Cambodia
What was our sole purpose to travel to Cambodia? To apply and receive a Thai Retirement visa.
What am I going to blog about? Food. This has turned out to be a food blog… nothing wrong with dat!
This thing has turned around in a heartbeat. Yeah, I’m in. Suddenly Cambodia makes an appearance on the “we could live here list” in a mere 4 hours. This was unexpected. As I write, I’m sipping beer at Khmer Women’ Food Restaurant. It’s dark at 7pm and 87 degrees inside and outside the restaurant. Yet we were totally comfortable. We are in Cambodia ForCryingOutLoud!
On the way to the restaurant after getting cash at the ATM. The 20-minute ride was $1.20
We arrive in the mid-afternoon, then ‘freshen up’ in our new digs. The one-bedroom serviced apartment is nothing less than outstanding. The hotel was likely the nicest place we have stayed in since we left The States. It has nicely labeled light switches, kitchenette and couple of desks to work at.
When your night begins with a daring tuk-tuk ride to a restaurant you hope is a winner, you cross your fingers not because you don’t want to get maimed tonight, you cross your fingers the food is good.
Heading home from the restaurant. Happy as clams at high tide. Return trip was $1.25
Khmer Women' Food Restaurant
We are dining in a very simple restaurant this evening. A square cement bunker with a rolltop entry that opens out to the street. The only air conditioning was the three fans on the wall and the cold beer in your hand. Two old Cambodian dudes are out front sitting on chairs drinking Cambodian beer.
This…. is the boss. This restaurant is hers. The two lazy old guys out front, doing not much more than drinking beers, I surmise are her husband and his brother. This kinda of thing seems to run in the family, because after a while I realize her daughter is doing all the cooking and she is just working the room.
You can tell by the old school pull-tabs how many beers you’ve had. When is the last time you opened a drink with a pull-tab?
So, a fantastic meal worth starting this Cambodian blog with, and a couple of cold beers aptly named Cambodia comes to $12.77
Finding a few chopped pickles in the pork and rice with some devilishly unknown yet recognizable spice blew my mind. Then curry, lemon grass, with a little white fish, that seemed like halibut. When you order mustard greens, and it comes with mostly beef you come to the realization that you are in food heaven. I am truly wowed.
Applying for our Retirement Visa in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Remember the grumpy guy in The Wizard of Oz who stopped Dorothy at the front gate to the Emerald City? Yes, that was our first encounter at the embassy in Phnom Penh, complete with the sliding window sans the bushy mustache. He was not Mr. Congeniality, but he gathered our info, did the once over, and gave us a paper with the number 3 on it. This was all done outside on the street. It was efficient, though a smile would have helped. With this number and our ‘stuff’ we walked into the 18ft by 36 ft waiting room at the Visa section of the embassy. I expected to be in an office talking directly to someone behind a desk. It turned out more like a DMV and we spoke through a hole in the glass and handed over documents through a tray.
I’m a tad nervous, wondering if we had all the correct information needed to get our visa, but optimistic. We had my laptop, we were dressed nicely, and had a 5-section file folder thingy. I had two sets of 6 months’ worth of our bank statements from both Fidelity and BoA. One set I had x’d out the first 5 digits of the account numbers. If they are not happy with this, I have a second set with account numbers at the ready. They needed one photo of each of us, I had 6 photos. I even had our original tourist Visa from Thailand and our current visa from Cambodia. I am ready! The application fee was $80 each. So, I had two very crisp 100-dollar bills. They like that sort of thing here, or so I’m told. The woman in front of us, who is wearing elephant pants, had a single food stained and wrinkled document in her hands. I don’t think the embassy has ever seen the likes of us.
Behind the window in the waiting room sits stacks and stacks of paper documents in semi-disarray. Hopefully these are not all the rejects. I forgot to pack my razor, so I am unshaven. Hopefully they will be intimidated by my masculine looks. It’s about 8:45am and there is a sign that says “VISA COLLECTION 15:00pm to 16:00pm.” This somehow makes me slightly more optimistic. I do resist the opportunity to let them know that their sign is incorrect in the sense that the ‘pm’ is redundant. An employee finally shows up and sets up behind one of three stations with glass separating us. Then a moment later another shows up but looks a bit more friendly. I hope we get her.
I can only imagine people at some foreign office trying to get into a country while fleeing from their own. Maybe some cartel has threatened their family. Maybe they have no work and are just trying to support their family by working and sending money home. They have it ALL on the line. We are just rich happy Americans trying to retire somewhere cheap. I am grateful we are us.
The tuk-tuk
There is a level of rhythm or speed or even tempo in Phnom Penh. It’s upbeat, it’s a tad faster than most cities like this. It may have to do with the most popular mode of transportation, the tuk- tuk. They are a similar species to the Thai tuk-tuk, but these are less expensive than cars, more available via Grab and weave in and out of traffic like those dogs going in and out of posts on an obstacle course. They take more chances, they are the apex predator, the raptor at the top of the food chain and they know it.
We arrived at a restaurant and as our tuk tuk was long gone we then learned the Eleven One didn’t have a table and were completely booked for the evening. We walked a block or two then went back to Google and looked up another restaurant which Diane had found earlier in the day. We did our dinner thing, clicked Grab, and ‘bam’ seconds later a tuk-tuk showed up and we sped thru alleys, streets and avenues, weaving thru pedestrians, other tuks and cars. Back in our hotel in 12 minutes. There was no place or time when I knew where we were. But I know…. if lost, we just then hit the Grab app on our phone and off we go. No bartering, no wandering, a little wonder; just price, pick up, and destination.
A new beer for me...
And…. a new beer, Angkor. The label just looks simple and cool. It is also fun to say “Ang…. Kor. Omg it’s like a cross between the languages of Klingon and Dothraki! If you don’t know these references, I’m not sure we can be friends.
Another restaurant worth noting. Golden Pumpkin. I have no idea on the pumpkin reference, but I know the green papaya salad was one of the best I’ve had. At the same time some of the worst french fries in quite a while.
City Art Tour with JB
JB starts our group of 7 with fresh donuts and iced coffee. Yes, that is the face of skepticism. But the conversation was about something innocuous if I remember correctly. Our tour-mate here was sweet and a hoot! She added to our experience. As with many tours, you may unfortunately not catch their name.
Below is an example of my poor camera work. From memory this is a beautiful and rather large art piece, and I was focusing on getting a good shot of our guide.
The first stop of the art tour was the second floor of a Starbucks. Initially I was super skeptical about this. I soon changed my mind. This is an example of Lisa Mam’s work. A popular street artist in Cambodia. It just happens to be in ………
Happy-Sad Grandma (below) had social significance, but I was not paying attention. JB the guide was super informative, but I was playing with a neighborhood cat and didn’t write it in my notes… sorry! The tour was most excellent and we discovered Phnom Penh has an art underbelly. Well worth it. Later Diane tells me this grandma represents when the older generation will tend to hide inner feelings of sadness from living though the horrific days of the Khmer Rouge regime.
This was done by an American artist. It was incomplete and like many works in the city it is right out there amongst clothes drying or being sold and everything in between.
Eleven One Restaurant
Really?….. Really? Food comes this good here? I am taken aback. The ‘char’ on a rare steak is…rare. Delightfully smoky and bold. Complete with a kinda spicy dipping sauce with a little ‘funk‘ added, in other words a splash of fish sauce that you don’t realize is there. This all began with maybe the best spring rolls I’ve ever had. A nice slice of avocado down the middle was refreshing. The banana flower and…. you guessed it ‘beef’ salad was so tasty; I love the mint and basil combination. Even the f-ing peanuts rocked my world. Salted and splashed with a kaffir lime leaf and lemon grass infused oil. I am speechless. I do lament not ordering wine but drinking a couple glasses of Cambodia beer made me feel like a local… but a nice cab with that steak would have taken it over the top.
With 3 beers the bill came to an even $25. Holy cow….
Yep, I knew it. The pictures just didn’t tell the story. Truly this place rocked. I don’t know if anyone else knows of this diamond mine. But ya know, we do. So there.
Rumba Latina Restaurant
I’m not sure what to say here. Do I dare write Phnom Penh, Cambodia and food capitol in the same sentence? I believe I just did.
Again, another dinner experience that was absolutely smashing. So far, in Cambodia we have stuck to the delicious local fare. This time we went off the board and found a restaurant called Rumba Latina. On Valintine’s Day for those doing the date math. Owned and run by a Cuban expat who has trained his local staff to nail Latin dishes. Empanadas here were delicate and filled with fall off the fork roast beef. Then topped with sour cream. The mango ceviche was light and popped lime and citrus flavors. Diane mentioned it was worth it just to return for the watermelon margarita. To make sure they were good she had two. To make sure the beers were good I had also more than one.
On the monitor near us listed the song titles of the Latin of music being played overhead. We played the game of guessing what they meant in English. I was no match for Diane. Her Spanish is much better.
The Punch Line.... Finally!
We stood in the street, outside the Thai Embassy, for 15 minutes in 95-degree weather. They opened the door, let a half a dozen of us in, then the dude behind the glass pointed at me. I assume that was because I had the nicest shirt on. Diane and I walked up, and he handed our passports to us through the tray. I looked at him and gave him the international look of ‘is that it?’ He nodded yes and smiled.
My stomach has been in a knot all morning, and just like that... boom! We get handed our passports back with the fancy Royal Thai stamp. Mission complete and now we fly home. It seemed anti-climactic. I’m not sure what I expected.
Next week we work on signing a 1-year lease on a condo, open a bank account, transfer $23k into it and wait. If you were paying attention in an earlier post, you would know that the money must sit in that account for 60 days before we get our 1-year visa extension. In the meantime, we move into our new place, buy our favorite coffee machine which is a Nespresso Essenza Mini, then soon travel to Vietnam for a month. Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading.
Conclusion:
Cambodia surprised me. I feel comfortable here. Admittedly Cambodia was not even on the radar, so I did not research at all. Other than watching an Anthony Bourdain episode 3 days before. I felt fairly safe. Well, nothing like Singapore or even Thailand. But from my perch from the back of a tuk-tuk things seemed pretty sorta ok. I wish I had caught on video of some of the rides to restaurants. Much of those were on the crazy traffic on extremely busy streets. But it got much more interesting as we were driven down quiet back streets. Small local stores selling wares with poor lighting. People looking up at us has we zip by. A few sleepy soi dogs wandering about. Phnom Penh has exploded in modern infrastructure, but the old days are still there, and poverty definitely still exists. I found Cambodian people friendly and sweet. The workers at the local 7-11s seemed genuinely happy to see you. On a few occasions Diane had to walk around at night to find the exact restaurant. My danger meters were not, not moving, but they weren’t off either. The usual big city stuff. If someone was thinking of coming here, I enthusiastically encourage it. Get the Grab app, take some tuk-tuks, and lose your mind on a great food city! We would return for sure. On the last night here… pizza delivered for $6 and a couple of cans of beer from the local Kute-Mart.