Khmer Diary

[fwstallionsandy]

This is fantastic bro Faidenk! Read through your posts with great interest, but have not finished all. Would be great if there is a PDF I can download

I am planning to go to Combodia in March to visit PP. Is it a good time of the year to go? Has the rain season started in March yet?

[ladiesassasin]

Bro Faidenk,

long time never hear from u, how r u doing at PP?

Anything to share for newbies like me?

[Faidenk]

Originally Posted by ladiesassasin

Bro Faidenk,

long time never hear from u, how r u doing at PP?

Anything to share for newbies like me?

Passing the days, usually uneventful. Making new acquaintances, friends. Learning, and more learning. Even at this ripe age.

Anyways, I like to share some observations of everyday life in this quaint city of Phnom Penh. It occurred to me that there are many businesses you would not find in Singapore, like -

Motorcycle washing - anyone with a small shop space, family living room, any space with a thatched roof can run one. Usually accommodates up to 4 or 5 bikes at any one time. Small hydraulic platforms designed just large enough to prop the bike up on its bi-stand, a water pump, some plastic chairs and you’re in business. Of course migrant workers from the provinces paid $50 a month. The wash costs a mere 3,000 riel about 0.75 USD.

And oh, the plastic chairs are for customers waiting for their bikes to be washed.

Gas refilling service - You know those disposable gas canisters for the hotpots? Most hotpot restaurants, and they very popular here in PP, use and reuse the canisters. No idea how much it costs to refill one.

Tire inflating service - one very noticeable absence in petrol stations is the air pumps. Motorists get their tires inflated at makeshift stalls by the roadsides. With nothing more than a diesel compressor, all they do is inflating tires. The guy starts up the diesel, inflates your tires, sometimes checking the pressure with a gauge, sometimes not, collects your 1,000 riel and off you go.

Petrol - another quaint business is sales of petrol in 1 liter bottles. They cost slightly cheaper than regular petrol stations, I was told the bottles are imported from Vietnam and the actual capacity of the bottles is slightly less than implied due to the thickness of the glass. No way for me to test the rumors.

Happy pizzas - there are on the touristy Sothearos Blvd, commonly known as the Riverside, 4 shops selling Happy Pizzas. Just regular pizzas, but for a little bit more you could order them Happy. The happy ingredient is ganja.

The original Happy Pizza was located at the Boeung Kak Lake, a backpackers haven. The lake is now filled in and its residents evicted, mostly without compensation, a typical example of land grabbing in Cambodia. The case is still pending in the courts but we all know what money and power can do in here.

But back to the happiness, the original business relocated itself on the riverside and today 3 other happy pizza shops neighbored it. There is another few or so nearby.



While smoking the herb is illegal, by some strange legal reasoning consuming it as a ingredient is not. So if you're in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville, there's more than just cheap beer and liquors, ciggies, ladies to make you happy. And, BTW, your friendly tuk tuk driver along the riverside makes good procurement officers if you are so inclined. Last I heard, it costs $12 for a ziplock bag measuring some 12 by 8 cm.

Cambodia Securities Exchange - a little off topic but deserves a little mention. CSX was launched in April last year and the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority became the first company to register itself on the bourse. The large LCD screen installed at the junction of Mornivong and Russian Federation boulevards displays the daily stock movements. Since its inception, the numbers displayed has been very, very constant. Zero up, zero down.

The brokerage companies which rushed in to secure themselves a license must be kicking themselves in all available places, considering, if one is in the know of how licenses are secured in Cambodia, the huge amount they must have paid over and under the counters.

That’s about all for now. Cheers

[adidas88]

superb writing .... kudos to u, bro faidenk ...
it is indeed a good read and i was so immerse in it that i "chased" and finished reading the 26 pages this afternoon ...

[ladiesassasin]

Bro Faidenk,

another excellent piece of write up from u!!!

Can I meet you up when I in Cambodia? u r the guy that I believe a lot of samasters would like to meet up.

[Faidenk]

Originally Posted by ladiesassasin

Bro Faidenk,

another excellent piece of write up from u!!!

Can I meet you up when I in Cambodia? u r the guy that I believe a lot of samasters would like to meet up.

If it doesn't coincide with visits from my principal or otherwise preoccupied, it should be fine. Will PM you.

[ladiesassasin]

Received, many thanks!

good luck!

[ladiesassasin]

__!!!!!!!__ 财神到！
o(=_= )o 福星照!
(,)(¡¡¡)(,) 恭祝你!
|_@_| 好运到!
祝您…横财就手,万事顺意, 身体健康,心想事成, 四季平安, 万事大吉又大利.

[Faidenk]

Originally Posted by ladiesassasin

__!!!!!!!__ 财神到！
o(=_= )o 福星照!
(,)(¡¡¡)(,) 恭祝你!
|_@_| 好运到!
祝您…横财就手,万事顺意, 身体健康,心想事成, 四季平安, 万事大吉又大利.

Or kun ch'ren, on (since I'm older)

[Summerhillt]

Happy cny to you Uncle Faidenk ! Sorry if i called you uncle , because reading from your posts your really more senior than me!

Loved your blog post on your exp in cambodia.. personally i've been to cambodia 3x before.. all before i turned 19.. alone.. haha back than had a cambodian gf .. first time was doing chairty work.


Hope your biz is doing well and hope to visit PP again...

[KonKam]

Originally Posted by Faidenk

Thank you for that.

One of the tricks I used for the BKT was mashing garlic, lots of it in the soup, in addition to whole garlic, to bring out that heavenly garlicky flavour. Although the soup will not be clear like those in SG, the garlic usually settled in the bottom of the bowl but nobody has ever raised any objection to that, I guess the taste overwrites all else.

Another was to rub salt on the ribs for an hour or so, and rinse the excess salt off before putting it into the soup. I simmer the ribs for about 30 minutes, not longer as I like some 'bite' on the ribs. I detest the 'fall-off-the-bone' texture, the meat thus cooked, although tender, lacks taste and 'bite'. Finally a few pieces of dang gui for that hint of sweetness, no sugar for me.

Once the pot is ready I switch off the heat. When ordered, the portion is individually heated again.

Thank you Sifu Faidenk for sharing the secret to his BKT.

[Faidenk]

Originally Posted by KonKam

Thank you Sifu Faidenk for sharing the secret to his BKT.

I hope you will try out the recipe. Many people told me it's very unorthodox but I always believe in cooking, it's all about the taste. There's really no right or wrong, as long as it taste good.

Cooking is like a game of pool or golf, same equipment, different lay of the playing table or field. Experiment, experiment and more experiment.

I've gone through many cookbooks, some are excellent but in many, I find the recipes overly simplified. I like those that gives tiny details like why the chicken needs to be salted first, or why adding a bay leaf or 2 enhances the flavor; or WTF is a bay leave. You know, that kind of trivia. Pity the Food Channel is unavailable here in PP.

[boysaigon]

Cooking is like a game of pool or golf, same equipment, different lay of the playing table or field. Experiment, experiment and more experiment.

Did i hear POOL? oh boy, dont even try your luck. Uncle Faidenk may chop you into chunks smaller than his bak kut; you will get your hot soup nonetheless

[Faidenk]

Originally Posted by boysaigon

Cooking is like a game of pool or golf, same equipment, different lay of the playing table or field. Experiment, experiment and more experiment.

Did i hear POOL? oh boy, dont even try your luck. Uncle Faidenk may chop you into chunks smaller than his bak kut; you will get your hot soup nonetheless

Haha, you speak too highly of my pathetic pool skills (or lack of). Some days play like a champ, the next, like a chimp.

Incidentally, I won the 9 ball comp last night at the Pickled parrot. Lucky to be playing a very good player who had laid off the game for about 6 months,. Even then, he ran out the first game from number 2 ball. I snooked him a couple of time in the second and played lots of good safety on the 9, but he got impatient and left me a long 9 with the white kissing the rail. I was surprised the balls behaved exactly as I wanted.

In the 3rd and final, after many good potting from both of us, he rattled the 7 at the jaw and I cleared up. And so, I have another $50 credit on my bar tab.

Last week's I was out the first round. Really disgusting and pathetic play from me.

It's good clean fun at the Parrot, hardly any sore losers. Graham, the Aussie boss, loves the game, besides motorcrossing, and keeps the table spick and span.

Oh one thing about the lady players in Phnom Penh, they're bloody good shooters. They may not know anything about positioning, English, safety or importance of having angles, but I sure won't win potting straight shots with them. Cheers

[boysaigon]

i was fortunate to have tried both your pool (skill) and your BKT...lets hope i get to sample more little pleasures of life when we next meet again...cheers