Bus Journey from Hell #1
We’ve been relatively lucky with buses, so far, if you take squat toilets and a fine coating of red dust, AKA a Ratanakiri suntan, as...
Category: Places
S-21: Genocide for Beginners
“Kneel down, mum,” Z says. “Close your eyes.” He fumbles with my hair. We are in the courtyard of Tuol Sleng prison, Phnom Penh, Cambodia,...
Poachers and Gamekeepers
“You want beer party now?” As we wandered the haunted hotel by torchlight, Saa’s invitation kind of broke the mood. The Bokor Hill Station, a...
Tree, Not Try
Tree knows the Bokor National Park better than most. After all, he lived in the forest for two years. “My life was not a good...
Does My Mum Look Big in This?
“I think you should wear something a little more slimming tomorrow, mum,” was tactfully meant. “God, mum, your tummy sticks out almost as far as...
Lotus Seeds
When someone you have never met in a country you have never visited gives your child and you a present and wants nothing in return...
The War on Drugs
Soi comes into Koh Kong every couple of weeks to smoke some green, have a few beers and shoot the breeze at his friend’s sister’s...
Before I Kill You, Mr Bond . . .
There’s something of the Wild West about Sihanoukville, Cambodia. A sort of post-Soviet Wild West, where Hummers park off Soviet Avenue, portraits of two kings...
Welcome to Cambodia!
There is something particularly unwelcoming about the phrase, “You give money now.” Particularly when spoken in a Khmer accent. The language isn’t tonal, so you...
First Day of School . . .
Taking Z out of school for a year to travel proved less problematic than I’d thought. The headmaster and attendance officer basically said, “Where are...