Two days ago as I write this was the 33rd anniversary of the Khmer Rouge's taking and subsequent purging of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. For those of you who don't know the history, I suggest you pop over to Wikipedia and read about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. It's all there. I'm not going to repeat it here because that's not really wha this blog is about. I bring it up because in July, I plan to go to Cambodia to reunite with my oldest friend and to help him help the Khmer people who still live with the legacy of decades of war.
When Pol Pot's regime 'cleansed' Phnom Penh of Western devilry, he declared that 1975 was instead Year Zero of the new age. In many ways, the Khmer culture was reset, and so this is in fact year 33 of the 'new age' for Cambodia. Not a Golden Age, to be sure. And their problems didn't start with Pol Pot, but they certainly reached a critical point... almost a point of no return. Almost...
As I said, in July I intend to travel to Cambodia. I'm going for many reasons, which I will explore in these posts. I am still preparing for the experience... reading the news of the region, catching up on the history, adjusting my diet, and giving up on trying to learn Khmer from books and CDs; it's just damned near impossible to do.
In the posts to follow, I'll be talking about why I'm going, what I intend to do there, why Cambodia, etc. and then I'll use the blog to post my experiences while there. Sure, I'll post interesting tourist stuff and photos of Angkor Wat probably, but mainly my impressions of the society, thoughts about American society (nothing like going someplace completely alien to learn about your own home), the projects we'll be working on and new ones we develop, and where to get the best beer!
But seriously...
While at the moment I am not really interested in feedback, comments, or the like in these early days of the blog, I will be interested in the future to hear from other people curious about Khmer culture, people who want to share their own experiences of Cambodia, or people who want to help the Khmer people. For now though, I probably won't even read comments as I have lot to do between now and then.
Stay tuned...
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This blog is about Cambodia, the Khmer people, my involvement with them, and with organizations dedicated to helping them. Second, it will serve as a travel diary for me. Yes, you'll get to hear about how I get fevers and sunburn and a sore ass from riding motorbikes over the bumpy 'roads' there. The blog will undoubtedly evolve, but it won't stray far from these subjects.
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