A few more random observations from my nine hours in Cambodia:

- The exchange rate favors the US Dollar to a tremdous level. Sihanoukville is a tourist town, so the ATMs even gave dollars. In dollars, things were cheap. Very cheap. A decent bungalow runs $3 a day. That excellent meal I had at the Holy Cow? I'd've paid $30 for it back in the States, and $40 in Okinawa. It cost me $7.50.

- The town caters to foreign visitors from all over, so the place is a linguistic babel. The bookstore had sections for English, French, German, Chinese, and naturally Khmer.

- There were plenty of foreign visitors in town already, so the ship arriving didn't discombobulate the locals too much. Although we were told prices did rise about 25% the day we showed up.

- Despite our bombing of them, the locals seemed to genuinely like Americans. I suspect that's because they hate the Vietnamese, whom we were bombing much more enthusiastically. Plus, the Khmer Rouge kind of beat the desire for socialism out of these people.

- The economy seemed to be doing well. Quite a few buildings were going up, and the town center was getting a sewer system installed. It needed one.

- I took plenty of photos of the distinctive local architecture. Along our beachfront walk I stopped, stunned at a hideously out-of-place building. It was total Soviet Brutalist style, circa 1960. Angry angular slabs of concrete, small windows, it had to be hideously uncomfortable in the tropical heat. Turns out it's the Vietnamese Consulate. They must have borrowed the plans straight from the USSR. Idiots.

- Cambodia has a reputation of being very corrupt, but no one tried to shake me down here. Unlike in the Philippines. Although sharp bargaining with the tuk-tuk drivers was necessary.

- Being experienced in these matters, I always take a dose of Imodium before I go ashore in a third-world country. The LCpls haven't learned this yet. So I got treated to some complaints about the state of the local toilets. Here's a hint, folks- the hose is for bidet usage. Seriously.

- Tip: Never ride in a tuk-tuk when the driver has a crash helmet. Not wearing crash gear is an incentive to take better care with the passengers.

- The Cambodian military is strongly army-centric, which is typical of small nations. The Marines and sailors onboard Essex outnumber Cambodia's Navy and Naval Infantry. (They don't really have a Marine Corps as such.)

- The official local currency is the Cambodian Riel. It's currently about 4000 Riel to the US Dollar. Cambodia has minted no coinage for some time, so essentially all circulating currency is paper. The smallest bill is 100 riel, worth about 2.5 cents. The unofficial local currency is the US Dollar, accepted everywhere I went.

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