Author Archives: Anna Spencer
What’s so Doubtful about a Doubtful Salad?
There’s a great beer garden in Phnom Penh that my friends and I like to go to often enough for it to be on our regular list. It’s on the corner of St. 360 and the delightful Tuk S’oy (smelly…
Stephen Jetes His Way to Cambodia: New Ballet School Poised to Open This Month
Stephen Bimson curls his bare feet under him in the white leather chair in a local coffee shop. He gestures with a graceful sweep of his hand as though he’s brushing away crumbs from an imaginary table and his grey-green…
Cambodia’s Big Role To Play In The South China Sea Conflict
The last time a Chinese Head of State visited Cambodia was 12 years ago, so the timing of President Hu Jintao’s visit just four days before Cambodia chairs a major regional summit may be a coincidence. But no doubt his…
Walkabout Joker Draw (and Infective Endocarditis) Odds for Friday, March 30, 2012
The Walkabout Joker Draw is now in Week 45. Friday night’s jackpot will be a rather substantial $10,638. The $638 increase in the jackpot means that the Walkabout sold 1,276 tickets last week, the same number of tickets that it…
Cambodia ESL: A Culture of Insouciance
The Cambodian rubbish dump, and my not so final, final exam “I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.” Benjamin Franklin, “On…
Phnom Penh Restaurant Reviews: Fish and Company
Something Fishy? Spending an evening at Fish and Company is a bit like walking into a David Lynch movie. Imagine “Finding Nemo” meets “Fawlty Towers”. Toss in the scene from “Poseidon Adventure” where a band plays in the corner of…
Phnom Penh Restaurant Reviews: Beirut
Beware the Ides of March. That’s all I have for a snappy intro. The day had started at 5am, poorly, and went downhill from there. So I was not in the best of moods when we turned up at Beirut,…
Walkabout Joker Draw Odds for Friday, March 23, 2012
The Walkabout Joker Draw is now in Week 44. Friday night’s jackpot will be an even $10,000. Exactly. On the nose. Let’s think about that for a minute. How has the jackpot jumped $638 from $9,362 last week to exactly…
In Cambodia, a Lonely Man Finds a Bride
An American guy and his British wife are playing slot machines at a casino in Phnom Penh on a Saturday night. A maintenance worker from Rhode Island named Don sits down at the machine next to them, asks for help…
A Khmer New Year Story
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Our maid (Ta) was robbed today, in the ordinary fashion. She was riding pillion on a motodup (motorcycle taxi) when a couple of young guys on a passing moto ripped her bags from her shoulder. She probably appeared an easy…