Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is changing much faster than before. It seemed like just the other day that it had a big village feel to it now you have sky scrappers and traffic jams every day.




There are a few good things like Wat Phnom area the parks that were originally there have been redone around the hill and it looks much better.



The police are also slowly starting to get a clue and they are enforcing some traffic related stuff but you still have all the cars on the sidewalks and when there are not cars parked on the sidewalk you have motos trying to use it as a separate lane which if you are walking really makes it into a Cambodian adventure kind of like frogger and you get to be the frog.



One of the things that is a constant is when Khmer New Year comes around the cops and any officials that you come into contact with are looking for and demanding and getting bribes and kick backs and just general money grabbing as they need to feed the system higher ups. A very good reason to avoid Cambodia in April besides the god awful ever present stifling oppressive heat Man it is hot here in April the only place hotter would be Bangkok and they have even bigger problems now with the Red Shirts running amok and that is not the good kind of Amok.