Sixth Week in Phnom Penh
Another great week in Phnom Penh! I stayed in town this weekend, electing to take it easy and catch my breath after last weekend’s Siem Reap excursion. A lot of guidebooks recommend vacationers stay in Phnom Penh for about two days before jet-setting off to Siem Reap or Bangkok. However, I think that is a little unfair. This city has a wealth of adventures for anyone with an ear to the ground and a willingness to explore. To be fair, that is perhaps true of most places in the world. Regardless, I love living in Phnom Penh and am happy I stayed here this weekend.
Lately, I have become remarkably brazen with street food. It is simply so good and so cheap! I can get a decent sized meal for a dollar (and that’s including the ubiquitous, unspoken westerner tax). While, sure, I am never entirely confident what brand of mystery meat I am eating, that’s just part of the adventure (and to be fair, it’s usually pork – I think). One of my personal favorite street food dishes is whole squid, skewered then grilled. When paired with a good chili sauce, it handily rivals fine dining options and for a fraction of the cost. Additionally, I recently discovered these chive cakes that are uncomfortably slimy, yet very filling. In a pinch, I can eat one and be full for an entire evening. Even better? They cost 25 US cents.
I cannot predict if my luck will last. Perhaps the other shoe will drop soon, the wax in my wings will melt, and I will find myself trapped in the bathroom for a couple hours. But I am confident in my street food savvy, knock on wood. I typically only eat at stalls where I can see the food being cooked in front of me, rather than just laying out. Also, I sometimes watch to see where the crowds of local lunch-goers go. Typically, I saunter up to a grill, nose around at the offerings, then hap-hazardously point and mime what I want. This strategy has worked amazingly well. Despite the severe language barrier, I would say that 75% of the time I get exactly what I intended.
On Thursday, Alex arranged for the ODC interns to have a tour of a local rum distillery in Phnom Penh, named Samai Distillery. As the only premium rum distillery in all of Cambodia, it was super fun seeing a local business thriving and filling such a niche, trendy market. The whole facility looked like it belonged on some up-and-coming Brooklyn street corner, wooden barrels lining the cozy production rooms. I was particularly interested to see how they made their Kampot pepper rum, which, as the name suggests, is a spicy rum infused with Cambodia’s most famous culinary export, Kampot pepper.
Additionally, rainy season has finally begun in force. Like clockwork, at three or four pm, it pours. While usually not too bad, there have been several days where the streets have flooded. When that happens, Phnom Penh effectively shuts down and chaos reigns. PassApp, the tuk tuk app that operates like Uber or Lyft, crashes, leaving everyone to fend for rickshaws the old-fashioned way, with haggling. Additionally, a lot of electric bikes cannot drive through the knee-high water. In other words, rainy season is a mild hassle. But not too bad. I mostly appreciate the significantly cooler weather we have enjoyed as a result.
My weekend in Phnom Penh was pretty low-key, and I slept in Saturday and Sunday. That said, I did have one very big adventure planned: Khmer Studio Portraits. While browsing for fun activities in Cambodia, these photography studios kept coming up over and over again. The premise is very simple. For big life occasions, Cambodians get elaborate photoshoots done in traditional attire, dressed to the nines, photoshopped into unrecognizable glamour. The experience involves about an hour of hair, makeup, and being draped into an ornate traditional dress along with all the matching bells and whistles.
At first, I was a little skeptical about getting my portrait taken. While extremely popular with expats and locals alike, I recognized that, first and foremost, I did not want to play dress-up with the culture. However, when my friend and I mentioned studio portraits to our Khmer coworkers, they were enthusiastic. Several of them pulled out their own photos, showing us their stunning dresses and extravagant makeup. I think our entire office got sucked into watching wedding videos for half an hour. In the end, we were told, without reservation, to definitely go and have fun. Thus, with everyone’s hearty blessing and the promise that we would show them our photos, my friend and I went!
Walking up to one of Phnom Penh’s many portrait studios, we were greeted warmly by the staff. Without much conversation, I was handed several books of sample photographs, demonstrating the wide variety of opulent dress options and photoshopped backgrounds (usually some generic palace or Angkor Wat). After agreeing to the price, my friend and I were whisked away to a makeup room and treated to, literally, an hour of preening. I got the full nine yards: fake eyelashes, overdrawn brows, heavy contouring. Even my high school prom makeup paled in comparison. When I eventually sat up and saw the complete makeover, I was unrecognizably transformed. The makeup artists must have become concerned when I laughed, as she assured me I looked “sa’aan” (the Khmer word for beautiful) before ushering me off for hair.
Much to my amazement, my limp, stringy hair was crimped (literally! with a crimper!) into faux volume, teased and angled such that it imitated old Hollywood glamour. Just when I thought my guise was complete, my hairdresser produced a three-foot-long hairpiece, which she coiled and wrapped into a towering beehive hairdo. I had to hide my absolute glee when she pulled out the finishing touch: a glittering blue-gemmed tiara, which perfectly wrapped around my hair extension. After being meticulously draped into my blue and gold dress, I was photographed for a scant ten minutes, the photographer posing me down to my pinky fingers, as though I was a mannequin. Then, without ceremony, my glamour shots were done. My hairdresser carefully undid my ‘do (but still leaving my flattering, if gaudy, makeup intact) and then sent my friend and I on our way.
Two days later, I went and retrieved my photos. When produced, printed on expensive photo paper, I gasped. They were spectacular, though admittedly disorienting. While I definitely looked “sa’aan,” the bags under my eyes and my characteristic freckles had been erased, photoshopped into oblivion. My skin had been lightened to an alabaster sheen. Additionally, every photo now sported a low-res Angkor Wat backdrop. Overall, I was thrilled with my photos. More so, however, I was happy to have been invited to enjoy this thoroughly modern Khmer tradition. Back at the office, my coworkers and I had tons of fun going over my photos, as impressed as we were amused.
Work continues steadily. Jean and I completed our first draft of ODC’s severance pay policy, as well as our presentation on the subject. Additionally, I have started major rewrites on my legal aid page, as I have been somewhat unhappy with my first drafts. While it feels like I have a lot work ahead of me, I am pretty confident that everything is coming together. Tomorrow morning, I am attending a stakeholder meeting where there will be presentations on Cambodia’s constitution, as well as discussion of the recent laws criminalizing criticism of Cambodia’s king. These topics are fascinating and I feel that I am learning about a swiftly developing area of the law. In many ways, these laws governing what can, and cannot, be posted on social media are both influencing and influenced by overarching world events.
This weekend, I am going to Bangkok! While I am frankly too busy and stressed with work to be leaving the country, I would absolutely die if I failed to see Thailand this summer. As such, I am making it work. I look forward to writing about my adventures of being a tourist and seeing the world-famous Emerald Buddha! Until next week!