Ever since we arrived in Phnom Penh, I started to notice a trend. Khmer women (young and old) wearing two-piece matching pyjamas at all times of the day and night.

It is an unusual trend. They aren't particularly attractive garments. And with a plethora of great threads to buy in the market it's always amazed me how popular these matchies actually are. So, it's been my goal, for almost as long as we've been in Phnom Penh, to at least them and see what the rage is all about.

So, my friend Bethany and I, having recently procured a pair of Matchies each, took the opportunity last Saturday to experience Cambodian Pyjamas for ourselves.

We had a blast. We ran errands, wen to the market, fed an elephant and ate lunch at a tea room. We answered questions bewildered foreigners asked us and we shared knowing smiles with many Cambodians. Ultimately we came to a few conclusions: Matchies are actually quite ugly, they are not built for the ample white bottom (we were paranoid of splitting our pants open all day), and they are really, really hot - a lot hotter than one would expect.

So while the day was fun, we'll be sticking to Western clothes from now on!

-Amie

We've been talking about this for a few weeks now since the completion of Phnom Penh's first sky scraper but today Dan and I finally put our plan into action. We wanted to try and get to the top of the (Canadia) tower despite the front doors only recently opening to the public street.

To evade security, we decided to dress up business style and walk directly into the tower like we belonged there. This is exactly what we did and although it took a while to find the elevator, we eventually got in and selected the top floor (29). The doors opened at the top and we were startled to discover that the floor was completely under construction. Later we had to take the stairs down because buttons weren't installed yet to call back the elevator for the return journey.

It took little effort from here to climb a couple more flights to the top floor (33rd) and also the find the future public viewing area. We took in the views, indulged in a victory cigar and congratulated ourselves for likely being the first of the public to make the ascension.

This gave us the confidence we needed to next try our charm at Phnom Penh's premier casino, Naga World. This was less successful as our attire didn't generate the same level of respect. We ended up eating street noodles in front of the establishment where we concluded that it was more our style anyway.

-steve-