Worst Things About Phnom Penh

My last blog post focused on the best things about Phnom Penh.  Now it's time for the worst...

The worst thing about Phnom Penh is the prevalence of bag snatching.  I've been here just over 7 months and I already know 7 people who have been victims of attempted or successful bag snatchings. The most common snatching scenario is you'll be riding in a tuk tuk or walking down the street, and someone on a moto will drive up close, grab your bag, and speed off.  Whenever I'm out and about with a bag, I'm on high alert.

So, if I'm worried about bag snatching, why don't I just drive more?  The next worst thing about Phnom Penh is driving.  I've already talked a bit about the driving in a previous post.  In addition to the fabulous habits of turning into oncoming traffic and only looking forward (never to the side or heaven forbid in the rearview mirror), Cambodian drivers are compelled to keep moving forward into all available space, even if it is completely unsafe, inconveniences others, or snarls everyone into a traffic jam.  The other night, I was in the far left lane with my left turn signal on, waiting for an opening in oncoming traffic to make my left turn.  However, motos kept coming up from behind and passing me on the left.  You seriously need to have nerves of steel and eyes on the back of your head to drive safely around here!

Back out of the car, I find myself on foot.  Sadly, walking is only slightly less worse than driving.  First, there is the aforementioned bag snatching concern.  Second, it's rare to be able to walk a full block on the sidewalk, due to drivers parking on the sidewalk:

or creative gardeners planting vegetation smack in the middle of the sidewalk: 

These obstacles mean I'm constantly having to weave back and forth from sidewalk to road.  Added to this, it's nearly impossible to enjoy a quiet walk without being hailed by eager businessmen:  "Hello! Tuk Tuk?" or "Moto Madame?"

All of these factors play into what could be the worst situation.  It's very easy for me to ride my tuk tuk into work, stay in the Embassy building all day, carpool home with a colleague, and then spend the entire evening in my 8th floor apartment, avoiding all bag snatching, driving, and walking, but also not interacting with the city around me.  So, that will be my challenge:  to rise above these annoyances - possibly even embrace them - to enjoy the many good things Phnom Penh has to offer.

Best Things About Phnom Penh

The best thing about Phnom Penh is the number of different restaurants to choose from.  That may sound trivial, but in much of the developing world, restaurant options can be pretty slim.  We can never even hope to sample all of the restaurants in Phnom Penh in our remaining 18 months here.  Just in walking distance from our house we can eat Peruvian, Indian, Italian, Burmese, French, Australian, American, Lebanese, Sushi, and Cambodian.

But if we're too lazy to walk outside, we can take advantage of the next best thing in Phnom Penh.  Door 2 Door is a pocket booklet with menus of more than 50 restaurants that deliver right to our home or office.  All of the cuisines I mentioned above, and more, are no more than a phone call away.  And if all we're craving is a latte...no problem.  The local coffee shops will deliver as small an order as a single beverage.

After all this eating, sometimes we just need to sit in a comfy chair with our feet up, which brings us to the final great thing about Phnom Penh.  Just half a block from our house, we can get a one-hour foot massage for only $10.  Our favorite spa charges a mere $8, but it's a whole 6 blocks away.  I usually let the weather decide for me...if the sky is clear, I walk the six blocks; if it looks like rain, I stay close by.  Here I am looking relaxed and refreshed outside the spa after a recent massage.  Three cheers to Phnom Penh!

Krolan and Dolphins in Kratie

My trip to Kratie to observe the elections was my first overnight trip to "the provinces" - which is what Cambodians call everywhere in the country except Phnom Penh, Angkor Wat, and the southern beach towns.  It was a bumpy five-hour drive with multiple Mekong river crossings along the way.

One of the culinary specialities of Kratie is called krolan.  Krolan is a concoction of sticky rice, coconut milk, and a few black-eyed peas steamed inside a bamboo tube.  Vendors sold it by the kilo all along the road.

To get to the sweet insides, you peel the bamboo down like a banana and break off a chunk with your fingers.  Eating a whole tube felt like a full meal!

When our election observing duties were finished, we had time for the principal tourist activity in Kratie: seeing the rare freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin.  The dolphin boat dock was marked by this Leaning Statue of Dolphin.

The dolphins were actually incredibly hard to see!  They slid in and out of the water without a sound, so if I wasn't already looking in the right direction, I totally missed them.  I tried and tried and the best photo I could get was this dorsal fin before the dolphin disappeared under the water again.

I Voted

Last weekend, I traveled to Kratie Province as part of a team of diplomatic site visitors observing the Cambodian National Elections.  As observers, our role was simply to watch and report on what we saw happening on election day.  We could ask questions, but we were not there to act as enforcers of proper polling practices...although we would closely watch the polling officials and note if they failed to follow correct procedures.

On election day, we were on the road at 6:30 am to arrive at our first polling station before voting officially opened at 7:00 am.  We watched as polling officials prepared the polling station and then opened the doors to the first voters.  Even this early in the morning, many Cambodians had already arrived to vote. 

The first step of the voting process was to review the posted list outside the polling station to ensure you had come to the polling station where you were registered.  Then staff reviewed your photo ID and gave you a paper ballot.  You took the paper ballot behind a small screen to mark your vote, and then dropped it into the ballot box.  The final step was to dip your finger into a jar of ink.

Watching this whole process made me realize that the last time I physically went to the polls was almost 10 years ago.  In my state of Oregon, we have voting by mail.  About 6 weeks before election day, my ballot would arrive in the mail.  I usually filled out my ballot in front of my computer, pulling up candidate web pages and reading the pros and cons of ballot initiatives as I marked down my choices.  Then I could either mail my ballot back to the voting division, or drop it in one of numerous drop boxes around the city.

This process led to more informed voting, because I could research my options as I voted.  

But by filling my ballot out in solitude, I missed out on the active sense of carrying out my civic duty in community with my neighbors.  The voters I witnessed in Kratie were clearly happy and proud to perform this duty.  As the polls closed, I couldn't resist joining in.  I dipped my finger into the ink jar, pulling out a purple finger as a statement of fellowship with the voters of Cambodia.

Living High On The Duck

Last night Jeremy and I dined at The Duck Restaurant.  We had heard of the restaurant before but had never been.  Despite the name, The Duck does not usually have duck on the menu.  But last night, they put together a special duck extravaganza.  Since Jeremy and I are both duck lovers, we had to check it out.

And we were not disappointed.  Every dish prominently featured duck.  To start with, we had two of Jeremy's favorites: pate and fois gras.  They were accompanied by a cool watermelon shooter.

My favorite was the duck leg confit salad.  There's really not anything else to say about it except YUM!

One of the more amusing aspects of the dinner was that two of the diners at our table are actually duck-haters and didn't realize the meal was going to be all about duck.  Here's our friend Ashok dubiously inspecting his meal in a vain attempt to find something other than duck!

The duck fest included a special wine pairing with each course.  The meal was five courses, plus we were welcomed at the door with a glass of sparkling wine.  So we were just feeling better and better as the night went on! 

Even the dessert featured duck...although thankfully it was in the form of an artistic cocoa drawing next to our chocolate Bavarian cream.

An Explosive Day

An important facet of the United States government’s aid to Cambodia is to assist in detecting, extracting, and neutralizing unexploded ordnances (UXO). Although much progress has been made, Cambodia’s countryside is still rife with UXO left over from more than two decades of conflict. These UXO include undetonated bombs from the United States bombing campaign of North Vietnamese camps in Cambodia; further munitions in the initial war to prevent the Khmer Rouge from gaining strength; and extensive mines laid after the Vietnamese forced the Khmer Rouge out of power.

Last week, I went on a site visit to see some of the de-mining activities funded by the U.S. government. I got to see a bunch of cool machines, a huge amount of UXO, and a few explosions.

If an area is thick with vegetation, a machine called the Nemesis can chew through a bush in seconds. This machine can be operated remotely and withstand the blast of an anti-personnel mine.

With the vegetation gone, technicians with metal detectors move in to systematically sweep the area. The metal detectors employ a special radar that can identify possible mines from random scraps of metal.

Or bomb-sniffing dogs are called in …

UXO that are found and can be safely removed are held at a storage site until they can be safely disposed. The storage site we visited had literally piles of UXO.

Some of these UXO are cut in two so that the interior explosive material can be extracted and remanufactured into small charges that are used to explode UXO in the field in a controlled manner. In the photo below, I’m holding a replica of one of the charges.

Finally, to end the day with a boom, we watched the charges blow up some anti-tank mines.

The Restaurant with No Kitchen

Recently we ventured out to sample a new restaurant in Phnom Penh.  It seemed like a cute place at first.  The main feature of the decor was multiple aquariums filled with tiny blue fish.  The menu looked good too - including both Japanese udon noodles as well as Western cuisine such as burgers, sandwiches, and pasta.  

Our first stumbling block was when Jeremy ordered a draught beer.  The server went over to the bar and we heard the telltale dry gurgle of a tapped keg.  He settled for a can.

Then one of our friends used the rest room and walked around the restaurant a bit.  Noticing something strange, she asked the servers, "Where is the kitchen?"  And the servers replied "Oh, we don't have a kitchen.  We ordered your food from a restaurant down the street."  We couldn't believe it!  We were familiar with the restaurant the food was coming from, so if we had known that, we would have just gone there to get our food hot out of the oven.

But at that point, we figured we had already ordered and should try to make the best of it.  However, things just went downhill from there.  The servers got our drink order wrong and never did get it right.  We watched our food come in through the front door in plastic bags and then waited for it to be plated and brought to us.  When we asked for salt and pepper, the servers apologized that the other restaurant didn't provided them with salt and pepper.

Finally the servers brought us the check, and as we expected, it was wrong.  Three of our meals were supposed to come with a free beer.  But we had been charged for all beers.  The servers seemed to say that the other restaurant hadn't provided the beer like they were supposed to, so we couldn't get them free.  But we weren't going to accept a bait and switch from what was clearly stated in the menu.  After having to call over the owner, our bill was finally adjusted and we were able to leave the strangest restaurant we've ever experienced.  

We contemplated telling the owner that he needed to completely revamp his business model, but our brief encounter over the check showed that any advice about our dining experience would not sink in.  I actually felt quite bad for the servers.  They were really trying very hard to please, but were stuck in a situation destined for failure.  My bet is the restaurant without a kitchen will meet that exact fate - complete failure - within six months.