New houses

New houses are being built all over Cambodia - it is a developing country after all!Most of the towns and villages I have visited have some new houses and very fancy affairs they are too. I call them birthday cake houses. They are usually 3 or 4 storeys high and painted in bright colours. They are made of concrete and brick and only take about 3 months to build.I really prefer the traditional wooden houses on stilts but most Cambodian people I know aspire to owning a big modern house. This photo. shows a selection of the tiles and lino that you can buy to decorate your house. DIY shops are everywhere and are always busy.The tiles are fixed ceiling to floor in every room and there is usually a range of patterns in each room. I was told once soon after I arived here that you can always tell a Cambodian woman from her Thai or Vietnamese neighbours as the Cambodian lady will always be wearing more than 1 print or pattern. It's a bit like that with these new houses as well!