the Foreign Correspondents Club

Here in Phnom Penh, one of the a places with tons of atmosphere is the Foreign Correspondents Club.

Situated in an old colonial building overlooking the river, it´s the perfect place to enjoy a cold drink overlooking the street life along the riverside. Its´ reputation has reached far outside Cambodias boarders, so it´s usually the place where tourists end up their first evening here. So did me and Janne, when we were visiting Phnom Penh for the first time back in 2002. I remember that our dear friend Andrew had described it as a must-place-to-see-and-be in Phnom Penh before we left from Bangkok, and we followed his advice. Ever since, this has been Janne´s favourite bar in Phnom Penh. And it´s well deserved. This building with its beautiful yellow exterior, with its dark wooden furnitures and colonial style interior, sweeping ceiling fans, long rustic bar, and marvellous setting, gives you the feeling of taking part in a never ending era of visitors on a mission to Cambodia. And you can easily imagine how all the foreign journalists, photograpers, and press people have gathered here during the wars and conflicts that Cambodia has been through. Picturing them sitting along the bar with a bottle of whiskey, smoking and discussing in the latest udates from the frontline... The funny thing is, that this Foreigh Correspondents Club is a total rip-off concept. Compared to other real Foreign Correspondents Clubs over the world, for example the FCC in Bangkok, despite the name this one in Phnom Penh has never functioned as a press club. It opened up in 1993, and has been established as a place for entertainment, dining and drinking - only. So I tend to think about it as the Fake Correspondents Club. But who cares, really - as long as it works, and it does. The concept actually works so well that the owners recently have bought the neighbouring building..;

...to be renovated and integreted with the FCC. This is one of Phnom Penhs most beautiful and most photographed old colonial buildings, which like many of its kind was almost completely destroyed during the Khmer Rouge era, and not been rebuilt since then. After many years of negotiations and bids from different interests and investors, it has now been announced that the building has been bought by the FCC, which will restore it and make it into a luxury hotel and restaurant, connected to the present FCC by a short bridge. This is in many ways typical for what is taking place in Phnom Penh right now; a booming city, with both national and international interests suddenly waking up to recognise its architectural and historical heritage, and the economical benefits that will come with it.

Talking about correspondents clubs, I´ve recently been invited to become a foreign correspondent myself. About a month ago, I was approached by a Swedish radio channel who has a pool of foreign correspondents all over the world; in Finland, Paris, Singapore, Argentina, the Central African Republic, etc. And I was asked if I could consider to be their correspondent in Cambodia?! It sounds pretty serious, but actually it isn´t. No in-depth analyses about political situations or broadcasts from frontlines. Just a weekly topic that can be just about anything; traffic, food, university life, etc, picked by the radio channel. And they will call one of the correspondents to comment on it in a live broadcasted interview Monday-Thursday at 9.10 AM. Before I could consider, I was of course curious about the first week´s topic. And - to my joy and delight - my first topic would be: PETS!!! Yes, that´s right; pets! My all time favourite subject! So how could I possibly say no? So I agreed and the interview was broadcasted on the 5:th of February. The interviews are available for a month on the channels´website, so for a couple of more days, Swedish speaking friends can listen to me talking about pets in Phnom Penh here. (First there´s Britney Spears, then there´s me :-) About a week ago I was interviewed again, this time about breakfast habits in Cambodia, which you can listen to here. But since then, I actually haven´t heard from the radio channel again, so who knows if they´ll let me go on air again or not. But who cares; after all, I´m only a Fake Foreign Correspondent. But according to the traditions here in Phnom Penh, the Fake versions of a Foreign Correspondent might be just as good as the original! :-)