Teaching is a job to which expats tend to gravitate, but pay in Cambodia is low. Source: Khmer440.com
The life of an expat may contain many surprises, the Wall Street Journal noted in an article not so long ago.
It turns out, according to a survey on which the article is based, that Ecuador provides the most happiness to expats and that Europe, unsurprisingly, offers the best education.
But would you imagine that Ireland falls behind Russia, Oman and Continue reading
Poul during better days.
If you happened to read my post last week, then perhaps you noticed that a woman who is a trainer at my gym was hurt in an accident only a few blocks from the facility on a major boulevard. Her condition has improved somewhat, but that is hardly the end of her troubles.
Details are kind of sparse. It seems she was riding her moto home from a night out early Sunday morning a week and a half ago. Apparently, Poul pulled over and stopped when she noticed a car driving dangerously close to her.
I gather that the vehicle clipped her bike and tossed her onto the pavement. Poul was not wearing a helmet, an oversight that technically is against a law and more often honored in the breach (especially passengers) and less often enforced with anything approaching determination.
The car Continue reading
Among the countless cultural differences between Cambodians and Westerners is what happens when someone sneezes.
After 20 months living in Phnom Penh, I find it hard to drop certain reactions and expectations. One that comes readily to mind and that I cannot seem to accept concerns cars turning into a street; I still think they will give way to a pedestrian automatically — me. They usually don’t.
Another has to do with sneezing. Probably like you, my automatic reaction is to utter a “bless you” or “gesundheit” when someone, even a stranger, sneezes. Where I come from, I know that I can count on hearing wishes for good health when I sneeze or anyone else does in virtually any situation but a performance.
Not so in Cambodia. It is as if nothing ever happened or that no one cares about another person’s health.
What surprises me is Continue reading
5-Star? Not in my book. Not by a very long shot given appalling customer service.
The sluggish saga of my attempt to book a roundtrip flight between Bali and a small island began last Saturday. As I start to draft this post on Wednesday morning, I still have been unable to get my tickets from Garuda, the small Indonesian airline with which I am condemned to deal.
Moreover, responses to my e-mail have gone unanswered or delayed intolerably. When they arrive, the e-mails contain unreasonable requests. The only time I seem to get anywhere is when I complain on Twitter and Facebook, proving that social media can have a use beyond seeing what “friends” enjoy for dinner.
You may wonder why I haven’t tried the services of a travel agency, as my wise friend Amanda advised me, or a travel site such as Orbitz. Continue reading
I, on Cambodia 