Ibis

Most wedding attendees are now starting to dribble away from Siem Reap after a riotous week of fun, emotion and old and new friends. At the final morning brunch it was so natural to note how much the wedding week had acted as a microcosm of our former fulfilling expat lives in Cambodia. So many ingredients made life exciting here, and I've been asked to describe them many times this week. For me the professional experiences in the environmental sector were much tougher than the personal. In expat life domestic pressures are lower in many ways, spontaneity levels are high, workloads are heavy but the rat race dominates less, friendships are fiercely interesting and social networks are formed on a level playing field outside of everyone's home turf. I'm hoping Mozambique proves to offer the same rich experiences, although one positive difference there is that it seems much easier to bridge the expat-national divide, and I already have more meaningful relationships with Mozambicans than it was possible for me to achieve in Cambodia.

Adam and I caught the bus to Phnom Penh with the best company that operates the journey; Giant Ibis. The name refers to an endangered species found in Cambodia and an agricultural sustainability project with which the bus company acts as a corporate sponsor. Equally wholesome are the announcements made by the bus conductor on arrival in Phnom Penh, including basic facts about the founding of the city. Although we're only overnighting briefly it was good to be back in my old stomping ground and we checked into a cheap hotel along one of Phnom Penh's least salubrious drags, Riverside. The hotel is accessed through an Indian restaurant and warns via a notice on the wall, 'regarding to the restaurant staff please kindly do not put the dirty foot or the oily foot on the red carpet.'

A friend, Kevin, was in Phnom Penh in the evening, making a visit to show his boyfriend his former rural Peace Corps village, and we met for a beer. I've been remarking that with a global network of pals and contacts it's surprisingly easy how often paths cross. He termed it the International Syndicate of Gays. This is certainly true for some contacts. Not everyone is in this group but all are welcome, as it sounds a fun place to be.

The image is of a wat snapped before leaving Siem Reap.