Off the Rails in Phnom Penh

I originally read this book several years ago well before I wrote reviews. I gave it three stars back then, but thinking back on it I had wondered if I undersold it. Stars are interesting - I often consider whether they are not only related to the quality of the book, but the circumstances in which it was read, and even the context in which it is read.

In this book, the author spends time with a bunch of shifty expats in Phnom Penh under false pretences - because, obviously, he is writing a book - about dodgy expats. His cover story is that he is in Cambodia on a break from biology research on marine life in Vietnam's coastal waters. This allows him to make multiple trips over the period 1996 to 1998.

This book obviously sets out with the intention to shock. It runs a triple theme of guns, girls and ganja. On guns and ganja he doesn't spend an awful lot of time. The situation is, basically, that they are both very readily available at moderate and low cost respectively.

It is the girls where the author concentrates his time, although it is the guns and ganja where he manages his gonzo journalism - he steers pretty much clear of the girls, except for a couple of research visits.

And it is with the girls that the story of the expats receives the most coverage. Almost exclusively prostitutes, although some are girlfriends as well, and most are far younger than generally considered acceptable. While the prostitution is rife, and 13-14 year old girls are involved in vast numbers, and at the shocking cost starting at only $2 - the most disturbing information is arguably the brazen behaviour of the expats.

Almost all of he expats within the authors circle of ‘friends' are English teachers. They are from a variety of places - USA, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia and the UK amongst others. It is not so much the terrible debauched behaviour of these men, who range from young to middle aged, but the openness with which they not only go about this behaviour, but also the willingness to openly discuss it amongst themselves without even a facade of decency to shelter behind.

Nevertheless, the book covers a few other elements of life as a (relatively) wealthy expat in Cambodia. The coup of July ‘97 forces a change to the situation for the expats. Many decide it is necessary to leave and head either home, or to the ‘next' place. Others, with perhaps fewer options, decide to stay. But things are different - fewer tourists, and fewer English schools.

As well as some discussion around various aspects of Khmer culture and the Khmer people, and a relatively brief history, this book follows a half a dozen main characters through various situations and stories in Phnom Penh, and then in the short period after they leave.

Ultimately the book sets out to shock, and at some level it does. At the same time, it was not very well written (or edited), sets out to be gratuitous and sensational. I also thought the author sat on the fence. He misled those he wrote about into thinking he was one of them, but never committed to a true gonzo journalism scenario. He messed with some guns, but no more than a few shots at an (unofficial) shooting range; and with some drugs - but not really as much as the others; and he dressed up his few minor interactions with prostitutes as research.

I was amused to find this book still gets three stars from me - probably between three and four, but nearer three.