Virachey National Park
Virachey National Park sprawls across northeastern Cambodia, right up to the borders with Vietnam and Laos. Within it is a fraction of the Ho Chi...
Tagged: Family
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...
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,...
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...
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...
It's not the Destination, it's the Journey: on Trucks and Stuff…
Z, being male and nine years old, actively enjoys the experience of moving from place to place. He did when he was little. But people...
Mains Electricity: a Good Thing, Clearly…
So the theoretical immediacy of this medium has been slightly kiboshed by the near-total absence of electricity and mobile reception in our first tropical idyll,...