Bicycle ride in Siem Reap/Cambodia

Bicyle tour with Grashoppers through the rice fields around Siem Reap

We did a very lovely tour with Grashoppers last Sunday through the countryside south of Siem Reap. Its starts early at 7.30, Bikes, Helmets and Water is provided, and so is a very helpful, friendly and competent guide. It's a 25 km ride, all flat, but through some bumpy dirt roads, so you need a bit of strength to keep your balance sometimes. We made quite a few stops at a pig farm, a rice mill, a local market and a temple. Around noon we came back. I can only highly recommend this tour.

Noodle soup for breakfast

For about a month now I am having noodle soup for breakfast. I don't like instant noodles, so I usually go for either rice noodles or Udon noodles. For logistic reasons, I am having breakfast at home, what requires cooking. Not that this is a problem, I actually love cooking. I found some kind of instant rice noodles Phnom Penh style, what I sometimes use as a base, or ready to eat Udon Noodles. It is quite easy to make them a bit more delicious with adding just some chicken breast or tofu, a fresh egg, celery or bean sprouts.

The main reason was to find out if a noodle soup for breakfast just lasts long enough so I do not need to have lunch. And it actually does. Before, my breakfast was an apple and some oats, and then I had a salad for lunch and usually a good dinner. I work from home, what means I am always not more than 15 meters away from my fridge. In Bangkok,  the next 7/11 was in walking distance, so I was always tempted to get some fast food.

I am totally aware that food is actually a reward for me, but we all know that our brain sometimes tricks us, and there were and are times, when I felt dizzy and thought I have to eat now. It took a while to discover that most of the time it was a psychological problem. Proof is that when I am very busy during the day and away from home, I rarely feel dizzy even without having lunch. And yes, I am drinking enough, my blood pressure is good and I just had a health check up in May.

A friend in Laos once said in a presentation about crosscultural training, that one thing we do not like to change or that we struggle to change is breakfast. That why people so often complain about the breakfast in a hotel, although they know that there is always a better place outside. That's why so many restaurants offer french and continental and american breakfast (and never German, by the way). Our breakfast was for decades muesli with milk, even after moving to Asia.

But I have to admit that at least for the last month I wasn't missing the oats at all. I am carful enough to eat fruits to replace the morning apple and to get  veggies to still add  fiber to my diet. But I actually like the noodle soup, and just today I cooked some Udon noodles and  chicken breast in a broth, added some celery and Udon sauce, and had a lovely breakfast.

Cambodia will have us back again

It was 9 years ago when we left Germany and moved to Cambodia. We stayed only for a year, and always regretted to not have been there longer. Now we will get another chance. End of June we will leave Thailand and move to Siem Reap. I already start learning Khmer (my fourth language in 9 years after Vietnamese, Lao and Thai), and we will go for house hunting this weekend.

We are really looking forward to live again in the Kingdom of Wonders.

More Rap from Cambodia

Cambodian sexworkers: Hooker or girlfriend?

Phnom Penh Post is running a much needed story about the diversity in the so called sex industry, where not every girls fits the stereotype of western NGOS and the yellow press.

An American academic has spent seven years researching the local hostess bar scene, and come up with some surprising findings. This is the first in a three-part series. It begins in a bar and involves young Cambodian women and foreign men. Another tale of prostitution and exploitation you might think. Another portrait of a sad bar girl in need of rescue from pervy, middle-aged sexpats, and a system that traps her in a life she would obviously never choose. We’ve all heard it before. But this tale has a twist. .... Just because Cambodian women have transactional sex with different people does not mean they are bad or broken. When western women do it, they are considered smart, and even powerful.

Dr Heidi Hoefinger has been researching the hostess bar scene in Phnom Penh since 2003. She received her PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London, and is author of upcoming book titled Sex, Love and Money in Cambodia (Routledge 2013).

ASEAN web radio

I was thinking about starting a web based radio for the ASEAN region. Question is, where should it be located? The idea is, that we can play music from all ASEAN countries (modern mainly), but people can also record reports and publish it, as well as we can record and broadcast skype conference calls. Anyone into this?