Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Jane Rawson, a writer for lonelyplanet.com, takes readers on an adventure in Phnom Penh Cambodia, complete with a flooded restaurant, in her article; My First 24 Hours:Phnom Penh.

“I’d assumed Phnom Penh dining would be mostly roadside noodles and the odd karaoke bar. But this was probably the fanciest restaurant I’ve ever visited – plush, deep couches around a series of square marble ponds, a French wine list and at least 37 wait staff per table. A thunderstorm had hit just as we arrived, so we couldn’t sit by the ponds. Instead we made our way up three flights of stairs to the top floor and settled in for a bang-up feed. As the entrees were arriving, 36 of the 37 wait staff began staring nervously at the floor. Water was trickling in under the door to the balcony. Someone had opened the door to the balcony. The trickle, predictably, became a flood, and the flood, as it hit the stairs, became a waterfall. We ate our main course and watched the impromptu floor show, as waiters, cooks, kitchen hands and management tried – first desperately and later amid hilarity – to dam the flow with buckets, mops and barricades of towels.”