Hangin' at the Mall

Em & I were in Bangkok at the weekend, visiting our good friends Pia & Sebi. It's the first time we've left Cambodia since we arrived 3 months ago, and we had a fantastic time hanging out. We spent a lot of time at the mall - shopping, going to the cinema, and eating great Japanese food. It was also Sebi's birthday and we went out to a pool-side roof-top party overlooking Bangkok's high rise skyline which was top fun. The whole experience really highlighted how first world everything is in Bangkok, and how small and undeveloped Phnom Penh is in contrast. Personally, i'm not a big fan of malls which I find incredibly soulless places and to me represent the pinnacle of our consumer culture (if you want to see them in a new light check out "Dawn of the Dead" - George Romero's 1978 zombie classic). Coincidentally, I had to go to one of Phnom Penh's few malls yesterday - Sorya mall was opened in 2002 and caused quite a stir because it was the first building in Cambodia with escalators (apparently the sight of adult Khmer's scared to get onto the escalator was quite funny), suffice to say it's not a patch on Bangkok's monster malls. Although it was a nice change to get a dose of modernity, and lovely to see our friends, I have to say it's nice to be back in small, dusty, friendly Phnom Penh.