One-street shopping in Phnom Penh for the festive season

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Susan Haythorpe

Street 240 is a gift for Christmas shoppers! Christmas is coming, you can’t rely on Santa to do all the work, and time is running out. Forget the lookalike malls, there’s a pleasant, leafy avenue in Phnom Penh near the Royal Palace, where you can meet almost all your seasonal shopping requirements and then be spoiled for your choice of a lunch venue.

Need to get into the holiday spirit? Street 240 is where it’s at.

On Street 240, off Norodom Boulevard and close to the royal palace, lies a 200-meter-or-so stretch of retail joy. A hub for independent stores, many of which are social businesses with sustainable credentials so you can put something back into the community as you spend. Crammed into characterful colonial shop houses you’ll find everything from cute toys, stylish, individual clothing, and striking jewelry collections, to up-market interiors, hand-made homewares, and natural health and beauty products. Some brands you may know from other Phnom Penh locations, many you won’t. Continue reading →

Airbnb party pads near Phnom Penh

Posted on November 21, 2023 by Pete Ford

Cambodia has some truly fantastic accommodation options. Hotel rooms of all size and price in towns, true family homestays for the more adventurous in places like Sambor Prei Kuk and Chi Phat, and tented glamping in the Cardamoms for the even more adventurous. But sometimes something different is needed, especially if searching for that special place for a party or event. And yes, I’ve stayed in all three!

Hanging out poolside at a Kandal province villa

A villa in Kandal province is just what the doctor ordered.

To truly see how Cambodia’s wealthy spend their weekends out of the city, experience a safe place to party and play as you wish, or just a wide space for children and pets to run around in safety, then there are some fantastic Airbnb options available across the Kingdom.

Earlier this month, just such a venue was required to host a brief return to Cambodia and a chance to catch up with old friends. Enter La Maison du Bassac’s water-front location on the Bassac River overlooking Anloung Chen Island, and its four-bedroom villa. Surrounded by trees and a grassy area big enough to attempt some ultimate frisbee, it was the perfect spot to reconnect with old friends for BBQ, music, board games, and more energetic fun in the fantastic pool.

La Maison du Bassac’s water-front location overlooking Anloung Chen Island.

The silence of rural Cambodia at night – the early morning wedding music in a nearby village a reminder than nowhere is truly quiet in the Kingdom – the fresh air in these bucolic surrounds, and birdsong all helped to create a vibe that felt much further removed from Phnom Penh than the hour-long tuktuk ride it was.

La maison du Bassac – Villa in Svay Rolum, Kandal

Get out of the city and into a four-bedroom villa!

A less elaborate Phnom-Penh escape, but still a noticeable break from the city is the architect-owned home at the northern end of Silk Island. With a fantastic open-plan kitchen and living room, it’s the perfect spot for a dinner party with a difference:

Arboris Entire Wooden Villa +1500m² Private Garden – Cabin in Kandal

For the ultimate party pad – albeit a little further from Phnom Penh – Villa Des Palms in Kep is hard to beat with its two swimming pools, bedrooms seemingly everywhere, and a glimpse of the Gulf of Thailand over the tops of the trees that surround it. And breakfast is provided. What more can anyone ask!

Villa des Palmes in Kep – Villa in Kep

 

Maloop Garden – Phnom Penh’s permanent green treat?

Posted on August 3, 2023 by Pete Ford

The capital has a worthy successor to Odom Garden – and one that will hopefully survive longer as a vital green oasis to recharge mental batteries to face life in the foliage-deprived city. While Odom was doomed from the start as a cruel marketing stunt to sell an expensive apartment complex, Maloop Garden feels different. Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking. And I’m certainly not bitter about the loss of Odom.

Please stay forever, garden restaurant. Pete can’t take anymore pain.

Billing itself as “a small city park that offers a café, bar, and inhouse restaurant with local inspired dishes,” and run by the same team as Russian Market’s Kinin and Nesat, the verdant location in nearby Boung Tumpoun is a delight. And raises the important question of, “why can’t Phnom Penh ever have more than one nice green space at once?” Continue reading →

Review: Caucasus Georgian Restaurant, Siem Reap

Posted on July 6, 2023 by Lina Goldberg

I love Georgian food. I have never actually been to Georgia, but I have multiple Georgian cookbooks and I’ve eaten Georgian cuisine at highly regarded restaurants in New York, London, and Ukraine. (I’ve heard that the Georgian food in Ukraine is better than in Georgia, though I have no idea if that’s true.) So imagine my surprise when I found the best Georgian food I’ve ever had in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Katchapuri, a delicious cheesy Georgian bread (the country not the state!)

The word supra in Georgian literally means tablecloth, but it has come to signify a Georgian feast with a table laden with traditional dishes. This is exactly what we got at Caucasus, a restaurant on Siem Reap’s Bamboo Street run by a Georgian family. The menu features all of the traditional favorites, including khachapuri, a boat-shaped bread filled with melted cheese and, sometimes, egg, and khinkali, meat-stuffed dumplings. Continue reading →

Mind your language! Learning Khmer in Phnom Penh

Posted on June 10, 2023 by Susan Haythorpe

“Jum riab sua. Knom chmuah Susan.” Likely the first words you’ll be taught (minus the ‘Susan’ unless that happens to be your name too) when you embark on the sometimes frustrating but ultimately rewarding journey to learning Khmer.

Living in Phnom Penh? Why not work on learning Khmer?

It’s fair to say that if you want to acquire a better understanding of a country and its culture you need to learn the language, and not just because it makes for more satisfying conversation with local people. A tutor told me you need a smiling face to pronounce many Khmer words — how lovely is that, a language that needs a smile to be spoken correctly? Continue reading →

Rabies! Or what to do if you get bitten by a dog in Cambodia

Posted on April 26, 2023 by Lina Goldberg

Recently I was bitten by a dog in Siem Reap. It was a dog who was known to me, a dog I had pet with no issue a few days before, and a dog I was fairly certain had received at least one rabies vaccination a couple of years earlier. But the bite broke the skin, there was a little bit of blood, and I was yet again faced with the question, do I really need to get more rabies shots?

Don’t pet strange dogs, even if they are adorable.

This is a question that many people living in and visiting Cambodia have. The hassle of getting a series of rabies shots can seem onerous, and the risk miniscule. But after talking to friends and a few friendly doctors, I quickly came to realize that rabies is one of the few illnesses that you don’t want to mess around with. Continue reading →

Guilt-free shopping at Phnom Penh’s new Eco concept store

Posted on April 17, 2023 by Susan Haythorpe

For those of us who love a spot of retail therapy there’s only one thing better than a shopping trip — and that’s the opportunity to shop sustainably in the knowledge you’re supporting some of the most eco-friendly brands in Cambodia.

Sandy Kotan at the Be Eco! opening in Phnom Penh.

Be Eco! is Phnom Penh’s new, go-to marketplace for sustainably and ethically produced and retailed goods. The brainchild of Sandy Kotan, eco zealot and owner of the company Only One Planet, it brings together under one roof an array of products — from clothing and handicrafts to kids stuff and homewares — from over twenty very different sustainable businesses with a shared social conscience. Continue reading →

Review: Cuisine Wat Damnak, Phnom Penh

Posted on March 28, 2023 by Lina Goldberg

It’s no secret that Cuisine Wat Damnak is my favorite restaurant in Siem Reap, but I wondered if the Phnom Penh branch, which opened during the pandemic, could possibly be as good. Happily, I only have positive things to report.

Sampling lunch at Cuisine Wat Damnak in Phnom Penh.

Cuisine Wat Damnak’s philosophy is that terroir defines authentic Cambodian flavors — that fish from the Tonle Sap and herbs foraged in the provinces will always produce a superior dish. They use local ingredients to create traditional Cambodian flavors, combined and prepared in creative and non-traditional ways. Continue reading →