Category Archives: Phnom Penh
From Cambodia to the London Riots in a Day
I’ve been asked to write a little reflection on my first impression on returning ‘home’ to England after being settled for seven years in Cambodia. Had it been any other time and any other place, this might have been some…
Cheap and Cheerful Places to Eat, Cambodia Style
When I first arrived in Phnom Penh, all I wanted from a restaurant was air-conditioning. Nothing appealed to me on the riverfront. I hadn’t yet discovered Brown’s or Vego. And the last place I wanted to be was anywhere near…
Water Festival Memories
On the Saturday afternoon of Water Festival a couple of years back, once it was cool enough to emerge into the late afternoon sun and well after the day’s competitive paddle up and down the city’s waterway had concluded, I’d…
Phnom Penh Restaurant Reviews: Malis
I am greeted at the entrance of Malis restaurant by a life-sized meditating God-King statue whose presence is akin to the Chinese “spirit wall” which stands in front of the doors of buildings functioning to block evil spirits from passing…
Al Rockoff, Gerard Depardieu, Monsieur Brick etc
A possibly apocryphal tale making the rounds concerned Al Rockoff and the editors at the Phnom Penh Post. As everyone knows, Al deprecates the way he was portrayed by John Malkovich in The Killing Fields. Not hard to see why—it…
Cambodia’s Long Journey Towards ‘Relative’ Normality
Modern residency units in Phnom Penh now come in a variety of shapes and sizes and prices, but back in the early 1990s when UNTAC invaded town, it rapidly became apparent that there weren’t many units available that any foreigners…
Cambodia Photo of the Day
Get the backstory here. And a big hat tip to LTO for the image.
Squaresville 2 – Messieurs, les jeux sont faits!
Former Cambodia Daily staffer Kevin Halligan recalls 1990s Phnom Penh After the coup, or restructuring or whatever you want to call it, lots of foreigners stayed on but many left. Nine months later I was hanging out at the lake,…
Squaresville
Time Magazine called Phnom Penh the ‘Casablanca of the Nineties’. Ex Cambodia Daily staffer Kevin Halligan aka Khmerhit looks back and wonders. Living in a college town is fine for a few years—that is, until the day you wake up…
Phnom Penh Pet Peeves
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Many people arrive on these shores and feel instantly enamored by the place, and as they settle in are often ‘rosy-eyed’ and forgiving towards any unfamiliar customs or behavior they encounter. It is only far later, when everything becomes commonplace…