We are still in Phnom Penh on our week-long road trip, and this day was spent eating at our favorite Thai restaurant and searching for a new stove.

Chiang Mai Riverside Restaurant 🚢

     I've been coming to this restaurant at the Phnom Penh riverside for nearly 12 years, and I think it has gone through three different changes in ownership during that timespan. Luckily the quality of the food has not gone extremely downhill with each new owner, but I must admit the original owners maintained the best quality.

     Each of us always get the same dish, a Pad Thai for Srey-Yuu and Monkey-B, a green curry for the missus, and for me, larb tofu. This place is able to veganize dishes for us and still keep things tasty. That may sound simple, but on numerous occasions I've received raw chopped veggies served on cold leftover rice here when I ask for a veggie fried rice without egg.

     Cambodian food isn't typically made with a lot of herbs and spices, so when you remove the meat, fish, or eggs from dishes, you have basically taken away the main flavor, so that's why I think Thai cuisine is better suited for my tastebuds.

Freedom Park Is Far From Free 🚷

     While moving from place to place, we passed by Freedom Park, and geez, that was a sad site. This place used to host some of Cambodia's only major pre-pandemic protests against government co**uption, and I was actually in Phnom Penh during elections many years ago when low-rise razorwire barriers were put up to prevent people from entering the park. I guess those barriers were replaced with 5-meter solid panels, bye-bye freedom.

     The park has a small cross-section removed for traffic to cut through it, but for some reason the other half of the park was left unchanged, and strangely enough it's the half of the park that was never really the focus site of any protests that angered the government.

Discount Score 💸

     We were attempting to drive to a stove shop that I found online and routed some directions to, but when we arrived we realized the information was incorrect, but luckily there was a temporary blowout sale located nearby in a vacant business parking lot. There were a few stoves there, the prices were good, so we grabbed an electric kettle and new double burner stove.

     Most items were Thai imports, new old stock that didn't sell previously, and we noticed some items were from as far back as 2019, but all of still brand new and unsold. The shopping was kind of rushed, so I'll be sure to share our awesome new budget stove when we get back home to Steung Kach.

Hot Water Showers Are Coming ♨️

     One of our last stops of the day was an appliance shop to get an electric on-demand hot water shower unit for our cabin. We technically don't have running water, but the cabin on our property has a tank on a tower, and there is gravity fed water flowing to a showerhead in the the bathroom, but for now that's all it's connected to. Even though the water pressure is weak, the water heater will be able to function and provide us hot showers.

     While walking around the store I noticed a two burner high-pressure stove on legs, and I was reminded how much I'd like to have a high-flow gas stove for making fried rice and other things that require some serious flames to be done right. Well, some things have to be left for the future, our funds are running low. That's all for now friends, getting late here, gotta get some rest and get ready for a very long drive back home.

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