Yesterday was really a relaxing day for us in the capital. We have done our touristy ritual in the beginning and it was time to bask in relaxation. First up, we headed to Daughters of Cambodia. They have smoothies which could match Koto’s in Hanoi, and that is saying something about it.
I absolutely love the mango nana, which is mango, banana and pear blended to create that perfectly thick yet refreshing smoothie. Yesterday we also tried the banofee, which is toffee and banana in the form of a smoothie. It is really rich, like shoving toffee one after another. I could get high with that. 
Restaurants and cafe here has ready wifi for you to log on. In fact, Cambodia now runs on 3.5g. He said it made sense because infrastructure to support landlines at this point is going to be expensive. So the faster they move on to wireless technology to support connectivity, the better it is for development, which really made sense. Browsing the net, we found a really interesting place called The Flicks. So we made reservations for two at 6 and happily continued our meal.
Walking around Phnom Penh at 11 in the morning in the month of February is not a joke. By the time half an hour elapsed, he had a headache and I was sweating so much that my cotton shirt could not absorb anymore liquid. On the way back to the hotel, we had to stop so we decided to chance upon another round of Svensons. Honestly, they serve really good ice cream. In Cambodia, you can find them as an ice cream parlor and not as a restaurant like back home. That is absolutely brilliant.
Since it was so hot, we decided to chill in our room for a bit because by the time we got back it was already 2.30pm. I had a wonderful, somewhat cooling soak in the bath tub and then CSI 11 came on. Man… It has been pretty long since I watched a CSI episode. A little it of soaking and all of a sudden it was 4.45pm.
At 5pm, we headed out to The Flicks. We were supposed to be the 15 minutes earlier, but we reached Street 95 at 5.30pm. Feeling a tad bit hungry, we decided to hop over next door to Terrace on 95 but unfortunately they didn’t accept any form of credit card and our cash reserves was running really low. So we went off exploring until about 5.50pm and then we headed to The Flicks.
The Flicks is run by a guy named Ramon, a really friendly guy. It is housed in a two stories building but he only utilizes the upstairs for The Flicks. It is really a very cool concept of a cinema. In the movie room, he has about 28 seats – 16 of them on mattresses with pillows and the rest on different chairs, some with space long enough to lie down horizontally.
We booked ourselves for the movie J.Edgar, bought two bottles of beer, ordered a pizza and sat ourselves down on one of the mattresses, hugged the pillows and settled comfortably facing the 6 meter screen. The movie room was air conditioned, the projector is better than the one in the old Miri cinema (if you have ever experienced that), the movies are legally procured (so there are plenty of classics too). Besides showing movies, The Flicks also has a once a week Khmer class, yoga classes and Pilates classes too. Ramon is in the midst of opening a second Flicks soon.
We paid USD3.50 each for the movie, USD2 for a bottle of Hoegaarden and USD7.50 for our pizza. This joint is awesome. We haven’t watched a movie since … We can’t even remember. It must have been really long ago. The atmosphere was relaxed, shoes were kicked off, we got to meet new people, had some good laughs with nonsensical translated signs which were exhibited for kicks and most of all we got to watch a movie lying down on a comfortable mattress.
Since our flight is in the afternoon, we decided to take the next day (today) real slow. At 8.40am, we walked out towards Norodom Avenue searching for a place called Freebird Bar and Grill. According to guide books, they accept credit cards. But we found out that most places that say they accept credit cards in guide books don’t actually do. A note to self – change more cash when coming to Cambodia next time (there will definitely be a next time).
Ooooo food is here, and it looks goooooood!
Freebird burger with potato salad and coleslaw:
Note: it is GOOD! The bacon is juicy and the beef is tender and bursting with flavour.
French toast with maple syrup and bacon:
