Reading Khmer

A "Lonely Planet" Phrasebook arrived in the post for me today. From this, and a discussion with a friend last week, I learnt that:

• The Khmer script looks a lot like Burmese or Thai. This is apparently quite common in this region.
  
• The Khmer script is not read sequentially. Most languages read as left-to-right (as English or Greek), or right-to-left (as Arabic or Hebrew), top to bottom (as Chinese). I hear that in Khmer, the script can be read as "3rd syllable, then 2nd, then 4th then 1st" or something apparently non-systematic like that.
• It has over 60 letters in its alphabet.
• It is not tonal (like Chinese)
  
• Its grammar is quite simple (languages which carry a larger range of sounds tend to have simpler grammar, languages which have a small range of sounds tend to have a more complex grammar).

Wow! What a challenge. Add pronunciation and accent to appreciate the difficulty a little further.