HOW CHEAP IS IT REALLY TO TRAVEL HERE?

We are seemingly doing this at a fairly high level. And meeting others doing the same too. But there are many many young people (and maybe not so young) doing all this for dollars a day.

  We have not spent over $35 for dinner and drinks yet but have been to some classy sorts of places. The other evening we were tired and decided to eat in. Our hotel had $1 night, all tapas (little plates to share, Western, Chinese, local) $1, all beers $1. Last night we went to a Japanese retaurant for sushi, they have good fish offshore Cambodia apparently. Not the greatest sushi and not COLD enough, but the beer was 50C a glass. 

  There is a place here called Pub Street, a pickup joint sort of road, one restaurant after another. I put my feet in the Dr.Fish tank for a while for $2 and the wee fish nibbled all the dry skin off my feet and lower leg. Heavenly. Ted would have hated it, a bit prickly...

  You can get rooms for a song. But we have heard stories from fellow travelers who have had some awful experiences. We get lots of little power cuts here and if your hotel doesn't have a backup generator, you have no power, no AC, no water, etc. It was off in the city here for a whole evening this week. But we are OK.

  Which is to say, you get what you pay for and I think I'm past the really cheap travel time.

  We are also not eating on the street. Out with Savuth, he showed Ted what to try, fish cakes at the village yesterday, and it was fine. But we also talked to German people here over dinner the other night who had been quite ill in hospital here, lost a week of their 6 week trip, had to move in here as their homestay lost all power while they were sick, etc. etc. 

  I am reacting badly to chili right now - blisters in and around my mouth, so I have to just stay with fairly bland food. But it's all OK, and very tasty.

  Our hotel here is $60 a night and good value, good location, hotel set up by Norwegians but 51% owned by the staff. All the things for sale are from charitable orgaizations, mostly for women and kids. They train young people for hotel industry jobs, really nice to know we are contributing to that.