Until very recently, Phnom Penh was a city without a real cinema showing English-language films. The options were to see dubbed films on the big screen, or watch movies in small shops that have a dozen chairs and usually two or televisions loudly blaring different programmes in Khmer. But with the recent construction of not one but two 3-D Hollywood blockbuster theatres, you can get your movie-going fix in Phnom Penh. And if you're less interested in blockbusters, there are also smaller theatres showing documentaries, independent and foreign films.

Toto, I don't think we're in Cambodia anymore...oh wait, we totally are.

And since the new theatres have opened, at the urging of the theatre owners, the Cambodian government has threatened to crack down on bootleg and pirated movies. Whether or not that will really happen remains to be seen.

Legend Cinema

The first theatre in Phnom Penh to show licensed Hollywood films, Legend Cinema offers a true movie theatre experience with all of the adorable quirks of Cambodia. They have three theatres, two of which offer 3-D films and VIP and family seating. They show blockbuster and action film as well as the odd children's film. Ticket prices range from $4 to $8.

Originally planned as entertainment for expats, Legend was immediately popular with a Khmer audience unfamiliar with what would be considered standard movie-going etiquette elsewhere (and who can blame them, they've never had a real theatre before). Legend Cinema has made great strides in educating the masses not to break their 3-D glasses, talk on the phones or chat during the films. Their Facebook page is a great place to watch this delicate cultural education take place.

City Mall, top floor
Monireth Blvd, Phnom Penh
T: (088) 954 9857
legend-cinemas.com

Sabay Cineplex

In their own words: "The Cineplex is a Cambodia’s premiere international 3D theatre offering: surround sound, 3D, tasty snack, fashionable light, comfortable seat, elegant hall. Enjoy the thrilling experience of full excitement with awesome Hollywood and Asian movies."

At the top floor of Phnom Penh's favourite teenage hangout, Sorya Mall, is Sabay Cineplex, the second big-time theatre in town. They have three screens, one of which is 3-D. Ticket prices start at $4 and they have various promotions on different days of the week, so check their Facebook page for more info.

Sorya Shopping Center, 5th Floor
St 63 at St 142, Phnom Penh
T: (017) 666 210
facebook.com/SabayCineplex

The Flicks Community Movie House

Expat favourite The Flicks shows new and old English-language films including popular classics, documentaries and independent films. They have sessions for kids every weekend where they screen a children's film and allow screaming and running around. The small theatre is air-conditioned and has couches and futons to relax on with a glass of wine or a soda. They have a full menu delivered from some nearby restaurants, so you can dine during the movie, with pizza, pasta and salads from Equinox or Thai dishes from Setsara.

Officially the movie is free, but visitors must pay for the air-conditioning and to maintain the equipment. Tickets cost $3.50 for adults and $2 for children and are good for the entire day, so you can see more than one movie.

The Flicks calls itself a community movie house and they're not lying -- it's a friendly place and they've started offering yoga classes (with Pilates in the works) four times a week. Conversational Khmer classes are also planned to start next month.

#39B, Street 95, Phnom Penh
T: (078) 809 429
theflicks-cambodia.com

Meta House

Meta House at the German Cambodian Cultural Centre offers free screenings of independent films and English-language documentaries at 19:00 every night of the week except Monday. They have a full bar and often follow screenings with talks or other opportunities to interact with other humans (if that's your thing). They often show documentaries about Cambodia so it's a great place to visit if you're new in town or want to learn more about the country.

Screening is on the building's rooftop, so be sure to wear mozzie repellent.

#37 Sothearos Blvd, Phnom Penh
T: (010) 312 333
meta-house.com

Tags: cinema, Legend Cinema, Meta House, Sabay Cineplex, The Flicks

About to head out on the bus to Battambang or Siem Reap and need a good book for the trip? All along the riverside you'll be able to find children selling genocide-related literature, but please don't buy books from them -- purchase from one of the many adults selling books on the riverside instead (Ed: do remember that authors get no money if you go the pirated route). But, if you've already read all of the Cambodia backpacker favourites, head to one of the English-language bookstores in town to find a wider selection of notable novels and treasured tomes.

You can find deez books at D's Books.

D's Books
D's sells mostly used books, and mostly ones that wouldn't be at the top of your list. That said, they've got more than a few decent novels lying around so it's worth a look. They also have some copied books (books that are Xeroxed copies, or photocopies, but look real) of backpacker classics like The Beach and First They Killed My Father for $4.

79 St 240, Phnom Penh
T: (023) 221 280

Bohr's Books
Bohr's Books is my new favourite bookstore in town -- they have a large selection of used books and new copied books for $3 or $4. They've got a good selection of current best sellers, popular non-fiction ala Freakanomics, and a solid selection of classics and travel literature. They've recently opened a second store that is larger, and includes a selection of French books and a more extensive books-about-Cambodia collection.

5 Sothearos Blvd, Phnom Penh
St 172 and St 5, Phnom Penh
T: (012) 929 148

If you're minted, head to Monument.

Monument Books
If you think that buying used or copied books is ethically dubious, the one bookstore in town that sells new books with ostensibly all taxes paid is Monument. That said, they sell many of their titles at well over the list price, perhaps to cover the spacious digs and blasting air-conditioning. The literature selection is good, though, if you're willing to pay, and Blue Pumpkin has an outlet upstairs where you can enjoy an ice cream or coffee with your new purchases. They also have an outlet at the airport.

111 Norodom Blvd, Phnom Penh
T: (023) 217 617

Phnom Penh International Airport
T: (023) 890 563
Monument-Books.com

Boston Books
Another bookstore with a large selection of random used books, Boston is a great place to visit if you want to browse cookbooks from the 1980s (big selection), crime novels or other odds and ends. Their children's and young adult section is quite good. They also have a coffee bar, free WiFi and comfy seats, so it's a great place to hang out and browse.

8 St 240, Phnom Penh
T: (077) 938 254
bostonbooksatcafe.com

Tags: Bohr's Books, books, Boston Books, D's Books, Monument Books

Narin Seng Jameson with new her cookbook, Cooking the Cambodian Way

Like so many other Khmers, Narin Seng Jameson fled Cambodia in 1972 during the midst of the Khmer Rouge regime. Growing up in Cambodia she hung around the family kitchen in Phnom Penh and waited to be chased out by the cook. But she had never prepared Cambodian food herself, and when she moved to Washington, DC at age 27 she had no idea how to find -- or prepare -- many of the dishes that featured so prominently in her memories of her homeland.

Thus began Jameson’s quest to recreate the tastes of her childhood and master the type of cooking that she remembered from the 50s and 60s -- before war and violence changed the face of Cambodia. Since that period, she says, food has become less important to Cambodians. "It’s changed. People take many shortcuts now," she told me. "Cambodian cooks copy the neighbouring countries’ foods. Food is a lot sweeter than what we used to cook." Jameson spent decades perfecting recipes from her and her sister’s childhood memories, reaching out to the Khmer community in the United States for ingredients, advice and encouragement.

With her cookbook, Jameson hopes to bring preserve the culture and tradition of Cambodia that existed for generations before the war, and to draw attention the fact that it is changing. Because more than half of the population of Cambodia is under the age of 20, most have no recollection of the way Cambodia -- and its food -- used to be. "Everything I know I learned from my mother and her cook, who was the best in town," Jameson recalled. Some of her fondest memories are of what went on in her childhood kitchen, and the delicious flavors that it produced.

Koh Bang Kang, Prawn in Caramel sauce recipe in Cooking the Cambodian Way

Jameseson returned to Phnom Penh recently to celebrate the release of her cookbook, Cooking the Cambodian Way: The Intertwined Story of Cooking and Culture in Cambodia. The entire proceeds from the book go to Caring for Cambodia, a Siem Reap-based educational organisation for children.

The book explains in great deal home-style Khmer cuisine -- the nuances, traditions and cooking methods that are in danger of being forgotten. Her recipes are straightforward and simple, but without shortcuts. You won’t find MSG or chicken powder in Jameson’s dishes as you will in most restaurants and homes in Cambodia.

Her favourite meal, a simple beef noodle soup found on nearly every street corner in Cambodia, is one that she remembers eating at Phnom Penh's Psar Chaa, the Old Market, in the 1960s. "It reminds me of my young age," she told the crowd that gathered at Monument Books to hear her speak. "We used to eat at the market -- it’s now called Psar Chaa -- it was a place for girls to meet boys and boys to meet girls...but I just liked the soup."

Cooking the Cambodian Way: The Intertwined Story of Cooking and Culture in Cambodia
Available on Amazon.com.

Tags: cookbooks, Khmer cooking, Khmer cuisine

Cyclo driver, Phnom Penh

There are quite a few excellent books and memoirs about Cambodia, but love stories set against the backdrop of the Khmer Rouge era are few and far between. The Disappeared by Kim Echlin manages, against all odds, to capture the beauty of Cambodia and the terror of the Cambodian genocide.

Anne Greves is sixteen when she first meets Serey in a nightclub in Montreal. Serey is the long-haired lead singer of a band, tormented by the fact that he cannot return to his native Cambodia because the Khmer Rouge have closed the borders while his family remains trapped within. Their romance is all-consuming and Anne is reckless and besotted in the way of sixteen-year-old girls with older, troubled boyfriends. After the Vietnamese invasion the Cambodian border opens again, Serey leaves to find his family and Anne finds a Khmer tutor in Montreal to bring her closer to her lost love. Her longing and disappointment when her letters go unanswered is palpable.

Eleven years later, while the Vietnamese are withdrawing from Cambodia, Anne thinks she sees Serey on television and immediately leaves for Phnom Penh. They eventually reunite and Anne sees a shattered city through the eyes of one of the few foreigners in town. "...I was an old woman who remembers the night I found you in the beer and cigarette smell of Phnom Penh," Anne addresses Serey, "You were the one I fell in love with and you were someone who lost everyone in this place where ghosts haunt the grieving and the corrupt..."

Although they are now reunited, Anne has to wrestle with the ghosts of the past and political turmoil for Serey’s attention. What has happened to Cambodia is still as raw as an open wound and nothing, not even their love, can overcome it. Anne tells her story as a testament to Serey whom she worries will disappear into the darkness of the unremembered.

The mix of first and second person narrative is grating at times, but Anne’s endless laments to Serey serve well to underscore her obsession. Echlin’s use of language is beautifully evocative, as if a Sin Sisamouth score were playing in the background while it was being written. She captures particularly well the exhilarating and overwhelming experience of foreigners in Phnom Penh when the country first re-opened. "‘How long have you been here?’ Anne asks Will, a hard-drinking archaeologist whose job it is to open the mass graves. ‘Long enough to fall in love with it,’" he replies.

Tags: Books set in Cambodia, Khmer Rouge