Phnom Penh, A City in Mourning with a Promising Future

This post covers not only King Sihanouk's passing, but also a variety of Phnom Penh, Cambodia experiences this week, including the Royal Palace, National Museum, river view, wats (temples), the food scene, brewery tour, etc.  The Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng S-21 Prison is a different posting.  

Mercurial.  That's how the foreign press described the personality of Cambodia's ex-King Sihanouk, when they reported his passing away on October 15th, 2 weeks shy of his 90th birthday.  His personality may have been volatile and unpredictable, but Cambodians don't refer to him as "The King-Father of Cambodia" for nothing.  He was very loved and admired.

Ex-King Norodom Sihanouk, lying in state at Royal Palace, Phnom Penh.

King Sihanouk, though adored by Cambodians, wasn't void of controversy.  As a hero who secured independence from France on November 9th, 1953 without bloodshed and kept Cambodia out of the war raging on in neighboring Vietnam in the 60s, some say his miscalculated allegiance with the Khmer Rouge (to get backing to undo the coup that forced him into exile) in the 70s is what propelled 50,000 apolitical peasant Khmers who were loyal to the King to cluelessly join the Khmer Rouge ranks.  This helped the Khmer Rouge gain strength and support, which eventually led to the genocide of a quarter of their own population (~2 million people) from 1975 to 1979. 

Royal Palace closed to visitors for 3 months.

Cambodians visiting from afar to pay respects to King Sihanouk's memorial set-up outside the palace gates. 

Over a lifetime, Sihanouk was a master politician.  He's been king twice, prince, prime minister, president, been in exile twice, etc.  In fact, he is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the politician who has served the world's greatest variety of political offices.   

At the moment, Sihanouk lies in state at the Royal Palace for the next 3 months while Cambodians come from all over the country to pay homage.  As a result, the inner grounds of the Palace has been closed to visitors.  We only got a glimpse from outside. 

Even as the city mourns, it seems business-as-usual on the streets of Phnom Penh, the "Charming City"! 

It's hard to believe that when the Khmer Rouge marched into this city on April 17th, 1975, all the urbanites were forced to evacuate this bustling city of Phnom Penh for the rice fields as slave labor.  It must've been an eerily quiet place for those 4 years.  As expected, there are several famous war-related landmarks.  One is the former Le Royale Hotel from where the foreign correspondents covered the events in Cambodia.  Now, it is a swanky 5-star Raffles Hotel Le Royale, run by the Singaporean hotel group.  Bombed out buildings still remain (which reminded us of Sarajevo) as well as a large railway station with tracks-to-nowhere.  The country hasn't yet rebuilt its railway system after the destruction.  Many beautiful parts of the city did survive invasion, such as the French colonial architecture and Parisian-esque wide tree-lined boulevards and promenades.  

Wat Phnom in the distance at the end of this parkway. 

Raffles Hotel Le Royals 

Elephant Bar at Raffles Hotel (not the same "E-Bar" hangout we like in Kansas City and Simi Valley!)  

Had to have a Singapore Sling, invented by the original Raffles Hotel in Singapore. 

Since 1992, when the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese-installed Cambodian government left for good through a Paris peace agreement, Phnom Penh has seen a resurgence and renewal from a poor post-war village to a frontier city on the cusp of something great.  We can feel the excitement in the air and we've had an adventurous time being part of a really cool secret about to be discovered in a big way.  

Tonle Sap River that runs along the eastern edge of Phnom Penh. 

Where the Tonle Sap River (foreground) converges with the great Mekong River (background).  During monsoon season, the force from the Mekong River reverses the flow of the Tonle Sap.  

View of Phnom Penh from the currently tallest building, Canadia Tower.  It's only 25 floors but it's a start. 

White building is the Railway Station, but the tracks don't really go anywhere.. 

National Museum.  Houses many artifacts found at Angkor and originals of famous Angkor statues. 

Wat Ounalom near our hotel. 

Love this shot of the traditional lotus bud shaped tower of Wat Ounalom!  

Supporting the local business!  Microbreweries rarely exist in southeast Asia.  It was a nice change from the cheap lager beers ubiquitous in SEAsia. 

Having fun haggling with this very savvy and shrewd 8th grade kid over  a knock-off Lonely Planet Vietnam book.  He got the better end of the deal at $6. Great kid, going to school and English school.  

And last but not least, some memorable culinary adventures in Cambodia.  

4-course Khmer dining at Gloria Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap. 

They will carry anything on a motorbike. 

Morning glory stems is a popular green in Khmer cuisine.  Pork sour noodle soup.  

So many varieties of rice! 

We saw lots of mini clams tossed in chili sauce sold on carts like these on the streets.  We didnt sample any, not knowing if the clams were cooked or not, how long they've been "baking" in the sun, etc.  A very popular snack where people would eat the clams while driving their motor bikes and throwing the shells on the ground.  

There's a lot of tropical fruit in this region.  Rambutan reminded Akiko of the years she lived in Singapore where this fruit grew in abundance in the backyard.  Similar in texture to lychee.  

Excellent Amok restaurant in Siem Reap.  Amok is a traditional Khmer steamed curry dish, usually fish. 

Really refreshing and delicious banana flower salad. 

Beautiful presentation and flavors of this amok sampler platter.  

Nam pang (similar to Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches) vendor on streets in Phnom Penh.  

This foot-long Nam Pang sandwich was only 75 cents!  Subway better watch out.  

The FCC, Foreign Correspondent's Club of Phnom Penh.  An expat and journalist hangout with a small hotel, serving western food and cocktails with a nice view of the river.  Interesting article on how the FCC came to be, almost 20 years ago: FCC, Happy Hour on the Mekong. 

For a little taste of fruit without having to buy the whole fruit.  Dragon fruit, papaya, watermelon, rambutan, pineapple. 

Very interesting map of Phnom Penh made from newspaper clippings at the FCC. 

With so many street vendors cooking, they've got to buy charcoal from somewhere!  Wood charcoal vendors along the street.  

Angkor, the King of Beers...at least in Cambodia. 

It's been difficult to find good salads during our travels.  Perhaps because Cambodia is a former Frenchy colony, this Nicoise salad was really good!  

A bowl of comfort.  Pork dumpling soup with handmade noodles by this guy below! 

The Little Noodle Shop, specializing in handmade noodles. 

We thought we would never find another steak for the remainder of our trip after we left Argentina.  "Chat n' Chew" Restaurant to the rescue.  People were raving about their filet mignon on TripAdvisor.  Skeptical but feeling adventurous, we gave the filet a try.  We concur.  It was perfectly cooked, tender, and the Kampot green peppercorn demiglace was the perfect sauce.  All for $8.75.  Come to find out later, it is actual Argentine beef!!  No wonder it's good.   Fresh Kampot green peppercorns are grown in Cambodia and shipped worldwide.  Mild peppery flavor, used like capers in dishes.  

Coffee to go, literally.