Khmer-iserations

There has been a recent scandal in the media involving a group of foreigners (half are Brits) in Siem Reap, Cambodia. They have been arrested for eroding Cambodian values by posing 'pornographically'. They don't even appear to be naked in the pictures so they can't be having that much fun.

I posted a mini rant on Facebook about it, frustrated that the Cambodian government uses such incidents as a distraction from its own governance scandals. Late last year, nervous of losing an election in 2018 that is nowhere close to free and fair, the government dissolved the only influential opposition party on trumped up charges of god knows what. When I was there during the 2013 election, urban and young people voted for change and there was a stand-off lasting several months between the government obstinately holding onto power (we'll never know the true voting stats) and mass protests shouting for democracy.

This canvas painting (mass produced as tourist tat) sits in my bedroom, a reminder of life in Cambodia. However, a rural idyll it is not. Especially around election time when the votes of impressionable countryfolk are 'bought' by the government in return for a grand gesture such as declaring the construction of a new health centre. Which should be in the government's remit anyway, and if a drop of cement is ever poured, it's unlikely to experience any staffing or stocking of medicines.

I don't generally join impromptu work pub outings because at the end of a busy week I've usually made my mind up to go home, hang out washing and eat ice cream. I especially don't appreciate being peer pressured to join whilst finishing off a complex piece of work, and this will definitely entrench me more in stubbornness and my laundry plan.

I met Eleanor, a longstanding colleague, in the bike park as we both left late. She fessed up to spending the rest of her evening doing chores, and she looked as contented as me.

I used the word 'anew' in an email, I think for the first time. I am officially pretentious.