Tag Archives: travel
Cambodia’s Booming – So Why Is It The ‘Least Thriving Country In The World’?
I read a column in the Bangkok Post this week, entitled Poor Cambodia Not Looking So ‘Poor’ Anymore, which began as a thank you letter congratulating Cambodian PM Hun Sen for his hospitality during the ASEAN summit. The letter took…
Killing Time in the Killing Fields
Fifteen kilometers from Phnom Penh a Buddhist stupa sits in the middle of manicured lawns surrounded by heavily-trafficked dirt paths. Throngs of Western tourists, dressed in beachwear and earphones, walk around, treading lightly over the bones of Cambodian people that…
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…
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…
Stop Those Cambodian Witches’ Knickers Flapping
It’s hard to spend more than a few minutes in Cambodia without noticing the appalling amount of rubbish everywhere. There are plastic bag graveyards beside every road, rivers choked full of bottles and cans, and witches’ knickers in every tree….
Carmageddon in Cambodia
A lot of people here in Cambodia judge others by their cars and vehicles. Many do this going by checking the model and year, and I guess it colors my thinking too, but I go more by behavior, and the…
Spit-Roast Cows Banned For ‘Inciting Violence’
One of the strangest stories of the week must surely be the government ban on spit-roasting cows in public. Apparently, pen-pushers in Phnom Penh think the sight of calf carcasses being slowly barbecued and then chopped up in full view…
A Good Cop, a Wild Driver and a Weird Ride Home
Outside the minimart at 2am was a tuk-tuk driver; mid thirties, furious, waving his fists and gesticulating wildly as he glared at me as if to suggest; ”Barang – you are only scratching the surface of my righteous anger, so…
Prahok: My Secret Addiction to Cambodia’s Infamous Fermented Fish ‘Cheese’
For the past few weeks, I’ve been staying in a guesthouse in Phnom Penh, writing every day in the restaurant downstairs, and trying to get the printed version of my book sorted. It’s a relaxing place, filled with backpackers all…
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…