In Bangkok. Stayed up all night at the office, writing memos and sorting out stuff. Wiped out.

Seeya in two weeks.

Beta testing sites for Cambodian Women's Crisis Centre and Rose Center. Very simple, but it's good to whack something up just to get things rolling.

Need more sleep.

Wednesday went to Cambodian Womens' Crisis Centre. ("CWCC") There I met with the artist and writer of three comics regarding womens' issues - trafficking, rape, and domestic violence.

It's compelling stuff, not just as activism but as art. The cartoonist is a primary school teacher, and the writer was a seasoned NGO worker who's compiled the stories based on her experiences in the field. It's her first publication, and so far she's the _only_ female cartoonist I've seen in Cambodia. Surely there must be others?

Dealing with domestic and sexual abuse is a difficult and stressful job. Certainly there's a high burn-out rate for those involved. But it reveals a lot about human nature - both horrible things we'd never imagined, and sometimes, moments of grace that rise above.

It's an endless source of material for some - Andrew Vachss has made a name for himself writing hard boiled crime novels, all based on his experience as a lawyer fighting child sexual abuse. Here's hoping more people will write as well, for their own needs as well as to inform others.

Thanks to Larissa for her help in setting the meeting up, and watch for a future CWCC page on this site!

In other news, email at my day job has gone all higgledy piggledty. Time for some more serious webwonkin' & troubleshooting.

Film fun: Circle of Gun (Thai Film). If you like the sort of John Woo over the top cinema, this is clearly in that sort of vein. A little more drama, a little less gunplay. Wish I knew the proper Thai name of this one. Also entertaining - Indian Film TAAL. http://members.tripod.com/taal46/thefilm1.htm Back in Siem Reap. Like it matters.

An interesting article about mob violence here. http://europe.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/06/09/cambodia.streetjustice.ap/index.html

Also on the issue of mobs, saw a demonstration today. Thought it was the Sam Rainsy party, but it was an anti-Sam Rainsy demonstration. Wonder how that came about?

Need to think about my relationship with coffee. I'm not sure it's a healthy relationship.

More t-shirts in the works. The printer giggled when I told him I was ordering a hundred.

Off to Australia for vacation in a week!

Saw World Cup at Foreign Correspondents Club last night, England v Denmark. Let's just say there were a few 'melancholy Danes' afterward.

Everybody wants a jinja.apsara.org t-shirt. (Especially when they're free!) One friend assumed I was selling them, something I didn't even think of. Maybe that could pay for some domain names for a few of these sites. I think I'll be heading back to the printer soon.

You can see some older pages here at http://jinja.apsara.org/otherstuff.htm

Off to Sovanna Phum tonight, with a handful of freshly printed Jinja.apsara.org t-shirts in hand. Happy with the printing job, they look OK! Rained yesterday and the sewers weren't draining the brown sludge...they were spewing up black goo. Sanitation aside, life is pretty good. I'm happy to be back in Phnom Penh.

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