Category Archives: Travel
6 Reasons to Leave the Expat Bubble and Live in a Khmer Village
You Will Have Realizations In the village you will not have air conditioning and this means that mattresses are a menace to a good night’s sleep. Cambodians sleep on a straw mat on a wooden floor or cot. So say,…
Fear and Loathing in Poipet
Does the border town of Poipet deserve it’s moniker of ‘The Worst Town in Cambodia’? In a short word, yes, but in the spirit adventure, a group of fellow barang was rounded up and the poor man’s Vegas was put…
The Top 5 Cambodian Road Hazards
The men of the village gathered around, white-vested. As we finalised the deal they nodded their approval. I was off on my red second-hand Suzuki 110cc moto. Driving in Cambodia is sensation similar to being babysat by a lax teenager…
My Linguistic Faux Pas-es
A few months into our living and learning experience in Cambodia, fresh from a Khmer language class and full of positive energy, I approached a woman holding an ill baby in the Russian Market to engage her in a conversation…
Importing a Car to Cambodia from Abroad: Is it Worth it?
Let’s say you’ve been looking around for a vehicle at locally and are getting nowhere. Maybe you have an old girl sitting at home under a tarp that you miss terribly. Maybe on that jaunt home last time you fell…
Life as a Baby Duck Fetus Eater
“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…
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…
‘Youen’ and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance
2 Comments
A funny thing went on a couple of weeks ago. Every night I make the trip from town (read bar), back out to Rancho El Pedro and last night, taking the shortcut past the old abandoned cemetery, the electrics on…