Joseph the German, who lives in Pattaya, may qualify for the Guinness Book of Records

under the category of The Person Who Traveled The Furthest To Find An ATM Machine.

He blithely left Thailand, crossing the Koh Kong border, with a few Baht and his

ATM cash card as a means of support, and headed for Sihanoukville for some suds and

sun.

Running low on cash, he asked where the ATM machine was, only to be told 'Go to Phnom

Penh'.

He hopped in a taxi but discovered that his card did not work at Canadia Bank's outlet,

and so he turned around and took a taxi back to Koh Kong. He finally made it to Trat

town with 9 Baht in his pocket. Cash in hand, he headed back to the border and on

to S'Ville, where after a few belts he was only too happy to re-tell the tale.

** And then there is the guy who had to pay $30 to find the shower.

He checks into a $50 per night hotel along the riverfront but is a bit perplexed

by the bathroom as he wonders why the shower hose next to the toilet is only a half

meter off the ground.

What the heck! He figures he'll just give it a go and squats on the floor for a rinse.

All spruced up, he heads out for the night and comes back later with three hookers

in tow.

He says they can use the shower hose next to the toilet, but it's a bit awkward to

do so. One of the women asks him why he doesn't just use the real shower behind the

opaque glass door. Ooooooh! Now he gets it!

He also got a $10 per person extra guest charge on his bill the next morning.

** The ADB Board of Directors Delegation that visited Cambodia from Feb 29 to Mar

4 issued a statement after their trip. Executive Director Paul Speltz said: "The

delegation was impressed with the commendable progress made by Cambodia in a relatively

short period of time and in a very challenging transition phase of its socio-economic

development."

The ADB statement noted that "the government informed the delegation of its

strong commitment to reforms in its effort to reduce poverty and raise the living

standard of Cambodian people. Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen explained the Rectangular

Strategy of the Government, which forms the basis of the political platform for the

new incoming government. He noted that good governance is at the heart of the Rectangular

Strategy."

And that about sums it up.