• currency is in $US or cambodian riel and you can pay in both…..4000 riel = $1 US so you can truly feel like a millionaire. There are no coins but notes that seem to equal 2.5 cents or 12.5 cents but this can change depending on how the price of things is rounded up or down.

• never accept a ride to an orphanage because more often than not they are not genuine orphanages, but places that take advantage of poor parents and their children…think child safe and friends international are two organisations that keep an eye on this.

• going for a walk around Phnom Penh is almost impossible without being harassed by tuk tuk drivers. It is not normal to walk anywhere…everyone drives something

–  fast buses do what the packet says…..they speed, often on roads that would ordinarily take out the bottom of the vehicle, but they can dodge a motorcycle rider on side a truck coming in the opposite direction, and not crush a family piled into a tuk tuk at phenomenal speed….all while a range rover squeezes through the middle. Insane and amazing…..

• the poverty in some areas is heartbreaking and indescribable…..but also some of the happiest people too. Under no circumstances should people in western nations complain about anything…they should come and see how other people live.

• family and community is very important and it is so lovely to see families all eating and cooking together in remote and city areas…often with no running water or electricity…or one main light….definitely no flat screen TV or iPad! ( My cambodian friend did say that sometimes the family can interfere a little too much when grandparents tell you when to get married, who to, and what children you should have and when to have them!!!!)

• some people in hostels should be shot….I’ve heard some horror stories recently, generally including drunk backpackers, throwing up, being completely disrespectful to other back packers or the country they happen to be in. A particular favourite was hearing a young 18 yr old signed his name TONY 2015 on the wall at Angkor Wat! F***kit. …..

• most of the money earned from tourists in Siem Reap leaves Cambodia and the money generated from entrance fee etc to Angkor Wat goes to the Vietnamese who owned the governing company. It is the hideous downfall of tourism in this country.

• the outlaw australian motor cycle club The Rebels have chapters in Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia..more than likely running drugs casinos and prostitution here. …..the usual…you can spot a Harley a mile away in the middle of a sea of motos!