The Zeppelin Café

Posted on by in Bars, Travel

Over the past few weeks, I found what I would consider to be the perfect hang-out bar: The Zeppelin Café in Phnom Penh. I heard about it from my guide book, which says this: “Who says vinyl is dead? It lives on here in Phnom Penh, thanks to the owner of this old-skool rock bar, who mans the turntables every night. Fun.” It did sound fun. But I decided to do a little more research before heading over. Lonely Planet ranks it #115 of #117 things to do in Phnom Penh and #558 of #579 things in do in Cambodia. Ouch. Of all the potential things to do in the entire country of Cambodia, apparently only 21 of them are worse

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Why’s There Ice In My Beer?

Posted on by in Beer, Travel

I was surprised to find that in Cambodia, beer is often served in a glass of ice. This seems to be a bit ridiculous to me, as the cans and bottles are often cold to begin with — why dilute perfectly good beer? I’ve heard many explanations. Local Cambodian’s certainly like to drink, and one person told me that drinking beer with ice helps make sure you don’t get too drunk too fast (it’s not true). And then I read that establishments like to show off  the fact that they have a plentiful supply of fresh ice. Regardless, it’s a strange tradition. One I probably won’t be taking home. Also, as a follow-up to my previous post on Angkor Beer,

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Last Post On Eating Bugs (I Promise)

Posted on by in Food

I thought I was done talking about eating bugs, but then my mom pointed me to this article highlighting the environmental and nutritional benefits for developing countries: “Insects offer many advantages as a sustainable source of protein. The cold-blooded creatures require less feed to produce proteins. For example, a cricket can produce the protein equivalent of cows with six times less feed. Moreover, insects are already considered delicacies in many cultures, and the practice of eating insects goes back millenia. The Eewww-factor is a learned behavior reflecting our recent sensibilities about hygiene and health (quite ignoring the fact that we are all eating bugs already in foods meeting prescribed contamination limits). But insects which are properly raised, harvested and prepared present

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Tuk Tuk Rides

Posted on by in Markets, Travel

I’ve always found bargaining to be interesting from both a behavioral economics and a cultural perspective. Chris Blattman had a great post on bargaining fractions a couple years back, specifically focusing on taxi fares. To summarize, in many countries there’s no taxi meter, and it’s appropriate (and often necessary) to negotiate a rate. Chris has found that the final negotiated price in a given country is usually a pretty consistent fraction of the driver’s initial offer price (assuming you’re a decent negotiator). But what’s interesting is that this fraction varies significantly between countries. Chris then talks about a few negotiation strategies that will help a traveler get down to a given country’s fraction without paying too much of a “foreigner

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More on Fried Tarantula Eating

Posted on by in Food

I received quite a few questions and reactions in response to my fried tarantula posting. To address some of them: Yes I really ate it, no it wasn’t that gross, it was in fact fried and not cooked with an aerosol can and lighter, it cost me about three cents, and the legs tasted like a combination of sweet and sour chicken (it must have been marinated in something) and soft shell crab. It’s actually a very common snack in certain parts of Cambodia. When you sit down in restaurants, people come around before you order with a stack of them in a bowl. As I observed this, at least half the tables in the restaurant  purchased a few. I

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The Dragon’s Awake

Posted on by in History

The other day in a conversation, someone reminded me of a famous Napoleon quote: “Let China Sleep, for when the Dragon awakes, she will shake the world.” I looked it up to double-check. That was in 1803. And then this morning, via Chris Blattman, I read this: “When the presidents of China and the United States meet next week in Washington, neither will likely be aware that, measured in terms of purchasing power, it is Hu Jintao not Barack Obama who represents the world’s largest economy. Some time in 2010, the Chinese economy overtook that of the United States.” Somehow I think Hu Jintao is all too aware of his country’s economic position. And then while I was waiting for

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