Catchup

So a few weeks back, I met this woman who was working on tourism branding for Cambodia. Other countries in the region has reasonably successful ones (Incredible India, Malaysia Truly Asia) and others not so successful (Seoul - Soul of Asia). At the time my friend joked it should be 'Scambodia'.

Well today we have confirmation that Cambodia is truly a Scambodia. Transperancy International released its 2008 ranking of transparency which Cambodia comes in at 166/180, or the 15th corrupt country in Cambodia, more transparent than Sudan, Iraq, Burma, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and a smattering of the 'Stans. This would be a good segue into a dissertation on corruption but to be honest I don't have much to say on the matter.

Life has been exceedingly quiet. We are conducting School Feeding Program refresher courses for the teachers, cooks etc. and its all done in Khmer. And quite frankly when I attend the participants spend more time grinning at me then paying attention. So I have been to a few but mostly I have been going nuts in the office.
A few weekends ago, my friend Cristy left Cambodia for good, so we had a little shin dig at a North Korean restaurant run and owned by the North Korean Government (including imported North Korean waitresses) . Now in theory that sounds awesome - red carpets, busts of the great leader, cigarette smoke, lots of glasses with the classic 'Kim Jong Il' frame. But alas, we entered to a very very bright cafeteria style decor with no communist or great leader merchandise. The food was great but exceedingly expensive (this place may be one of the few hard currency enterprises propping the state up?).

We were also entertained by the imported North Korean waitresses and their gawdy costumes that made them all look pregnant. I guess it was ok, but not exactly cultural (although they did have that 'I am just ecstatic to be here' face that Communists seem to have perfected so well). The highlight was a Bridal Waltz played by this woman on the violin mixed with bad midi techno by the woman on the keyboard in the corner.

Apart from that not much has been going on. I had to take a days leave just to go to the post office to post my giant wooden head [finally] and another suitcase back to oz. I was doing it all in Khmer so i was a bit chuffed but it all got too much when after they inspected the boxes, showed them the export certificate for the head and sealed it all up with a few metres of tape, another woman came out and asked me to open it again. My Khmer skills evaporated with exasperation and another woman with some english came out and helped me, with the help of me flashing my winning smile : )

Oh and as i was wandering up and down Phnom Penh looking for cushion covers for me mum , i passed the Russian Cultural Centre (Russians have a massive presence here as a hangover from the Vietnamese Communist times - curiously enough so do the other communist states with Cuba, Bulgaria and Poland having embassies here). Out the front they had a photo display of "Humanitarian Catastrophe in South Ossetia". Geography buffs will know South Ossetia is the region that Russia invaded Georgia to protect. I love propaganda!
So I am off to Singapore on Saturday for the "Festival of the Dead"(Pchum Benh) holidays and next week almost all staff have taken leave for the week so i am holding the fort solo. So my boss suggested setting up a hammock in the office : ) Oh and Mony just told me Lauren Bush (Dubya's niece) is visiting us in October. Not sure why so many republicans and no democrat visitors?

Bye