On the 18th, at 20h, I picked up my sister An and her partner Bert at the airport. A tuktuk brought us to our guesthouse, Narin 2 (St. 111). (I had made reservations at my regular stay, Seng Sokhom (St. 111), but our rooms had already been passed on to people who arrived earlier.)
The next day, we went for a walk around town, stopping at the Olympic Stadium to watch the semifinal of the World Cup Volleyball for Disabled; unfortunately, Cambodia lost to a much stronger Poland. In the evening, we went to my favorite Indian restaurant, Aman, on St. 81. Their mutton curry special is sublime.
Then came Sunday, big breakfast day. Place of choice: the Lone Star Saloon (St. 172). After having eaten a big breakfast, we started drinking beer, and didn’t stop till late at night. After the Lone Star, we met up with two fellow Aarschottenaars, Steven and Willem, and had more beers at Sebastian (St. 13, behind Wat Ounalom), and White Moon Bar (St. 172). And then we were hungry, so off “eating ants”. I took the gang to my favorite Khmer restaurant, Ta Khae, on St. 184 near the French Cultural Center. We ordered some tasty food: cow stomach with fermented fish paste (“prahok”) sauce, ant salad, laab, and a few more dishes alcohol abuse made me forget about. Obviously we washed it down with more beer, and some medicinal wine, courtesy of the owner. After dinner we said goodbye to Steven and Willem, put An to bed, and Bert and I went for one final pitcher of beer – we both struggled finished it I hate to admit; a Royal D (the hangover cure: rehydratation salts and vitamins) and off to bed it was.
The following day, we were slightly hung over, so we took it easy: we visited O’Russey market, had lunch at another one of my favorite eateries, Bites, a Malaysian restaurant on St. 105. Unfortunately, An was feeling a bit under the weather, so she spent the rest of the day in bed. Bert and I met up with Willem and Steven, and we went for a walk around town, with another visit to the Olympic Stadium. In the evening, we picked up Willem and Steven’s girlfriends at the airport. After that, Bert and I had a simple dinner: a cup of noodles at one of the many minimarts that have been mushrooming in PP lately. The day after, we would leave to Preah Vihear.