‘Malcolm has landed’ is true but admittedly grandiose

 

View of central Phnom Penh from roof of my apartment building.

Life in Phnom Penh seems to start unfailingly around 7 a.m., two hours after what somehow has become my routine wake-up time.

Sitting in the apartment that we’ll occupy probably for no more than six months, I hear construction starting on the house 10 floors below me in the neighboring lot.  I can see tuk-tuks gathering on street corners, hear Buddhist chants and notice other sounds of life, including birds, rising in volume.  Later this morning, the city’s inescapable energy is sure to peak.

(One reason for expecting to move is that the apartment we had to grab was merely acceptable and available following our arrival here on Dec. 3.  Two weeks in a basic hotel was quite enough, and the building is well situated in an area with a concentration of ex-pats, upscale coffee shops and, heaven help me, a Burger King that soon will open.  There goes the neighborhood.

(But I expect that the open kitchen with its two-burner electric stovetop, bath with pink tiles, master bedroom with bubblegum-pink sheets, lukewarm water in the shower and fluorescent lighting will prove to be too much to bear for an extended period — that and a bigger reason that I’ll detail toward the end of this post.  One attraction is the rooftop pool, however.

(For the $1,000 a month we’re spending on a furnished 2BR, how can I complain?  Well, you’ll see.)

Since I spent three weeks here in March, I have encountered a few surprises.  

Money-laundering scandal puts condo on block

A property ensnared in an international money-laundering scandal to which a former president of Taiwan has pleaded guilty is to be auctioned this month by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Chelsea’s Onyx

The auction of the 1,1,78-sf luxury condo in Chelsea’s Onyx, at 261 W. 28th St., is scheduled for April 23.

According to the World Bank, which cites a U.S. Justice Department press release, the sale stems from a conviction by former Taiwan President Chen Shui-Ben and his wife for bribery, embezzlement and money laundering.

Alleging that the apartment

Weekly Roundup: Rates up in seasonal market

Important housekeeping announcement:  There will be reduced frequency in August until after Labor Day, but you can look forward until then to Out and About, some typically critical posts taken on The High Road, perspectives on sellers and buyers, and other information meant to be both illuminating and, occasionally, even entertaining.  This regular Friday feature will return on September 9, when it will be combined with The Big Apple.

Pending home sales rise for second consecutive month

Sales of new homes continue to move sideways in June

By Case-Shiller’s gauge, May home prices increase normally with seasonality

Economists reflect on the numbers

The Fed see little change in U.S. housing market

Following Treasury yields, rates climb 0.8 points and exceed a year earlier

Self-employed

The poor economy may be liberating ‘mattress money’

When it comes to currency, I have a special interest in $100 bills, and my interest was piqued anew after the owner of a 24-hour store shared with me an observation of his.

Not only are $100 bills nice to have in hand, but my move to Washington, D.C. in 1995 for what was to be a year or two as a temporary employee of the Treasury Department made them the source of my income for quite a while.

I went there to create and oversee a $26 million international public education campaign that introduced to the world our nation’s first newly designed note–the one with the big heads–since 1928.

It was a huge and rewarding challenge.

Although you may not know or recall,