A Dust Storm, Some Missionaries & My Nemesis

Firstly, apologies for the lack of updates of late. By way of catching up, here are a few random thoughts and happenings from the past week.

It's still stinking hot in Phnom Penh (30's & humid), but we've had a few dry electrical storms at night. We were at the FCC having a drink the other night when a dust storm blew in. It was fairly dramatic as the FCC has open sides to allow you to look out over the Mekong as you sip your Gin & Tonic. Gale force winds and dust forced everyone to retreat into the bar. Anyway, monsoon is supposed to be arriving very soon (2-4 weeks), and apparently it literally arrives in a day. I'll keep you posted !

Last night on the way home we spotted a couple of American missionaries on push-bikes (wearing the uniform white short sleeve shirt) who had stopped to spread the good word to some Khmer's hanging out on the street. I don't think they were getting very far, there were some pretty blank looking faces.

Well, next week is Khmer New Year. This is a big holiday in Cambodia and Phnom Penh will empty as most Khmer's head out to the provinces to spend time with family etc. Some very impressive lights and decorations went up in town yesterday. Em has 4 days off work for the holiday so we're taking the opportunity to head down to the coast - Kep, Kampot & Sihanoukville. I've hired a dirt-bike to ride down from Phnom Penh which should be fun.

Finally, i've also found some interesting blogs whilst i've been researching our upcoming adventures, these two are particularly good and worth checking out (the first is the blog of an English guy who has been living here a while by the sounds of it, and the second one provides news, commentary and video clips of the current Khmer Rouge trial which is taking place in town) :-

http://www.andybrouwer.co.uk/blog/
http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/index.php

Oh, and my nemesis...is a street sign on the corner of Street 240 & Norodom. As i've said before, tall people aren't really catered for very well in Cambodia. This particular street sign is right in the middle of the pavement (see my previous post about pavements), and at the perfect height to take out the top of my head. Em can pass under it just fine. I've now clocked myself on it twice, the last time I picked up a nasty bump and cut. Grrr....240 street sign, you'll get yours!