Wetting your whistle? Sometimes an inoffensive brew is your best bet.
A draft pint of Angkor ($1.50), the only Cambodian brew on tap at the FCC, might have been any of a hundred other pale beers, like the Bayon, Klang, and slightly fruity Crown I tried over the next two days. I also picked up a bottle of Khmer (320 ml.; 40 cents), which I mistook for a beer; it turned out to be fermented palm juice with a formaldehyde-like smell that gave me the shivers. The flavor, though not all that bad, didn't shed the aroma.
The Phnom Penh Bar at the FCC overlooks the convergence of the Tonlé Sap and Mekong rivers, as well as the riverside road called Sisowath Quay, but in the steamy heat of the beer-drinking hours, the vistas are hazy and, frankly, unspectacular. I came across a more intriguing sight when I returned at dawn to the nearby strip park along the water to watch a pickup game of sepak takraw, a volleyball game with the hands-off restrictions of soccer.
Foreign Correspondent's Club
363 Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
www.FCCcambodia.com/phnom_penh
(From a November 2006 visit)
