Phnom Penh: Lovely Place, But Where's the KFC?

Expats in Cambodia may learn to live with their host country's charms, but may miss the more mundane things about home. Toe, an expat based in Phnom Penh, learned this firsthand this month, when an old favorite finally came calling to the Cambodian capital:

I left the office at exactly five (a leisure that I could enjoy only here in Phnom Penh and not in Manila) and proceeded directly to KFC. To my surprise, the entire expat community of Phnom Penh, as well as the locals who have been abroad and know of this (not all Cambodians are familiar with the Colonel) came in droves and throngs. And I thought that we were the only ones who loved KFC. They were all there - high school students from the international schools who must have been daydreaming about the Colonel during Geometry class, office workers who were starting to see mirages of chicken on their computers, locals who have only tasted KFC during their trips abroad - all trying to be the first to taste this chicken in Cambodia.

On a different note, Toe shares what she's learned about her host city in a new article (on this site, natch) that explores the ins and outs of Phnom Penh. Read it now, KFC optional.