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THE KID’S SIDE OF THE STORY
My son has his very own blog. Go check out Kidventurer.com for his side of the story.Archives
Cambodia Archive
Cambodian Food
Posted on February 27, 2010 | 5 CommentsThere is an old Khmer saying which runs roughly as follows: “Eat anything that has four legs except a table, eat anything that flies except an aeroplane, and eat anything...
A Tryst Arranged
Posted on February 24, 2010 | No CommentsOne quiet evening, Francois’ brother played Mendelssohn on the balcony of our Phnom Penh guesthouse, and he played it well. Francois is a writer, two young children, separated. The brother...
I Heart Cambodia – Part 3
Posted on February 23, 2010 | No CommentsAngkor Wat. The icon of a nation. One of the wonders of the world. Tens of kilometres of bas-relief. Acres of lawns. Sacred pools which drained a thousand reservoirs. I...
Best Train Journey Ever? #1: The Bamboo Train
Posted on February 23, 2010 | No CommentsZ will contentedly nap on motorbikes, ride the tailgate on pickups, sit on the edge of a boat and stand up in the back of anything that will have him....
Dolphins on the Mekong
Posted on February 22, 2010 | No CommentsI was eighteen when I read about the pink freshwater dolphins on the Amazon. I’ve dreamed of seeing them ever since, and Z and I will do this later on...
I Heart Cambodia – Part 2
Posted on February 22, 2010 | No CommentsIt’s still uncomfortably early when we debike and hit some blessed calm at Kbal Spean, the River of a Thousand Lingas. The mile-long path to the top of the hill...
I Heart Cambodia – Part 1
Posted on February 19, 2010 | No CommentsZ and I are sitting in pitch blackness on the laterite stairs overlooking the lake of Banteay Kdei, Cambodia, between a sculpted Khmer lion and the light of a Chinese...
Doctor Fish
Posted on February 17, 2010 | No CommentsDowntown Siem Reap, your starter for ten for the glories of the Angkor era, is tacky as hell. Yet, while a banner boasting “the most frozen margaritas sold in Siem...
Rules and Regulations
Posted on February 17, 2010 | No CommentsDavid is building an airfield. He has five planes waiting to go, two in Thailand, two en route, one awaiting release in Sihanoukville. So he spends most days in the...
Our Maths Hell
Posted on February 17, 2010 | No CommentsSo, four Mondays into our trip, and the home-schooling thing has hit a major speedbump. It’s the long division that’s killing both of us. It’s a lovely sunny day in...
Kampot Pepper
Posted on February 17, 2010 | 4 CommentsNow, there are roughly as many “world’s finest peppercorns” in Asia as there are “world’s best mangos”– think chillis in Texas or cheeses in Europe. You don’t have to go...
Why Do Flies Have Eyes?
Posted on February 15, 2010 | No CommentsI’ve been wondering why we spent so much time in Kampot. It’s a lovely provincial capital, set around a river, with the beginnings of a promenade, easy to navigate, beautifully...
Mr. Toilet
Posted on February 15, 2010 | 1 CommentThe Phnom Penh riverside has been beautified of late. Glamorous pagoda-styled buildings in hues of red and yellow send serpentine corner eaves skywards like dragon’s breath, competing with the Royal...
Virachey National Park
Posted on February 15, 2010 | No CommentsVirachey National Park sprawls across northeastern Cambodia, right up to the borders with Vietnam and Laos. Within it is a fraction of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the network of...
Bus Journey from Hell #1
Posted on February 13, 2010 | No CommentsWe’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 part of the experience, though...
S-21: Genocide for Beginners
Posted on February 13, 2010 | No Comments“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, AKA S-21, where teenage true...
Poachers and Gamekeepers
Posted on February 5, 2010 | No Comments“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 French colonial ghost town in...
Tree, Not Try
Posted on February 5, 2010 | No CommentsTree knows the Bokor National Park better than most. After all, he lived in the forest for two years. “My life was not a good one,” he says. “I was...
Does My Mum Look Big in This?
Posted on February 5, 2010 | 6 Comments“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 your bum and your bum...
Lotus Seeds
Posted on February 2, 2010 | No CommentsWhen someone you have never met in a country you have never visited gives your child and you a present and wants nothing in return but friendship, that’s special. When...
