I heard the dogs before I saw them – two snarling masses of brown fur with full heads of steam and, one would imagine, sharp canines. They bore down on me as I rode my mountain bike along a narrow path in Kandal Province, instantly turning a tranquil Sunday morning jaunt along a rural trail into an all-out sprint. It’s […]
» Read moreThais seem to have a fixation on mobile meals. Tuesday night we saw our fried chicken dinner catapulted into the air and caught on a platter by a guy on a unicycle, who then served it to us while off-tune crooners butchered karaoke songs on a stage across the restaurant floor. The next night, we watched in confusion as a […]
» Read moreThe heat smacked us in the face and pressed on our backs as we labored over uneven sidewalks and dodged motorbikes seeking a shortcut around traffic-jammed intersections. Horns honked everywhere around us as we cowered from the manic traffic flow. The sun beat down relentlessly as we labored along in search of an air-conditioned coffee shop, which, despite clear directions […]
» Read moreA few months into our living and learning experience in Cambodia, fresh from a Khmer language class and full of positive energy, I approached a woman holding an ill baby in the Russian Market to engage her in a conversation in Khmer. Just jump in, our instructor had enthusiastically instructed us. So I did. “Knyom kit ta koin neak chikuit,” […]
» Read moreWhile popping a batch of popcorn for a lunchtime snack and with a dinner party at our home only hours away, I make the startling discovery that we were really, really low on propane. As in, almost completely out of gas. This may not sound like a particularly challenging prospect. But as a foreigner living in Phnom Penh, this is […]
» Read moreI was awakened around 2 on a Sunday morning by a now-familiar sensation: a stabbing pain in my left elbow, radiating toward my wrist. This is no way to start a holiday weekend, I thought. But after a fitful nights’ sleep I was eager to put the pain behind me. I massaged the painful spot in the dark and made […]
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