Climbing to New Heights in Cambodia by Claire B. Munton

WEEKLY

The

Thursday - February 4, 2016

A New Age For Wellness

Vol: 01 | Issue: 22

WEEKLY

the

THISWEEK

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 04, 2016

Phnom Penh

Publisher T. Mohan

EDITOR: James Reddick James.Reddick@khmertimeskh.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Maddy Crowell, Jonathan Cox, Michael Light, Mia Savage, Claire Baker-Munton

Khiev Chanthara, Aim Valinda 096 217 7770 | 012 244 982 chanthara@khmertimeskh.com valinda.aim@khmertimeskh.com

ADVERTISING SALES: Mary Shelistilyn Clavel mary@khmertimeskh.com 010 678 324

Fabien Mouret

ART DIRECTION: Setting up Chinese lanterns in Min Sheng Pagoda on Preah Sisowath Quay in Phnom Penh.

Capturing Angkor

Not to Miss:

A review of Jim Mizerski’s new book on early photography in Cambodia. PAGE 3

No. 7 Street 252 Khan Daun Penh Phnom Penh 12302 Kingdom of Cambodia 023 221 660

Rewriting Rabies’ Final Act PAGE 4

PRINTER: TST Printing House DISTRIBUTION: Kim Steven Yoro 016 869 302 kimsteven@khmertimeskh.com

The Weekly is published 48 times a year in Phnom Penh. No content may be reproduced in any form without prior consent of the publisher.. Cover Photo: Fabien Mouret

In conversation with the creators of the new literary journal. PAGE 5

New Heights

The country’s burgeoning rock climbing scene PAGE 6 & 7

Wellness Weekend A mini-guide to the free wellness bonanza PAGE 10

8,000+ copies every week

600+

locations in Cambodia 2

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WEEKLY Phnom Penh

Thursday Hip-hop @Sharky Bar, 126 Street 130, 8:30 PM

The rock institution changes it up this week with a hip-hop showcase featuring DJ Niko Yu (Denmark) and live performances by Kidflomatic (US) and MC Sang Sok Serey (Cambodia)

Mekong Review

AVAILABLE AT: Monument Books No. 53 Street 426 Phnom Penh info@monument-books.com 023 217 6177

Supplied

NEWSROOM:

REGULARS Around Town FILMS, EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS The best listings in town PAGES 8 & 9

FRIday Verbal High @Meta House, #37 Sothearos Boulevard, 8:30 The monthly stand-up comedy showcase, benefiting Elephant Asia Rescue and Survival Foundation. This month, it features Dave Ale in the midst of his Southeast Asia tour, as well as Pule Mapacpac, of The Philippines, and James Atkinson, of Ireland.

Chinese House The mainstay continues to reinvent itself. PAGES 11

That’s part of a healthcare worker’s job. Not just saving lives but caring for those who are dying. PAGE 4

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 04, 2016

Books

Capturing Angkor By Michael Light

lthough he has worked as a Naval officer, electrical engineer and, most recently, a photographer, Jim Mizerski’s most recent book is the work of a historian. Cambodia Captured aims to be a presentation of the first photographs captured at Angkor Wat in 1866, but ends up less of an exhibition of pictures than an exploration of those who took them and why. The book primarily follows the stories of three men, photographers John Thomas and Emile Gsell, and French naval officer and

explorer Ernest Marc Louis de Gonzague Doudart de Lagree on their separate but interconnected expeditions to Cambodia. De Lagree, France’s first representative to Phnom Penh and the namesake of the street that is now known as Norodom Boulevard, was responsible both for bringing Gsell to, and Thomas from, Angkor in 1866. In Mizersky’s book, he acts as a kind of uniting figure, tying the two men’s work together. Perhaps it is this central importance, or maybe his shared profession with the author, both men of the sea, that drew Mizersky to de Lagree. Although he found

the photographic exploits of Gsell and Thomas interesting and worth study, it is with de Lagree that Mizersky would become most fascinated during his research for Captured. De Lagree would die in 1868 in Northern China during an expedition from Cambodia up the Mekong. Thomas would go on to become one of the most celebrated travel photographers of his generation, while Gsell would create an extensive portfolio of work in Southeast Asia without leaving so much as a trace about his personal life. Mizersky’s book is made up in part of historical expositions, which in places stretch on

Emile Gsell

Jim Mizerski’s new exploration of the Kingdom’s early photographers

A Cambodian princess circa 1866

for pages, but is mostly constituted of examples of photographs that bear the marks of the time they were taken. In Gsell and Thomas’s time, photographers relied on expensive and cumbersome wood-built wet plate collodation cameras, which captured pictures on heavy glass negatives that then had to be transferred via chemical process to albumen paper. Under normal circumstances, taking a photo in this manner required great skill, preparation and patience–the exposure time required was 15 seconds to multiple minutes, and anything that moved within the frame in that time would show up in the final picture as an ethereal blur. Because of this, their pictures in Cambodia are for the most part landscapes spare of bystanders. Mizersky said that at one point Thomas had to abandon a shot of a temple because there were too many monkeys in the frame, and they

simply wouldn’t hold still. One of the advantages the photographers had, however, was their setting. The book features photos by both men of Angkor’s most famous sites, as well as more tucked-away close-ups of the buildings’s artwork and tertiary rooms. That said, even with the aid of reference points and proper angling, Gsell and Thomas struggled as much as modern day photographers to pack the ruins’ thousands of years of history into single images. One of the most challenging aspects of photographing Angkor, Mizersky says, is capturing its scale. There are also pictures taken of Angkor’s surrounding villages in Mizersky’s book, as well as of a version of Phnom Penh that is nearly unrecognizable; there was, for instance, once a small island directly off the shore near the city’s Royal Palace. The waterway between it has since been artificially filled in, and now looks no different than the rest of

the riverfront. Besides these photos of places, Mizersky includes a few portraits as supplement. While some are of unremarkable people striking regular poses, there are a few little-seen pictures of King Norodom himself in the book. The 30-yearold king is seen dressed in traditional garb as well as military regalia, sword at the hip, ornate jacket buttoned up to his throat. It’s tough to say exactly what to make of the onceruler. Are his eyes unsure? Defiant? These sorts of questions linger as the pages of Cambodia Captured turn. But that is perhaps the most amazing thing about them. We can jump on a bus and be at Angkor’s steps in under six hours, seeing the same things and standing on the same ground as Thomas, Gsell and de Lagree. But 150 years later we can only imagine what went on in their photograph’s exact 15 seconds, as the light of them poured through their apertures. the

WEEKLY Phnom Penh

Innovation

Rewriting Rabies’ Final Act

There are four million dogs in Cambodia—one for every three people—and very few are vaccinated.

Cambodian rabies victims often die in agony, turned away from hospitals by doctors who know their disease is untreatable. These patients’ lives may be past saving, but a new policy could help them die with dignity. By Jonathan Cox

jonathan.cox@khmertimeskh.com

n Assyrian inscription from the 21st century BCE, written as a conversation between the healer and a god, gives a grim lesson on the futility of trying to save someone who has contracted rabies. “Oh my father,” the healer says, “concerning a man whom a... rabid dog attacks, and to whom it passes its venom... I do not know what I shall do for him.” “Oh, my son,” the god replies, “...what can I [do] for him?” 4,000 years later, doctors are still as powerless as their ancient Assyrian counterparts to treat this disease, which kills hundreds in Cambodia every year. Though the disease is preventable with timely treatment, once victims show symptoms they have no chance of survival. “With rabies, people die, 100 percent of the time,” said Dr. Arnaud Tarantola, head of the epidemiology department and the rabies prevention clinic at the Pasteur Institute. The disease kills more than 60,000 people worldwide – more than double the number of people killed by last year’s Ebola outbreak. An estimated 850 people die of it each year in

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WEEKLY Phnom Penh

Cambodia – one of the highest rates of rabies deaths per capita of any country in the world. There are few treatment centers offering rabies vaccines for bite victims, and almost none of the country’s estimated four million dogs are vaccinated. Rabies deaths are ugly. The disease can cause hydrophobia – fear of water – meaning that many victims die of thirst, even if they have water in front of them. Victims suffer from convulsions and fever, but remain fully aware of their surroundings. Yet despite the agonies of a rabies death, many patients – like 52-year-old Chan Sovann, who died of rabies last year – are turned away from hospitals

old son Chet Vannak said, she became feverish. She was even afraid of getting in the shower, a sign of hydrophobia, the telltale symptom of rabies. “Then [her condition] became serious,” Vannak continued, “so we brought her to Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh at 1 am. But the doctors there denied giving her treatment, saying that she was in the last stage of the disease. I felt so down about this, that she was not being treated. We brought her back home and she died.” Sovann’s case is not an exception. “We saw rabies in unvaccinated children and adults who hadn’t been

That’s part of a healthcare worker’s job,” he said, “not just saving lives but caring for those who are dying. when they go there for treatment after showing symptoms. Sovann was bitten by her dog in Battambang province in January 2015. The local health center was out of rabies vaccines, so she didn’t receive any post-exposure treatment. Five months later, her 22-year-

admitted to a hospital,” Pasteur Institute’s Tarantola said. The admissions personnel at hospitals know how to recognize rabies symptoms, and know that nothing can be done to treat the disease’s victims. The Pasteur Institute and the Ministry of Health are working to

change the treatment of rabies victims in the country. Although nothing can be done to save the lives of victims, medication can make their deaths less painful. The proposed policy says that no rabies victim is too far-gone to receive care. Tarantola is advocating adding a section about palliative care to the upcoming rabies national policy, currently under discussion in the Ministry of Health. Along with a plan to vaccinate the country’s dogs and spread awareness about rabies, the new approach would help hospitals provide care to rabies patients instead of turning them away. This would make Cambodia the first country in the world to include palliative care for victims in its national rabies plan. Doctors would receive training about how to reduce the suffering of people who are infected. With proper medication, a death from rabies can be more peaceful, instead of agonizing and painful. “We can at least hydrate them through their veins,” Tarantola said. “We can make sure that they don’t die of thirst. We can give them anticonvulsion treatment.” The drugs that can help people suffering from rabies

are not expensive or hard to find, and in fact those selected by Tarantola and his colleagues are all on the World Health Organization’s list of “essential medicines.” Along with rehydrating patients intravenously, doctors can give them drugs to reduce their fever, and diazepam to ease their anxiety and convulsions. “The last pictures you want to take away of your child or spouse is not one of them screaming and foaming at the mouth,” said Tarantola. “You want them appeased.” The hospitals can also give some drugs to the family of the rabies victim, so they can take their loved one home to die, while giving them the care they need. “Most people believe that when a doctor declares ‘this is rabies’, they would like to bring their patient home [to die],” said Sovann. “They know the fatality rate is 100 percent.” Efforts to eliminate rabies in the country through mass vaccinations of dogs could take decades. But while rabies cases continue to occur, Tarantola said doctors can provide care and support to help the dying. “That’s part of a healthcare worker’s job,” he said, “not just saving lives but caring for those who are dying.”

Arnaud Tarantola

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 04, 2016

A NEW VOICE FOR THE MEKONG

Designer Robert Starkweather with Minh Bui Jones, the founder and editor-in-chief, commercial director Oliver Cahalan and Associate Editor Rupert Winchester.

Supplied

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 04, 2016

The Weekly’s Maddy Crowell sat down with Editor Rupert Winchester and Business Director Oliver Cahalan this week to discuss the recent launch of The Mekong Review, a literary magazine covering all of Southeast Asia, the climate for Southeast Asian literature, and the search for “Cambodia’s David Foster Wallace.” The Mekong Review launched its first issue in November 2015 at the Kampot Writers and Readers Festival and publishes quarterly features, poetry, prose and reviews from the Mekong region. The second issue will hit the streets on Wednesday.

MC: How did the magazine get started? Rupert Winchester: Minh Bui Jones, the editor-in-chief who’s Vietnamese-Australian, lived [in Cambodia] for a long time. He set up several magazines, like The Diplomat in Australia, so he’s got a good track record in publishing. And he had been tossing around this idea of doing something literary and cultural in Cambodia. He used to live on the banks of the Mekong, and he thought, why not bring it all in? Get every country through which the Mekong flows. There was the Kampot Readers and Writers Festival in November of last year, and Min wanted to do something with it. In six weeks we pulled the whole thing together. Q: Does the magazine have a theme? OC: Art, history, culture, poetry, fiction, essays, reviews… RW: It’s a mix of academic stuff with lighter things. But I think we see it as a place for people to have a conversation about culture here. We’ve certainly got our eye on the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, and

we thought there ought to be something equivalent to that in this region. OC: We’re encouraging a reading culture as well. A lot of the times now mobile devices have created what we call a ‘leanto’ experience because you’re leaning to reading the news on your iPad or telephone, whereas with a literary publication you’re meant to take your time, sit back, relax and enjoy it. Q: And you want to keep it as a print publication? RW: [Print] is certainly different in this day and age. We’re hoping it’ll make us stand out a bit, but we’re also getting back to the virtues of sitting back and quietly reading something on paper. OC: Statistics from the last [World Association of Newspaper Publishers Conference] found that print readership is declining worldwide while in Asia it’s increasing. I think that has to do with the rise of education and having more access to it, so it’s a great opportunity for us as well. Q: Do you feel that there’s more of a print market here than there is for some Western literary publications?

RW: I think maybe there’s a chance here to circumvent the mass headlong rush towards going electronic. I’m not sure if we’re right or not, but it’s worth a shot. Q: Who’s your audience? RW: [Laughs] Who is our audience? OC: I’d say we’re targeting more the middle to affluent classes, those with an interest in art, history, literature, etc. Not just expats but locals as well. So your audience is much larger than Cambodia. RW: Yeah, it’s all the big five countries through which the river flows. OC: We’ve also had a large number of subscribers from America, Australia, Italy, and in academic libraries. Q: But the theme is still strictly the Mekong region? Would you publish a review on David Foster Wallace, for example? RW: Unless there was some connection to here, no, I don’t think David Foster Wallace would necessarily be in our purview, as it were. But if we find and discover the next Cambodian David Foster Wallace then, you know, we’ll

go after that. Q: And have you? RW: Not yet, no. But we’re looking. Q: How do you find your writers? RW: Just using our contacts really. Min has a lot of very good contacts around the world and I know some people because I’ve been involved with books and literature for a long time, so we’ve been calling in a lot of favors at the moment. We really want to find writers and poets and dramatists and architects and all sorts of things – make a space for them to discuss what they want to be able to do. Q: Are you trying to recruit more SE Asian writers or are you just looking for people who have something to say? RW: I think we’d love it in a few years time if everyone were of Southeast Asian origin. If they’ve got something to say, then this is the place to say it. There were lots of barangs to start off with but that’s certainly not the aim. It’s about starting the conversation and trying to draw as many people as we can into it.

Is the language barrier a difficulty for you – are there writers out there in Cambodia or other ASEAN countries who are writing really well, they’re just not writing in English? RW: Language is always a barrier, certainly. [Tararith Kho], who we put up this year, actually lives in Massachusetts and teaches Khmer to people over there. There are lots of people writing, but Westerners aren’t going to see it. Q: Is there a market for Cambodian literature? RW: The publishing industry doesn’t exist here. It’s a photocopy industry. So there’s not a lot of incentive for people to write. Very few can make a living writing for Cambodians at this stage. I think it can only get better. Q: Any grand visions for the future? RW: Well I’m working towards a gold-plated swimming pool. [Laughs] No, I mean it’s fun to just watch it take its own form. We don’t stick to a formula; if it feels good, we’ll put it in.

[This interview has been edited for clarity and length.] the

WEEKLY Phnom Penh

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 04, 2016

In Depth

Channy Cho climbs in Kampong Cham Province.

By Claire Baker-Munton

“

If you have the opportunity to go outdoors, you should take it,” Christoph Lüthy tells me when we meet at his Phnom Climb Community Gym on Street 460 in Russian Market. My climbing experience is virtually nil but something about the 2.5 metre-high bouldering wall being scaled by intrepid spider-like forms, the buzz of intent, amicable conversation on the ground, and Lüthy’s impassioned rhetoric move me. Before I know it, I'm signing up for Phnom Climb's first outdoor trip. Lüthy, a Swiss native, founded the gym just over three months ago. His wife a passionate climber, the couple had been visiting the small bouldering wall at Olympic Stadium on a daily basis. “We thought we needed something here... and originally we wanted to build something small, but what came out was a little bit bigger.” Asked about the difference between climbing outdoors and indoors, Luthy says: “It’s like two different pairs of shoes. Outdoor climbing is something unto itself.” That’s one reason why the gym is now leading

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trips: to enable climbers to get a taste of real rock beneath their fingers. And somehow I too would be along for a trip to a well-known climbing spot in Kampong Cham province. Kampong Cham offers a flavor of rock climbing unique in Cambodia. By contrast, all other climbing available in-country is exclusively on limestone, with the majority clustered around coastal areas in Kampot and Sihanoukville. This site is a “cool natural anomaly,” Sam Whitley, a climbing enthusiast and regular at Cambodia's first indoor climbing gym, says. “I don't know how it got there but it's great.” Following in the footsteps of Ryan Sinclair, an American who 'set' the first climbs in the area back in 2004 and 2005, Cambodian climbing instructor Mam Sotharin of Phnom Penh Fun Climbers, a 186-strong group for climbing fans of all ages, has been slowly discovering more walls to scale throughout the country. “There is Phnom Kulen near Siem Reap,” Lüthy tells me, and Mam and Whitley both praise a wall in Banteay Neang near Battambang and another in Takeo Province. “It's a lovely caving and climbing spot but it takes two hours to trek to,' Whitley said of the Takeo wall.

Despite access issues, Mam is firm in his belief that there are more sites yet undiscovered. “'I am searching for other places with friends in the North. They are very difficult to find there. I think the Kampot area has more mountains, and we need to explore there.” ***** t 6 AM on a Saturday morning in January, 11 climbers of varying abilities, from six countries, accompanied by Mam and two other instructors, set out from the capital armed with specialized equipment and an invaluable copy of Rock Climbing in Cambodia by Benjamin Tipton, the only comprehensive guidebook on outdoor climbing in the country, published in 2007. Located 50 km north of Phnom Penh and just as far from Kampong Cham's provincial capital off National Highway 6, the site is perhaps Cambodia's most frequented outdoor climbing spot, ideally situated for a day out on the rocks. And it doesn't fail to deliver on its exceptional geological promise: flanked on all sides by a manifold tapestry of rice paddies, the three rocks (nicknamed by Tipton 'Broken Pot,' 'Tiered Rock' and 'No More

Monks') rise enigmatically from their surroundings. It's no small wonder that locals revere the cave within “No More Monks”, or Phnom Oh Lok, believing it to be home to spirits. I tread a path with Mam to the top of the rock, from which he expertly secures safety rope systems at one route's peak. He attaches his 'gear' to one of the existing bolts (small steel O-rings, the threads of which are drilled into the rock), for which he has Sinclair and his contemporaries to thank, before rappelling down to declare the route open to the expectant group below. Meanwhile, instructor Channy Cho opens up another

Vanessa Herranz Muñoz

Climbing to New Heights in Cambodia route from bottom to top, free climbing from one bolt to the next, clipping his gear to carabiners as he goes, an impressive if death-defying feat to which there is no alternative; the route ends some way down the rock-face. Safety is of utmost importance to Lüthy. “There are no authorities to check us, just us, but we don't want anything to happen.” He assures me that they have taken pains to 'load test' all anchors in the lead wall to comply with world safety standards. Despite feeling in safe hands, my palms are sweating profusely when I peer over the edge, a telltale sign of an age-old fear that I want to

leave behind. Three of us step forward to attempt the first ascent on the newly-strung ropes, finding our footing tentatively at first, then with the greater resolve demanded by heady heights. Meanwhile avid climber, Léakhéna Sophan (Léa- to her friends) recounts the story of her first climb at this very spot with her ex-partner: halfway up vertigo got the better of her but, having come so far, he wouldn’t let her descend, despite her terrified cries. Confronting her trepidation head-on, she battled upwards, emerging at the top triumphant. She still suffers vertigo but says she wants to “face” her fear. And she does so with deft ease, practically strolling up one of the most challenging of all the routes at Kampong Cham, dubbed the 'Chicken in the Kitchen.' As Rock Climbing in Cambodia warns, the start of ‘chicken’ is a doozy, forcing the climber to clamber in amongst

the branches of a tree at it's base, directly above which there are few suitable holds. 'It's hard at first but then easy,” Léa says nonchalantly. The camaraderie in the group grows as more people summit the wall. One climber encourages another: 'You will feel great at the top!' This spirit is in tune with Lüthy's goal for Phnom Climb: “It's a community gym, so I hope that people will climb together,” he says. “We see it happening already. People come in, hang out, get to know one another. It's very satisfactory to see.” As for me? I completed 'Sus-Sa-Die', an aptly named initiatory route friendly to beginners, haltingly at first as I struggled to face my vertigo, then more dexterously on the second attempt, due in great part to Mam's coaching. The experience was exhilarating, and the journey worthwhile if only for the views of the patchwork of greens and greys

of fields, trees and rooftops scattering the area–not to mention the bird’s eye view of Highway 6. Lüthy says that he hopes to make these trips a “regular thing.” “We’ve got big ambitions,” he says. “We hope that climbing is something that people are excited about, and not only expats.” At the day's end, after being transfixed by the skills of some of the crew ascending mercilessly sheer granite, talk turns to more mundane things: everyday life in Phnom Penh. Léa admits to not going out much anymore, saving herself for loftier pursuits. ''I don't party much but I rock it every weekend!” Phnom Climb Community Gym’s lead climbing wall is now open, with an extended soft launch entry price of $5. It will be open on Saturday mornings 7-11am from February 6, with a hard launch scheduled for February 20. See www.phnomclimb.com for more information.

Vanessa Herranz Muñoz

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 04, 2016

Instructor Sotharin Mam prepares for the climb.

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Around Town EVENTS Thursday, February 4 THURSDAYCHILL @The Room, 10 Street 246, 8 PM

DJ Nora Haidee, mixture of deep house, tech, minimal & techno Acoustics on the Alley @Artillery, #82eo Street 244

Live music with Miss Sarawan and Joe Wrigley Hip-hop @Sharky Bar, 126 Street 130, 8:30 PM

DJ Niko Yu (Denmark) and live performances by Kidflomatic (US) and MC Sang Sok Serey (Cambodia) No Problem Disco @Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172, 11 PM – 3 AM

Jack Malipan playing Disco House Trippy Thursdays DJ party @Meta House, #37 Sothearos Boulevard, 9 PM

DJ NICOMATIC & FRIENDS! Expect an eclectic mix of trippy minimal analogue techno, trance, house, dub and ambient. Karaoke Night @Eluvium Lounge, 205A Street 19, 6 PM

Get a free beer or soda for hopping on state. Happy hour cocktails at $2 until 8 PM. Pub Quiz @Show Box, 8 PM

Italian Afterwork @Il Forno, 11 Street 302, 6:00 PM-9:00 PM

The monthly event w/ free tapas and pizza and DJ Wah Wah

Friday, February 5 Disco Night @The Room, 10 Street 246, 8 PM

Dr. Wah Wah Live music w/ Road to Mandalay @ Show Box Bar, #11 Street 330, 7:30 PM

With influences ranging from Blondie, Foo Fighters, Fugazi & many others, Road to Mandalay brings a unique blend of heavy alternative rock music to the Cambodia music scene Verbal High @Meta House, #37 Sothearos Boulevard, 8:30 PM, $3

The monthly stand-up comedy showcase, benefiting Elephant Asia Rescue and Survival Foundation. DJ & LIVE MUSIC PARTY @Meta House, #37 Sothearos Boulevard, 10:00 PM

DJ WEZ T joins forces with trombone player Alexandre Scarpatti, for a mixture of deep ‘n jazzy house + minimal techno. Pulse the House @Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172, 11 PM – 3 AM

DJ Shaman, Alan Ritchie & special guests playing the best in House, Techno, Disco Edits 11 - 5am Chinese New Year Seafood

Buffet @Himawari Hotel Apartments Oyster Restaurant, 6 PM-10 PM

Fresh seafood, barbequed meats, local Khmer delights and international favourites. Includes complimentary Yu Sheng and 1 glass of Apsara Gold craft beer. $23++ for adult, $11.50++ for child below 12 years old. For reservations call 016 871766/016 871 756 or email fnb.coordinator@himawari.com.kh

Saturday, February 6 Back to the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s @Eluvium Lounge, 205A Street 19, 8 PM-10 PM:

Favorite songs and romantic ballads from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, the golden age of the music industry. The Journey @The Room, 10 Street 246, 8 PM

DJ Sequence, Drum and Bass/Jungle Soundtrek Project @Cloud, 32Eo Street 9, 8:30 PM

Soundtrek Project is a student brass band/fanfare from Ecole Centrale Paris involved in a solidarity project in Benin, Mauritius and Cambodia for 6 month. Live music w/ Euan Grey Trio @Bassac Lane

Playing funky acoustic originals on the popular bar lane Bob Marley Birthday Party @Meta House, #37 Sothearos Boulevard, 4:00 PM – Close

Meta House celebrates the legacy of the unforgettable

Considering its proximity to the Royal Palace, which you can see from out the front door, you might expect Blue Dragon to be exorbitantly expensive and packed with tourists. What’s inside is a pleasant surprise. On a recent Tuesday

A still from Kem and Nit, a film directed by Norodom Sihanouk playing at Bophana Center on Saturday

Jamaican singer-songwriter with films, music and food (jerk chicken, meat patties, rice & peas). Recipes supplied by a real Jamaican momma and cooked by a Jamaican expat (for film listings see next page). DJ PARTY with WAT-AGWAAN REGGAE COLLECTIVE feat. KAZTET D. and friends at 9:00 PM Saturday Tech Lounge @Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172,

Hot Spot Blue Dragon, 391 Street 84 (across from Royal Palace

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 04, 2016

night, the tables were empty, but the barstools were full of a diverse cast of customers in happy conversation–a telltale sign of a crowd of regulars familiar with each other’s company. A gentle dog named Bingo roamed the room seeking attention. French owned, Blue Dragon has a distinctly European vibe despite the

American jazz age era art on the walls. It’s classy but unpretentious, smoky but not suffocating. A tasty house red will set you back $4, a standard cocktail $3.50, while the signature cocktails are $5. Local beer is $2 and Kronenbourg wheat is $3. One of the best bars in Phnom Penh for a relaxed evening.

DJ Flo & Special Guests playing House, Tech House & Techno

Chinese New Year Seafood Buffet @Himawari Hotel Apartments Oyster Restaurant, 6 PM-10 PM

Sunday, February 7 Drink ‘n Draw @ Show Box Bar, #11 Street 330 House Sensation @Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172

DJ Shaman playing deep funky house music Chinese New Year Seafood

Buffet @Himawari Hotel Apartments Oyster Restaurant, 6 PM-10 PM

Fresh seafood, barbequedmeats, local Khmer delights and international favourites. Includes complimentary Yu Sheng and 1 glass of Apsara Gold craft beer. $23++ for adult, $11.50++ for child below 12 years old. For reservations call 016 871766/016 871 756 or email fnb.coordinator@himawari.com.kh

Monday, February 8 Pulsation @Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172, 12 AM – 3 AM

Rob Bianche playing Tech Funk & Breaks

Tuesday, February 9 Soul Sonic Groove @Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172, 12 AM – 3 AM

Alan Ritchie playing Soul, Funk, Hip Hop & Breaks

Wednesday, February 10 Super Smash Bros Wii Tournament @Eluvium Lounge, 205A Street 19, 7 PM warm ups, 8 PM tournament

Exhibitions Ongoing: IN/Visible @Meta House, Meta House, #37

DO WE HAVE YOUR

Please email all details to James.reddick 8

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WEEKLY Phnom Penh

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 04, 2016

Around Town About the long-form comics work of Nicki Greenberg, Mandy Ord, Pat Grant and Bruce Mutard. This documentary takes us on a tour of the fascinating world of comics in Australia. @Meta House, #37 Sothearos Boulevard Shanghai Ghetto (2002, 97 mins), 4 PM:

The stories of German Jews who were able to escape Nazi Germany in the 1930’s by taking advantage of a loophole in passport operations in Japanese-occupied China. @French Institute, 216 Street 184 Ange et Gabrielle (2015, 91 mins, FR & KH), 6:30 PM

Gabrielle is a single mother and raises her daughter Claire alone. Claire is 17, and pregnant, and as Simon, her boyfriend, refuses to help her, Gabrielle goes to his father for help.

Saturday, February 6 @Bophana Center, 200 Oknha Men Sothearos Boulevard,

Photographer Ann-Christine Woehrl focuses on acid attack victims from Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Pakistan, Uganda and India. The venue will also screen films about acid victims from Cambodia and other countries. Dominique Tricoire @The Mansion, 363 Sisowath Quay, exhibit until February 17

The Insider Gallery at InterContinental Phnom Penh, 296 Mao Tse Toung Boulevard, until February 7, 2016

French artist Thomas-Pierre presents a series in which orchids are the leitmotif of the compositions. The artist combines colors and tattoo graphics.

The Disappearance, Free

Java Cafe, 56 Sihanouk Boulevard, until February 28 The Disappearance is a body of work by Nicolas C. Grey using pen, ink, collage and found photographs and objects. The exhibition has been composed as an installation – each work is experienced in relation to the other.

Landscape of Time Sa Sa Bassac, #18ED2Sothearos Boulevard, until February 6 Orchids and Tattoos

UR EVENT LISTED?

Directed by Norodom Sihanouk, the film portrays two orphans living in a village when Khmer Rouge commandos arrive.

@Meta House, #37 Sothearos Boulevard Bomb Harvest (2007, 55 mins), 4 PM:

A River Changes Course (2013, 83 mins), 7 PM:

The story of three families living in contemporary Cambodia as they face hard choices forced by rapid development and struggle to maintain their traditional ways of life as the modern world closes in around them.

Friday, February 5

k@khmertimeskh.com by Monday at 5pm

The Girl on the Train (2008, 105 mins, FR with EN subtitles), 2:00 PM: Based on the true story of a young girl who stunned France when she falsely claimed to be the target of an Anti-Semitic attack.

Tuesday, February 9 Bangkok Girl (2005, 50 mins), 4 PM:

A glimpse of Thailand’s sex tourism told through the eyes of a 19-year-old bar girl. K2 and the Invisible Footmen (2015, 52 mins), 7 PM and Meru (2015, 87 mins): Chronicling the lives of both Pakistani porters and Nepalese sherpas.

@Meta House, #37 Sothearos Boulevard

In the Absence of the Sun (2014, 94 min), 4 PM: A tender, melancholic night is experienced through the eyes of three women from different parts of society as they struggle to find themselves in this ever-changing jungle of Indonesia’s capital Jakarta. Actor’s Tall & Feature Film w/ Tilo Prückner, 7 PM:

Tilo Prückner is a German actor. His career has spanned five decades and more than 100 films. He will speak at Meta House, followed by the screening of the Finnish-Australian-German science fiction comedy IRON SKY (2012, 94 min). @French Institute, 216 Street 184 Belle and Sebastian (2013, 104 mins, FR and EN), 10:00 AM

Wednesday, February 10 Happy (2011, 76 mins), 4 PM: Taking us from the bayous of Louisiana to the deserts of Namibia, from the beaches of Brazil to the villages of Okinawa, “Happy” explores the secrets behind our most valued emotion. Where Have all the Fish Gone? (2013, 25 mins) and Great Gamble on the Mekong (2014, 30 mins) and Mekong (2012, 52 mins):

In a small town lost in the Alps during the Second

Documentary night on the cascade of dams being built on the Mekong river.

The Okhna Walker @ Battbong, Down the alleyway across from Street 51 & Street 288

The film explores the consequences of war in Laos as it follows an Australian bomb disposal specialist.

Graphic Novels! Melbourne! (2012, 72 mins), 7:00 PM

@Bophana Center, 200 Oknha Men

Srovoeng

Thursday, February 4

@Cloud, 32Eo Street 9:

World War, in 1943, orphan boy Sebastian tames an abandoned dog. He calls it Belle, while the shepherds suspect it of attacking their sheeps and name it “the beast”.

Kroeng

Films

Roam! The Plantation, #28 Street 184, until March 5:

A collection of 15 charcoal drawings on craft paper, depicting the impromptu parties held by moonlight in the Cambodian countryside, near Kampot, where Vincent Broustet lives.

Kem and Nit (1994, 76 mins, KH with EN subtitles), 5:00 PM

Sunday, February 7

Ingredients

Johnny Walker Black Lime juice Peach juice Simple syrup Garnish with cherry and orange slice

It’s not every day that a

Black seems to be the

writer gets to drink like

spirit of choice and

an “okhna,” the honor-

the Okhna Walker the

ific used for members

house specialty. At $7,

of the Cambodian elite

for those not within the

who have donated

okhna range, it’s a sp-

more than $100,000 to

endy drink but a tasty

a cause. At Battbong,

concoction. The peach

a new speakeasy style

and lime together cut

joint hidden behind

the scotch’s smoke,

what looks like the door

giving it a tropical

to a 1950s Coca-Cola

flavor.

fridge, Johnny Walker

Khmer for Alcohol the

WEEKLY Phnom Penh

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 04, 2016

Participants at International Day of Yoga on June 21, 2015, in front of Royal Palace in Phnom Penh.

Fabien Mouret

Bringing the 'Wellness' Community Together By Mia Savage

ellness services are well established in the culture of Phnom Penh. Walk down almost any street in the neighborhood of Boeung Keng Kang and you’ll pass by a massage studio. Perhaps you have noticed the distinctive circular marks on the backs of those having recently been treated with traditional Chinese medicine cupping therapy. Wander into Wat Langka one evening and you might see students sitting at the pagoda’s free meditation course. But businesses catering to wellness, defined rather abstractly by The National Wellness Institute in the United States as “a conscious, self-directed and evolving process of achieving full potential,” are blossoming in the Cambodian capital. Yoga studios, organic produce stores, and cafés offering western-style vegetarian and vegan food, though relatively new to the Phnom Penh scene, are growing in popularity. The first yoga studio in Phnom Penh, Nataraj Yoga, opened its doors in 2004. Today, yoga is offered at three dedicated studios as well as

the

WEEKLY Phnom Penh

gyms and hotels around the city. With little effort, you can pop into your choice of organic vegetable shops along Street 63, then feast on plantbased food and raw desserts at the vegetarian restaurants scattered around Phnom Penh. Qualified counselors, physical therapists, and fitness instructors offer their services around the city. Yet, despite its vibrancy, Phnom Penh’s wellness community remains disconnected, a shortcoming that Emma Fountain, a certified raw chef and nutritionist who is also the brains behind ARTillery and the Backyard Café, hopes to address. That is why she organized the city’s first ever Wellness Weekend, a three-day long free event showcasing the city’s offerings. Fountain wants to give back to the wellness community in Phnom Penh, a city she has had a connection with for the last six years. “The whole idea behind the Wellness Weekend is that it becomes a regular event across Cambodia for both expats and locals who… want to come together with like-minded people to share ideas, resources and knowledge,” she said. This free event, which is the first of its kind in Phnom Penh, aims to highlight to curious locals

and expats alike what there is on offer from the health and wellness community, and allows practitioners to meet and share experiences in healthier ways of living. The Wellness Weekend will be hosted at the Backyard Café on St. 246 near Sothearos Boulevard. Twenty-two local specialists representing 17 different Phnom Penh-based organizations will be volunteering their time to present on food and nutrition, mindfulness, physical activities and natural living. The event will open on Friday evening with a yoga class and close Sunday night with a gathering for women to meditate and honor the first new moon of the lunar year (Full disclosure: I will help lead the latter workshop, as well as one other). The full schedule gives you a choice of 26 different workshops and classes to attend. With this many options, there’s bound to be something for everyone. Overwhelmed by all the choices? The Weekly enlisted the help of Emma Fountain to highlight some picks for the weekend.

play and sweat in a class that emphasizes moving from yoga posture to yoga posture with fluidity and grace. Sign up for this and the other pop-up yoga classes to avoid disappointment. Meet at the Backyard Café where a free tuk-tuk will take you to the yoga studio. If you haven’t pre-booked, not to worry - yoga classes will also be held at the Backyard Café. Saturday Workshops start at the Backyard Café on Saturday at 11 am. Opt for just one, such as Reiki and Energy Healing at 6pm, in which Munira Lam of Samata Health and Wellness will explain a healing technique based on the principle of channeling energy through touch. Or, fill your day from start to finish with workshops titled “Wild Yoga, Wild Heart”, “Slowing Urban Momentum by Cultivating Curiosity”, “Osteopathy and Physiotherapy Focused on Back Pain Management”, and simply, “Meditation”. Sunday

Friday Begin your weekend in a gentle flow yoga class on Friday at 6:15pm, where you will

Sunday boasts another full day of talks, again beginning at 11 am. A presentation on natural beauty products at

11:30 am by Sally of Saari may give you some easy tips to bring home with you. Other workshop titles range from “Aromatherapy and Massage Therapy” with Jean Claude at noon, “Living an Authentic Life” with Jodi Chee at 2:00 pm, “The Art of Jiu-Jitsu” with JJB Cambodia at 3:30 pm, and “Zumba and Fitness” with Mabel Tejada at 6 pm. A popular option is Sunday’s “Fly Fit Yoga” session with Alison Hawkins of Yoga! Phnom Penh, in which you can explore backbends and inversions with the support of a yoga swing, a yoga prop that looks like a large hammock. Due to popular demand this class now has a second session and at the time of writing is almost fully booked up. Wondering where you might eat? The Backyard Café will be offering discounts for participants of the Wellness Weekend. Munch on free samples of their menu fare as you choose from a wide range of fresh, wholesome, healthy foods at the self-described home of healthy food in Cambodia. With the range of wellness topics represented, delicious eats at a discount, and free admission, this event is not to be missed. Learn more about the Wellness Weekend on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ events/533719680142986/.

By Maddy Crowell

hinese House may seem removed from the rest of Phnom Penh – it sits north of the city in a mustard yellow building behind the quiet foliage of trees off Preah Sisowath Quay – but that certainly doesn’t deter crowds from finding it. The name “Chinese House” comes from the building’s heritage: it was constructed in 1904 as a warehouse for Chinese merchants. “I’ve been living in Asia a long time, and the first time I saw Chinese House I fell in love with it,” said Benjamin Thomalla, a South African expat who is currently the general manager for Chinese House. “Then an opportunity came up.”

Fabien Mouret

Global Influences Keep It ‘Fresh’ at Chinese House

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 04, 2016

Last year was the 111th anniversary for the building – a golden, airy French-design held up by ancient white Chinese pillars and roofing embedded in a fern garden. “111 is an important symbol in Chinese numerology, so we decided to do a major renovation this year to celebrate,” Thomalla said. “We scraped these walls for two inches until we found the right style.” The interior of the building looks like the inside of a Vogue catalogue, and fosters the sort of cultural hodgepodge the building has witnessed since its inception. The floor is tiled with blue fleur-de-lis plaits and wooden French windows, while bright Chinese paintings line the antique walls. In the back, a wine cellar quietly houses imported bottles that start at

WE RESPECT TRADITIONS, THE OLDEST ITALIAN TRADITIONS. - IL FORNO RESTAURANT & WINERY #11 STREET 302, BKK1 +855 10 66 05 15

$20 and reach astronomical prices. And it’s all inside one of the most ambient factories I’ve ever visited. “We wanted to make the building very family-oriented, with family-style dining. It’s a pretty unique space, and we’re constantly renovating to ‘keep it fresh,’ as the cliché goes,”

I’ve been living around Southeast Asia for five years, and I try to put my South African roots on it. Thomalla said as we took a tour of the building. Upstairs held long rows of white-clothed

Amy Baard (right) with BenjaminThomalla (left)

tables and a more private room overlooking the river. Before Thomalla took over in September 2015, the restaurant served South American food. Prior to 2011, however, the space existed as a bar and gallery to showcase local and regional musicians. Thomalla has tried to preserve the House’s history and music culture, bringing in a live orchestra every Wednesday and a DJ on Fridays, but the space is primarily a restaurant – and one in which head chef Amy Baard has taken a creative license for experimental dishes. The name “Chinese House”

protects the House’s heritage, but the restaurant is hardly Chinese – the menu is a creative fusion of pan-Asian pacific cuisine. “Chef Amy uses bold flavors and colors,” Thomalla added. That includes specials like the “Special Bubba Gump” – a kilo of prawns made with saltpepper lime, kim chi aioli, roast garlic mayo, ginger soy, chili and wasabi. Special creative tapas are served for brunch. And this week features a special 5-course set menu in honor of the Chinese New Year: egg-noodle wonton soup, steamed egg custard, Peking duck pancakes, braised beef brisket and mango custard. “I’ve been living around Southeast Asia for five years, and I try to put my South African roots on it. The food is playful, energetic, bright, young. I found that South African cuisine works well with Asian cuisine because of the Malay trade route in South Africa,” Baard explained. “There’s a lot of sweet mixed with spice, and I add a little Indian influence too!” the

WEEKLY Phnom Penh