THE PHNOM PENH LAYOVER

in one day

a poet climbed the Hill of the Poisonous Trees to inscribed the minutes of a weekly meeting that documented how the last flight to Siem Reap was secured in Jakarta, who is in the confirmed list to Luang Prabang, what just energy transition and inclusive business would be in the Year of the Wood Dragon, why younger people should be transported to Kathmandu

in one hour

the novices of Tuol Tompoung booked hotel rooms at The Coffee shop of the Russian Market, bought fish with pending payment requests from Luang Prabang and Johor Bahru, traded a medical reimbursement for meat and $200  

in one afternoon

the vendors of Phsar Thmey were done installing the upper level ceiling of the house in Bakal 2, replaced the main water line and restored a dead hand pump, ordered bedroom door replacements and upgraded the cable to optical fiber, disposed pre-Covid books and scouted for stainless steel shoe racks

in one walk

i paid homage to Lady Penh's Mountain Pagoda for the birthday bash at Kanto grill and a one-on-one with the Thursday Group, a late American-Italian lunch with Bulan before PR 521, the new internet-less Mabuhay Lounge at Terminal 1, the emperor's barong tagalog and the vacuum that ate the garbage from the house in Bakal 2

that was the last day of my week

1.5 nights and 1 day in Phnom Penh where a lunch of spicy Khmer beef salad finally scratched the itch of dining at the second deck of the Panorama Mekong Restaurant and Bar, and a dinner of Mama Wong's best selling pork-cabbage dumplings and spring onion pancakes brought me to Bassac Lane after 3 biking days in the trails of Munoz