After many return visits this year, I have decided this is one of my favourite bars in Phnom Penh. When I started reading website postings about what makes a good bar in Phnom Penh, many people said it was the man behind the bar ( does anyone know a female bar owner in Phnom Penh ? ) and in the Green Vespa's case, this is particularly true. Alan is a consummate professional and I reckon he probably knew he wanted to be a barman at the age of four.
EAS checks in with Puy Chhunly, who along with Yannick Zanchatta recently won Cambofest's coveted 'Golden Water Buffalo' award for its 'Local Showcase' category. Their short 2-D animation Little Boy Drinking Bad Water - a simple story of a common rural ailment (diarrhea) - is used for teaching about health and safety, and was an audience favorite at the festival.
What interests you in animation?
Although there is no sign in English, the telltale bamboo steamer baskets in the pristine kitchen front of house immediately alert dim sum fans to the delicious possibility of steamed dumplings, and in fact Beijing Ta Thang Khouv serves little else.
This new dumpling establishment owned by true Beijing expatriates and staffed by Cambodians has been open just a few weeks, but it already has a dedicated clientele of Chinese according to staff, although they also admitted these devotees were not yet arriving in droves, but rather dribs and drabs.
Tucked away on the southern section of Monivong Boulevard, this small and unassuming shop front restaurant represents real value for money and indeed offers "a taste of Singapore", yet with an atmosphere reminiscent of Sunday dinner with the family, Asian style.
Once, Phnom Popay, or Goat Mountain, was a heartland of Cambodia's ethnic Muslim Cham people, who raised hundreds of the creatures in this secluded spot about 50 kilometers from the capital in Kampong Speu province.
The war changed all that, and by 1970, the area was a Khmer Rouge stronghold and all the Cham had fled or been killed. Today, this again a peaceful spot, a beautiful pagoda stands surrounded by forest at the peak of a hill. Down below a stream runs, making it a favorite picnic spot for Phnom Penh people and locals alike.
They may be a new generation, but Cambodian music vendors and fans say they are not ready for Britney Spear's new image, nor those of her wild partying friends, and it is changing the face of music in Cambodia.
Once images of Britney adorned every second girl's T-shirt, and businesses from beauty parlors to souvenir shops used her image to promote their image. But no more, according to experts.
The first thing most people notice about organically produced food is the taste. Rich red organic tomatoes which can scent whole salads with their fragrance, carrots so sweet they might have been dipped in honey, chicken which adds a depth to soups and stews that its larger steroid-laden counterparts could never match. Consumers notice the difference.
Most 25-year-old guys are dreaming about girls. Sang Narith spends most of his life pondering the sex life of pigs. Narith is a Ba Chrout - the Cambodian name for the man who accompanies a boar while he services a female pig.
For between $30 to $50 dollars a month, Narith is his boars' nurse, their companion, their sexual therapist and their confidant. He currently looks after five mature males and guides them on their amorous adventures around the Kien Svay district just outside Phnom Penh.
Cambodian anti-trafficking police have appealed to Interpol for more information on a man believed to have preyed on at least a dozen children here and in Vietnam and posted graphic photographic evidence of his crimes on the internet.
Anti-trafficking police chief for the Ministry of Interior, Bith Kim Hong, said he has requested Interpol forward him details of the case as police were keen to investigate.
The sheer variety of restaurants available in Phnom Penh continues to supply me (and everyone else lucky enough to call this city home) with a beguiling array of choices every evening. Missing the culinary specialties of your home country? There's a good chance that you'll be able to find a version of your favourite dish somewhere in this city.
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