Category Archives: Expat Life
The Best Laid Plans of Bats and Dams – A Day Off in the Provinces
May 1st: International Labour Day when workers of the world unite and wave socialist banners, bearded ale quaffers watch young maidens prance around a phallus with ribbons, andeveryday folk get a day out of the office. In Cambodia it’s a…
Down and Out in South East Asia by Alex Watts
In the sequel to bestselling food book Down And Out In Padstow And London, failed chef and hack Lennie Nash sets off to eat his way through SE Asia, with a half-baked plan to buy a restaurant. Along the way,…
Driving Monks to the Beach
I sat down to begin a day of work in the small office of the NGO where I volunteer. It was the day after Khmer New Year, when all through the pagoda, not a creature was stirring – not even…
How to Win Friends in the Bar Game
So, you’re bored of the 9-5 drudgery of life in the civilized western world of say the UK, USA or Australia. The weather sucks, the women are fat and gobby and the price of an unhealthy lifestyle is astronomically expensive….
All Out of (Cooking) Gas
While popping a batch of popcorn for a lunchtime snack and with a dinner party at our home only hours away, I make the startling discovery that we were really, really low on propane. As in,almost completely out of gas….
Growing Up as a French Teenager in Phnom Penh
Here is a brief insight on my life and of my few years as a troubled teenager in Cambodia, for whoever might give a damn and be patient enough to read the cluttered product of a foggy mind. Yes, I…
Raving and Games in the Rice Fields – New Year in the Provinces
New Year comes but once a year, well, 3 times if you live in Cambodia. Finally the last one is done and dusted, ready for the rains, which made their timely appearance the day after. Most expats welcome the holiday,…
Going Batty in Battambang – Life in the Provinces
The last couple of articles I have written for this esteemed website could be perceived by some as being a little cynical or perhaps at times even a touch vitriolic. To even the score the following story is nicer: a…
Don’t Mount a Water Buffalo aka Putting Koh Rong to Rights
When you find yourself pulling electrical wires from sockets of blasting speakers in a furious attempt to remove the Formula Milk promotion company that are set up just inside the front gates of the school in which you work-at least…
Life as a Baby Duck Fetus Eater
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“You see that dish? That’s dog meat,” said Raksume who was standing me dinner at his family’s palm leaf shack on the edge of the village. “Oh” I said. And then, “Hey, where’s your dog?”. Raksume gestured unceremoniously towards the…