New Year's Day 2008 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Now I am in Phnom Penh and planning on visiting S-21, the National Museum, the Landmine Museum, the Killing Fields and the Museum with S-21. All of this has to do with understanding the Khmer Rouge orgy of killing. Everybody comes here to Cambodia to see this and to see how the people are today. I need to try and understand that in Asia or some parts of Asia there is no consequence to many acts so if you put a political label on an act you can do anything. There were no consequences until the UN came along with the War Crimes' Tribunal and the Crimes Against Humanity of which Genocide plays a big part. The Cambodians are just now getting somewhere on taking cases before these Courts in order to get a real opinion on their acts. It does no good to just rely on local opinion or your own opinion because everything is legal if it has a political agenda. The Khmer Rouge wanted to create a utopian, agrarian society with them at the head and everybody else falling in line behind. It was not popular or widely accepted, so the Khmer Rouge's embarked on a campaign of forced re-education and slave labor. One thing is for certain, this utopian, agrarian society depended heavily on slaves to get the work done. Other than this, Cambodia appears to be a friendly society that welcomes global tourism and international development. Very much different than the perfect society of the KRs/

I left Thailand last week-end on the 23rd December at Hat Luek/Kroh Kong. After staying in Kroh Kong for a couple of days, I have come overland to Phnom Penh. Right now I am staying on Boenkok Lane at Simon II's Guest House. I like the Guest House but not the noise at night. I really do not understand this noise karma that seems to follow me around on this trip. In India I always had lots of noise around me except for 2rnd class sleeper in the train. The 2nd class is quite quiet and peaceful.

After Cambodia I am going to either Laos or Vietman but not both because there is not enough time. I like to study a little bit when I first get to a country so I can get out of the Tourist rut and into something of my own. This usually takes a little bit of time and I am going back to Kathmandu end of February. It is so cold there now, I think my Nepalese friends will never forget it - this is their first winter of Global Warming/Climate Change. I sure hope they take some of these ideas about cheap heating a little more seriously now.

This is all for the moment