Sou Sdei and welcome to Campuccino, your fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia with a dash of opinion.
To new subscribers, welcome! I’m Darathtey, a communication consultant, writer, and researcher. Learn more about my work here.
AFG Open International 2024 was fun. Despite being a ball of nerves, I went through with my very first sport and BJJ tournament. I had three fights almost back to back. I lost all of them to submissions – rear naked choke, shoulder lock, and guillotine (if you’re curious enough to want to know what they are, check with Google). It took me a few days for the adrenaline to wear off and reflect on what I did on the weekend. I came out with no major injuries except a little sore neck and a slightly bruised windpipe. I was glad to challenge my comfort zone and step right to the other side.
On another note, I received overwhelmingly positive responses to my to-eat list for Phnom Penh. So, here it is. These are my day-to-day options with enough varieties ranging from heavy rotation of weekday delivery orders to a little splurge on special occasions. I will try to remember to keep the list up-to-date as I go. I hope you enjoy this small window into my Phnom Penh culinary commute 🙂
Lastly, this week’s newsletter is going to be a bit short because I was busy preparing for the tournament and now I’m recovering from it.
- Darathtey
I spoke about Run Ta Ek multiple times in previous issues. It is a location in Siem Reap where families evicted from the Angkor Archaeological Park were moved to. Long story short, those families were moved to a land of nothing, far away from jobs and basic infrastructures. A recent article by CamboJA reported that the heatwave has made the lives of those living in Run Ta Ek become unbearable. People were reported to be getting sick due to the extreme heat. To top things off, some of them had to pawn their ID Poor card to borrow money. I mean who takes ID Poor as collateral??? Of course, it is an illegal practice. The question is how is it allowed to happen. I guess the answer is the same as always: this is Cambodia.
Now, in my attempt to not only focus on the negatives of Cambodia’s “development”, here is an article presenting the government’s side of the story defending the Funan Techo Canal project. According to this article, the project’s benefits will overcome its social and environmental impacts. I guess if the government says so, it is so then, right? Trust the process? 🤷🏽♀️
The funny thing is Cambodia is defending this canal project so hard that many government officials are seen changing their Facebook profile photos to include a frame saying they support the canal project. Check out this awesome example from Ministry of Environment 😀Also, this meme is just too good not to share.
Next up: human trafficking. Earlier this month, the EU and the UN planned a launch of an anti-human trafficking project but the event was rescheduled because the venue for the launch is owned by a Cambodian tycoon whose other properties allegedly linked to human traffickers. 😅 It is a little funny, don’t you think?
If you love a good irony, here’s another one for you: Myanmar plans to send special envoys to Cambodia to learn more and gain experience from the National Election Committee (NEC) on organising a free, fair and transparent election. Need I say more?
Visually Pleasing
Arts & Culture
🍚 This food video by Best Food Review Show is one of the best YouTube videos on Cambodian food I’ve seen in a while, imo. I appreciate the contemporary narratives and different angle B-roll included in the video. Yes, there was still a quick background of the Khmer Rouge but it wasn’t too excessive. I can let that slide until the skull stock photo comes on. Nevertheless, it was a great video. Now, I want to go to Central Market and eat everything, dripping sweat be damned.
🍜 Since we are on a food list train, here’s another one for you. This one is an eat guide for Siem Reap made by the team at Focus Cambodia. I had a look and was impressed to see some places I have not been or heard of before.
🙏🏽 Apsara Granny is a project by Hao Taing, founder of Local4Local and photographer Raphaël Pech. It is part of the “FeeltheWarmth” movement to uplift Cambodian tourism through storytelling and creativity. I was deeply touched when I saw the photos of the two grannies dressed up in Apsara costumes, and I couldn’t help but to admire the creativity of this project. Respect!
📅 If you need a reason to visit Cambodia, especially around November this year, this event might just be it. Tini Tinou is a week-long international circus festival scheduled to return to Battambang in November from 22-27. This year’s edition of Tini Tinou is going to be the biggest, boldest, and brightest. So, save the date!
Worth Watching
Cambodian activist fight for nature and his freedom
This beautiful and heart wrenching short documentary by Andy Ball, Marta Kasztelan and team about the journey of the Mother Nature youths to fight for their cause makes me admire their willpower but also even more frustrated with the current administration. A must-watch if you want to get a glimpse of what young people who are speaking up about certain issues have to deal with in Cambodia.
The Bay of Lights: Cambodia’s city on sand
When I was in Sihanoukville last month, I happened to drive past the Bay of Lights, a vast empty space full of reclaimed sandy land. As a normal person, I scratched my head and thought to myself: “Why? And who are going to be the people living here?” Funnily enough, a week after that trip, CNA published a story on this monstrosity.
Campuccino is a fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia, written by @DarathteyDin.
I’d love to hear from you. If you have feedback or content ideas, please write to me at hello@darathteydin.com
Thank you for the generous to-eat list, Darathtey! And for sharing such important stories.