Water Festival in Phnom Penh

When visiting Cambodia, why would anyone eat pizzas? I always want to try the local cuisine and Frizz is definitely my best experience in Cambodia. Their cooks are wonderful and serve up tasty, delicious Cambodian cuisine. You can eat amok almost everywhere in Cambodia, but Frizz is the best, as is everything else on the menu, including the specialty, Chhnang Phnom Pleung (Volcano Pot), which is kind of a Cambodian BBQ. It’s a good choice for vegetarians, which is not really standard in a Cambodian restaurant. If you want something else than Cambodian, they have also lovely burritos, pastas and even a steak and Guinness pie (this is a leftover from the British pub that Frizz was before). And for coffee addicts, here you can have freshly brewed coffee or Vietnamese coffee.

Plus there’s a very friendly staff (waiter Long likes to talk to foreigners) and a helpful owner (Dutchman Fritz--he told me that the restaurant’s name is a combination of the English word 'Frizz' (meaning sizzling in the pan and the way most Cambodians pronounce his name). The restaurant has a website at www.frizz-restaurant.com.

The Water Festival is a three-day event, celebrating the end of the rainy season and reversing of the flow in the Tonle Sap river. During the dry season the water flows into the Mekong, but in the wet season there is so much water flowing down the Mekong, forcing the Tonle Sap to reverse its flow back into the Great Lake (Tonle Sap Lake).

The Water Festival brings about 1 million visitors to Phnom Penh, almost doubling the inhabitant figure of the Cambodian capital. The main event is the boatraces on the river, with competing teams from all over the country. Colorful boats and cheerful crowds. Every now and then a crew rows too enthusiastic and the boat almost sinks, but others come to the rescue quick.

The riverfront is lined with food, drink, fruit and other stalls. This is your chance to eat snake or spiders.

At night luminated boats sail up and down the river, docking at the river side at around 10pm.

The atmosphere is friendly and a little carnival like. In 2005, the Water Festival will be from November 15-November 17.

The first and only cooking school for travellers in Phnom Penh. Adults and kids enjoy cooking genuine Cambodian food in a relaxed atmosphere. The school is situated on a breezy terrace in a Khmer-style villa. Apart from the learning, it's just great fun to prepare your own Khmer food and, of course, eat it. A recommended one-day experience! Cambodia Cooking Class