Fans spin lazily from the ceiling of the secondhand bookstore, successfully maintaining the illusion that it is possible to fend off the mid-afternoon heat. Our dysfunctional air conditioner back home at the apartment is a testament to the impossibility of this endeavour, its poor coils intermittently giving out as it fizzes and clanks. Back in the bookstore sweat pearls on the foreheads of the owner’s face, much as it does on my own.
The recycled wood shelves groan under the weight of foreign expectations, bearing countless copies of "Eat, Pray, Love" in English, providing insight into the soul-searching motives of Phnom Penh's average tourist. Did the original owners of the books ever succeed in finding themselves? We'll likely never know, but the stack of copies sits in interesting company alongside a hefty stack of "Fifty Shades of Grey" and books purporting to demistify the "secrets" of Thai ladyboys.
To this day Cambodia remains one of the poorer countries in Southeast Asia, particularly outside of Siem Reap where the national historical site of Angkor Wat is located. Though rapidly developing, it does have something of Wild West feel to it; the streets of Phnom Penh are dusty, personal gun ownership remains high despite government attempts to curtail it, and few people walk, preferring to ride. To the cowboys of Phnom Penh, motorcycles and mopeds are their steads, their carriages are tuktuks, carts with couches pulled by motorcycles.
As we walk the streets sound loudly with the voices of the tuktuk drivers which seem to summarize the last half century of Cambodia's history. Calls of "Tuktuk sir?" are endless in a city where few walk and tourism is eagerly encouraged. They're interspersed with queries such as "killing fields, want to go to the killing fields?" and every now and then a call of "Hey fellow, want to fire a rocket today? Or AK47?" the striking legacies of the Khmer Rouge and the government's attempts to boost tourism make strange bedfellows indeed.
Much like the post office we dined in front of, the vestiges of French colonialism are everywhere, from structures built in the early 20th century to art deco facades accompanied by French signs on government buildings and baguettes sold out of street carts.
This is why I'm here. As a food historian, the fusion of Khmer and French cuisine is intriguing. Unlike neighbouring Vietnam, Cambodia parted ways with French imperialism on relatively peaceful terms and France persists as an important trade partner. French food remains prevalent both in the form of ritzy haute-cuisine restaurants and in the day to day street food of the city. Baguette sandwiches stuffed with pork cooked in Khmer seasonings are offered on the street for 4,000 Cambodian riel or 1 US dollar (Cambodia use both currencies in tandem) while excellent pure butter croissants and viennoiserie cost just a touch more.
The Cambodian archives remain in their original home, a colonial structure dating from the 1920’s, which the archivist tells me with a wry grin served briefly as a pig sty under the Khmer Rouge. The archivists themselves are endlessly kind, tirelessly providing us with a constant stream of documents and rearranging the standing fans around us in the endless crusade against the heat because this building, like many others, is not air conditioned. The rustling of century old papers is accompanied by the murmurs of conversation among the archivists, the staccato of pages falling into the tray of the photocopier and the crowing of the rooster who resides in the parking lot. The holdings reveal much about the dining habits of the colonial period with many documents providing evidence that the regional love for condensed milk is far spanning.
