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Phnom
Penh (Ah!) Travel Tips - Faces & Places - August 2004
Monday August 30, 2004 Visit Phnom Penh - Where To Go What To See - Mekong Express VIP Bus Phnom Penh/Siem Reap - IOM On The Move - Martini's Shut Down Again - Riverhouse Lounge Once Shut Now Open - Lucky Market Has Weight Problems - What's Up With Lucky? - Big A # 1 for??? - Kiwi Strikes Back VISIT PHNOM PENH - WHERE TO GO WHAT TO SEE Many tourists that visit Cambodia come only to see Angkor Wat. For many taking the time to visit Phnom Penh seems pointless. The most asked question from those that choose not to visit Phnom Penh is… what is there to see? It's a question that comes up frequently. This time the answer is SAME, SAME. Not mush has changed. For a tourist there are limited choices. On the positive side there is the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and the National Museum. After that you are left with the countries museums of death, The Killing Fields and Toul Sleng prison. The city has spruced up the parks and walkways though the remains open sewers on the sidewalks that are used as parking areas in may locations. The riverfront continues to be the congregating centerpiece of wining and dining for local expats and tourists alike. The prime area is the block between the FCCC (Foreign Correspondents Club of Cambodia) and the Pon Luck restaurant. Changes are apparent in this block that bears out the bar/restaurant churn in the city. The Wagon Wheel bar/restaurant has been torn down. The area continues to flourish with other dining and drinking spots to entertain any visitor. A full day can be spent by seeing the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda in the morning followed by lunch at one of the numerous riverfront restaurants just two blocks away. After lunch you can visit the National Museum. After that a walk along the river walk can take you within a few blocks of Wat Phnom. There are several bar/restaurants around the Wat. A return walk on the shop side of the riverside road there are shops for clothing, Internet shops and more bars/restaurants. On your second day you could see the Killing Fields in the morning and Toul Sleng in the afternoon. After that you're on your own. Boats at the riverfront opposite the Riverhouse Lounge offer a cruise around the river for $10 per hour. The rate is fixed and good for any number of people up to the boats capacity. A boat captain said his two boats could accommodate forty and eighty persons respectively. For a group of travelers this could be a memorable party experience. For a ten-person group you can rent a party venue for a dollar per person per hour. For arts and culture the Cambodian Daily newspaper has advertisements of current events. The Friday edition contains a list of events for the upcoming week. Those listing include where and when to play basketball, rugby, football and tennis. MEKONG EXPRESS BUS TO SIEM REAP The Mekong Express VIP bus trip from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh is a great way to travel. Clean, comfortable roomy seats, small box lunch, bottled water; toilet and western pop music videos are complimented by a hostess that explains in English points of interest along the way.
The smooth five-hour trip costs $6. Two departures a day early morning and there is also a 12:30pm departure. Mekong Express office is opposite where the boat to Siem Reap departs on Sisowath Quay - Tel: 023-427-518 IOM ON THE MOVE The IOM film and live comedy show on human trafficking is heading for Kampong Cham province this week. IOM's project coordinator John McGeoghan said an average of 2,000 people attended the shows in Battambang and Siem Reap provinces. He added IOM would be training people in 900 villages about trafficking. MARTINI'S SHUT DOWN... AGAIN For the second time in less than two months the famed Martini's nightclub was shuttered. Police claim they are concerned about the safety of one of their prisoners jailed at the prison adjacent to the club. The club was previously closed in May due to redevelopment of the area. Is life fair? In the English Premiere Football League a player can't be moved twice within a three-month period. The problem is Martini's owner Charlie is in the not in the Premiere League, he's in Phnom Penh. He is now left with the decision to continue and find another location or throwing in the towel and quit the business. His decision? Stay tuned.... RIVERHOUSE LOUNGE ONCE SHUTTERED NOW OPEN One of the biggest shocks in the Phnom Penh nightclub business was the closing of the Riverhouse Lounge. Police said they were receiving complaints of noise and shootings. Owner Steven Nyirady said there has never been any shootings ever at the establishment. The club reopened last Wednesday, August 25th. SHOPPING CALTEX/STAR MART LACKING ENGLISH COMPREHENSION? The CalTex/Star Mart mini market has a problem with understanding English. They have an August promotion of buying a bag of potato chips and a coca cola for 75 cents. A customer took the items to the cashier and was informed that the bag of regular salted potato chips he picked out wasn't qualified for the offer. The reason being that the bag had BIG BITE printed on the bag before the word potato chips. Apparently in Star Mart's eyes the words BIG BITE cancels out the words POTATO CHIP. When the customer pointed out that their sign didn't specify any specific flavors the Star Mart employee had no answer. To Star Mart the words potato chip must mean something else in their vernacular. LUCKY WEIGHT PROBLEMS The continuing saga of consumer problems continues at Lucky Markets. The product price fluctuations continue with what is deemed foreigner food taking the major hit with price increases. Now a new twist, the meat labels have been written by had through the month of August. Early in the month they lacked information indicating the cost per kilo and the weight. At the end of the month the price per kilo was noted but the weight remained missing. It raises the question what is a consumer the consumer paying for and WHY CAN'T LUCKY FIX THE WEIGHTS AND MEASURES MACHINE THAT PRINTS THE LABELS. Stay tuned and see how long this valuable piece of equipment remains out of operation... or among the missing. BIG A The Big A super market is the best place to purchase Oatmeal. A 510-gram container costs $3.10 (60 cents per 100 grams) at Lucky. A 400-gram container cost $1.90 (47 cents per 100 grams) at Big A. If you have cholesterol problems and unaware of oatmeal….. get to know it. KIWI BAKERY MAKING A COMEBACK - WELL ALMOST Kiwi bakery once made a delicious pineapple slice cake that was moist and had a bread pudding like texture. It was dripping with (we guess) pineapple juice that gave it that moist texture. Kiwi then lost the plot and changed their recipe. The cakes became dry and flaky. The moisture and juice disappeared. Due to a series of stale cakes a customer reccomended to Kiwi to date the cakes so the consumer knew if the product was fresh. KIwi agreed. The problem was not all cakes were marked and not marked at all markets. The other problem was they were postdated a day. On August 6th we were flabbergasted to see the return of the moist cake… well almost. The drippy pineapple juice was missing. This past week all Kiwi products we checked were without a date. The most recent purchase was leaning toward the dry side. The moral of this story is there is more to worry about in Phnom Penh than AK 47's and hand grenades. ARCHITECTURE TOURS IN PHNOM PENH We have written in the past that after seeing the Royal Palace and the monuments to death the Toul Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields there is not much to do in Phnom Penh. Now there is a new alternative. An architecture tour company Khmer Architecture Tours has been organized to show tourists modern buildings that are usually not accessible to the public. Two tours are planned for the last two weekends of every month. For more information and reservations contact: www.ka-tours.org © Copyright: National Radio. Any use of these materials, whole or in part, is prohibited unless authorized in writing by National Radio. Contact: nationalradio@yahoo.com |
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