The Buddha's Birthday

Today was Meak Bochea, a Cambodian holiday honoring the birth of the Buddha. It was also my birthday.

I had the day off from work, and was feeling a bit better. So I decided to go see the Killing Fields and the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum.

Appropriate, no?

The day began with Toro (my guide, Cambodian translator, friend) singing happy birthday to me, which was priceless.

Then we're off to La Croisette (on the river) for breakfast with Z and L, two great Chicagoans traveling through the region. We talked about the news, the main news items being:

-Obama's massive victories in Wisconsin and Hawaii.
-Fidel Castro Stepping Down.

Then, we zip away to the Killing Fields, a twenty-thirty minute ride outside of Phnom Penh.

A Parasite of a differant Color

 the little bugger

My Intestinal Saga continues....

In today's news, it appears I was misdiagnosed. After a consultation and testing at a Vietnamese Clinic (the Vietnamese have socialized health care and so Cambodian doctors sometimes train in Vietnam), I've tested positive for Dysentery's younger cousin: Giardia Lamblia.

So much for dysentery. The other possibility is that after beating dysentery with a round of antibiotics, I've contracted Giardia.

Tony Lake is Jewish

Anthony Lake, Barack Obama's main foreign policy advisor recently converted to Judaism.

Here's a very entertaing clip from a speech he gave to students at the Bronfman Center at NYU: Anthony Lake on Being Jewish

As Lake recounts, Nixon wasn't too fond of him.


From the transcripts of the Nixon tapes:


Nixon: Well Tony Lake always seemed Jewish.


Haldeman: I don't think so. I wondered about that.


Nixon: He looked it.


Haldeman: I know.

Tony Lake resigned as Kissinger's assistant when Kissinger ordered the secret bombings of Cambodia.

Hmmm.

Kosher Chinese Food

Everyone wants their food to be kosher. Even the Chinese.

Apparently, Chinese manufacturers of foods and ingredients are increasingly interested in obtaining Kosher certification.

"...the surge of kosher certifications hasn't come without hiccups. Many Chinese companies were unfamiliar with the concept: One furniture maker asked for kosher certification, drawing a polite rebuff."

On a somewhat related note, I've yet to meet any Jews in Cambodia, as far as I know.

A View from Phnom Penh (#3)

The Sun Setting on the Olympic Stadium.

Sometimes, I run in this stadium, as the sun goes down. I usually do 10 laps. I was told that each lap is 2k by a German man who works for the Cambodian government. I think this is not true.

Additionally, Cambodia has never hosted the Olympics. I was told that it had in the 1950's, but this also wasn't true. The stadium played a role some international soccer matches.

Apparently, there is a lot of misinformation about the stadium.

Lunch at Lotus Blanc

Lunch at Lotus Blanc, the restaurant training school of PSE, a large and fantastic French NGO (Pour Sourir d'Enfants, For Smiles of Children) that takes in and educates orphans.

The restaurant is terrific, one of my favorite in Phnom Penh. I lunched with Monsieur G, the Country Manager of CIST, a French NGO that is very friendly with DDD. We were joined by the M's, a wonderful American couple who live in Cambodia.

Terrific food, even better company.

A View from Phnom Penh

From the top floor of a hotel off Sihanouk Blvd

Y'asher Koach To Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg is not going to participate in the production of the 2008 Olympics.

Neat. This is good for him, the Jews, and the people dying in Darfur.

In other news, I am surviving Dysentery.

I've been watching a bit of television in the evenings, and I've been noticing a pattern: there seems to be a lot of terrorism in the news cycle.

A View From Phnom Penh

From the FCC , the Foreign Correspondent's Club, in Sepia

What Do I Have in Common With Senator John Mccain?

Dysentery.

That's right, I have dysentery. Amoebic variety, according to the doctor at the Calmette hospital.

The consultation occurred in French (thank god for high school french classes), and she decided that it was Dysentery, not Giardia Lamblia, which was my own diagnosis.

The Wikipedia page on Dysentery is fascinating.

Some neat facts:

Buddha died from it. So did a bunch of french kings who no one cares about, Sir Francis Drake, Hernando Cortes (good riddens), Elie Wiesel's father, and Richard Wright.

And some other people I've never heard of...

Other facts stolen directly from wikipedia:

In the Woody Allen movie Annie Hall, Allen's character jokes that two leading intellectual magazines, Dissent and Commentary, had merged to form Dysentery.

Harrison Ford apparently suffered from it while filming Raiders of the Lost Ark in Tunisia; this partially resulted in his suggesting that rather than have an elaborate fight with an assassin, Indiana Jones should just shoot him - a now famous gag in the movie.

I am taking four pills twice a day. No milk, veggies, or hot/sour foods. I think i'm supposed to rest.

My previous experience with this is playing Oregon trail (the computer game). I lost of lot of people in my wagon to dysentery.

I don't Cambodia has a save-and-return-to-previous-area feature. But I'll look into it.

Comforting e-mails are welcome.