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Adjusting to life in Cambodia
This is the land of majestic temples. A land of Som Pas, kramas and defiant tractors struggling through intersections. A land of smiles and a people who – on the surface at least – appear unphased by...
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Pheng’s escape: A Khmer Rouge ghost story
There were eight of us in a restaurant in Vientiane, from all over Southeast Asia, socializing after a meeting that had filled the day. The Belgian leant over the table to the Cambodian and said:...
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Broken Laptops and Buddhist Monks
My laptop broke. It didn’t just break, it coughed, grabbed its throat, said something about its legacy, and bit the dust. It was three hours before deadline. I knew there was no coming back from this....
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Under the ink: Tola, The Village Tattooist
Nowadays it seems as if every man, woman and his/her dog in the western world is ‘inked up’. The last couple of decades have seen an explosion of ‘body art’. Gone are the days when tattoo parlours...
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An interview with a spirit
There are many kinds of spirit in Cambodia. One of the most important is the boramey, a powerful and benevolent supernatural being who works to help humans in this world through a human...
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The palm wine story – nature’s gift to boozers
Booze. It’s the Devil’s brew, admonished by Mohammed, tempered by the temperancers and much discussed by the 12 steppers. Everyone else in their right mind loves a tipple, and with some of the...
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Twilight of the haunted headwaters of Virachey National Park?
In the mid-19th Century the French explorer Henry Mouhot was sitting in a hut in the thick jungle of central Cambodia when he wrote the following lines: “We are surrounded by forests, which are...
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Scambodia, uncovered
Visitors and expats alike have many a tale of being hoodwinked in the Kingdom of Wonder. Whilst the Siem Reap milk scam, the Filipino blackjack shysters and an army of Chinese fake monks fill the...
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British man Nick Laycock arrested for rape in Kampot
A young British man has been arrested for allegedly raping a female tourist – also from Britain – at the Arcadia Guesthouse in Kampot on Friday night. Nick Laycock, 25, is from Berkshire in the UK and...
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Khmer don’t need no education
Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes in Phnom Penh will have the briefest understanding on the ways of private “international” schools in the Kingdom. These ‘Lidls of learning’ tend to follow...
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The Mekong Mutilator, part deux
If Britain is a nation of shopkeepers, then Cambodia is a nation of fishermen….. It’s a (admittedly disputed) fact that the Cambodian currency, the riel, is named after the d’trey riel, a small fish...
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Dying to get to work
Cambodian factories, labeled ‘sweatshops’ by right-on activists who sit outside big brand flag stores in malls and high streets across the developed world, have rather a bad rep amongst trade...
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Back on track in Cambodia
For me, the sight that most encapsulated the rebirth of passenger services in Cambodia was the two young children, travelling on a train for the very first time, accompanied by their grandfather or...
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A road trip through Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri
As the holidays were approaching my wife and I were gifted with a surprise: a week of time off between Christmas and New Year’s. Having already made plans in country for the New Year’s Eve weekend, we...
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Decision 2017 – should we be worried, and what can we do?
Two parliamentarians given a bloody hiding by hired goons outside the National Assembly in 2015. Sam Rainsy effectively in perpetual exile and Kem Sokha sacked as Assembly Vice President; his wife...
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The Good Life? A Treatise on Raising Meat in Cambodia
By Pedro El Millardo The former owner of K440 had been asking me to write an article about experiences with farming out in the provinces for some time, which, to be frank, really isn’t interesting at...
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Otres Beach Murder Remains Unsolved & Killer Still at Large
Over two years have passed since a brutal killing shocked the relaxed residents of Otres. With the prime suspect recently released without charge and the investigation seemingly closed in both Cambodia...
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Khmer don’t need no education
Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes in Phnom Penh will have the briefest understanding on the ways of private “international” schools in the Kingdom. These ‘Lidls of learning’ tend to follow...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Mekong Mutilator, part deux
If Britain is a nation of shopkeepers, then Cambodia is a nation of fishermen….. It’s a (admittedly disputed) fact that the Cambodian currency, the riel, is named after the d’trey riel, a small fish...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dying to get to work
Cambodian factories, labeled ‘sweatshops’ by right-on activists who sit outside big brand flag stores in malls and high streets across the developed world, have rather a bad rep amongst trade...
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