2008-09-07 - Golden Street

Liane and Matt are an Aussie couple that have been here for 2.5 months, also under ABV, also working with CARE, and also staying at the same place as me – the Golden Tour Eiffel Guest House. This is in street 278 in Phnom Penh, and is a small guest house with 12 or so rooms I think. Each room has a bedroom, bathroom and simple kitchen. It’s essentially the same construction as a Sydney terrace, but wider and taller.

It’s called Golden Street because there are lots of other “gold” things here – the Golden Gate Guesthouse, the Golden Bridge Guesthouse, some Golden restaurants and a Golden Real Estate place too. I don’t know why gold is emphasized, but the Eiffel part is presumably from the previous French influence in Cambodia. It’s a sort of expatriate area, so there are lots of little restaurants and guest houses.

Thanks to Liane and Matt, internet access was established at one of the local eateries, and various other little tips and tricks picked up (some even remembered). I was feeling somewhat paranoid after reading the book on Cambodia ABV sent me, but the word from the street is that you can in fact have ice (ask for ice for your drink, possibly different to the other ice), can eat fruit, won’t get mugged, can walk around, can eat salads, can cross the street (there’s another story), etc. Also got some invaluable pointers on what’s where and so on.

One of their tips was that there was a supermarket called Lucky a few blocks up, so I went there to get some basics, and quite frankly, that place is awesome. It’s a little larger than the big IGA in Civic, but has all manner of Khmer food, Chinese food, Thai and Vietnamese stuff, as well as a few Aussie goodies like Cadbury, Berri juices, etc. Prices for the imported stuff are about the same as or a little better than Australia ($4 for Cadbury, $1 for 500ml Coke), but the locally made stuff and some imports are fantastic.

For example:

• Steamed pork buns: 40c each


• Wide selection of Asian and Western bakery pastries (eg little hotdog thingos, choc croissants, danishes): 40c each


• Half a pineapple or pawpaw, sliced up for you: 35c


• Slab of canned Lychee drinks: $6


• Bottle of Baileys: $13!

These are no doubt expensive compared to what you could get from a roadside stall. Any hope of loosing some weight here is rapidly diminishing.

The method of payment strains the brain a little: US$ are used for the pricier things (ie the prices above), while the local riel is effectively used in place of cents. It’s 4,200 riel to the US$, and you usually get your change under US$1 in riel. In other words, my US$0.40 choc croissant is 1,680 riel (ish – the smallest denomination is 100 riel I think).

Other activity for the day was walking from the guest house to the riverside, via the national monument and some of the landmarks Pheap had showed me earlier. Deliberately left the camera and wallet behind – will no doubt be back there later.