Pedophile!

It finally happened.

As a result of the hysteria generated by the western press, and perhaps a bit of racism as well, today I was accused of being a pedophile, for absolutely no other reason than being a white male in the company of brown children – my son and daughter. 

First, just a bit about us. I’m 50+ years old, white, a businessman and have lived in Cambodia for more than 18 years. I’m married to an Asian woman. We’ve been together more than 10 years and have two beautiful children - a 9 year old girl and 7 year old boy. We are the natural parents of both. They are wonderful children, the loves of my life. They are well-behaved, excellent students and speak perfectly accented American English as well as 2-3 other languages. And though it sickens me that the situation requires me to make note of their racial features… though they are not distinctly Asian, they are darker than me and not 100% European in appearance, to anybody with an eye, clearly ‘kon kut’ (mixed race.)

I work a lot, perhaps too much, but always reserve Sundays for my family and children. It’s become a Sunday afternoon tradition in our family to give Mom a break, some time for herself. The kids and I always go somewhere together on Sunday afternoons - the Museum, the park, the Palace, the Russian Market, or quite often the riverfront for snacks and CD shopping, as we did today. 

We took a tuk-tuk to the riverfront, got out at K-West (Sisowath Quay and Street 154) and started walking up the riverfront road. My children were dressed in their Sunday best, happy and smiling. We strolled hand in hand, my daughter anxious to buy the newest installment of Harry Potter at the CD shop, my son looking forward to strawberry and passion fruit ice cream at K-West.

We hadn’t got but 40 meters when I noticed a woman – white, 50ish, seemingly a tourist - walking toward us taking photos in our direction. A man, presumably the husband, stood next to her. As we got closer I thought she might be trying to get a riverfront shot, perhaps of something behind me, so I stepped slightly to the side to get out of the way. But she tracked us with her camera. As we got closer and she kept shooting I furrowed my brow in a ‘what are you doing?’ sort of way, but didn’t actually say anything.

She held up her camera, pointed at it and said, “Internet!” I wasn’t sure I got the meaning so I said “what?” She pointed at her camera again and said with a smirk, “Internet,” pointed at me and said, “you pedo!” Hearing clearly but not wanting to make a mistake I stepped closer to her and asked again. She repeated, “Photo you, internet, you pedo…for police,” in a distinctly Italian accent. I said something like “These are my children.” She just shook her head and started to raise her camera again. I said, “You want police? You want to call the police?” She nodded. I said, “I’ll call police.” She nodded again and we stepped to the side of the pavement together. My children backed off a few steps, frightened by the obvious tension in our voices. I pulled out my phone, called my staff and asked them to call the police and I called the police myself as well. I told them where I was and asked them to come quickly.

We stood there uncomfortably for a moment. I considered grabbing the camera, but didn’t want to start a fight, especially with my children there. I motioned my children to us and told my daughter to explain who she was. I figured my daughter’s thick American accent alone should be enough. My daughter started to tell her name, age and such when the Italian woman cut her off. “No English. No English,” she barked. Startled, my children moved behind me.

We stood there another uncomfortable minute, waiting. The woman started to get nervous. She said “I go,” and tried to push past me. I said “No, we wait for police.” She repeated that she was going. I told her to either wait for the police or delete the photos. She said, “No, you pedo,” and tried to push past me again. I stood firm and told her we were going to wait for the police. She pushed me back but I stayed in front of her like a blocker. I didn’t touch her myself because she was a woman, but she pushed me back repeatedly. It became a jostling and yelling match, her pushing, me blocking, staggering down the riverfront back toward K-West. Khmers and tourists stood and stared at the commotion. I just kept repeating, “wait for the police or delete the photos,” as did she, “no, no…go, go.” 

Through all this her husband did nothing to help her. I kept expecting him to jump in. Rather hoping he would actually.  But he just looked uncomfortable, slowly, silently, wimpishly following behind his wife.

In front of K-West they jumped in a tuk-tuk. I thought about getting in too. Or perhaps grabbing a motodup. I saw my children standing about 15 meters away, wide-eyed. I didn’t want to involve them in a chase. This was already too much. I pulled out my phone and aimed it at the woman to take a photo. She screamed, “No photo! No photo!” and covered her face. It took a few seconds for my camera to work allowing her time to cover. I took several photos, all of her with face covered.

After they left, I called the police back and told them she was gone and to not bother coming.

My kids and I went into K-West, got some tea and sodas and we talked about what had happened. I tried to explain, leaving out the bit about pedophilia and replacing it with ‘she thought I was trying to steal you.’ “Why?” they asked. I could only say because I’m white and they look Asian. “But we’re a family,” they said. They know that their Mom is Asian and I’m a barang, but they haven’t yet learned that this is an important distinction in the minds of some.

I know there is more to it than that, but how do I explain that to a 7 and 9 year old?

In moments of silence, as they tried to comprehend what this woman had done, I tweeted about it. The whole thing left me rattled. Bitching about it on internet seemed to help relieve the tension a bit.

My daughter made an astute observation in the aftermath. Thirty minutes later, as we walked to the CD shop she said, “She knows nothing about Cambodia. Doesn’t she know that Asians and Americans can have children? She doesn’t know anything.”

I think my daughter is right about that, or perhaps even understated it a bit. The woman doesn’t know anything about Cambodia. She, in fact, probably only imagines she knows something because of what she has read in the western press, which is something less than nothing in many cases.

If this Italian woman isn’t simply a racist, her mind has probably been twisted by the constant stream of sensational, repetitive and often wildly-overstated stories of western pedophiles and abused children in Cambodia.  And not only by the western press but by NGOs that profit from it and feed the beast with exaggerated stats and a constant stream of rehashed horrors stories that keep the funds flowing and the presses humming.

Back in the US a few months ago I saw MSNBC playing their 8 year old ‘Children for Sale’ video yet again, about a brothel village that hasn’t existed in more than half a decade. Some NGOs are still pawning off the ’33,000 child prostitutes in Cambodia’ stat when there aren’t 33,000 prostitutes of any age in Cambodia (link). Some Christian NGOs tell their people that there are women chained to beds and being raped in hostess bars in the center of the tourist district on the Phnom Penh riverfront. Every westerner busted for pedophilia in Cambodia is repeated in the international press for weeks while the fact that they make up a tiny fraction of the pedos in Cambodia goes unmentioned. Nicholas Kristof parachutes into Cambodia to do a sensational live-tweet of a brothel raid, painting himself the cowboy hero riding to the rescue of women and children in the Wild West (link1 link 2). Some NGOs in Cambodia parade their rescued victims (link) of trafficking in front of an insatiable press and voyeuristic tourists to repeat their stories of victimhood again and again - donations accepted. Sex in Cambodia sells. 

Don’t get me wrong. Human trafficking and trafficking in children for sex is a real and present problem in Cambodia, and the rest of the world. There are pedophiles, especially amongst the Khmer and Asians, and certainly westerners too. It all needs to be addressed, there is no doubt about that. But the western press’s manic fixation on abusive sex in Cambodia has made the country name synonymous with pedophilia, unfairly and inaccurately so.

From her exposure to the press, tourists like this Italian woman think that pedophiles are as common as cockroaches, that any white man with an Asian looking child must be a pedo who can simply waltz through tourist areas in broad daylight with a prepubescent child on each hand. (And I can’t help but believe that if my children had been white, she wouldn’t have made this judgment about us.) Kristof’s sensationalism has 3-day tourists believing they too can play super-hero, identifying pedos at a glance, swooping to the rescue and saving a child in between their afternoon visit to the Royal Palace and authentic Cambodian Curry dinner on the riverfront.

Ultimately, as good as their intentions might be, as important as the problem is, the press, some NGOs and these misguided tourists are doing the country, the victims of trafficking, and yes, even little people like me a terrible disservice, while enriching and glorifying themselves in the process. This needs to stop. This isn’t a game or an action hero movie or an opportunity for tourists to feel righteous pity. The problems need to be addressed realistically and not in the context of sensationalism, mania, big-money, and dare I say, racism.

If, unlike this Italian woman, you have a reasonable, rational belief that you have seen a child in a risk situation, by all means, call the ChildSafe helpline, if possible keep the child in sight and wait until the ChildSafe team arrives to sort things out.

Anyway, I figure that when my photo turns up on some Italian website as another pedophile operating openly and with impunity in Cambodia, it will also include a story of my powerful police connections that were on their way to protect me and how she had to flee for her life. A narrow escape by our heroine, just like in the movies. Cambodia is a very dangerous place, you know. And her harrowing tale might even generate a few donations for some Cambodian anti-trafficking NGO.

Useful Idiots of the Khmer Rouge

By late 1977 the Pol Pot regime had decided to begin seeking broader international support for their 'Democratic Kampuchea.' In November 1977 Burma's Ne Win became the first head of state to visit Phnom Penh since the Khmer Rouge takeover in April 1975. Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania followed soon after. Beginning in early 1978, small groups of Communist-sympathizing westerners were invited and/or allowed to visit Cambodia, most often arriving on the then weekly flight from Beijing to Phnom Penh. (Pol Pot History of a Nightmare, by Phillip Short, page 381.) In August of that year a leftist Swedish group including the now repentant Gunnar Bergstrom toured the country and even dined with Pol Pot. Bergstrom made news again in 2008 when he returned to Cambodia after 30 years, this time to offer apologies for supporting the regime and ask forgiveness of the survivors. (For more on Bergstrom see Taiwan News and BBC)

In April 1978, months before Bergstrom arrived in Cambodia, a group of four Americans from the American Communist Party M-L visited the country, declaring themselves the "first Americans to visit Cambodia since April 1975." The group included Robert Brown, David Klein and the editor of the communist The Call magazine Daniel Burstein. (Ironically, Burstein is now a New York venture capitalist and writer, at least according to the Communpedia and from what I have been able to infer from some Googling.)

This group of Americans met with Iang Sary and toured the country for eight days* in what was no doubt a carefully orchestrated outing, including Phnom Penh city and Siem Reap, Kampong Thom, Kampong Cham and Takeo provinces. Afterward, they departed with a very favorable impression of Democratic Kampuchea and the 'accomplishments' of the Khmer Rouge regime. Burstein was so impressed that he wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times entitled "On Cambodia: But, Yet," published November 21, 1978 (link,) declaring the stories of Khmer Rouge horrors and genocide that were littering the US press at the time to be slanderous lies. Burstein wrote,

"Everyone knows about the war waged by the United States in Cambodia from 1970 to 1975. But very few people know about or understand the war that it is waging today against that country, which now calls itself Democratic Kampuchea. The was is being fought on many fronts. But it is mainly a propaganda war, a consciously organized, well-financed campaign to spread lies and misinformation about Kampuchea since the victory of its revolution in 1975

I was the first American to visit Kampuchea since April 17, 1975. What I saw has little in common with the stories told by so many journalists and other 'authorities' who have never been there...

The most slanderous of all charges leveled against Kampuchea is that of 'mass genocide,' with figures often cited running into the millions of people. I believe this is a lie, which certain opinion-makers in this country believe can be turned into a 'fact' by repeating it often enough."     

Though, in the spirit of a proper apologist he did concede that there may have been "excesses,"

This does not mean there has been no violence or bloodshed since the revolution. The new Government has had to deal with many forces that oppose the revolution -- former Lon Nol officials, as well as organized networks of American, Russian and Vietnamese agents trying to overthrow the Government. Such sabotage has undoubtedly been met with violent suppression. In the course of this, there may even have been some excesses, which no revolution is immune to.

His tour companions were similarly impressed by their experience in Democratic Kampuchea. They produced a 115-page booklet entitled, 'The New Face of Kampuchea: a photo-record of the first American visit to Cambodia since the end of the war,' or 'Kampuchea: A photo-record of the first American visit to Cambodia since April 1975,' written by Klein, with photographs by Robert Brown and published by the now defunct Liberator Press (Chicago) in late 1978. (See The Eyes of the Pineapple for more on Liberator Press.) They arrived at a similar conclusion to Burstein's, i.e. that the Khmer Rouge were liberators, Cambodia was moving in the right direction, the Cambodian people enthusiastic participants in the new order and that the tales of Khmer Rouge atrocities were just so much capitalist propaganda.

The very month that this group of Americans were in Phnom Penh, April 1978, the purges of the Eastern Zone and the torture operation at the infamous S-21 prison facility in Phnom Penh (now the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum) were reaching a crescendo. The unfortunates brought to S-21, not far from where the Americans were touring city, were tortured into bizarre and unlikely 'confessions' reflecting the paranoias of Khmer Rouge leadership, sometimes 'admitting' to being counter-revolutionary spies working simultaneously for the Americans, the Russians and the Vietnamese. In his landmark work on the prison, 'Voices from S-21' (page 73,) David Chandler writes, "The Party Center then embarked on a wholesale purge of cadres in the Eastern Zone. In April 1978, so many were brought into S-21 that some of the trucks bearing prisoners had to be turned away...presumably to be taken off to be killed without any interrogation," stocking the killing fields of Choeung Ek just outside of town. In a chillingly deaf echo of this horrible reality, Klein apologetically notes in Kampuchea (page 10) that Khmer Rouge government leaders acknowledged "violence" was still being employed to root out a secret apparatus of CIA, KGB and Vietnamese infiltrators in Cambodia, but that it was to "(make) sure that the chains which had previously held the people in bondage would never be forged again." 

The following are scans of a photocopy of the Forward, Introduction and first two chapters of 'Kampuchea: A photo-record of the first American visit to Cambodia since April 1975,' which contain Klein's observations and impressions of the state of the country and people as well as several interesting photographs by Brown of an almost empty Phnom Penh.

One might say that these men were naive, duped, perhaps blinded by their ideology, but I find it difficult to understand how they could see child soldiers carrying AKs as big as themselves, masses of black clad people toiling in the mud like ants and a capital city devoid of occupants three years after the takeover and not catch a hint that something might be amiss.

Click on the images to enlarge. 

 Page 4: Colonial villa on Sothearos Blvd opposite National Museum?

 Dan Burstein with Iang Sary, April 28, 1978

Page 27: Former American Embassy, northeast corner of Norodom Blvd. and Mao Tse Toung Blvd.

 Page 31: Corner of Norodom Blvd and Street 130, northwest corner

Page 32: Looking east down Street 154 from the corner of Norodom Blvd. and Street 154.
Page 33: Looking south down Monivong Blvd from corner of Monivong and Street 114

Page 34: Looking east on Street 118 from the corner of Norodom Blvd and Street 118. 
Page 35: Southeast corner of Norodom Blvd and Street 118

(* There is some discrepancy regarding the length of the tour. Wikipedia [yes, I know it is an inherently dubious source] states that the tour lasted 8 days. But in his booklet 'Kampuchea,' David Klein states the group arrived in Phnom Penh April 12, but also dates one of the photos of Dan Burstein in the book April 28, indicating that the stay was longer than 8 days or perhaps that they toured at slightly different times or had overlapping tours. It may also be that the photo is incorrectly dated, or is not credited properly, perhaps taken by someone other that Robert Brown.)

Unpublished responses

As you may have noticed, I need to ‘approve’ responses before they are published to my blog. I do this primarily because I am unable to check my blog everyday and I don’t want vulgar responses, spam, etc. hanging out there for days at a time before I can get to it. Generally speaking I publish almost all response to my blog, but not quite everything. Here are a few of my favorites that I refrained from publishing.

1) Responding to my post ‘Birthday of King Father Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia’ - The guy who first responded that nobody will ever respond to my blog because the responses have to get approved first. (He said I was just trying to build my CV.) Shortly thereafter he responded again, posting what amounted to an insult to the Khmer and Thai kings.
2) Responding to my post ‘The Polite Tuk-Tuk’  about the tuk-tuk driver that doesn’t harass tourists and expats  – The tuk-tuk driver who posted 4 times in 4 days that he was a friend of the polite tuk-tuk, that he is a tuk-tuk driver too, and that I should post his contact information for tourists. He clearly missed the point.
3) Responding to my post ‘Southeast Asia Backpacker’s Credo and Motto’ – The guy that called me a bigot for generalizing about backpackers and then added a profanity laden paragraph generalizing about expats.
4) Responding to several of my photo-only posts – People who say something to the effect ‘Love your writing…’ (Even though I didn’t write anything.) ‘…Check out my website at...’ followed by a link to a travel agency, tour operator, commercial travel blog, etc.

Birthday of King Father Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia

King Father Norodom Sihanouk on the occasion of his 90th birthday celebration, Chanchhaya Pavilion, Royal Palace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Today (October 30,) the occasion of King Father Norodom Sihanouk’s 90th birthday and the 20-year anniversary of his return to Cambodia was marked with a public celebration in front of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. All of Cambodia’s most important dignitaries were in attendance as well as thousands of well-wishers including students, police, military and citizens. King Father Sihanouk’s actual birthday is October 31, 1922 and the day of his return to Cambodia November 14, 1991, but October 30 was apparently close enough. In fact, when Sihanouk was King his birthday was held over a 3 day period, from October 30-November 1.

The celebration this morning was festive in appearance, if a bit formal in atmosphere. I arrived early, around 6:30, walking up Street 240 into the Palace area with a stream of hundreds of students on their way to the event. Students, scouts, police and military in their formal best filled the park in front of the Palace opposite the Chanchhaya Pavilion. Citizens lined the roads, many holding flags, flowers and photos of the Kings. Almost no foreigners were present in the crowd. I counted less than 15 in all, including journalists. Too busy sleeping off their authentic Cambodian experience from the Saturday night before, I guess. I managed to get to the very front of the crowd with the TV crews, but it was still quite a ways to the side. I had hoped to get closer for the purpose of photography, but was kept back by security. Over time we (the photog crowd) did manage to work our way another 10 meters closer using the journo shuffle, but that was as much as security would tolerate. It pushed the edge of what I could do with my 200mm lens.

As dignitaries arrived, announcements were made and a high school band in the park played various songs both Cambodian and western, including, somewhat incongruently in the blazing sun, Jingle Bells…’in a one horse open sleigh.’ Dignitaries of lesser importance filled the uncovered seating at the face of the Pavilion and slowly baked in the direct morning sun. King Sihamoni, King Father Sihanouk, Queen Mother Monique, Prince Ranariddh, Prince Chakrapong, Prime Minister Hun Sen, H.E. Sar Kheng and other high royal and government officials were seated in the covered balcony facing the crowd that filled the park across the road.

Once all were assembled there were announcements and music. A troupe of traditional Cambodian dancers performed, and from what I could see though my telephoto, much to the delight of King Father Sihanouk. The dance complete, His Excellency Sar Kheng (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior) came out to the facing podium and made a short address of well wishes to the King Father. After H.E. Sar Kheng, Prime Minister Hun Sen took to facing podium to address the King Father, making a speech that seemed to last at least 20 minutes. The children in the crowd began to grow restless in the increasingly hot sun. They tittered amongst themselves and ooo’d and ahh’d at a flock of pigeons that circled overhead and swooped occasionally toward the crowd. The Prime Minster finished, the King Father sampeahed him profusely as he returned toward the Pavilion.

Then King Father Sihanouk stood to address the crowd. His son the King and Queen Mother occasionally braced him as he stood and sampeahed to the people and those around him. His voice was weak and difficult to hear, but he showed great stamina, speaking for at least as long as the Prime Minister. The adults in the crowd focused their attention on his words. The children continued to shuffle restlessly about. It was difficult to catch his words, but he seemed in good humor, spoke much of Cambodian unity, ribbed that his wife says that he speaks too much, and from what those around me repeated, he promised to remain in Cambodia. There was occasional applause and seeming general appreciation of what he was saying.

His speech complete, the crowd cheered genuinely. There seemed nothing forced or formal about it. Balloons were released from the park and floated appropriately toward and over the Palace. And so it all finished, quite abruptly. The VIPs from the balcony disappeared through a back entrance in very short order and the baked dignitaries from the exposed seating dashed from their chairs seeking cover from the sun in their luxury vehicles parked at the edges of the event area. Military officers and police lingered, taking pictures of one another with the festooned Palace as a background. Also well cooked, I wandered up the riverfront in search of an air-conditioned restaurant and bowl of kui-teo, which I found only a couple of hundred meters away.

Waiting crowds

Apsara dancers with a side of baked VIP

H.E. Sar Kheng addresses King Father Sihanouk

King Father Sihanouk addresses the People

Son and Father. King Norodom Sihamoni and King Father Sihanouk

King Norodom Sihamoni, King Father Norodom Sihanouk and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk Monique

King Father Sihanouk and Prime Minister Hun Sen

Boy Scouts

Girl Scouts

High school band

Brahmins

Honor Guard

Balloons over the Chanchhaya Pavilion

Officers lining the road for the passing procession of dignitaries.

More officers line the road

Military Police

Wat Ounalom on the riverfront, festooned for King Father Sihanouk's birthday

Sign in front of National Museum commemorating King Father Sihanouk's 90th birthday and 20-year anniversary of his return to Cambodia. Note that 2011-1922=90 (not 89.) I'd say 'only in Cambodia' except that this is how the math of age works in several Southeast Asian countries. Unlike western countries, people are born 1 and the counting begins from there. 90 in Cambodia is the equivalent of 89 in the west.

Brief Cambodia Flood Update

Phnom Penh riverfront, 10/29

Final UPDATE, October 29 - There is no flooding in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap city, Battambang city, Sihanoukville, Kampot city or Kep. There is no imminent threat of flooding in any of these cities. The river levels in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Battambang continue to fall. Here in Phnom Penh, in my casual observation, it is falling at a rate of 10-15cm per day. The river level has dropped below alarm stage all along the Mekong River and Tonle Sap River in Cambodia and continues to fall. All National Routes are clear of water and buses and taxis are running normally. There is still some flooding lingering in the countryside but it is slowly subsiding. From what I read in the papers, parts of Thailand and Bangkok are facing significant flooding problems, but that is completely unrelated to the flooding situation in Cambodia. In my inexpert opinion, the flooding threat to all major Cambodian cities has passed for the season. Unless there is some change for the worse in the situation, this is my final update on the flooding in Cambodia.
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Phnom Penh riverfront, 10/26

UPDATE, October 26 - A very quick update. The drying trend continues in the major cities. There is no flooding in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap. The same goes for Sihanoukville, Kampot and Kep. As of today, Siem Reap is drier than it was two days ago when I posted that almost all the flooding had receded from the city. All businesses are open. All Angkor temples are open. There is no flooding in Phnom Penh. The river level in Phnom Penh continues to fall and, in my casual observation, has dropped at least 20cm in the last two days. According to the MRC website, the river level at the Phnom Penh Port station is now below alarm level for the first time since September. All national routes throughout the country are clear of water and buses and taxis are running between all major cities as normal. Much of the countryside is still inundated, and as mentioned before, there has been major crop loss, loss of life and property damage. See below for some of the projects bringing relief to flood victims in the countryside. There seems to be a growing trend on internet over the last couple of days of posting and/or retweeting old information and sometimes downright misleading information about the flooding, presumably out of inattention, ignorance or a desire to jack up their web stats. When looking at information regarding the flooding in Cambodia, especially in the cities, make sure that it is up-to-date.
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Phnom Penh riverfront, 10/24

UPDATE, October 24 - There is no flooding left in Siem Reap town. Though there are some muddy roads and puddled areas, the town is, for most intents and purposes, dry. All businesses, restaurants, shops, bars, etc. are open. All Angkor temples are open. There is no flooding in Phnom Penh or threat of flooding in Phnom Penh. The river level (Tonle Sap) in Phnom Penh continues to fall. When I did my regular riverfront water level check this afternoon, that level had dropped low enough that I could see the third step for the first time in a month. The MRC website shows the water level of the Mekong River continuing to fall all along the river. The water level at the Phnom Penh Port has dropped to near MRC 'Alarm Level' for the first time since late September. The flooding in the countryside is still draining, albeit very slowly. In an informal conversation today, a government official told me that though there may be concerts, parties and such put on by businesses, there are no official Water Festival events scheduled for Phnom Penh this year.
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As of earlier this afternoon (Oct 22):

There is no flooding in Phnom Penh. Well, there is some lingering flooding at the northern and southern outskirts of the city, but none in Phnom Penh proper. In fact there hasn’t been any significant or unusual flooding in Phnom Penh at any point during the Cambodian flooding crisis. I check the river level at the Phnom Penh riverfront every day, looking at the exactly same spot to see if the water level has changed. In my casual, inexpert observation, give or take a few centimeters the river has been at about the same level for a few weeks now. Today the river was down 5-10cm from yesterday. That is the single largest 24-hour drop in the water level I have seen in weeks. The MRC website also shows either stable or falling water levels all along the Mekong in Cambodia.

Water Level depth chart for Phnom Penh Port

(near central Phnom Penh) from the MRC.

I called around to a few friends that live in Siem Reap today and all report the same – the flooding has largely receded from Siem Reap town. Most roads in town, including the Old Market area, Pub Street, all of the shopping areas and even the river road and traffic circle south of the Old Market area are flood-free. All shops, restaurants, bars and markets are open for business. And, to the best I have been able to determine, all of the Angkor temples are available to visit. There is still some water on the road from Siem Reap to the Lake and on High School Road, but both are reportedly passable. There has been damage to many of the roads, but all are passable. Travelfish posted an entry yesterday with up-to-date, first hand information on the state of flooding in Siem Reap.Travelfish has also posted an entry on some of the local organizations and projects helping to bring aid to the affected communities around Siem Reap.

According to taxi drivers and friends I spoke with today, all of the National Routes are free of flooding, including – from Phnom Penh - NR1 to Vietnam, NR 3 to Kampot/Kep, NR4 to Sihanoukville, NR5 to Battambang, NR6 to Siem Reap, Road48 (from NR4 to Koh Kong) and NR3 (Kampot to NR4). I don’t have any information about NR2 to Takeo or NR7 north. All the National Routes have suffered road damage to varying degrees, but all are passable.

I don’t have much information on the situation in the countryside beside what I see in the newspapers, but from what I've read it sounds like things have changed very little. Much of the countryside is still flooded and draining very slowly. There has been huge property damage and crop loss and many people are in a desperate way. See my October 18 post for more information and links.

Whether the flood waters return or continue to fall depends largely on the weather. But at the moment things look to be stable in the countryside and improving in the cities.

Children Are Not Tourist Attractions

Tourists, listen up...

Today, Friends-International launched its new 'Children Are Not Tourist Attractions' campaign, including the article below, a new website and an ad campaign with banners on tuk-tuks in Phnom Penh, all to raise awareness about the orphanage tourism game and related child exploitation and voluntourism issues. The goal is to put an end to orphanage tourism in Cambodia. Such a campaign is long-overdue and sorely needed. The article and website are brilliant. I've been railing about this issue for years and it is very near and dear to my heart. (I only wish I could have been so eloquent as Friend-International has been in their website and article.) I wish them the greatest success in this endeavor. Please read, learn and heed their advice.

Photo by Friends-International from the

'When Children Become Tourist Attractions' article.

When Children Become Tourist Attractions

Posted on 20 October 2011, by Friends-International

Each year, thousands of tourists visit orphanages in Cambodia thinking they are helping some of the most vulnerable children in the world. Recent reports however have found their visits may be doing more harm than good.

Nearing midnight on Pub Street, Siem Reap is buzzing. Hundreds, if not thousands of tourists roam from bar to bar, looking for a good time after spending full days wandering through Cambodia’s spectacular Angkor Wat temples.

Beggars follow the travelers around, while other locals sell flowers, fake travel guides and postcards to unassuming customers. Through the mayhem, a small team of professional junior entrepreneurs make their way down the street pitching a different product to the hordes – a visit to a nearby orphanage...Continue reading here

Learn more at the Friends-International CHILDREN ARE NOT TOURIST ATTRACTIONS website.

Please, do not engage in orphanage tourism.

(If I may indulge briefly in a bit of selfish told-you-so righteous gloating...as I mentioned above, I have been on about the orphanage issue for the better part of a decade and the child beggar/vendor issue for a lot longer than that. As an old white male expat, I have been accused of being jaded, heartless, a cynical old expat and much, much worse, because of my views on this matter - all while the name-callers bought flowers from 8-year-old vendors in the bar in the middle of the night, doled out dollar bills to glue sniffing kids on the street and told teary-eyed stories of the orphanage at which they voluntoured [for a price] washing dishes and playing with the children. Tourists, most often young and more often than not female, with big hearts and very little thought, all knew so much more than this old male expat with 25 years in Asia under his belt. I am thrilled to see this long-established, trustworthy, highly credible organization saying basically the same thing, though of course in a more affable, organized, less curmudgeonly way. Maybe now people will listen.)