We are in Cambodia as of earlier today, following less than a week in Vietnam. It’s been really disappointing to have to see this part of the world on such a short timeline, but on the other hand Laura and I are both mentally ready to head home and begin the life we have up next.
Blogging has been a little light around here, but I hope you’ll bear with us. I have been working hard with a good friend of mine to build the first of two websites I will need to have in place to make a proper go in Grande Prairie of the creative work I do. Once these projects are ready to show off, I will be able to go back and catch up on some of the blogging I’ve had to miss. I’ll certainly make time in the next few days for a photo-roundup or two, if not some actual writing…
A few quick impressions:
Cambodia is pretty cool. It’s dirtier and poorer than its neighbours (even Laos). More development issues (street kids, poverty, garbage all over the city), but also has a nice layed back vibe. Lots of people out tonight enjoying the park spaces after the sun went down. Crazy traffic, but nothing like Saigon. We’re in Phnom Phen. We had drinks at the Foreign Correspondents Club tonight. Apparently it’s an old war time institution. Very colonial old building; used to be the haunt of journalists and CIA spooks. Pretty cool. Pretty cool…
p.s. – Irony is dead, as my use of this song title in this post proves:
p.p.s – This old punk song was written during or shortly after the Cambodian genocide (1975-79-ish) and is a critique of left-wing idealistic kids claiming to support communism without acknowledging (or even being aware of) the horrendous crimes committed in the name of that ideology elsewhere in the world. The ironic (or post-ironic) part is that the Cambodian Genocide is now very much a tourist draw, and people do in fact holiday in Cambodia, to the tune of millions of individuals each year.
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