Kudos for website

I went into a bookstore at the weekend for the first time in months and found a book I've literally been waiting years to buy. Its called Culture Shock! Cambodia : A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette, written by Peter North. Its been rumoured to be on the verge of publication for the last five years that I know of, and finally, its out, courtesy of Marshall Cavendish. Was it worth the wait...on my initial look, not really, well, not for me. Having been to Cambodia so many times, I have yet to read anything in the book that I wasn't already aware of. However I'm only on page ninety of 270 pages, so it may get better.

Whilst I was browsing I had a look in a couple of traveller guides to Southeast Asia and more specifically the Cambodia section of these guides. What I found brought a smile to my lips, as both books, published this year.

Rough Guide First-Time Asia:
Famously good and regularly updated collection of travelogues, features and news about Cambodia, plus an active travellers forum.

Southeast Asia On A Shoestring - Lonely Planet:
A great gateway to all things Cambodian, it includes comprehensive links to other sites and regular Cambodan travel articles.

You can read other guidebook referrals and visitor comments, here. I'm often inspired by emails I receive and when they come from a well-respected author and scholar like Dawn Rooney, they mean a lot to me. She wrote; "I looked at your site and it is absolutely amazing. I'm astonished at how much material you have on it. What a tremendous effort. You are making such a major contribution to disseminating information on travel in Cambodia and the art and architecture." More recently, bookshop owner Janet Brown wrote, "I read your essays in To Asia With Love and was consumed with interest and envy, in equal parts. Your adventures are exactly what I yearned for, when I was living in Bangkok... I could definitely sell your Cambodian essays (I spent a large portion of yesterday reading your website).... Your information and insight and damned good writing is what's missing when I turn to books on Cambodia... Once again, so many thanks for the information and generosity of your essays."

All of which reminds me...I've still got to write-up my travel tales from my Cambodia 2006 visit in January. Where's that pen?