The skyline could be London. But not the streets. Nor the temperature.

Exploring Phnom Penh, going for a walk round the block, see what’s what. Feels familiar, somehow, certainly not alien. Maybe it’s the skyline buildings, or maybe it just feels cool here. Even though it is around 32c.

I seem to be right in the middle, central, there’s the financial districts, and some major developments happening. And on the ground, it’s all mopeds and three on each, and tuktuks, and even from up here, I can here the horns and the sound of the streets.

Let’s have a closer look.

The first thing that hits me is a sense of gratitude that I managed to book the highest hotel in the city. As well as the views, from here, there’s the huge bonus of being able to see the place from almost anywhere. I would be lost in a moment otherwise, lost in the noise, scoots and cars and frantic drumming, narrow streets with shuttered shop fronts, most still open, and street traders selling their goods, although just how good a bucket of huge snails would be for me right now I’m unwilling to test. Or the frogs, skinned, or the other meats, sometimes being cooked fresh over coals, they smell delicious. It’s incomparable to anything in the UK, the closest you’ll get is Brick lane, ten years ago, before the council stepped in and closed down the fly pitchers. Here the flys are surprisingly absent, just a handful, crawling over the chickens.

Sitting on the sky bar, in the sky bar, on the 12th floor of the hotel, feels like I’m on a boat, it’s rocking.

On my little toe in water