24 December 2016. Russian and BKK Markets; evening at FCC

I had not seen the Russian Market last year and set off to make amends today.

On the way I passed the impressive Tuol Tompoung Pagoda.

The market itself is quite a warren, selling everything from food to fake watches. It wasn't particularly photogenic.

From there, I carried on to walk past the Tuol Sleng Museum. To me. it has a very strange atmosphere around it as if the souls of its victims are still around.

On a lighter note, my wanderings took me past a venue showing a boxing match. The crown was animated and I got the impression the bookmaker was sitting with them.

I also crossed the impressively named European Union Street, passed a dog on his first floor balcony and also happened across the ex-pats Flick cinema which had a zero tolerance policy for mobile phones.

In the evening, I took a tuk tuk to the FCC. He seemed to have a rather sketchy knowledge of his city, taking me well beyond where I'd asked to go and having to wend his way back. Luckily, we had an agree fare. Still it was a nice journey

The FCC itself has views to die for but this evening it had some Christmas entertainment that wasn't great.

I sat at the bar and got into conversation with an Australian businessman who was keen to assure me all would be fine post-Brexit. When he left a Khmer woman came and told me her rather sad story of having had a child with a Brit who then abandoned her. It preyed on my mind a bit as I walked home through the bright and vibrant Phnom Penh streets.