In Cambodia, you count in fives, so counting goes like this:
Muy (one)
Pii (two)
Bei (three)
Buan (four)
Bram (five)
Bram muy (five+one=six)
Bram pii (five+two=seven)
Bram bei (five+three=eight)
Bram buan (five+four=nine)
Dawp (ten)
Dawp muy (ten+one=eleven)
Sixteen is therefore dawp bram muy.
In a strange coincidence, one million is muy lian, which almost sounds like million.
The official currency is the riel – the unofficial currency is the US dollar. You get around 4000 riel to 1 US dollar, so when something costs $1.50, if you hand over £2 you get 2000r change – prices refer to amounts in dollars and cents, but the cents are in fact riel. You end up with a mix of dollars and riel in your pocket, either of which are accepted by most shops and market traders. The 10,000 riel note is worth $2.50 and is not to be confused with the 1000 riel note, which is worth 25 cents.
A pack of ARA Red cigarettes, the Cambodian equivalent to Marlboro, costs around 1000r – about 15 pence. I don’t know how much Nicorette patches cost, but I’m willing to bet that they cost exactly the same as they do in the UK. Willpower is free but hard to come by.
The standard local beer is Anchor draft, which costs between 3000r and $1. It’s good stuff. When asking for Anchor you pronounce the ‘ch’ as you would in ‘cheese’, to avoid confusion with the other beer, Angkor, which usually comes in cans and bottles. Likewise if you prefer Angkor, you ask for it by name pronouncing the ‘An’ as an ‘On’ as if you were asking for it in a French accent.
It is currently mango season. Mangos are hanging fat and bulging from trees all over the place. Our local bar is currently doing mango daiquiries for $2.
The pork is organic, and of very high quality. Pigs are brought to slaughter after having had a pouch of a narcotic substance packed into their mouths, so from what I understand they are as stoned as dreadlocked backpackers when they’re dispatched.
We’ve bought a motorbike, a Honda 250cc dirt bike, to get around. A quick top-up of the tank can be achieved by visiting a stall at the roadside where a Johnnie Walker Black bottle full of petrol may be added at a cost of $1.
Top cheap eats are fantastic fried rice with vegetables and pork from one of the street stalls for around $1, and noodle soup or moreish fried aubergine with minced pork from a small Dim Sum place at the end of Bar Street for $1.50.
The top hotel in town costs over $1000 for a room for the night. When Mick Jagger came to see the Angkor temples he booked out the entire hotel.
The Khmer for ‘cheers!’ sounds a bit like the Khmer for ‘one fuck’, hence correct pronunciation is advised in bars.
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