THURsday - January 28, 2016

Vol: 01 | Issue: 21

The

WEEKLY
An Herbivores

Guide To
Phnom Penh

WEEKLY

the

THISWEEK

THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2016

Phnom Penh

Publisher
T. Mohan

EDITOR:
James Reddick
James.Reddick@khmertimeskh.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:
Jonathan Cox, Anais Pages, Maddy
Crowell, Amanda VanWagenen, Jonathan
Greig, Mom Kunthear

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After the Attack

In conversation with photographer AnnChristine Woehrl.

PAGE 3

Thursday
Corps Par, Corps Transform

@French Institute, 216 Street 184, 6:30 PM:

Mobilituk

The exhibition (in English Adorned Body,

Transformed Body) offers a look into the diverse
forms of body transformations throughout
the world, including tattoos, scarification and
make-up, as well as the work of two Cambodian
photographers, Khun Vannak and Sun Vanndy,
who use their body as a way to express their art
and their originality.

Making the capitals

transportation inclusive.
PAGE 5

Kim Steven Yoro

016 869 302
kimsteven@khmertimeskh.com

Monument Books
No. 53 Street 426
Phnom Penh
info@monument-books.com
023 217 6177

The Weekly is published 48 times a year

in Phnom Penh. No content may be
reproduced in any form without prior
consent of the publisher..
Cover Photo: Fabien Mouret

Grave Lines

The democratization of the

coffin industry.
PAGE 6 & 7

Vegetarian
Restaurant Guide
PAGES 10 & 11

8,000+
copies every week

600+

locations in Cambodia
2

the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

Death by Wine
& Chocolate
@Chinese House, 45
Sisowath Quay, 6:30
PM

REGULARS
Around Town
FILMS, EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS
The best listings in town PAGES 8 & 9

Darren Gall

AVAILABLE AT:

Supplied

Khiev Chanthara, Aim Valinda

096 217 7770 | 012 244 982
chanthara@khmertimeskh.com
valinda.aim@khmertimeskh.com

Fabien Mouret

ART DIRECTION:

Thursday
A pairing of Chinese House Chef Amys killer
chocolate truffles and sommelier Tokis lethal
libations, hosted by wine expert Darren Gall. Five
wine and five chocolate truffles pairings for $25
(Full Disclosure: Gall has previously contributed to
The Weekly and Khmer Times newspaper).

I dont blame myself for not being

able to buy a better coffin. My
grandmothers spirit will understand
this situation.
PAGES 6 & 7

Q&A

THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2016

Photographer Ann-Christine Woehrl presents her

work documenting the survivors of acid attacks

After the Attack

Around four years ago, photographer Ann-Christine Woehrl received funding from the German
foundation Stiftung Kulturwerk for a project focusing on the survivors of acid attacks. Since then,
she has worked with local organizations in six countriesIndia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal,
Uganda, Pakistan and here in Cambodiato document the aftermath of attacks in an attempt to help
survivors fight stigmatization. She will be at Meta House on Saturday evening to present her work.
She recently answered The Weeklys questions about why she decided to focus on this subject.

Q:

How did this project

develop?

These women are visibly

disfigured and have become
invisible to their society and
ostracized by their communities.
Mostly women are attacked by
their husbands or in-laws for
defying Sharia law, because
of the dowry system or due to
jealousy. IN/VISIBLE is about
the struggle of these women to
move on in life and their heroic
strength. I started the project
in Bangladesh. There I started
in close collaboration with the
Acid Survivors Foundation in
Dhaka in Bangladesh. Since
then I have been working very
closely with all the organizations
related to Acid Survivors Trust
International in each country I
worked in, in India, Bangladesh,
Nepal, Cambodia, Uganda
and Pakistan. These are the
countries where acid and burn
attacks have been and still are
a common problem, where
those incidences happen at
an alarmingly high rate. In

those countries acid is easily

accessible. In those countries
it is a cultural phenomenon,
not a religious one related to the
Islamic world, considering that
in Nepal, Cambodia and Uganda
Christianity and Buddhism are
the leading religions.

Q:

Why were you drawn to

this subject?

Ive been focusing my

photography on women being
stigmatized
and
expelled
from their community. The
previous project was on women
stigmatized as witches in
Northern Ghana in Africa, who
have been expelled for life and
live in so called witch-camps or
witch villages. And on a personal
level I had an experience with a
survivor [named Hans] of a burn
accident in Germany more than
10 years ago, at an exhibition
opening. Back then watching
the people being unable to cope
with the presence of Hans Ive
realized that we, the people in
society, are making people with

abnormal looks like scars and

disfigurements invisible and
that we are the ones deepening
the scars in their souls.
Can you explain a bit
about some of the
experiences
of
the
survivors of acid attacks who
you photographed?

Q:

Women who survived acid

or fire attacks or who have tried
to commit suicide out of despair
are deprived of leading a normal
life in dignity, in physical
health, in justice and in respect.
The most fundamental human
rights have been violated by
the perpetrators leading to a
life of emotional and physical
struggle for the women. Apart
from
their
disfigurement,
causing unbearable physical
pain during and after the attack,
these women are emotionally
affected and bear a life-long
trauma.
My first encounter was
Neehaari. In 2012 I met
Neehaari, a girl from Southern

India, who had tried to commit

suicide by setting fire to herself at
the age of 19. After her arranged
marriage her husband started
treating her like a slave, he
raped and abused her mentally
and physically. In May I visited
Neehaari in Hyderabad and
started to document her daily
life. On the last day of my stay,
Neehaari decided to remove her
scarf she always wore to cover
her burned face, as she felt
too ashamed in front of other
people. She said to me: Today
is my Independence Day, never
again will I cover myself and this
is thanks to you. I was deeply
moved and hardly able to accept
her words.
She explained that she felt
visible again by my presence,
by the fact that I had been
documenting and looking at
her. I feel that as a photographer
and also as a woman I can make
these women visible again. By
taking their pictures I am giving
them a voice. I want to show
their struggle but also their
tremendous courage to go on

with their lives. I feel a crucial

importance to raise awareness
now as in the past months we
have been confronted to the
alarming reality of violence
against women in India and the
cited countries.
How do the experiences
of Cambodian survivors
compare to others you
photographed in the region?

Q:

I had a very close contact

thanks to Cambodia Acid
Survivors Charity and Erin
Bourgois. Through her I had a
chance to meet all the survivors
during their annual survivor
meeting together and I felt a
moment of joy and openness
in them and had the feeling
that the actual moment being
photographed was a celebrated
and special moment for them too.
Chantheoun, the women I
followed closely for some days,
was very open minded towards
me and let me share her life and
introduced me to all her family
members.

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the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2016

A giant poster of Republican

presidential candidate Donald Trump
stands on display in the backyard of
supporter George Daveys residence
in West Des Moines, Iowa, ahead of
the Iowa Caucus.

AFP

Giant Trump
Poster Becomes
Pilgrimage Site

isions of grandeur
appear to have passed
from Donald Trump
to his supporters.
A man has erected a large
poster of the Republican
frontrunner alongside a major
thoroughfare in Iowa, making
it a pilgrimage site for those
who marvel at Trumps nononsense presidential run for
the White House. The 1.2 by 2.4

meter photograph has become a

landmark of sorts in a residential
suburb of Iowas capital Des
Moines. It shows Trump with
his mouth open in a rictus and
his eyes hard and focused, as if
he might be unleashing one of
his (many) tirades, or delivering
a takedown of a rival.
Ive always been a little bit of a
Trump fan, said George Davey,
good-natured computer engineer

by day and inventor by night, as

AFP knocked on his door.
Trump supporters and US
media have flocked to Daveys
poster since November.
His
family,
no
longer
perturbed by the disruption,
continued their meal during
a Monday interview. He says
whats on his mind, he doesnt
worry about being censored or
eroding free speech, Davey

New Yorker Builds

$200-a-night Boutique Igloo

n enterprising New
Yorker sought to turn
a walloping snowfall
into a money spinner
by building an igloo in his
backyard and advertising it as
a boutique getaway for two on
Airbnb for $200 a night.
But freelance art director

There are igloos

on their site
but for some
reason ours did
not meet the qualifications.
Patrick Horton said his icy
listing lasted on the propertysharing website just six hours
before he was informed that
it was being removed for not
meeting occupancy standards.

the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

Horton said he and two

roommates spent six hours
building Brooklyns answer to a
traditional Arctic home. He then
advertised the Boutique Winter
Igloo for 2 on Airbnb in hip
neighborhood Greenpoint.
Despite Airbnb giving him
the cold shoulder Horton says
he got five enquiries while the
listing was live. Interestingly
enough, Airbnb actually allows
igloos to be rented, he told AFP.
There are igloos on their site
but for some reason ours did not
meet the qualifications.
Airbnb did not immediately
respond to an AFP request to
comment. Horton says he is
thinking about advertising it on
Craigslist, despite a second day
of warmer temperatures and

sunny weather that has seen

some of New Yorks enormous
snowfall melt. As long as its
cold enough were going to
keep it up and find another site
to take it and try to rent it from
there, he said.
The storm slammed the
eastern United States at the
weekend, forcing New York to
shut down on Saturday under a
sweeping travel ban. New Yorks
Central Park recorded 68
centimeters of snow, the
second-highest accumulation in
the city since records began in
1869, beaten only by 0.1 inch
more
in
February
2006.
Williamsburg, which neighbors
Greenpoint
in
Brooklyn,
recorded 29 inches, the National
Weather Service said. AFP

said admiringly.
Thats the kind of guy we
need. Kind of like Putin, he
said, referring to the Russian
president. A neighbor, Yvonne,
confirmed that passersby stop
and snap photos.
Davey put up the poster, along
with lights to make it visible
at night, and set up a security
camera to prevent vandalism.
The photo has been tampered

with twice, once with chocolate

syrup, which was easy to wash
off. The second time vandals
spray-painted a sad face on
Trump, Davey said.
Like the candidate himself,
Daveys poster does not let
attacks bring it down. In case of
irreparable
damage
or
vandalism, Davey has several
copies of his photograph at the
ready. AFP

UK Language Test
Beyond Parody

ritains
Home
Office was left redfaced last Friday
after
unveiling
new
English
tests
for
migrants but misspelling
the word language in its
announcement.
Prime
Minister
David
Cameron
on
Monday
launched a 20 million ($28.5
million) language fund to help
women, particularly Muslims,
who arrive in Britain after
getting married but struggle to
speak English.
He also said women from
non-EU countries who fail
to pass an English language
test after two and a half years
in the country could face
deportation, drawing criticism

from Muslim groups and

opposition parties.
A Home Office press release
giving details of the move last
Thursday spoke of a new
English langauge test and had
to be corrected.
Asked if Cameron was
disappointed by the mistake,
his official spokeswoman told
reporters: All of us are open to
mistakes at times.
The prime minister is pretty
confident that his team speak
English competently.
The error drew ridicule on
Twitter broadcaster Anita
Anand wrote it was beyond
parody,
while
user
@
DaveGoddard 1971 joked:
Makes you proud to be
British. AFP

Innovation

THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2016

Mao Vanny helps Megan Smith into

his accessible tuk tuk.

Fabien Mouret

Mobilituk

Transportation options for people with disabilities in the capital are

limited. Can accessible tuk tuks become mainstream?
UNICEF on a project focused
on disability rights in the
country. While doing research
and speaking with locals, she
found that transportation was
a huge problem for people
with disabilities throughout the
country.
There was this one guy I met
through a local connection to
UNICEF who was saying Its
almost not worth it for me to
work, she said. Its better for
me to beg because Im spending
half my income on getting to
work and getting back.
And for many Cambodian
women, the potential for a
driver to get touchy feely is
not worth the risk.
Many would rather stay at
home than have that, she said.
Smith
stays
at
House
Boutique, a hotel with a
disability accessible bedroom,
where she met Ian Jones, the
executive director of Agile
Development and one of the
hotels co-owners. He had
already been thinking about the
lack of wheelchair-accessible
tuk tuks ever since he and his
business partners had begun
the design of the hotel in
2014. Having a purpose-built,
accessible room couldnt solve
the problems for his guests once
they went out into the streets.
I couldnt figure out for

the life of me why there were

no tuk tuks that could take a
wheelchair, you know? he said.
A tuk tuk is just a box on wheels
so all it would need is a slight
redesign. When Megan checked
in I was just like ok, we should
really do something.
Jones gathered some friends,
including some consultants for
Engineers Without Borders, for
a design session at the hotel. By
the bar, they laid out the plans.
The EWB consultants drew up
a formal design, and the group
found local tuk tuk driver Mao
Vanny happy to retrofit his

existing tuk tuk.

They took the drawings down
to a fabricator in a tiny storefront
on street 271. He installed a steel
ramp that pulls down to allow
a wheelchair to roll in and a
harness to clip in a chair.
Within a week, we brought it
back here, Jones said.
Called the mobilituk, which
as far as Smith and Jones know
is the first tuk tuk to be handicap
accessible in Cambodia, they
hope to get support to expand
a fleet. UNICEF is helping them
to spread the word to local
disabled peoples organizations

and they hope to get potential

donors involved. Jones said
they are also looking at a
model where drivers would pay
off the cost of the vehicle in
installments. Somehow, Jones
says, they will need to find a way
to make it a part of everyday life
in Cambodia.
Its brilliant for me as a visitor
but I want it to be the most
useful for Cambodians, Smith
said. To make Phnom Penh
and local society more inclusive
transportation is so key. We
need a local liaison saying this
is a great way to get around.

Ian Jones

egan Smith has

been all over the
world, including
to some of the
most difficult environments
imaginable. She most recently
lived for years in Pakistan and
Afghanistanplaces synonymous
with challenging terrain and
political insecurity. But for her
Cambodia has the unfortunate
distinction of being the most
difficult to get around in. Thats
because she relies on a wheelchair
for mobility. In a city where
sidewalks, where they exist,
feature more cars and motos
than they do pedestrians, Smith
has found herself entirely at the
disposal of tuk tuks ill equipped
for handling passengers with
disabilities.
A driver has to hoist her
out of her chair and into the
vehicle, then lift her 70 kilogram
wheelchair into the tuk tuk,
after removing the batteries
and folding the chair up. This
process may sound relatively
simple but it has its costs.
Relying on a male driver to lift a
female passenger exposes her to
potential unwanted touch, and
the whole process is expensive.
She found herself being charged
twice as much as the normal
price to get around.
Smith
is
in
Cambodia
working as a consultant for

Mao Vanny lowers the ramp on his accessible tuk tuk.

the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

In Focus

THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2016

Grave Lines
Fabien Mouret

The democratization of Cambodias coffin industry

By Maddy Crowell
and Mom Kunthear

hon
Seyha
was
supporting
his
family of four as a
rice seller in Phnom
Penh when his 82-year-old
grandmother passed away.
They were close Seyha had
lived with her his entire life
and he was devastated. But
even more troubling to him was
the thought of what he would
do with her body. His family
couldnt afford a funeral, and
he wanted, somehow, to show
respect for her life.
We could not celebrate a
big funeral for her due to our
living standards, Seyha said
when we sat with him at his
outdoor restaurant, sipping
iced green tea as customers on
plastic chairs listened around
us. Without a coffin for the
dead body, wed have to take
the body to rent in the pagodas
coffin. But when we burned the

WEEKLY

the

Phnom Penh

body wed have to give the coffin

back to the pagoda, he said in a
soft voice.
I could not do something
like this for my grandmother.
But Seyha and his wife
had heard of an alternative
The Association Helping the
Miserable Corpses, just down
the street from their house.
Together, they visited the
Association, and within two
days, the family had a free
coffin worth nearly $500 and
an additional free parade to the
pagoda where they would leave
the body to rest.
The Association was very
helpful for my family, we were
so lucky, Seyha said brightly,
calculating that the cost of a
coffin wouldve thrown the
family into at least $300 of debt.
There are so many poor people
in Cambodia who dont have
the ability to buy coffins when
their family members die.
The Association Helping the
Miserable Corpses, whose name

reads like an assembly from

Infinite Jest, is in a quiet building
off the loud and crowded
Kampuchea Krom Boulevard.

There are so
many poor
people in
Cambodia who
dont have the ability to
buy coffins when their
family members die.
Inside, the black and white tiled
floor and chandeliered ceilings
set a stark contrast from rows
of ornately lacquered wooden
coffins protected in beds of
cloth. And just as quietly sat Em
Sreng, the Chinese-Cambodian
owner and founder of the
shop, which opened 12 years
ago to give coffins away to
families unable to afford them
a relatively new concept for
many low-income Khmer who
previously buried bodies in the
bare ground or cremated them.

I saw some dead bodies

that were left in rental rooms or
somewhere else because they
didnt have coffins to keep and
the families also did not have
money to hire trucks to take
the body to the pagoda, Sreng
told us as we sat in his shop. On
average, he gives away between
15 and 30 coffins a year, and
showed us his 12-inch stack of
files archiving all the families he
has helped.
When I saw that I thought
that I must help them.
Coffins, which are handmade
in factories in provinces across
the country, can cost anywhere
between $300 and $2,000, a
steep price for many workingclass families, some of whom
live on only $5 dollars a day.
When coffin shops, owned
almost exclusively by the
Chinese, started opening in
Cambodia in the 1980s, they
catered to elite families who
wanted to emulate Chinese
habits. The concept of a former

burial service was foreign to

most living in a country that has
been plagued with decades of
war and genocide. But attitudes
have begun to change.
The people have changed
their way of keeping the dead
bodies, Sreng said. Before
he opened the Association in
2003, funeral rituals were less
common. Dead bodies were
abandoned or left somewhere
without being kept in a good
place, or a coffin.
Sreng
explained
that
traditional
Chinese
burials
required families to make lifetime
donations costing between
$650 and $20,000 to preserve a
burial plot. When he saw how
many families couldnt afford
proper burial sites, he bought a
plot of land, which he named the
Helping the Miserable Corpses
cemetery, so the rich and poor
could lie side by side. He wanted
to show that every human life
has equal value.
*****

THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2016

Em Sreng at the Association Helping

the Miserable Corpses shop.

from the earth like a massive

gravestone frozen in time. But
if the Fields are meant to show
what the country has lost, the
fresh coffin shops, in a way,
symbolize whats been found
the sense that every human life
matters.
*****

he first coffin shop

in Cambodia, Chao
Bunna, opened in 1982
in Phnom Penh after
the Pol Pot regime dissolved.
We almost drove past it the first
time we went looking, which
I guess isnt saying much in
Phnom Penh where shops with
grated metal doors stack against
each other in a kaleidoscope of
colors. The shop is still owned
by the same Chinese family who
started it and is full of highly
wrought, Chinese-style caskets
that used to be sold to wealthy
Cambodians.
Most of our customers are of
Khmer nationality and they are
also sometimes higher ranking
in the government, said Kheng
Cher, a 25-year-old employee
of the shop. Ms. Cher explained
that the coffins dont sell every
day, but they do sell around two
per month for a minimum of
$300, and sometimes as much
as $1,500.
But things are changing,

at that point, had been fairly

democratized.
Before
the
introduction
of
Theraveda
Buddhism in the 12th century,
its likely that Cambodians were
accustomed to burying bodies
in forests or in the bare ground.
But, according to Erik W. Davis, a
professor at Macalester College
in the US who spent three years
studying Cambodian funeral
rituals, its difficult to trace what
Cambodian funeral rituals were
like before the Khmer Rouge.
Much of the ritual diversity
in funeral rituals that existed
prior to the Khmer Rouge and
civil wars era decreased, Mr.
Davis said. The style of funeral
that was dominant prior to this
period seems to have become
even more hegemonic.
Its hard to say whether there
were any funeral rituals during
the genocide in the late 1970s.
The closest remaining relics to
understanding the process are
the now-famous Killing Fields,
where decaying bones protrude

*****
s we were leaving
Seyhas rice shop, just
before the midday
heat began to peak,
he told us that he still missed
his grandmother at times.
Sometimes he dreamt of her.
I still feel that she stays in
the house, he said. With the
funds from the Association, they
were able to have an elaborate
Khmer-style funeral for her last
December monks came to
pray in the ceremony for two
days, and on the third day they
brought the coffin to the pagoda.
We were lucky to have the
Association give us a nice coffin
for her. I dont blame myself for
not being able to buy a better
coffin. My grandmothers spirit
will understand this situation.

Fabien Mouret

offins have been a

part of the human
race,
in
some
form, since ancient
Egyptian pharaohs bodies
were mummified in sarcophagi
before being buried in pyramids.
By todays standards, the
ceremony would cost millions
of dollars. The pharaohs were
meant to have exclusive access
to an afterlife.
But even before the concept
of a coffin reached the nowWestern world, Egypt began to
change. The Coffin Texts, which
were a collection of funerary
spells written inside coffins in
ancient Egypt and included
material related not to royal
families but to the everyday
citizens, indicated a shift from
funerals for the elite to funerals
for the common man. By 700
A.D., the concept of the coffin
reached Europe, when the
Celts began to construct burial
boxes from stones. Coffins,

Cher said. Chao Bunna, like

the Association Helping the
Miserable Corpses, has started
to sell coffins at a discounted
rate (around $100) to families
who cant afford nicer coffins.
Every two and three
months, we see a poor family
come to meet us and ask for
a coffin from us. We do not
hesitate to give the cheapest
coffin to them. We do not go to
their house to see if they really
are poor, but we volunteer to
help those who need our help.
We heard echoes of this in
other coffin shops we visited
around Phnom Penh, where
there are roughly ten other
shops. The Tai Hok Huot shop
opened in 1984, when 45-yearold Seng Bunnariths father sold
wood and timber and found
that customers were coming to
him in search of coffins.
Prime Minister Hun Sen
bought a coffin from my shop
when his mother died, which
cost more than $1,000. Also there
were more rich people, business
tycoons and also some former
ministers, who bought coffins
from my shop, said Bunnarith.
He also gives the coffins away
to those on the other end of the
financial spectrum. I often give
my coffins to those who are so
poor, or I give them cheap ones,
around $100.
When I was young, I felt
a bit scared of coffins because
it is a thing for keeping dead
people, but later I think that
the coffins in my shop are new
and not dead at all. And then I
felt released from being scared,
Mr. Bunnarith added.

Khon Seyha speaks about his grandmother's recent passing.

WEEKLY

the

Phnom Penh

THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2016

Around Town
EVENTS
Thursday, January 28
Impact Talks Impact
Media
@Impact Hub, #17 Street 306,
6:00 PM

Featuring four journalists as

speakers, the co-working
space hosts a discussion on
media.
Twilight of the Rock Gods
@ Show Box Bar, #11 Street 330,
7:30 PM

The 99-99 Arts Group is an

arts collective that is mixture
between a multi-media art
show consisting of video
and lenticular photography
combined with a "honkey
tonk" rock band.
For this event they will be
combining new songs with a
new video backdrop.
Trippy Thursdays DJ party
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard, 9 PM

Featuring a Live PA by KOTARE - the beat alias of New

Zealand lo-fi musician Jesse
Gubb, a new Phnom Penh
resident.
Karaoke Night
@Eluvium Lounge, 205A Street
19, 6 PM

Get a free beer or soda for

hopping on state. Happy
hour cocktails at $2 until 8
PM.

favourites. Call 023 214 555

ext 63 to reserve. $21 per
adult, and $10.50 per child
between 6 12 years old.

Dodgeball
@13 Street 456, 7:30 PM
Open Mic
@Paddy Rice, Street 136 and
Sisowath Quay, 9 PM

Saturday, January 30
Joe Wrigley and the Jumping Jacks (Rockabilly)
@The Mansion, 363 Sisowath
Quay, 8:30 PM

Death by Wine & Chocolate

@Chinese House, 45 Sisowath
Quay, 6:30 PM

A pairing of Chinese House

Chef Amys killer chocolate
truffles and sommelier Tokis
lethal libations, hosted by
wine expert Darren Gall.
Five wine and five chocolate
truffles pairings for $25.

Friday, January 29

DJane Sao Sopheak digs

up rare tracks by legendary singers Sinn Sisamouth,
Ros Sereisothea, and many
more.
HighRise
@Dusk till Dawn Rooftop, 46-48
Street 172, 10 PM

Energy Party x Red Bull

@Chinese House, 45 Sisowath
Quay, 9 PM

Phnom Penh Underground

presents DJ Sequence and
Cambo Disco Club

W/ Cambo Disco Club

Vinyl Mania DJ Night
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard, 9 PM:

DJs Dr. Wah Wah (UK) and

Nicomatic (Germany) spin
funky disco and lots of white
labels.

Niko Yu
@Nova Club, 19 Street 214, 9
PM

The Korean DJ/producer

from Denmark takes over
Nova
@The Oyster Restaurant
Himawari Hotel, 6 pm-10 pm

Cloudstival
@Cloud, 32 E0 Street 9, 7 PM

Live music w/ The Schkoots,

Kok Thlok and DJs Prof.
Kinski and Radioactive Anne
@The Oyster Restaurant
Himawari Hotel, 6 pm-10 pm

Cambodian Rock Night

@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard, 9 PM:

at

Expect fresh seafood, barbequed meats, local Khmer

delights and international

Expect fresh seafood, barbequed meats, local Khmer

delights and international
favourites. Call 023 214 555
ext 63 to reserve. $21 per
adult, and $10.50 per child
between 6 12 years old.

Sunday, January 31

With the bar name Liquid and a

location in the heart of the city,
I was expecting to find a tacky
nightclub with neon lights and
filled with young women in heels.

The neon lights were there, but

the atmosphere was refreshingly
the opposite of what I expected: a
quiet, open-aired bar with a tasteful
selection of fruity, strong cocktails
and Angkor beer. For $3.25, a
white Russian comes in a classic

Street Art Workshop:

Stencil Techniques
@Cloud, 32 E0 Street 9, 10 AM-5
PM

Street artist Erick Vendetta

teaches the art of stenciling. $20 per person, with a
special price for Cambodian
students. Register via Facebook.
Classical Music Concert
Series
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard, 8 PM:

Hot Spot
Venue: Liquid

at

Old Fashioned glass and had the

right combination of vodka, coffee
liqueur and cream. The staff was
very friendly and the crowd small
for a Sunday night. An ideal spot
for a conversation.
No. 3B, Street 278

Feat. Pietro Bonfilio (Milan).

Adults $10, Students/Children $3

Monday, February 1
Mindful Monday: Meditation
@Impact Hub, 17 Street 306,
6:30 PM

Free for members, $2 for

non-members, register online beforehand

Tuesday, February 2
"An alternative memory
to the Khmer Rouge
regime: Time, space and
death in Cambodia
@French Institute, 216 Street
184, 6:30 PM

With Anne Yvonne Guillou,

anthropologist at IRASEC
and CNRS, In French, with
Khmer and English translation, Free

Exhibitions
Saturday, January 30
IN/Visible
@Meta House, exhibit
opening at 6:00 with artist
talk at 8:00 PM:

Photographer Ann-Christine
Woehrl focuses on acid
attack victims from Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia,
Pakistan, Uganda and India.
The venue will also screen
films about acid victims from
Cambodia and other countries.

Ongoing:
Dominique Tricoire
@The Mansion, 363 Sisowath
Quay, exhibit until February 17
Roam!
The Plantation, #28 Street 184,
until March 5:

A collection of 15 charcoal
drawings on craft paper,
depicting the impromptu
parties held by moonlight in
the Cambodian countryside,
near Kampot, where Vincent
Broustet lives.
The Disappearance, Free
Java Cafe, 56 Sihanouk Boulevard, until February 28

DO WE HAVE YOUR

Please email all details to James.reddick

8

the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2016

Around Town
@Flicks 3, 39b, Street 35
Mother (2015, 190 mins), 6:30
PM, Reservations required

A collection of stories about

and images of our world,
offering an immersion to the
core of what it means to be
human.

Friday, January 29
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard
Lost Children (2005, 103 mins),
4 PM:

For nearly 20 years a

civil war raged in northern
Uganda. The film documents
the lives of four children
who successfully escaped
Joseph Konys Lord's Resistance Army.
Kims Story (1997, 50 mins), 7 PM:

The story behind the famous

photograph of the Vietnamese girl who was a victim of
a napalm bomb.

Sweet Poison (2013, 89 mins),

8 PM:

The Disappearance is a
body of work by Nicolas C.
Grey using pen, ink, collage and found photographs
and objects. The exhibition
has been composed as an
installation each work is
experienced in relation to
the other.
Landscape of Time
Sa Sa Bassac, #18ED2 Sothearos Boulevard, until February 6

With Landscape of time

(2015), photographer Vandy
Rattana continues his work
visiting sites around Cambodia where the living and
the dead were buried in
unmarked graves during
the Khmer Rouge regime
lands that are also host to
fecund rice paddies, vegetable and fruit plantations,
and construction. Vandys
compulsion to find, revisit,
and reflect at these sites is a
reminder that the landscape
perseveres within an indefinite cycle of time, allowing
for memory to recede into
oblivion.
Orchids and Tattoos
The Insider Gallery at InterContinental Phnom Penh, 296
Mao Tse Toung Boulevard, until
February 7, 2016

French artist Thomas-Pierre

presents a series in which
orchids are the leitmotif of
the compositions. The artist

UR EVENT LISTED?

combines colors and tattoo

graphics.

Films

A look at three development

aid projects in Africa that
went badly wrong.
@French Institute, 216 Street
184:

Thursday, January 28

Tuesday, February 2:
@Eluvium Lounge, 205A
Street 19,
Red Riding Hood (2011, 100
mins), 8:00 PM:

All Gone South (Babysitting 2)

(2015, 96 mins), FR & KH:

From 10 years old Sonia has

invited her buddies to Brazil,
in the luxury hotel owned by
her pompous father, JeanPierre. When the guys plan
an excursion into the rainforest to hit on some cute girls,
Jean-Pierre seizes the opportunity to send his loudmouthed old mother along
with the motley crew.

Set in a medieval village that

is haunted by a werewolf, a
young girl falls for an orphaned woodcutter, much
to her family's displeasure.

Sunday, January 31
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard
Cambodia Dreams (2009, 90
mins), 4:00 PM:

Stanley Harpers 18-year-old

cinematic odyssey chronicles the parallel lives of one
family, half of whom went to
one of the refugee camps
in Thailand, while the other
half stayed in their village in
Cambodia.

Saturday, January 30
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos Boulevard:
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
(2015, 132 mins), 4 PM:

The life of the rock star and

lead singer of Nirvana.
@Bophana Center, 200 Oknha Men
Go Back (2002, 55 mins), 5:00
PM, FR, Free

Virginity Trade (2009, 60 mins),

7 PM:

A Cambodian-French girl,
Canice, travels to Cambodia
with the aim of understanding her own country. She
explores her roots and finds

Many Asian men believe that

obtaining a virgin girl for sex
will grant them extra health
and luck. Matthew Watson
documents all sides of this
nightmarish Cambodian
story.

Srovoeng

About Cambodias cultural

and artistic renaissance, told
through the voices of three
young Cambodian women.

Bee's Knees at Oskar Bistro, No.159 Sisowath Quay

Documentary Focus Set in

Kampot at 7 PM:
Pepperfields (2010, 20 min):

About former Khmer-Rouge

soldiers who farm the best
pepper in the world.
Lucky Pigs of Kampong Trach
(2011, 25 mins):

Shows how farmers developed a successful cooperative enterprise.

The Futures Past (2012, 91
mins), 8 PM:

k@khmertimeskh.com by Monday at 5pm

For several months during

1978-1979, the inhabitants
of Oise region live in fright
and terror as a serial killer
disturbs their peace and
quiet.

out about her family. In this

way, she can understand her
country more and more.

Kroeng

@Meta House, #37 Sothearos

Boulevard
Angkors Children (2014, 66
mins), 4 PM:

Using the Khmer Rouge

Tribunal as a starting point,
Susanne Brandsttter takes
a deep look into the lives of
young Cambodians on the
brink of adulthood.

Next Time Ill Aim for the Heart

(2014, 111 mins), FR & EN, 5:00
PM:

Ingredients

Honey
Kentucky Deluxe Bourbon
Passion Puree
Apple Juice
Lime
Sugar
Dry Ginger Ale

Although OSKARs is a
relatively new name to the
Phnom Penh restaurant
scene, opening its Sithowath Quay doors near street
110 just this past year, its
like-titled sister location has
something of a reputation
back in Bangkok.
Although the menus of
the Cambodian and Thai
branches differ, one common
denominator is the Bees
Knees.
Its also what the former
operations manager, who
asked me to call him Kompeak, makes himself when
hes got a frog in his throat.
Rather than reach for a warm
glass of saltwater or tumbler
of orange juice, the 28-yearold pulls out the Kentucky
Deluxe and passionfruit
puree.
Its refreshing, he says,
and because of the honey,
coats your throat as it goes
down.
And while I admittedly
wasnt under the weather
when I arrived at OSKAR late
one night this past weekend,

after just a few sips of their

signature Bourbon-based
cocktail I began to feel, well,
better.
Kompeak, who began
cleaning glasses as a barback at Rahu, the former
occupant of OSKARs space,
before getting the chance to
make drinks, explained that
when ownership transferred,
he was kept on and sent to
Bangkok for training. There,
he watched and learned for
a week, shellshocked by the
crush of crowds that seemed
to pound the bar night after
night.
It was like war, he said,
people asking me can you
make this? can you make
that? That first week, I
didnt even know where the
blender was.
Now, though, watching
him work, youd never guess
that the soft-spoken former
Silk Island resident was born
without a muddler in hand.
Of the Bees Knees he had
to say that it was one of the
most popular drinks on his
menu, and that he served
it both as a standalone and
in punch bowls to parties.
-Michael Light

Khmer for Alcohol

the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

Flavor

1 Surn Yi Mei Shi Guan

Vegetarian Restaurant

Surn Yi may be a small,

unassuming restaurant but it
has a menu that is longer and
filled with more surprises than
the average Greek epic. From
item number one (mushroom
noodle soup) to item number
421 (frozen vegetarian steak
with corn), it offers options
ranging from tofu burgers to
noodles to shaved ice. There are
two pages devoted to jam alone.
If that sounds bewildering,
never fear, the restaurant has
plenty of standard comfort food
for those not daring enough
to try the more exotic items. I
opted for the $2 veggie black
pepper steak burger with egg,
and purchased a green tea to
wash it down, persuaded by
the cartoon character depicted
in the tea section yelling Let's
Drink!!
As a dedicated carnivore,
I was pleasantly surprised by
the quality of Surn Yi's burger.
The tofu combined with egg
was as filling as an ordinary
burger, with none of the grease.
Combined with the green tea, it
made for a great dinner.
With enough items on its
menu to satisfy both picky and
adventurous gourmands on the
cheap, Surn Yi is a solid choice
for a budget meal.
Samdach Preah Theamak
Lethet Ouk and Norodom
Boulevard -Jonathan Cox

Coriander

The Vegetarian

Tucked away in a leafy garden

near Wat Botum, The Vegetarian
has the feel of a country retreat.

10

With Sam Cooke and Percy

Sledge playing softly in the
background, it would be a great
place to have a nap (alas, no
hammocks). Its menu spans the
region, with Malaysian and Thai
curries, Indonesian Sambal,
Vietnamese lemongrass soy fish
and the intriguing Taiwanese
braised bamboo. They also have
heaping salads that can easily
be shared across a table and
spaghetti, noodle soups and
fried noodles.
The
Cambodian
amok
is tasty, though the sauce
is a bit heavy on peanut. It
does, however, come full of
vegetables, including zucchini,
mushrooms, eggplant, green
beans and tofu. This is probably
the healthiest meal Ive had in
six months in Cambodia. The
Vegetarian seems to let the
vegetables do the work, with
little in the way of seasoning, a
common complaint in reviews
online. They do taste noticeably
fresh, though, with a satisfying
crispness. A good option for
a light, inexpensive and fresh
meal for cheap in a charming
setting. Mains: Under $3, fresh
juices $1.75
158 Street 19, Hours: 10:30
AM-8:30 PM
-James Reddick

the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

Coriander can be found

tucked on a side street north of
Mao Tse Tung Blvd, and offers
its patrons a wide selection of
Indian vegetarian food. The
menu is stacked with Indian
cuisine standards such as
samosas, naan and currys, and
thankfully, they make up for

An Herbivore's Guide
to Phnom Penh

Meat may feature prominently in most Khmer cuisine, but

there are still plenty of vegetarian options in Phnom Penh if you
know where to look. For those of you fatigued by a never-ending
assortment of mystery meats in your soups, or wilting at the
prospect of another plate of pork-and-rice in the morning, weve
got you covered. The capital is full of vegetarian restaurants,
with some of the upscale variety you might expect in any western
hipster hood, alongside hole in the wall places where English wont
get you anywhere.
Our staff made it to eight of the citys professed vegetarian
joints to see which ones stood out. Heres what they found.

THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2016

the lack of meat with an array

of spices to, ahem, beef up the
taste of each dish.
As a big curry fan, it was
tough to choose between a
variety of spicy Paneer curries,
but I ended up ordering the
Dhum Alu Kashmiri, which is
a spicy potato curry seasoned
with a litany of seasonings. Even
though the curry needed a little
salt and hot sauce, it went well
with the top-notch naan and
outstanding mango smoothie
that rounded out my meal.
The dcor is quaint, and the
owner as well as the waitress
seemed a bit surprised to see
someone walk in, but they
were warm and able to help me
choose something filling. There
were a wide range of prices, but
in general, dishes seemed to be
somewhat fairly priced. At only
$5, my curry felt like a steal, and
the mango smoothie was well

worth the $1.75 price tag.

21Eo, Street 71, Hours: 10
AM-10 PM
-Jonathan Greig

Pidoa Nature

Located a block west of

Russian Market, this vegetarian
spot is bright and cute with
a
simple
Japanese
style
decoration. It was filled on a
Monday mostly with families
and friends sharing steaming
hot pots and fresh veggies, as
well as young couples sharing
Korean sparkling ice sundaes.
The menu is massive, with
many different styles, including
Cantonese dim sum (4,0008,000 riels), Japanese and South
Korean entrees and soups
(7,000-12,000 riels), and hot pot
soups (small 24,000 riel, large
40,000 riel). Off the dim sum
menu the sweet and sour tofu

was crisp and lightly dressed

with fresh shaved vegetables
and fruit and delicious fried
dumplings which were perfectly
cooked.
The filling was a mix of
mushroom, taro, and other
veggies, which were well spiced.
At just $1.25, both were large
enough to share. The simple
dumpling soup was loaded
with bok choy, carrots, and
fresh dumplings filled with the
same savory concoction as the
fried variety. This soup was very
filling and is a great deal, again
at just $1.25. With the peaceful
ambiance this would be a great
place to hang out and work over
a fresh juice or coffee. A couple
could easily eat a full meal and
dessert for under $10. Word of
caution: there is no traditional
tableside service, so fill out the
table card and bring it up to the
counter if you want to place an

THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2016

1
7

6
3

order.
53 Street 432, Toul Tom
Poung. Hours: 8 AM-8 PM
-Amanda VanWagenen

Artillery Caf

cheese. The walls are tastefully

painted blue and white as
fresh air pours in, and a sign
advertises a three day juice
cleanse: six juices per day for
$69, plus free delivery.
Alleyway of St. 240 1/2, No.
82E0 244, 7:30 AM 9:30 PM.
Closes Mondays at 5 PM.
- Maddy Crowell

6
A caf by day and restaurant
by night, Artillery Arts Caf has
the ambiance of a brasserie in
Paris with Portland cuisine: farm
fresh, cage free organic food.
With locations in Siem Reap
and Phnom Penh, Artillery is an
ideal spot to spend a relaxing
afternoon.
The
restaurant
serves chicken, but the menu is
primarily vegetarian with plenty
of vegan, raw vegan and glutenfree options.
The menu is artfully crafted,
with a global cuisine that
includes babaganoush and
hummus, smoked eggplant,
cashew cheese, noodle-less pad
thai, roasted vegetables and
even raw pizza made with a
flax almond crust, sun-dried
tomato sauce, greens and nut

Maitreya Healthy
Vegetarian Restaurant

flavorless but with hot chili

paste they were edible.
The fry tou-fu and tomato
sprouts were overcooked and
bland. The meal was served with
miso soup and hot chamomile
tea, and the menu features other
creative Chinese-infused dishes
like spicy-sour soup, tao-fu and
chy chhay soup, vegetable crab
soup. Though flies and dust
will dine with you, Maitreya is
authentic, family-owned, and
a nice place to stop for a cheap
vegetarian meal.
No. 699A, Preah Monivong
Boulevard
-Maddy Crowell

7
I wouldnt call Maitreya
healthy, but it is strictly
vegetarian.
Suspicious
of
the menu, which offered
veg chicken thigh and veg
chicken wings with photos
that looked very much like
chicken, I ordered the roasted
veg chicken thigh. Though
pretty flavorless, the dish was
creatively made from fried
soybean and served on bamboo
sticks with fresh cucumber.
The boiled dumplings, which
were stuffed with cabbage and
carrot, were also relatively

WE RESPECT TRADITIONS,
THE OLDEST ITALIAN TRADITIONS.
- IL FORNO RESTAURANT & WINERY #11 STREET 302, BKK1
+855 10 66 05 15

Backyard Caf

My shabby bike with a

baby seat and basket cover
for once did not stand out in
the parking space. My sort of
crowd. Indeed, the clientele is
mostly 30-something women,
eager for all things fresh, raw,
vegan, gluten-free and super.

The menu has recently been

updated and now includes
breakfast and dinner.
Plenty of choice, but what
is even more plentiful is the
amount of ingredients in each
dish. And you better know your
healthy food vocab: superfood
pesto, fermented dill cucumber,
activated almonds, chili chia
jam, tempeh. cashew cheese
Not your average boring
salad.
But if youre a novice,
friendly staff will happily bring
you a laminated card explaining
these obscure ingredients. I got
so confused by the extensive
choices that I managed to order
one of the only non-vegetarian
options in the menu. I must say,
I couldnt finish it. There were
lots of different flavors but I
found them either too unusual
or bland.
My friends were more
positive about their picks, and
the gluten-free falafel was indeed
very tasty and well balanced
with its flavorful green salad. I
decided to live the experience
to the fullest and washed down
my power bowl with a green
garden hydraulic cold pressed
juice which included spinach,
cucumber, romaine, celery,
pineapple, mint and lemon. It

tasted a bit like my sons weird

dinner-time experiment when
he poured fruit juice into his
soup.
But I did get used to it and
finished it. I got really excited
about the blueberry and
lavender cheesecake, which I
pushed my friends to choose.
Our table was equally divided
between those who thought it
tasted like a weird textured soap
bar and those who thought it was
a great example of a restaurant
that isnt just vegetarian because
it serves regular food with meat
replacements, but has real
identity and integrity.
I can imagine a staunch
vegetarian being in paradise in
this place. But my inexperienced
taste buds were a bit perplexed
and
this
whole
healthy
experience was lost on me. I left
craving a burger.
11B Street 246 Hours:
Mondays 7:30 4pm, TuesdaySunday 7:30-8pm
- Anas Pags

Mercy House

The courtyard at Mercy

House is a welcome change
from the raucous betting on
boxing matches that often goes
on at my favorite pork and rice
restaurant. Shaded by trees, with
the sound of water trickling into
the small tank of koi on the far
wall, this vegetarian restaurant
on Street 51 is a peaceful retreat.
Mercy House offers mostly
Japanese vegetarian dishes,
with a few American and Korean
items thrown in. Stopping by
for breakfast is recommended,
when the sun is slanting in
through the large tree that
shades the open courtyard and
fewer customers are around.
One of the more popular
items on the Mercy House
breakfast
menu
are
the
chocolate waffles (look for
muffins in the menu), which
make for a good 6000 riel snack.
The restaurant also has a wide
range of vegetarian options for
lunch and dinner, with sushi,
fried rice, noodle soup, and
hotpot on the menu.
Many customers opt for the
teppan yaki plates sizzling
plates of rice topped with tofu.
Whether you're looking for
a light snack, a meal, or just an
escape from the hectic life in
Phnom Penh, try Mercy House.
157 Street 51, Hours: 7 AM-6
PM
-Jonathan Cox
the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

11