The Best Iced Coffee In Phnom Penh

In the middle, the comical and diminutive guy is Mr Bunnarith, the famous and friendly owner cum barista of The Best Iced Coffee In Phnom Penh. His signature coffee and stall is like a national institution; so be aware many rivals and wannabes are claiming the same name. Look for the funny man. There exists a Facebook fan page but it is also not by him. When you are at the Russian market, show other hawkers this pic and they will point you to him.

He was running the business for over 30 years and is known by tourists from all over the world, as seen by his collection of pinned magazine and newspaper cuttings from all over the world praising his coffee. Locals love his Khmer coffee too. The milk coffee is made with tins of Cambodian Best Cows brand condensed milk.

I had a long chat with him and he told me he aspired to open an international coffee chain. Ironically, many foreign franchised coffee chains are now in Cambodia. Although an overhanging sign proclaimed “We can speak English”, he spoke halting Hokkien or the Fujian Chinese dialect and we conversed using it. On the other side (camera left), was fellow Malaysian traveler Augustine Gan

I could not remember or find the exact year. I searched my Gmail and found an AirAsia booking dated 2008. Can’t be definite as I have been to Cambodia several times.

#travel #cambodia #phnompenh #khmer #russianmarket #coffee #me

Bang Ka Lee Is Not The Punjabi Baby Adopted By The Lee Family

Nice of them to include (or commission) a piece of local history by a local artist.

The kandar pole traders roamed the streets with food pots carried on each end of the long, strong and flexible wooden poles balanced on a shoulder.

The nasi kandar dish derived its name from the kandar poles used by the mobile street hawkers who were mostly of Indian or Indian Muslim descent from Tamil Nadu state in India.

It seem to be inaccurately depicted as turbanised Sikhs or Punjabis here. The artist is Chinese and was probably culturally insensitive and geographically ignorant, like many other non-Indians here.

They erroneously and habitually call any Punjabi or a Sikh with a turban Bengalis (Bang Ka Lee in Chinese Hokkien) but then, Bengal is another region altogether.

I think Kandar wood is from the Sal tree (Shorea robusta), native to India

Kudos to Little Penang for including a plaque to credit the artist who is Penang born deaf mute, self-taught mural artist Louis Gan. His most famous wall mural is “Brother and Sister on a Swing” in an alleyway off Chulia Street Ghaut, in George Town, Penang.

Panasonic GM-1, ISO 1250, f4, 1/60 sec.

#muralart #kandar #wallart #penang #littlepenang #hawkers #ioicitymall

Nathan’s Of New York

Today, Nathan’s has an outlet in IOI City Mall. I am happy to see Nathan’s here as they serve my favourite old fashioned white lemonade. The last time we had such lemonade at a local fast food joint was at A&W. It vanished from the menu inexplicably in the 1980s.

The Spicy Krispy Chicken Burger shown here, Lemonade and Nathan’s famous fat crinkle cut fries came together as a weekday lunch combo choice for RM 11 nett. Photography Tip: When photographing burgers, get the sesame seeds on the buns in focus and properly illuminated and you nailed the shot.

Panasonic GM-1, ISO 800, f4.0, 1/60 sec.

#foodphotography #nathans #burgers #fries #fastfood #ioicitymall

Bottoms Up

Some may say it is cheeky but I like the view. Having not seen their show before, I needed to be responsive (with the camera) to whatever unfolded including twerking and mooning like poses, It was part of their dance skit that incorporated comical and slapstick clownish action. It was a perfectly synchronized and coordinated routine that won Sam Sam and Esther the well deserved Pole Stars Audience Choice Award.

Olympus OMD, ISO 1200, f3.5, 1/320 sec.

#poledancing #polestars #pole #dance #poledancers #twerking #mooning #tbt