The Worst Travel Guide to Cambodia

I lived in Cambodia for 20 months, living working and exploring. I have a lot of stories, far more then I could fit into this book, but this book will help you know more about Cambodia, its people, and the life you can enjoy here if you are an expat or just passing through.

The stories are not objective, I wrote these stories from my eyes, to teach, to show, and to remember. Some are beautiful, some are horrible. These stories will not replace a travel guide, but they will shine lights o areas never covered by travel guides.

Cambodia is a country in South East Asia that was once called the pearl of Asia. People saw great things here, people knew Cambodia would rise into a great country, and then everything changed. A coup, a civil war, an incredible poorly planned economic system that lead to one of the worst famines and genocide in history, where about 25-30% of the population starved to death. Cambodia bounced back from this cataclysm, but even so the past very much creates the present. Poverty and corruption are as common as rice and coconuts. Cambodia is a land that has nothing. Cambodia is a land that has everything. I love Cambodia. I hate Cambodia. But most of all I want to show you Cambodia for what it is.

This book is divided into a few categories.
1. Ordering food in Khmer
2. Crime and corruption in Cambodia
3. Tips for Siem Reap
4. Tips for Phnom Penh
5. Couchsurfing in Cambodia
6. Stories from my experience working in Cambodia
7. Cambodian cultural tips
8. Drugs in Cambodia including the very common “Happy Pizza” topped with marijuana.
9. And a few other stories to help show Cambodia for what it is.


Here is my Table of Contents.
Welcome to “The Worst Travel Guide to Cambodia”
About Cambodia
The Basics: How to Order Food in Cambodia
Dog Meat – A Cambodian Joke
Quick tips for Cambodia
Crime in Cambodia
Know your border crossings, and don’t pay a bribe
Fight corruption? Or Give in?
Don’t Call it Corruption, Call it Free Market Capitalism
Corruption, corruption everywhere but should we partake?
Slaves to Sugarcane
Currency Confusion
What Else to Do in Siemreap
How to Sneak into Angkor?
The Amazing and Almost Unknown Cambodian Temple of Prasat Bakan
Foreigners Can’t Speak our Language
Having a beer with Cambodians
Most Ladyboys are Not Prostitutes
What Else to Do in Phnom Penh
Swimming on Silk
A Tsunami of Change Approaches Cambodia
How to Couch Surf
Couchsurfing
Why Cambodians Have No Toilet Papers in Their House
The Cambodia Postal System
Why Child Labor Just Isn’t Practical (For Me)
The Top 14 Jobs Foreigners Do Aboard (The Good and the Bad)
I Will Teach You the English (The Story of Getting a Job as an English Teacher)
Teaching English Abroad in Cambodia
And Then I Became a Smuggler
A Cambodian Medical Emergency
The Monsoon Season
Five or More on a Motorcycle
That’s an Ugly Baby
You are Older Than You Are, at Least in Asia
Burning Money for Your Ancestors
Reincarnation
Lowest Prices Start the Day
Pointing
“A Symbol of Beauty is Whiteness.”
Fat is Good
Cheers
Coconuts
Rice, Rice and More Rice
A Warning About Weed and Other Drugs in Cambodia
Marijuana in Cambodia
A Step by Step for Having Happy (Weed, Marijuana Topped) Pizza in Cambodia.
North South Indian Restaurant – The Best Restaurant in Phnom Penh!
Lakeside Isn’t Dead, it’s Undead
The Plateau
A Bloody Solution to a Broken System
Phnom Penh’s red light district.
A Marriage Proposal