Cambodia

Good advice for learning the language See also: Khmer phrasebook Cambodians primarily speak Khmer, which unlike most languages in the region is not tonal, but makes up for it with a large assortment of consonant and vowel clusters. Young Khmer prefer to learn English over other European languages and you will find people who speak anywhere from basic to fluent English in major towns and cities. In market situations, most Khmers will know enough English to complete a basic transaction, though many vendors carry calculators into which they punch numbers and show you the screen to demonstrate the price. Some elder Khmers speak French from the colonial days, but partly because of the Khmer Rouge era (in which those speaking foreign languages were targeted for extermination), to actually encounter anyone fluent in French is rare in most parts of the country. German and other European tongues can be found in the tourist centres (but are even rarer than French) and Japanese is also a popular language for tourist industry workers.

Fried noodles, sour soup and a Khmer-style curry One of the must-try local Cambodian pan cake While not as spicy or as varied as food from Thailand or Vietnam, Khmer food is tasty and cheap and is invariably accompanied by rice (or occasionally noodles). Thai and Vietnamese characteristics can be found in Khmer food, although Cambodians love a stronger sour taste in their dishes, especially through the addition of prahok, the famous Khmer fish paste (although for most foreigners this is most definitely an acquired taste!). In addition to Khmer food, there are large number of Chinese restaurants, especially in Phnom Penh and large provincial centers. Typical Khmer dishes which are palatable to westerners include:

• Amok - The most popular Cambodian dish with travellers. A coconut milk curry dish less spicy than those found in Thailand. Amok is usually made with chicken, fish, or shrimp, plus some vegetables. It is sometimes served in a hollowed-out coconut with rice on the side. Quite delicious.

• K'tieu (Kuytheav) - A noodle soup generally served for breakfast. Can be made with pork, beef or seafood. Flavorings are added to the customers taste in the form of lime juice, chili powder, sugar and fish sauce.

• Somlah Machou Khmae - A sweet and sour soup made with pineapple, tomatoes and fish.

• Bai Saik Ch'rouk - Another breakfast staple. Rice (bai) with pork meat (sec trouk) often barbequed. Very tasty and served with some pickled vegetables.

• Saik Ch'rouk Cha Kn'yei - Pork fried with ginger. Ginger is relatively commonly used as a vegetable. This tasty dish is available just about everywhere.

• Lok lak - Chopped up beefsteak cooked quickly. Probably a holdover from the days of French colonization. Served with lettuce and onion, and often with chips.

• Mi / Bai Chaa - Fried noodles or rice. Never particularly inspiring, but a good traveller's staple.

• Trey Ch'ien Chou 'Ayme - Trey (fish) fried with a sweet chili sauce and vegetables. Very tasty. Chou 'ayme is the phrase for "sweet and sour".

• K'dam - Crab. Kampot in the south is famous for its crab cooked in pepper. A very tasty meal.

Don't forget Khmer desserts - Pong Aime (sweets). These are available from stalls in most Khmer towns and can be excellent. Choose from a variety of sweetmeats and have them served with ice, condensed milk and sugar water. A must try is the Tuk-a-loc, a blended drink of fruits, raw egg, sweetened condensed milk and ice. There is also a wide variety of fresh fruit available from markets. The prices vary according to which fruit is in season but mangoes (around Khmer New Year, with up to 9 varieties on sale) and mangosteen (May/June) are both superb. Other popular Khmer foods which are less palatable to westerners include pregnant eggs (duck eggs with the embryo still inside), Prahok (a fermented fish paste) and almost every variety of creepy or crawly animal (spiders, crickets, water beetles) as well as barbecued rats, frogs, snakes, bats and small birds.

Tap water is not potable. Bottled water is ubiquitous and cheap Khmer brands in blue plastic bottles sell for 1000 riels or less (although prices are often marked up for tourists).

Soft drinks

Iced coffee is made Vietnamese style, freshly brewed and mixed with sweetened condensed milk. Iced tea made with lemon and sugar is also refreshing. Fresh coconut can be found everywhere, and is healthy and sanitary if drunk straight from the fruit.

Alcohol

Nightlife, Siem Reap In general, Khmers are not what could be described as casual drinkers: the main objective is to get hammered as quickly as possible. Know your limits if invited to join in! The two domestic Cambodian beers are Anchor — best ordered "an-CHOR" with a ch sound! — and Angkor. Beer Lao and Tiger are popular beers with foreigners. A plethora of other beers include ABC Stout, which is dark and not so bad, in addition to the standard Heineken and Carlsberg. Many of the cheaper beers are not especially nice, such as Crown or Leo, and only drunk by the locals. Palm wine and rice wine are available in villages and can be OK at 500-1000 riel for 1 litre bottle. However, some safety concerns have been raised with regard to sanitation, so the local wines may be best avoided. Bottled water is readily available at 500 riel for a cheap 1L bottle, or double that for a screw-cap. In Phnom Penh tap water is theoretically clean, though most travellers still buy bottles. For a truly Khmer experience, hunt down a bottle of Golden Muscle Wine. Advertised on tuk-tuks everywhere, this pitch-black concoction made from deer antlers and assorted herbs packs a 35% punch and tastes vile when drunk straight, but can be made reasonably palatable (if not exactly tasty) by the addition of tonic water or cola. At US$2 for a 350 ml flask of the original and a budget-busting US$3 for the "X.O." version, it's also the cheapest legitimate tipple around.

Drugs

Drugs, including cannabis, are illegal in Cambodia, and penalties can be very severe. That said, enforcement tends to be on the lax side and many guesthouses are permanently shrouded in purple haze. Low-grade cannabis (ganchaa) is fairly common in Cambodian cooking (for the flavor), but the days when you could just walk up to the Central Market and buy a kilo are over. Both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap are full of Happy Herb pizzerias, but the police crack down occasionally, so even if you ask for "extra happy" and try out your secret handshake, you may only end up with an overpriced pie sprinkled with lawn clippings. Alternatively, if they do deliver, be warned that effect of eating Happy Pizza comes on only slowly and you may end off biting more than you can chew, so proceed with caution.

Haggling

Khmers are by and large not the hardcore hagglers that their Vietnamese neighbours are, so it's important to be respectful when haggling over something in the market or with your motodop. If you're staying at a Western owned hotel, or going to a Western owned bar, realize that the people you haggle with at the markets need your money a lot more than the people at the hotel or the bar that you aren't even bothering to haggle with. The bottom line is that you shouldn't take the attitude that every single transaction at a market must be bargained into the ground. If a vendor is asking 1,000 riel for a bottle of water, or US$1 for a T-shirt, don't haggle - pay it. They need the extra 50 cents much more than you do. As with any developing country, however, straying far beyond the customary prices can lead to inflation and over-dependence on tourism.

Cash

The Cambodian riel is the official currency, but US dollars are universally accepted in Cambodia. Given that there are still few ATMs, bring a large quantity of US$1, $5, $10 and $20 bills, and bear in mind that notes in $50 and $100 denominations are hard to use or exchange. US dollar coins buy nothing but confused looks. The exchange rate is fairly stable at 4000 riel to the US$, and it's not uncommon to receive change in a mix of the two. Near the Thai border (especially Battambang, Koh Kong, and Poipet) Thai baht is also accepted; further east (including Siem Reap) baht can easily be exchanged, but cannot be spent - except at uncompetitive rates. Likewise Euro can easily be exchanged, but cannot be spent - except at uncompetitive rates. Instead of queueing up and filling endless paperwork at banks, you'll have better luck changing money at the nearest market - just look for the guys with a glass case full of cash. Torn foreign currency notes can be difficult to exchange. It's acceptable to check each note and ask to have them changed if you aren't happy with the quality, even in banks. If you're planning on heading out off the beaten track, you need to take enough US dollars to get you back to a point where you can get more. In many of the larger towns one or more of the local banks operate as Western Union Money Transfer agents.

Plastic

ATMs can be found in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, and Kampot; both debit card withdrawls (Maestro, Cirrus, Plus) and cash advances on credit cards are possible. For the rest of the country it's best to stick to cash or traveller's checks (in US$). VISA and JCB are the most widely accepted credit cards; MasterCard and American Express cards are slowly becoming more widely accepted.

Traveller's checks

Traveller's checks, like credit cards, are accepted in major business establishments, such as large hotels, some restaurants, travel agencies and some souvenir shops; American Express (in US$) are the most widely accepted flavour. However, competitive rates are only usually found in banks in Cambodia's larger cities (guesthouses in heavily touristed areas may offer similar services but at horrendous rates). The usual fee for cashing traveler's checks is 2% and US$2 minimum.

Country Code: +855 Internet cafes are cheap (US$0.5/hour) and especially popular in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. In Kampot, Kratie and Sihanoukville the rate is around US$1/hour. Elsewhere, Internet access can be scarce or non-existent; many cafes feature dated computers and slow dial-up connections.