Simplicity & solitude

Simple food takes many forms in this world. Presentation can be fairly humble and even, to some, lacklustre, but one thing remains: regardless of the cuisine, there’s something remarkable and medicinal about simplicity and solitude in hearty dining. On an oft-dusty Street 155, just a few blocks down from the heat of the Russian Market and tucked back through a neatly groomed rock garden, is one of a handful of small Korean eateries, this one called Broom Tree.

Passing by a small cashier’s counter, you’re welcomed into a quiet world of clean white walls and black chairs, with white sheers on the large front windows. The stereo above plays a nice range of quiet classical music and the odd hymn as the patrons drink glasses of tea and cold water.

On my many trips here the greeting has always been warm, welcoming, so quiet is this tiny retreat. This is a place to collect your thoughts, have a simple hot meal, hydrate (bottles of cold water are on each table) and take a break from the blare and glare of the street outside. What always strikes me most about Broom Tree, speaking as someone who gladly takes the majority of her meals in solitary for the sake of her own mental health and yours, is how the personality of this café makes it a wonderful place to bring a book, study long division, or have a long conversation with yourself.

There is a feeling of no pity in being one’s own favourite dinner guest; there is a consistency and sobriety in the mood. This is a place to talk to yourself about that move back home to Toledo; what to do about this or that, or just be left politely to be and be comfortable while doing it.

The menu is small and precise, with a range of soups and something called a ‘Korean General Lunch’ which consists of about five dishes including kimchee and sweet pickles, a nice fish, a lovely pork belly dish and the standard rice. For less than five dollars this meal is fit for any general, Korean or otherwise, and to be frank could probably feed an entire platoon.

My favourite dish has to be fried pork cutlet, or as it’s called in my neck of the woods ‘a chicken fried pork chop with brown onion gravy’. The portion is also quite ample and, at four bucks, well worth it. When I put my mind to it I can eat like a half-starved lumberjack, but this dish is daunting: the other half usually ends up being hauled home. Like all good home-cooking, the pork cutlet is a blessed occasion when it arrives fresh and hot with a side of rice, a variety of pickles and really tasty coleslaw, but reaches its full saintly promise the next day in the company of two pieces of bread. This quiet lunch spot, though a bit out of the way, is something to warmly welcome in a town that keeps getting bigger, smaller and faster as the months go by.

Broom Tree, #55c Street 155, Toul Tom Pong I.

 

Darkness & light

SATURDAY 7 | Male and female. Fire and water. Dark and light. Life and death. Many natural forces that might at first seem contrary are in fact complementary, a concept embodied in the yin yang of Chinese philosophy. Together, such forces interact to create a sum far greater than their parts. Such is the case with Krom (Khmer for ‘the group’), quite possibly the most reclusive band in Cambodia. Public performances are rare; interviews even more so. In Krom, East meets West. Mournful delta blues guitar mingles with celestial Cambodian vocals. Tales of human atrocities are tinged with the slightest suggestion of hope. Angelic opera singers Sophea and Sopheak Chamroeun are backed by Australian guitarist Christopher Minko, a man onto whose features more than a thousand lifetimes have been etched (the three were introduced by Cambodian Living Arts). Nearing 60, Minko is not without his demons. A professional musician with Australian cult band The Bachelors in Prague in the late 1980s, he is today a recovering alcoholic who smokes more than three packs a day, wears any colour so long as it’s black and has been in a near-permanent state of mourning since the death of his wife, the mother of his only daughter. When he speaks of her, cross-legged and barefoot on the floor of Krom’s studio in a tiny Phnom Penh alleyway, a single tear slowly meanders down one of the many ravines that years of hard living have carved deep into his flesh. She’s Seven Years Old (Her Body Sold), from the group’s recently released second album, Neon Dark, is perhaps Krom’s most disturbing track. It recounts the true story of a young Cambodian child sold into sexual slavery and was described by BBC Radio broadcaster Mark Coles as “Harrowing; a very disturbing, powerful song.” Minko was motivated to write the lyrics after reading a story in the local press that described the rescue of a seven-year-old girl from sex traders on the Thai-Cambodia border. The photo accompanying the article showed her chained to a bed: “a horrendous mix of fear and utter bewilderment shown within the eyes of the enslaved young girl”, says Minko, noting that the song “is meant to make the listener feel uncomfortable, very uncomfortable”.

WHO: Krom
WHAT: A rare public performance, featuring Gabi Faja on piano
WHERE: Doors, #18 Street 84 & 47
WHEN: 9:30pm December 7
WHY: They’re elusive, reclusive and exclusive

 

In God’s name

SATURDAY 7 | Atheists, look away now: Bluetree, from Northern Ireland, bill themselves as a Christian band and are best known for their song God Of This City, inspired by a trip to the oh-so-seedy Pattaya in Thailand. “I was frustrated with the idea that worship is only to do with your heart,” says lead singer Aaron Boyd. “I don’t really agree with that. It’s bigger than just your heart attitude towards something, like the idea that music can be secondary and as long as you love Jesus, that’s fine! I don’t think that’s right.” Here endeth the sermon.

WHO: Bluetree
WHAT: Bible-bashing Irish rockers
WHERE: Sugar & Spice Garden Cafe, #130a Street 430
WHEN: 5:30pm December 7
WHY: Lest they smite thee

 

Greek gods & iffy heroes

FRIDAY 6 | Crazy costumes, thrown sweets, interactive scenes and comedy cross-dressing. What more could you possibly wish for? Pantomime, at least in the UK, is as big a part of the Christmas tradition as turkey, tinsel and a tumbler of something potent for Santa. For the past decade the Phnom Penh Players have been bringing this seasonal English spectacle to Cambodia’s capital. This year’s incarnation, The Epic Pantomime, features Greek gods, an overconfident hero and at least one very questionable accent. What makes it so epic? Says Zak Kendall, Pantomania’s self-professed ‘greatest historian’: “By definition, an epic involves a hero on a cyclical journey or quest. The hero faces temptations and adversaries and returns home significantly transformed by his journey. Generally the hero learns or discovers something about himself that he didn’t realise before. An epic hero illustrates traits, performs deeds and exemplifies certain morals that are valued by society. Some of the greatest examples would be Gilgamesh, the Odyssey, or Beowulf… I can see by your blank expression that you have no idea what I’m talking about. Very well, it’s a little bit like the original Star Wars trilogy, although I promise you there are minimal Star Wars references.”

WHO: The Phnom Penh Players
WHAT: The Epic Pantomime
WHERE: Russian Cultural Centre, corner of Norodom Boulevard and Street 222 (tickets, $10, available at The Willow Boutique Hotel, Divine Pizza & Ribs, and The Flicks)
WHEN: 7:30pm December 6; 2pm and 7:30pm December 7
WHY: It’s EPIC!

 

Rrrrrrrrreggae!

FRIDAY 6 | Take three of the capital’s finest reggae bands, add a dedicated reggae sound system and sling the whole messy lot into Slur: it can only be Phnom Penh’s first ever Reggae Muffin Festival. ‘Big Ting a Gwaan!’, declares the flyer (no, we don’t know what that means, either). Jamaica’s most resilient soundscapes will be distilled into one evening of ska, roots, reggae, ragga, dub, dancehall and dubstep – not to mention a few emerging genres that haven’t even been given names yet. Brace yourself for a sonic onslaught featuring Jahzad, Vibratone and Dub Addiction – the latter recently crowned Best Band in The Advisor’s Best Of Phnom Penh 2013 reader awards. Tickets ($3 in advance, $5 on the door) are on sale now at Slur and King Tao’s on Street 172.

WHO: Jahzad, Vibratone and Dub Addiction
WHAT: Reggae Muffin Festival
WHERE: Slur, Street 172 & 51
WHEN: 9pm December 6
WHY: ‘Big Ting a Gwaan!’ (whatever that means)

 

In cole blood

THURSDAY 5 | Broadway darling and the favourite composer of silver-screen goddess Marilyn Monroe, Cole Porter gave the world strokes of musical genius such as Kiss Me, Kate; Anything Goes, and I Get A Kick Out Of You. Tonight, jazz impresario Philippe Javelle and friends will be tipping their trilbies in a one-night-only tribute to this leviathan of American musical theatre.

WHO: Philippe Javelle & friends
WHAT: A tribute to Cole Porter
WHERE: The Groove, #1c Street 282
WHEN: 9pm December 5
WHY: “It’s delightful, it’s delicious, it’s de-lovely” – Cole Porter

 

Paraprosdokians, a wandering falsetto & the best god joke ever

Lanky Yankee Emo Philips – described by Jay Leno as “the best joke-writer in America”, by British comedian Gary Delaney as “the best joke-writer in the world” and by Weird Al Yankovic as one of the funniest people on the planet – is bringing the ‘idiot savant’ style of stand-up comedy that made him famous right here to the Comedy Club Cambodia. 

For a taste of the comedic routine to come, look no further than Emo’s Facebook page, on which this veteran of more than 6,000 stand-up shows declares: “Welcome to my one & only Facebook page. How can you know it’s authentic? Because it’s linked to from my website, www.emophilips.com, which is linked to from here, which is linked to my from my website, which is linked to from here, which is…” (and so on and so forth).

Master of ‘the wisdom of children’ humour, Emo – who made his debut in Chicago in 1976 aged 20, at a time when there were but six comedy clubs in the entire US – is, to borrow from the Boston Globe, ‘admittedly a bit cuckoo, but he’s the king of that stand-up staple, the one-liner’. “I’m not sure exactly when or where I first heard one of Emo’s routines, but once I did I instantly became a fan,” Weird Al Yankovic once told Chicago Magazine. “Emo had the iconic look of somebody who could have been a major star in the era of silent films. His body language was indescribably weird and his material was flat-out brilliant.” And if you were asked at gunpoint to say who’s the funniest guy in the world, Mr Yankovic? “Without question I would have to say Emo Philips, especially if Emo happened to be the one holding the gun.”

Why so funny, you ask? Here’s another shining example: in 1990, approached by Time Out magazine in London for an interview, Emo, rather than leave anything to the gods of journalistic chance, agreed to be interviewed on its hallowed pages… by himself (coincidentally enabling him to pocket the writer’s fee). The results were nothing short of priceless, as this Emo-to-Emo exchange from the article entitled Me, Myself And I demonstrates:

Emo: How old are you?
Emo: 34.
I could see right away his joust of wit would not be for the faint-hearted.
Emo: How tall are you?
Emo: Six feet two.
Emo: How much do you weigh?
Emo: 145 pounds, naked. That is, if that scale outside the drugstore is anything to go by.

This last answer caught me totally off-guard. Laughter – a sweet, helpless laughter – welled up inside me, uncertain at first, and then increasing logarithmically, like the passion within the breasts of a tender young virgin chained to a post in the Coliseum as the baboon trainer approaches her with his lascivious charges.

So, Emo, is this to be that sort of interview? A silly, nonsensical, no-holds-barred affair, comic-take-all? Oh, you monster! You delightfully naughty monster! Well then, so be it! Make me your little whipping boy and toss caution to the breeze!

Emo: Emo, you are very talented.
Emo: Well, that’s not for me to say.
Emo: Darn you, Emo, modesty will get you nowhere! You must learn to blow your own horn in this world! Very well, if you refuse to praise yourself, then I will. I’ll shout it out from the highest mountaintop: Emo is talented! Emo is…
Emo: Please stop. You’re embarrassing me!
Emo: But you just have to learn how good you are!
Emo: I beg you, change the subject.
Emo: You are so wonderful. Very well, I shall soldier on. Now Emo, you are getting to be quite the frequent visitor to our shores, old chap.
Emo: Oh, yes. In fact, they’re getting to know me so well at Heathrow Immigration that this time I was able to completely bypass the six-month rabies quarantine…

In 2005, a joke penned by Emo some 20 years previously was declared by ship-of-fools.com, ‘the magazine of Christian unrest’, to be the world’s greatest religious joke of all time. In case you missed it – and we’re sure Emo wouldn’t mind us sharing it with you on our hallowed pages – here it is again:

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said: ‘Don’t do it!’ He said: “Nobody loves me.” I said: ‘God loves you. Do you believe in God?’ He said: “Yes.” I said: ‘Are you a Christian or a Jew?’ He said: “A Christian.” I said: ‘Me too! Protestant or Catholic?’ He said: “Protestant.” I said: ‘Me too! What franchise?’ He said: “Baptist.” I said: ‘Me too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?’ He said: “Northern Baptist.” I said: ‘Me too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?’ He said: “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said: ‘Me too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?’ He said: “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said: ‘Me too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879 or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?’ He said: “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” I said: ‘Die, heretic!’

Now a resident of Los Angeles, Emo – via Comedy Club Cambodia’s very own Dan Riley – told The Advisor: “It’s beautifully situated for living (you can swim in the ocean in the morning and ski in the mountains in the afternoon, I’m told) but, because of its non-central location, it is not at all well-situated for a touring American comedian. This Asian tour is the first time since I played Australia in ’95 that living on the west coast has come in handy (last year I played Jakarta, but the promoter sent me the long way, through Istanbul). I am on the road… well, I guess for you, approximately 75 metric weeks a year.”

After decades of stand-up comedy, what else is left? “I’ve been branching out into the classical music field. Last year I narrated Peter & The Wolf for the Glendale Philharmonic; this January, for the same orchestra, I will be narrating Carnival Of The Animals. Please know, though, that I have not at all changed the nature of my stand-up act; please don’t stay away from my show on the false assumption that it is now ‘good for you’.”

Emo’s appearance at Pontoon on December 10 marks his first time on Cambodian soil – and he has solemnly sworn to perform at least one of his jokes in Khmer (his shortest one, he insists). “Last year at this time I performed three nights in Jakarta and fell so much in love with Indonesia that I stayed an extra three weeks. I would love to spend three weeks in Cambodia as well, but sadly can only spend three days. All I know is that I have never written the number three so many times in a single paragraph in all my life and that, yes, this is actually sentence number three… which means, of course, that I should stop now.” And has he done much by way of preparing for his arrival in Phnom Penh? “To me, a country is like a movie: I try to learn as little about it beforehand as possible, in order to maximise the surprise. All I know is that, from all my friends who have visited, Cambodia has gotten the most glowing reviews.”

Emo will not be alone. Sharing the stage is British-born comedic comet Gina Yashere, who made her name state-side on NBC’s Last Comic Standing and in the guise of Madame Yashere, The Surly Psychic, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. ‘One of the best comics in the world,’ gushes The Guardian of this bombastic personality behind sell-out stand-up shows Skinny Bitch and Laughing To America (you may also have spotted her on Mock The Week). MCing for the evening will be Roddy Fraser, Scottish musician-cum-comedian now resident in Phnom Penh.

Says Dan Riley of the show, for which tickets are $10: “I’ve been an Emo Philiac (fan of Emo) for many years now. I even printed out some of his sublime one-liners and stuck them on the wall of my guesthouse in Kampot for guests to enjoy. I’ve never been more eager or excited to see an act than I am about Emo and I’m sure many have been impressed that we’ve managed to get him without having to charge an arm and a leg for tickets. That he’s supported by the amazing Gina Yashere is just incredible.”

 

WHO: Emo Philips (US) and Gina Yashere (UK)
WHAT: Comedy Club Cambodia
WHERE: Pontoon, #80 Street 172
WHEN: 8:30pm December 10
WHY: The word ‘Emo’ is about more than pale-faced, self-obsessed Goths

 

Calling all swingers!

TUESDAY 3 | When more than a dozen khaki-clad dancers air-stepped, jitterbugged and boogie woogied their way through a 30-second commercial for global thread-peddlers Gap in 1998, they unintentionally turned a new generation of rug cutters not onto affordable casual-fit pants but a certain something called ‘swing’. Called upon to define this Harlem sound by Bing Crosby on national radio, Louis Armstrong replied thus: “Ah, swing. Well, we used to call it syncopation then they called it ragtime then blues then jazz. Now it’s swing. White folks, y’all sho’ is a mess.” Today, swing having been immortalised for the 21st century masses first by JXL in the video to Little Less Conversation then by Robbie Williams’ Swing When You’re Winning and later by Marilyn Manson in Mobscene, it’s even on the rise in the steaming urban jungles of Asia. “It’s massive in Korea and China, especially Beijing,” says Richard, a psychologist and long-dancing member of local dance club Swing Penh. “I got called as a reluctant stand-in and felt a bit awkward, but then it became like a problem to solve: how do you do this? We don’t do too much of the ‘throwing around’ stuff. We’re middle aged, you know…” Janice Wilson, Swing Penh’s resident instructor, has performed, choreographed and taught dance in 11 countries, touring with Michael Buble and Wynton Marsalis and once opening for Bill Cosby at Disney World. “Swing allows for full immersion. You’re not just listening to the music, you’re living it; breathing it,” she says.

WHO: Hep cats and hipsters
WHAT: Swing dancing
WHERE: Doors, Street 84 & 47
WHEN: 7pm December 3
WHY: “Swing allows for full immersion. You’re not just listening to the music, you’re living it; breathing it” – Janice Wilson

 

Lost opportunity & lost meaning

Cambodia’s forests: to some a place of ‘sacred wild’; to others a source of timber and wildlife; to yet others an inconvenience, covering the soil they crave for the creation of a rubber or sugar plantation. Today, one cannot open a local newspaper without being confronted with yet another tale of forest clearing, land dispossession or wildlife poaching.

Cambodia’s forests stand at the frontline of the struggle over the country’s natural environments – how they are used, respected and managed – and the way that people and wildlife will be allowed to live and prosper within them now into the future. They are, if ever there was, a ‘contested’ zone.

It is into this conflict that a new book, Cambodia’s Contested Forest Domain, enters. Edited by Mark Poffenberger and with contributions from some of the foremost scholars on Cambodia’s natural environment (including Ian Baird, Jefferson Fox and Melissa Marschke), the book promises to provide some scholarly illumination on the challenges and opportunities facing Cambodia’s forests and the futures of those who depend on them. So how does it all stack up?

Firstly, the positive. By positioning itself in the interface of community – forest relations – thealigns itself neatly with a popular area of natural resource theory and practice. This, together with a set of authors who have honed their craft in this field of study, gives it both relevancy and depth.

Secondly, the detail provided in the editor’s introduction and the essays that follow will provide valuable information to anyone wishing to explore this field for themselves. In this capacity, Cambodia’s Contested Forest Domain provides a valuable starting point for others wishing to explore and comprehend local environmental issues further.

Thirdly, the publication’s essays draw on years of study from people who ‘know their stuff’. These are folk who’ve trekked through forests, slept on commune house balconies and been sucked on by leeches. They’ve done the hard yards and the depth and quality of research covered reflects this.

Now this is all fine and scholarly, but is it enough? Does the book deliver on the promise of its title? Here is where the problems start First up, by using the word ‘contest’ in its title the book gives the impression it’s going to embrace a particular approach in the studies that follow, one born of the exciting and emerging field of political ecology.

Now at this point, before you think, ‘What the hell is he talking about? I’m turning to the gig page,’ hold on! This little lesson could well be worth it. Political ecology explores the way the ‘meaning of things’ – forest, trees and animals, etc – are conferred and shaped through debates about their use and value. Behind this is the assertion that people respond to these ‘things’ based on the meanings and interpretations given to them by individuals and society.

However, because there are inevitably multiple interpretations of what forests are (‘sacred’, ‘home for wildlife’, ‘inconvenient land cover’), not all of these can be accommodated in the way they’re managed and exploited. This leads to ‘contests’, as different people and groups seek to have their interpretations take precedence over those of others. This competition is very important because, ultimately, the interpretation that becomes dominant, the one that ‘wins the contest’, will determine how a forest or other natural environment is exploited.

Lesson over! You can now see how the editor, by using the term ‘contest’ in the book’s title, creates an expectation that its respective authors will use these themes to explore the dynamics of forest conflicts in the Kingdom. That this subsequently fails to transpire, in any concerted and coordinated fashion, is my first disappointment. Let’s call it a case, perhaps unintentionally, of ‘false advertising’.

In comparison, the recent publication Beyond the Sacred Forest: Complicating Conservation in Southeast Asia does take on this opportunity and provides a series of excellent essays that grapple with the implications of political ecology for the region’s forests. Not the easiest read, it is still recommended here.

The second and arguably biggest concern is that, while the book features some of the most prominent ‘international’ scholars on Cambodia’s environmental issues, it includes only one Cambodian among its writers and not one voice from a forest community. This occurs despite the announcement in the editor’s introduction that: “The authors of this book take the position that one of the most promising approaches to restoring and conserving Cambodia’s forests… will be through the engagement of rural communities in their management.”

Apparently, such engagement does not extend to the inclusion of such communities’ words here. For an account that seeks to explore the role of local communities in the Kingdom’s forest debates, this seems a bit strange. Moreover it represents a lost opportunity, because there’s a range of excellent projects being undertaken here that seek to bring local voices into the forest debates underway. One only has to look at the outstanding documentary A River Changes Course, for example, to recognise the value of bringing these voices to the fore in debates about the Kingdom’s environmental conflicts.

It is also, of course, about respect.
This leaves me concerned that Cambodia’s Contested Forest Domain is perhaps the ultimate conceit: that it represents an effort by one group to assert their interpretations of Cambodia’s forest debates onto society, while minimising the voices and meanings of others. Perhaps I am just being too postmodern (or precious?), but it is by this measure, if nothing else, that the book disappoints.

Cambodia’s Contested Forest Domain: The Role of Community Forestry in the Millennium, edited by Mark Poffenberger, is available now from Monument Books for $13.

 

Bored? Game!

Happy face smiles and kitty cat faces. Hohohaha Board Game Cafe, just a couple of blocks south of Russian Market, is a Korean incarnation of ice-cold air-con and boardgame afternoons. Monopoly, Bluckus and Chess, Life and Clue, Fits and DaVinci. The intention is friends and boardgames. And maybe munchies. The food menu is short, but excellent: fried rice or pork cutlet, with tea or coffee or K-pop-a-licious mango fruit smoothies. All available with kimchi. Sit. Hang out. Get comfortable. Play.

Hohohaha Board Game Cafe, #74 Street 456.