originals, with a heavy emphasis on best sellers and travel books.

Open 9am - 9pm.

Le Phnom Shop Raffles Hotel Le Royal Tel: 023 981 888 www.raffles.com/phnompenh, Small shop offering books and souvenirs including recipes from the hotel’s pastry chef. Open 7am - 9pm.

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Monument Books 111 Norodom Blvd.

Tel: 023 217 617 Extensive range of new English-language books in town including recent releases and sections on Asia, Cambodia, travel, cuisine, design and management. Good children’s section as well as a wide choice of magazines and newspapers.

Open 7am - 8.30pm.

Crafts & Furniture

Art des Lignes 42B Mao Tse Toung Blvd.

Tel: 012 211 520 www.artdeslignes.com This new interior design showroom provides branded products of high-quality like luxury leather sofas and LED lighting, as well as furniture and metal artworks in contemporary style. Upstairs, the architecture and interior design office can offer complete solutions for projects, with a resolutely modern spirit and French Touch.

Open 8:30am - 7:00pm .closed Sun. Artisans D’Angkor 12AEo Street 13, Craft Centr Tel: 063 963 330 Silk Farm Tel: 063 380 375 Specialising in stone and wood carving, lacquering and silk paintings, all items are hand made by the students at the organisation’s training centre.

Open daily 9am - 9pm.

DeCosy 219 Street 19, Tel: 023 219 276 Stocking charming knick-knacks and furniture,is the place to find the things to make your house a home. Open daily from 9am to 7pm.

NatureWild 10Eo Street 420 Tel: 023 727 407 www.naturewildcambodia.com A sustainable lifestyle store featuring community products made from natural and wild materials from the forests of Cambodia, ideal for gifts.

Pavillon d’Asie 24, 26 Sihanouk Blvd. Tel: 012 497 217 Antique lovers dream, a large array of well-restored furniture and decorative objects. Wooden cabinets jostle for space with Buddha statues and old wooden boxes. Upstairs are pieces from the French colonial era. Open 10am - 7pm, closed Sun.

Fashion

Ambre 37 Street 178 Tel: 023 217 935 The high-end fashion designs created by Cambodian designer Romyda Keth are

popular all over the world, this beautiful colonial building makes the perfect setting for the city’s most glamorous design shop. Also has men’s fashion.

Open 10am - 6pm, closed Sun. A.N.D. 52c Street 240 Tel: 017 854 726 artisandesigners@gmail.com The designers at A.N.D. work with many local artisans, giving a fashion twist to traditional skills: look for generously-sized ikat wraps in pure cotton, innovative up-cycled bags, and covetable jewellery combining hand-carved hardwoods with silver and vintage porcelain.

Bambou Indochine 7 Street 178 Tel: 023 214 720, Facebook: bambouindochine High-quality T-shirts, Polo shirts and comfortable clothes in original designs.

A full-range of sizes for men, women and children.

Open daily 8am -10pm.

Khmer silk clothing for men, women and children, including designs by Romyda Keth, and exclusive jewellery that complement the limited edition outfits.

La Clef de Sol A design boutique offering home decor, women’s fashion, kids clothes, bags, accessories and continually updated design surprises. Next to K’nyay restaurant, in the alley across the park from java cafe.

Open 10am - 7pm, closed Sun. Lim Keo 9 Street 222 Tel: 012 941 643 Pret a porter by Lim Keo, son of Sylvain Lim, the master of Cambodian fashion.

Luna Boutique 8E1Street 278 Tel: 023 220 176 www.lunaboutiquephnompenh.com Original and stylish fashion designs for men and women, from work suits to evening dresses. The tailor-made creations, designed by modern Cambodian stylist Mengchou Kit, are fit for any occasion.

Beautiful Shoes Luna Boutique is located in the heart of 138 Street 143 Tel: 012 848 438 Phnom Penh, in front of Anise Hotel, while Family-run business measures your feet its sister shop - Luna Shoes - is just next and designs the shoe exactly as you wish. door and hosts a large selection of The shop also caters for men. Open from shoes, bags, and women’s accessories 7am to 6.30pm. to complement your style.

Open daily 8am - 9pm.

Bliss 29 Street 240 Tel: 023 215 754 Promesses and Kaprices A beautiful colonial building houses this 20 Street 282, exquisite shop with funky patterned cush- Tel: 023 993 527 ions, quilts and an excellent clothing line.

Lingerie shop stocked with exclusive The health spa at the back of the shop French and Thai undergarments. Chic, also sells Spana beauty products. Open new prêt-à-porter shop Kaprices is from 9am to 9pm (closed Mondays). located upstairs.

Open 9am - 7pm.

Couleurs D’Asie 33 Street 240 SALT Tel: 023 221 075/ 099 499 478 2 Street 294 Tel: 012 815 066 www.couleursdasie.net SentosaSilk’s younger sibling has just info@couleursdasie.net opened in the comfortable surroundEstablished in Cambodia for more than ings of BKK1. Its stylish wooden interior 15 years, Couleurs d´Asie has developed complements the products sold, ranging a full range of textile products for home from bags and shoes, clothes and decoration, clothing and fashion accesdresses to accessories. sories. Jewellery, essential oils, soaps and Open daily 9am - 7pm more are on offer. A custom service for existing products is also available.

SentosaSilk Uniform 33 Sothearos Blvd, cnr Street 178 Jasmine Boutique Tel: 012 962 911/ 023 222 974 73 Street 240, Tel: 023 223 103 sentosa@online.com.kh www.jasmineboutique.net Well known for its professional manageEstablished in 2001 by Kellianne Karatau ment ability, SentosaSilk gives clients efand Cassandra McMillan, this boutique ficient and reliable service through quality creates its own collection of designs twice systems and procedures that consistently a year using hand-woven Cambodian silk. enhance product quality and reliability.

Open 8am - 6pm.

Sobbhana Boutique Khmer Attitude 23-24 Street 144/49 Raffles Hotel Le Royal Tel: 023 219 455/ 023 219 452 Tel: 023 981 888 www.sobbhana.org, Fashion boutique that offers the finest A not for profit organisation founded by

Princess Norodom Marie, offering a range of colourful, handwoven silk products.

Profits fund training, medical care and education of weavers.

Smateria 8Eo Street 5 Tel: 023 211 701 7 Street 178 Tel: 023 214 720 www.smateria.com Boutique specialising in accessories made from recycled materials including a range of bags and wallets made from old fruit juice cartons, plastic bags and mosquito nets.

Subtyl 43 Street 240 Tel 023 992 710 www.subtyl.com Up-market boutique selling Cambodian handmade women’s clothes, scarves, shoes, bags and other accessories in contemporary and interesting designs, the Subtyl collection combines class with colour. ChilliKids children’s clothing is also stocked at the shop.

Open 9am - 7pm.

Food & Wine

AusKhmer – The Pantry Shop 125 Street 105 9 Street 306, (The Livingroom) Tel: 023 993 859 /023 214 478 This small deli features a variety of well priced wines, Australian beers, and French delicacies, cheeses, antipasti, and cold cuts. Open 10am - 8pm.

Camory – Premium Cookie Boutique 167 Sisowath Quay Tel: 023 224 937 Makes cookies using produce from the provinces such as cashews from Kampong Cham and Mondulkiri honey. A portion of the profits fund education for a local orphanage.

Open 9am - 8.30pm.

Celliers d’Asie 62B & 98 Street 432 Tel: 023 986 350 Wine supplier with the largest quantity of retail stock in town, has been providing wine to most of the top hotels and restaurants for over ten years.

Open 8am -12pm , 2pm - 6pm, closed Sun.

Kurata Pepper Cnr. Streets 63 & 322, Tel: 023 726 480 Selling organic Koh Kong pepper and associated products, Kurata is one of the more unusual shops in town.

Open daily 8am - 7pm.

Open Wine 219 Street 19 Tel: 023 223 527 Aircon wine shop and tasting gallery sells wines, severac, calvados and meat.

Open 7pm - 11pm.

Red Apron 15-17 Eo Street 240 Tel: 023 990 951 Home of wine enthusiasts in Phnom Penh is both a wine boutique and tasting gallery.

With around 300 wines, the boutique has more range than the supermarkets.

Open 9am - 9pm.

Supercheap Cambodia 87 Street 360 Tel: 023 631 3668 www.supercheap.com.kh Budget shop claims to offer the biggest variety of wines and spirits in Cambodia as well as the cheapest prices.

Open 8am - 10pm.

The Deli 13 Street 178, Tel: 012 851 234 Café and bakery with take away breads, sandwiches and pastries. Now has a second outlet on Street 51. Open 6.30am - 6.30pm, delivery service (within 30 minutes) 7am t-11pm.

Silks & Accessories

Friends ‘n’ Stuff 215 Street 13 Tel: 012 955 722 Colourful shop with unique products designed by Mith Samlahn/Friends students and parents of former street kids. Range includes cclothes, necklaces, purses and second hand goods. Has a nail bar run by students from the beauty class.

Open 11am - 9pm.

Mekong Quilts 49 Street 240 Tel: 023 219 607 www.mekong-quilts.org Outlet for NGO Mekong Plus, stocks a large range of hand-crafted bed covers, home accessories, gifts and decorations.

Comme a la Maison Benefits Mekong Plus, which promotes 13 Street 57 Tel: 012 951 869 Decidedly sophisticated French restaurant health initiatives in Svay Rieng Province. has a small delicatessen and bakery at the Open 9am - 7pm. back of the restaurant ideal for that morning baguette or croissant with your coffee. Sentosa Silk 33 Sothearos Blvd, cnr Street 178 Open from 6am - 10.30pm.

Tel: 023 222 974 www.sentosasilk.com Dan Meats Using a colourful range of Asian silks, 51A Street 214 Tel: 012 906 072 Sentosa creates men’s and women’s Phnom Penh’s man of meat, Lanzi, supclothing, accessories and soft furnishings. plies his strictly non-vegetarian products Sentosa employs disadvantaged people. to many restaurants around town.

Open daily 8am - 7pm.

Open7:30 - 6:30, closed Sun.

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Durian Funk Band @ Equinox

Durian Funk Band @ Equinox

Scott Bywater @ Riverhouse

Scott Bywater @ Riverhouse

Professor Kinski @ Meta House

Professor Kinski @ Meta House

Photography by Chatti Phal & Yoki Coco.

Professor Kinski @ Meta House

Professor Kinski @ Meta House

Durian Funk Band @ Equinox

Grass Snake Union @ Memphis

Grass Snake Union @ Memphis

Grass Snake Union @ Memphis

soundfix album review

by Mai Lynn Miller Nguyen

Rachel Zeffira

Motorama

The Game

Ex-Cult

The Deserters

Calendar

Jesus Piece

Ex-Cult

Rachel Zeffira proves how much a classical background counts. With a seraphic soprano, multi-instrumentalist skills and brilliance for composition, she is an argument for sending more musicians back to school.

Last year, the Canadian teamed up with The Horrors’ Faris Badwan to form Cat’s Eyes.

The Deserters is her solo debut.

Arrangements are intricate and lush, drawing together a host of instruments including the organ, flutes and strings.

Then, to keep it current, she pulls a trick like incorporating psychedelic rock up-andcomers TOY on ‘Here On In.’ Each of the album’s tracks are refreshingly varied. ‘Front Door’ evokes dainty 1950s-girlin-love lyrics over stirring instrumentation, followed by ‘Break the Spell’ with a pulsating beat straight out of the 1980s. Zeffira has managed to craft something that is haunting, beautiful and unique enough to be significant without being too experimental to enjoy.

There’s not much to find out about Motorama on the Internet.

The band’s Wikipedia page is blank and the official webpage is minimalist. The lack of attention would be surprising if Motorama were from Brooklyn, LA or Manchester. Instead the five-piece hails from Rostovon-Don, a small town in Russia near its southern border. Aside from the infamous Pussy Riot and the singing Babushkas of this year’s Eurovision, few Russian music acts have broken into the international consciousness. Motorama’s second album, Calendar, is a case for highlighting the Russian indie scene. A mix of flat vocals over upbeat melodies, the band is a nod to New Order and 1980s post-punk. Sung in English, these are straightforward songs about heartbreak and nature — with picturesque references to snowstorms, rivers and the moon that conjure up the country’s wide open spaces.

With a penchant for borrowing heavily from others, The Game can be considered rap’s chameleon. His fifth studio album, Jesus Piece, is no exception. For the album’s title track, The Game enlists two of the artists to whom his style is most indebted, Kanye West and Common. Even the song’s name, as well as the background choir refrain, evokes a lighter version of Kanye’s 2004 ‘Jesus Walks.’ But as much as he likes to blow his own horn, he’s nowhere near the level of those who have inspired him. With repetitive lyrics and arrangements that can seem all too familiar, The Game can’t be credited with contributing much originality to the hip hop industry. Yet with his savvy collaborations — with appearances from 2 Chainz, Lil Wayne, J Cole, Kendrick Lamar and many more on this album — and choice of catchy beats, The Game does have a knack for creating exoteric gangsta rap. It’s an incongruity that bodes well for the charts.

The past decade hasn’t been too good for punk rock. Aside from some standouts, the genre’s been dominated by watered down, mainstream acts. ExCult is one of the exceptions.

More Ramones than The Offspring, Ex-Cult is an XXX out of Memphis, Tennessee.

Their SXSW performance won over current punk luminary Ty Segall, who went on to produce the band’s first album. The eponymous debut sounds like a tribute to the early punk scene of 1970s New York City, which also draws some comparison to the fuzzy, let-loose tenor of early Strokes songs. The opener ‘Knives on Both Sides’ makes for a strong start, with riffs set to make dive bars dance. The group shares members with indie pop group Magic Kids, which lends enough of a pop feel to this record to be melodious, without losing its reckless tone.

92 asialife Cambodia

topten

endorsed

Official 97.5 Love FM Phnom Penh Top Ten 1 One More Night 2 Diamonds 3 Live While We’re Young 4 Gangnam Style 5 Finally Found You 6 Girl On Fire 7 Locked Out Of Heaven 8 Red 9 Catch My Breath 10 Ready Or Not

Maroon 5 Rihanna One Direction PSY Enrique Iglesias Alicia Keys Bruno Mars Taylor Swift Kelly Clarkson Bridgit Mendler

UK Top Ten 1. The Power Of Love 2. Locked Out Of Heaven 3. Troublemaker 4. Beneath Your Beautiful 5. Diamonds 6. Little Things 7. Die Young 8. Try 9. Gangnam Style 10. Girl On Fire

Gabrielle Aplin Bruno Mars Olly Murs Labrinth Rihanna One Direction Ke$ha Pink PSY Alicia Keys

US Top Ten 1. Locked Out Of Heaven 2. Diamonds 3. Die Young 4. Ho Hey 5. One More Night 6. I Cry 7. Home 8. Some Nights 9. Beauty And A Beat 10. Let Me Love You

Bruno Mars Rihanna Ke$ha The Lumineers Maroon 5 Flo Rida Phillip Phillips fun.

Justin Bieber Ne-Yo

The Fisheye Camera Ruben Luong The compact, 35mm-film fisheye camera produces warped photos using a convex, wide-angle lens.

With surprising distortions and off-the-wall inversions in each shot, the camera is an addictive, veritable thrill for the senses.

Fisheye cameras were conceived from lomography, a once-underground style of photography that employs an experimental approach to capturing images.

Lomography emerged in the early 1990s in Vienna, where a group of students dabbled with a small Russian camera called the Lomo Kompakt Automat. Their experiments resulted in quirky, unconventional snapshots of random subjects and situations. The concept of lomography relies on thinking fast, being open minded about the environment, and collecting a variety of images.

Since the 1990s, lomography has grown into a socio-cultural sensation, and notable photographers, such as Helmut Lang, are known for their lomographic images containing whimsical compositions and colourful saturations. Today there are major exhibitions featuring nearly 100,000 lomographic photos in cities like New York, Berlin, Madrid and Tokyo, but also in more casual locales, such as homes, bars and abandoned buildings. These snapshots showcase anything from skateboarders and

sunbathers to pets and lush cityscapes.

While there is a plethora of digital cameras available today, the fisheye camera is a refreshing alternative with satisfyingly tangible results.

I own a more professional camera, but my red fisheye is definitely more fun to carry around. Those who rarely use the professional functions on their digital camera will find the fisheye to be remarkably easier to use and transportable in comparison, as it is slightly smaller in height and width than an iPhone.

Although my fisheye lacks the hi-tech settings built into my professional camera, it yields equally stunning snapshots by exposing organic qualities only a fisheye camera can produce without focus. Looking through the viewfinder to take your picture actually is not recommended with the fisheye lens. Because of its ultra-wide angle view, it will capture much more than the eye can see from a viewfinder. It’s also large enough that it casts arbitrary shadows on subjects or washes them out, leaving a cool effect.

The camera is available in two generations, Fisheye 1 and 2, for roughly $100.

And in a place like Southeast Asia, filled with rich colours, interesting people, food, animals, and ways of life, the fisheye comes in pretty handy.

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bookshelf Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm Philip Pullman Viking

From the author of the children’s classic The Golden Compass comes a collection of quintessential fairy tales. Philip Pullman presents 50 of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s stories, translated from German into clean, elegant English. Rather than complicate narratives with modern settings and complex characters, Pullman seldom strays from the original plotlines. Each tale is followed by Pullman’s analysis, background information and translation explanations.

Children and adults alike will enjoy Pullman’s retellings.

New Finnish Grammar Diego Marani The Text Publishing Company When Sampo is discovered in Hamburg without any memory of who he is, the only clue to his identity seems to be a Finnish sailor costume. The doctor who tends to him — Friari, an expatriate Finn — assumes Sampo must be a compatriot and sends him to Helsinki. There, Sampo witnesses the impact of The Winter War, a conflict between Finland and Russia. In a postmodern approach to narrative, the story is told through a series of excerpts from Sampo’s diary, edited and commented on by Friari.

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The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever Alan Sepinwall What’s Alan Watching?

A television fanatic best known for his blog, critic Alan Sepinwall examines the shows that he argues have revolutionised the small screen. Covering selected series such as The Sopranos, Mad Men and The Wire, The Revolution Was Televised explores how television has progressed as a medium for portraying drama to rival cinema. Sepinwall describes the recent surge in quality programming and production as creating a golden age for television and uses sharp commentary to delve into the significance of 12 selected shows.

Raffles and the Golden Opportunity Victoria Glendinning Profile Books The 19th century English adventurer, Thomas Stamford Raffles, is an intriguing historical figure. His employment with the East India Company brought him to Asia, where he eventually founded modern Singapore. Years after Raffles’ death, the island’s most famous hotel — and now hospitality chain — bears his name. Beyond his exploits in the East, Raffles spent his last years in England pursuing botany and zoology and created the London Zoo in 1826. Victoria Glendinning’s biography follows the controversial figure’s colourful life, including his professional accomplishments and personal tragedies.

boxoffice

Les Misérables

Mama

Zambezia

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

One of the most popular stage musicals of all time, Les Misérables is brought to the silver screen in this star-studded film. Les Misérables is an adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel set in 19th century France. Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), a former prisoner who is hunted by police inspector Javert (Russell Crowe), decides to take care of young Cosette (Isabelle Allen, later played by Amanda Seyfried), a child born out of wedlock to a factory worker. The cast also features Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen and others, performing well-known numbers such as ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ and ‘On My Own’.

Victoria and Lilly are discovered in the woods after five years of living there alone after their mother’s death. The two little girls have become wild, but are taken away to be domesticated and raised in society. Their uncle and his wife agree to take in the girls, but soon find that something strange is happening in their house. The children are being haunted by a vengeful ghost, who they believe to be their own mother and who seems intent on killing her replacements. For those who enjoy having the creeps, Mama is a Spanish horror film from the producer of Pan’s Labyrinth.

In this 3D animated film, Kai is a young falcon dissatisfied with his quiet life in a remote area of Africa. Despite his stern father’s admonitions, he moves to the bird city of Zambezia, set in a baobab tree on the edge of Victoria Falls.

His flying skills earn him a spot with the Hurricanes, an elite group of birds who patrol and protect the city.

Kai’s bravery is put to the test when a band of Maribou Storks and a reptilian Leguaan plan to invade Zambezia, taking his father as a hostage.

Character voices include those of Samuel L Jackson, Abigail Breslin and Jeff Goldblum.

We all know the tale of Hansel and Gretel, in which two children discover a cottage made from gingerbread and are nearly eaten by the witch who lives inside. But what happens after the happy ending? Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters sees the two siblings (Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton) grown up and working as bounty hunters to destroy witches around the world. When children start disappearing from a small German town, Hansel and Gretel are called in to defeat the witch behind the kidnappings. The culprit (Famke Janssen) turns out to be their most formidable foe yet.

Coming Soon JANUARY Movie Releases Platinum Cineplex See platinumcineplex.com.kh for screening schedule.

The Hobbit (3D) Still Showing Wreck It Ralph (3D) Still Showing Jack Reacher Still Showing The Thieves (Korea) Still Showing Chinese Zodiac 2012 (Hong Kong) Jan. 3 Les Miserables Jan. 3 3 AM (Thai, 3D) Jan. 10 The Collection II Jan. 10 Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away (3D) Jan. 17 Mama Jan. 24 Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (3D) Jan. 31

Legend Cinema See legend-cinemas.com for screening schedule.

Parental Guidance Jan. 1 Les Miserables Jan. 3 Wedding Scandal (Khmer) Jan. 3 The Collector Jan. 7 The Collection Jan. 7 Zambezia (3D) Jan. 10 Never Ending Story (Korea) Jan. 17 Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away (3D) Jan. 17 The History of Mankind Jan. 17 Mama Jan. 24 Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (3D) Jan. 31

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THE TWO OF US

Tattoo artists Sun Kang and Charlie Han ink designs at Phnom Penh’s BlackStar Tattoo Studio. Seth Emmanuel Rinoza and photographer Conor Wall meet the South Korean duo, and discover how they turned an initial dislike for body art into their careers.

Charlie

Sun Kang About 16 to 17 years ago, I had no interest in tattoos at all. It just wasn’t interesting to me.

Add in the fact that it can be quite expensive, painful, and people’s perception of tattoos as a sign of being a ‘bad’ person or a menace. I didn’t want any part of it.

After visiting my friends’ tattoo shops a couple of times, I suddenly realised that it was beautiful. And that’s where it all started. It wasn’t really hard to transition to it because, as a kid, I had always been good at drawing. Drawing and tattooing are two different things in terms of the texture and techniques involved though.

Prior to coming here to Cambodia, I had a tattoo shop in Korea. It had to be kept secret because in South Korea, you can’t just open a tattoo shop and start inking. Back home, males are required to serve the army for two years because of the North and South Korean conflict. Males with very visible or large tattoos, however, are not allowed to go to the army. And because some teenagers want to

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bypass that [the army], they get large tattoos instead. This made the government very angry and started raiding shops looking for licences.

Three years ago, I came here to visit and, after getting a feel of the city, I decided that I wanted to stay longer.

I first opened a tattoo shop at the [Boeung Kak] lakeside and it ran for about a year, but we had to move out. I then opened another tattoo shop in Sihanoukville. It was then that Eddy, Paul and I came up with an idea to move it back to Phnom Penh and open a shop together.

Getting a tattoo is a commitment. Whenever a customer walks in, the first question I ask is the approximate percentage of actually wanting that tattoo. When I feel that they are not very sure of what they are saying, I ask them to just come back and think about it first. That way, I can make sure that when they do get the tattoo they want, they will not have any regrets and we will all be happy. That is my goal.

I first met Sun in Busan, a province in South Korea and our hometown. It was a very short meeting — I really just got acquainted with him with a hello. About a year ago, I came here to Cambodia alone, just travelling. To my surprise, I met Sun here again. After talking for a bit with him, all my plans changed. I ripped my return ticket in half. It was totally not expected at all.

I had no money, no job and I didn’t even know how to speak English.

Not knowing how to speak English made the whole thing even more difficult. The only words I knew were “hello”, “thank you”, “sorry” and “bye bye”. That was it. I didn’t know how to speak Khmer either. It was just so difficult.

Sun Kang and I are two very different people. Maybe the one thing that makes us similar is our initial dislike for tattoos. Like Sun, I never liked tattoos. I had no interest in it whatsoever. But because of my tough situation, Sun insisted on helping me. He asked me

if I wanted to learn tattooing from him.

I thought it was my only choice. He is a great person. He has always wanted to help take care of me and help me anyway he can. I had no experience in it whatsoever. Sun taught me everything I know.

I remember the first time I tried tattooing — it was one of the most difficult times of my life. My hands were shaking and it was really tough, even when trying to merely trace a straight line. Sun Kang told me that I shouldn’t practise on other people because tattoos should be respected, because people will carry them for the rest of their lives. Sun told me to practise with my own body, and to this day, my right calf is a testament to that specific part of my life.

I have been working with Sun Kang for about a year now and I have grown to love tattooing. I definitely enjoy working with Sun Kang, and even though I have only been here for a year, I definitely intend to stay longer.

pub quiz 1. Which docu-drama directed by Ron Howard stars Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Ed Harris?

2. Who released the album 13 in 1999? It reached number one in the UK charts.

3. Which Southeast Asian public holiday usually starts on Apr. 13?

4. In the Friday 13th films, what does Jason wear on his face?

5. In the 2001 film, what are Thirteen Conversations About?

Jan 6. Which city is served by the airport that was, until 1994, named Jan Smuts Airport?

7. Which actress was famously stabbed to death in the shower in Psycho?

8. Who died in a hotel room from an overdose of heroin in October 1970?

9. Jansher Khan won the World Open a record eight times. In what sport?

10. Who, in 1993, lost the Wimbledon final despite being 4 - 1 up in the final set?

22. Which box office flop was, in 1995, the most expensive film ever made?

23. How many players make up a water polo team?

24. In 1815, the Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo. In what modern day country is Waterloo?

25. “Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink” comes from which famous poem?

Celebrity Sideshow!

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Gems

Water 21. Which city in Ireland is famous for its crystal?

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1 29

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Fire 16. Who claimed “we didn’t start the fire” in 1989?

17. What is the name of Mozilla’s free open-source web browser?

18. What is the Italian name for Florence?

19. Fire was one of the classical elements. Name the other three.

20. Who invented a lamp to reduce the danger of firedamp in coal mines?

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1. Apollo 13 2. Blur 3. Buddhist New Year (Chaul Chnam Thmey or Songkran) 4. A “hockey” mask 5. One Thing 6. Johannesburg 7. Janet Leigh 8. Janis Joplin 9. Squash 10. Jana Novotná 11. Ruby 12. Alf Garnett 13. Sapphire (Saffy) 14. The Emerald City 15. Lou Diamond Phillips 16. Billy Joel 17. Firefox 18. Firenze 19. Earth, Water, Air 20. Sir Humphrey Davy 21. Waterford 22. Waterworld 23. 7 24. Belgium 25. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 26. Phil Collins 27. Samuel L Jackson 28. Tommy Lee Jones 29. Leonardo DiCaprio 30. Julia Roberts

11. Which song gave the Kaiser Chiefs their first UK number one single in 2007?

12. American TV character Archie Bunker was based on which British character, star of Till Death Us Do Part?

13. What is Eddie’s daughter called in Absolutely Fabulous?

14. What is the capital of The Land of Oz? 15. Who played Ritchie Valens in La Bamba?

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pub quiz answers

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no holds barred