One of my favourite sanctuaries in Phnom Penh is a restaurant with a secluded garden terrace on a corner. I first came here in January 2014 with Mum and Ruth, attracted by the leafy entrance as we wandered past one evening. Today a noisy construction site on the opposite corner destroys the ambience somewhat. I … More Christmas Now and When
This week I was invited to a Cham wedding through an American connection I made when we took Paula to her surgery. Despite learning a lot about Cham people in recent years, they still seem foreign and exotic to my western eyes and last night’s wedding did nothing to expel this notion. Our arrival at … More An Arabian Night
I get off the tuk tuk and the limit of what I can say to Tuk Tuk Madame (TTM) translates into something like “See you next time. I don’t know. Me …. Telephone … You” (including a little sign language just to be on the safe side). He laughs and I laugh back. The best … More Touching My Heart
MUCH has been happening here and I will blog about some of it when I can find the time. Meanwhile this powerful and beautiful song is worth a share. Especially the message at the end of the video. World Humanitarian Day One day, one message, one goal. To inspire people all over the world To … More I Was Here
Some of every day in Phnom Penh is spent in a tuk tuk with my colleagues. A few regular drivers have become firm friends through shared amusement at each other’s little ways and our limited common language. My fellow expatriates and I are currently holding a photographic competition, each of us preparing to show our … More Notes From A Tuk Tuk
This week I lost my housemate and friend to Bangladesh, where she will work with the Rohingya refugees escaping indescribable violence in Rakhine State across the border in Myanmar. We spoke a lot about them and about Cambodia before she left. It always looped back to ourselves, our appreciation for our extreme luck of birth … More Eye Is For Ice
My second bicycle ride in Kampong Cham in 2013 was with another Australian nurse and a German doctor. Four years ago perhaps even to the day, it was the end of the rainy season and the Mekong waters had receded. Planting on the floodplains was well underway, with lush green crops contrasted against deep blue … More My Cambodian Kaleidoscope
When I lived in Kampong Cham during the two years between 2013 to 2015 there was one swimming pool in this town, about 5 metres long and knee-deep, belonging to a local hotel. In the past two years two swimming pools have appeared here. “The Chinese” built a large town pool complex with four different … More Perspectives
He lives in a home with walls constructed of bamboo, elevated on wooden stumps ten ladder steps from the ground. I have cycled or tuk tuked along this track which runs parallel with the Mekong countless times over the past four years. The track passes through many impoverished communities, an interweave of Buddhist and Islamic … More Boat Baby Update
“Kindness is a free currency from a well that will never dry up,” “The most efficient way for you to act with young people is to be a calming force.” ~ Lady Gaga … More The Only Thing is Kindness
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