Category: Cambodia

  • Notes on Genocidal Tourism in Cambodia

    Notes on Genocidal Tourism in Cambodia

    One of the emotionally complicating factors of constantly living in and travelling through countries with troubled pasts is that you will inevitably end up having many conversations with and interacting with people who had lived through that troubled past. And given that troubled pasts often involved death, betrayal, torture, imprisonment and whatnot, it’s a disconcerting…

  • Brief Notes on 15 Days in Cambodia (part 1)

    Brief Notes on 15 Days in Cambodia (part 1)

    We just got back from Cambodia last night, returning to a cold, grey Shanghai and a chaotic jumble of bills, dirty laundry, empty fridge and dusty floors.  The two flights from Phnom Penh to Guangzhou to Shanghai had been turbulent and cloudy and the taxi home from Hongqiao airport was lead-footed and jerky. We attempted…

  • How much would YOU pay to be bit by a rabid monkey: More good times in Phnom Penh

    How much would YOU pay to be bit by a rabid monkey: More good times in Phnom Penh

    Have I ever mentioned how much I loathe monkeys? In India, on an island just off Mumbai, a monkey once mugged me with a snarl for my bottled water; in Ubud, in Bali, a monkey lunged at me and dug his claws into my leg and wouldn’t let go. I wasn’t even teasing him with…

  • Shouldn’t it be…harder?: On Travelling in Comfort

    Shouldn’t it be…harder?: On Travelling in Comfort

    Let me introduce you to a few key examples of how I have traveled in the past. Let’s start at the beginning, when I was barely 20 years old. In 1994, I spent two months sleeping on my friend’s sofa in a small flat above a pagan shop in Galway, Ireland. I lived on packets…