James and Jo’s south east Asia adventure

We visited the Cambodia history museum, the exhibits were almost exclusively statues along with the longest hand-sown scarf in the world. It seems as though Cambodia has a long history of artefacts being looted or maliciously damaged. Maybe the British museum should’ve taken more of them previously.

Some of the oldest statues from c.6th century ad seemed more impressive than the ones from last century to my untrained eye and also looked better than some of the renaissance marbles in the Vatican and other museums (obviously not better than the most lauded renaissance pieces).

After spending a worthwhile hour or so at the museum we then went straight to the central market. The market was set out in sections and there were plenty of stalls and sellers, but it was far from a hive of activity and I was pleasantly surprised that the sellers weren’t as aggressive as I expected when it came to hawking their wares. I bought a few t-shirts and at one stall when they were initially offering 2 t-shirts for 5 dollars I managed to counter offer with 1 for 3 dollars – they accepted and my hard-nosed bargaining paid off.  We both bought a few other souvenirs.

We spent a relaxing few hours by the pool and had a late lunch poolside. I had steamed fish in a curry sauce and Jo had a ham and cheese panino that was so big she didn’t come close to finishing it. It was happy hour and 2 for 1 on cocktails, I had one that consisted of white chocolate infused vodka and Bailey’s plus a couple of other ingredients – I didn’t look at the ingredients beyond chocolate when I ordered it and as I don’t actually like Bailey’s found it too sickly and forfeited the free one despite my sweet tooth and passion for free alcohol.

We booked to go to to a Kun Khmer (Muay Thai by a different name) event in the evening and were being picked up at 5.30. I threw on one of the t-shirts that I bought earlier in the day that had the logo for Angkor Beer, one of the popular local brands.

Our guide Sina had a van that was stocked with a cool box full of cans of beer and ice. The traffic on the way to the event was heavy and this helped it go quicker. In Cambodia there is the potential to win prizes with each ringpull in a can of beer, ranging from free beer, to cash prizes, to houses. I can see why such deals aren’t allowed in the uk as I was keen to finish my beers just to get to the next ringpull. We ‘won’ 3 free cans between us. Sina recounted how in 2017 three of his friends went out for drinks without him and won £100,000 US dollars; they all now own coffee shops.

One of the two main sponsors of the event was the beer brand ‘Ganzberg’, with their name appearing on the ring skirting and around the venue. These were also the brand of beer that Sina had brought with him.

Kun Khmer is the most popular sport in Cambodia and matches are televised on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The smaller events like the one we attended are in a tv studio with the bigger ones taking place in a stadium outside of the city. The tv studio had a capacity of 300 and there were probably about 150 people in attendance. 

Prior to the first match starting I noticed one of the camera assistants staring at me but didn’t think too much of it, even after he came to have a word with our host a couple of minutes later. Sina then relayed to me that I couldn’t wear my t-shirt at the event as it featured the logo of a rival beer brand that were not a sponsor of the event. For a second I thought I would have to leave, then realised I couldn’t wear my just turn the t-shirt inside out. Fortunately the t-shirt wasn’t double-sided! Definitely an over the top reaction from corporate Cambodia.

Considering it is the national sport I was surprised by the lack of enthusiasm of the crowd. The only notable exception was during the second fight when the fighter in the blue corner had a few members of his club at ringside who lived every strike with him.

The final match of the night featured a Cambodian fighter against an Iranian opponent. When the Cambodian fighter knocked out his opponent the studio immediately emptied. By the time the referee lifted the victor’s arm there was barely anyone in attendance to acclaim the homegrown fighter’s victory. I was surprised by how nonplussed the crowd were and don’t know if it is more lively at larger events.