Fun

Will discovers that living the country idyll while saving the world isn’t all it’s cut out to be.I travelled to Cambodia to save the world and push my limits. I wanted to find out what I was made of, what I was capable of. After a year volunteering at a Christian school in Phnom Penh, I was ready to strike out and help Cambodians in a worse situation. I wanted to get out into the provinces, to where there were few roads, no electricity and a culture untouched by the ways of the western world —and I was tired of explaining the difference between essential and nonessential clauses.I thought I co…

Traditionally places promote their services as being the best in town, not so at the Tree, which claims to have the worst pool table in the Penh. Words by Mark Jackson. “It looks kind of nice,” says Martin Crabtree the owner of The Tree on Street 118, “but you’d need a map to play it.” The Englishman who has run several bars in the capital over the last five years claims that his table is the Portsmouth Town of the pool world. Balls roll in strange directions, the cloth is ripped and even the custom-made, shortened short cues are too long for the cramped conditions. Still, his regular customer…

Will finds himself being left out in the cold as the long winter nights draw in, and his wife finds him less than electric.Oregon has a reputation, among Cambodians and everyone else, of being a beautiful place. It has soaring mountain peaks, lush forests and stunning waterfalls. But the climatic conditions that grant the state so much beauty also grant it a cold, damp climate for much of the year. For the five months of winter, much of Oregon resides in a grey, sunless existence — no snow, no sun, just a dreary constant drizzle.Now many locals think this is a perfectly reasonable situation, l…

Like many carefree foreigners who suddenly find themselves with more expenses than cash, I turned to teaching English at a small school. It seemed like a legitimate operation. It had a great location just a few blocks away from Phsar Thmei, friendly and professional receptionists, and a computer lab for students. It even had a trendy cafe on the ground floor. The administrator was organized and enthusiastic about having me on board, promising flexible hours and as much work as I wanted. After two years as a volunteer on a meager stipend, the pay seemed quite reasonable too.Silly, silly me. I c…

A vital cash crop for developing countries and one of the most traded commodities in the world, coffee was first grown in Southeast Asia thanks to Fifteenth Century Dutch Java and Ceylon plantations in Indonesia. Since then, the region’s coffee has been exported all over the world, but as coffee lovers in Phnom Penh know all too well, a decent cup can be an expensive habit. This is why many choose to brew their own cups of energy, because let’s face it, we need the brown stuff to get through the day.Fortunately for Penhites, we are just one hop, skip and a tuk tuk ride away from the Sin Ven…