Note: Postcards from Cambodia is still under construction. Some of the chapters have not been completed and most as yet not added. As of today (25/04/08), only In Tree, Into the Mystic and Looney Planet contain entries. If you want to be notified of updates, please email me: rbrtschneider@yahoo.com.au NEW! 27/04 - Photos pages added

Postcards from Cambodia began in October 2006 as a series of emails to friends and relatives in Australia and America. I returned to Sihanoukville, Cambodia's once sleepy, now bustling "coastal capital" to stay in January of 2007 and have lived here ever since. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

That may sound like a bad thing, but it's exactly what I was looking for (see When Ya Ain't Got Nothin'). At first I looked to my fellow "barang" (foreigners) for guidance, but quickly learned that most of them had learned about Cambodia from other barang, who in turn had learned from those who preceded them. Gradually it became obvious that what I being told was a catalog of urban myths. Like most myths, they contained some valuable truths, but if you're looking for Apocalypse Now in Cambodia, you're a little late. I'll share some of these stories with you in the Looney Planet Guide to Sihanoukville.

In February of 2007, with a pregnant fiance and her family to think about, I purchased a block of land and began work on a home. Of course I was told about the innumerable ways I would be ripped off. I was told about shoddy workmanship. I was somberly warned that I would probably be murdered by my fiance and/or her family ("you can buy a contract killer for $50" I was authoritatively told) as soon as the house was finished. I was told a lot of things, but happily I persevered. As of this writing, my home is finished, our daughter Luna is 10 months old and I am still alive (and happy to be so). There were plenty of dramas along the way, but that's to be expected when you can't speak your builder's language and vice versa. Stories about home-building, Sopheak's pregnancy, Luna's birth, our wedding (The Magic Moth) and other tales of "domestic bliss" will all be included in Home Sweat Home.

Into the Mystic is a series of stories from those first months of home-building, when I was sharing a tiny house with Sopheak (now my wife) and most of her family. They were some of the most challenging months of my life, but ultimately some of the most fulfilling. While I grappled with my own demons and sought guidance from my angels, I learned something about the inner life of Cambodians. As a consequence, my definitions of "reality" and "imaginary" have been just about reversed. Into the Mystic is divided into chapters. Surrealistic Pillow is about some cases of spirit possession and exorcism I've witnessed. Beautiful Dreamer and A Cambodian Ghost Story are about my wife's other life - the extraordinary one she lives in her sleep.

In Tree is the amazing story of Sopheak's life. It begins with her earliest recollection, the end of her last life, and goes on to tell about the years between the ages of about 10 and 14 when she ran away from home and lived "In tree" (in the jungle) with a family of "Phnong" (hill tribe - the literal translation is "savages"). After returning home and reuniting with her parents, she learned English and for a time was employed as an escort - but not the sort of escort you're probably imagining. She escorted the bodies of dead tourists back to their home countries. At the age of 23, she has experienced more than most of us do in a lifetime.

Photo Gallery is, as the name implies, a gallery of photographs I've taken since I came here as a tourist in 2006 and Dear Diary is a random selection of emails and diary entries that don't quite fit anyplace else. Amongst them are some of the most incredible stories I have to tell.

I hope you enjoy Postcards from Cambodia.