Doug and the Palace

Doug (left), a jacket and Mr Sarat from the Royal Palace

There I was this afternoon, waiting for a call from Doug Mendel to tell me what time I should arrive at the Royal Palace and what I should wear. The call came, but the venue for the ceremony - Doug handing over two boxes of fire-crew gear to someone from the Royal Palace - had been changed from the Palace itself, to the New York Hotel on Monivong Boulevard. Not really the same impact. However, Doug doesn't do this for the glamour, he does it because he cares and wants to help the Cambodian fire service as much as he humanly can. So we had the ceremony, Doug posed for the obligatory photo with Mr Sarat from the Palace, handed over the gear and that was that. I did manage to earwig that the Palace has two Korean-built fire trucks and ten fire fighters. They were picked from the royal household - transport division, and are currently undergoing training. The arrival of Doug's top quality gear from the States is timely indeed. Doug has one more ceremony at the Phnom Penh fire station tomorrow and then he's on his way back to the States on Sunday, armed with four boxes of Khmer crafts which he will sell to raise more money, and so the circle continues. Way to go Doug! Find out more here.