Last month, an associate told me it was 40°C in Phnom Penh. As we enter into the southwest monsoon, this week hasn't been too scorching. When the sun's out, it’s as hot as Singapore. With the afternoon rains, the temperature drops to a comfortable 28°C. The locals inform me that it’s rainy season from now till September, coinciding with the off-peak tourist season. It’ll rain in the afternoons for now and towards the tail end of the season, the rain comes in the mornings.
We went to the Foreign Correspondents Club or FCC for short, to catch the sunset. Heavy winds and rains blanketed the city all afternoon and trailed to a drizzle in the evening. Instead of colorful purple and orange streaks, we had a good look at how the horizon over the Mekong looked like in the dreary grey and stared right out at the Singapore flag flapping proudly in the wind. FCC was a good respite. It was a proper bar, not one of the many girlie bars in the area. And you know what, despite rains the night before and all afternoon, the roads didn’t flood, although the road in front of our hotel did, and no, it wasn’t the road in front of the Singapore embassy.
Although we shared a very good pizza as an appetizer, plans for a sizeable dinner at FCC were quickly scrapped when we realized that there was a huge projector screen showing a giant green field with 11 men running after a ball. (No, of course we didn’t bother to find out which countries were playing because none of us were interested in the game) Strangely, the buzz of the vuvuzelas wasn’t too jarring because the Cambodian presenters talked a lot and covered the annoying buzz.
Honestly, the drinks were quite good. A shot of Glenlivet 12 y.o went for USD7. We were there at happy hour and it was 50% off. We had a further 10% off the total bill, so, my my, alcohol is seriously cheap in this city. We had glasses of Bloody Mary and mojitos too. Some ordered a pineapple, Malibu, vodka concoction which went down quite well.
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