Battambang! What are Lisa Mandel Srey Bandol Vuthy and Sylvain Moizie-Rondet up to at Phare art school? Teaching comics, that's what. More news to follow in a week.

Yogyakarta -> Jakarta. Jakarta -> Bangkok Bangkok -> Siem Reap It's just that last part that's tricky - a bridge was out just before Sisophon. (Click for pictures) Ah, welcome back to Cambodia. I have Indonesian goodies for you all. Next leg: down to Phnom Penh for some editing work. (Cheers to Rich for the tipoff!)

Thursday, September 4th 2003 You are cordially invited to attend the following informal presentation: Treasures of Asian Architecture - from the Himalayas to Angkor Twenty-two years of photographic documentation Jaro Poncar German Apsara Conservation Project (GACP) The lecture is a review of some of Jaro Poncar’s work in Asia during the last two decades. The journey will start at Alchi, Ladakh, Western Himalayas, especially with the temples of this Buddhist monastery containing the most precious wall paintings in the entire Himalayas, dating back to 12th century. Then Jaro Poncar will present the remains of the Tibetan kingdom Guge he documented within a project of University of Vienna. Later, the German Research Corporation (DFG) program took him to the Himalayan kingdom of Mustang. And, last but not least, Jaro Poncar will present the thrilling project of documentation of the bas-reliefs at Angkor Wat in 1995. Jaro Poncar is professor at University of Applied Sciences Cologne, department of imaging sciences and media technologies, since 1973. In 1995 Jaro Poncar and a group of his students came to Angkor with a high tech equipment to photograph the bas-reliefs at Angkor Wat and the Bayon using the slit-scan technique. The German Apsara Conservation Project came out of this project and Jaro Poncar is the co-director and the head of the documentation unit since. Before Angkor Jaro Poncar was working as photographer with many research and conservation projects in the Himalayas and Tibet. Documentation of the earliest Buddhist wall paintings and architecture was his principle concern. The presentation will take place on August, Thursday 4th, at 6:30 pm in the EFEO library. Presentation will be in English In order to encourage scientific exchange, formally as well as informally, we are planning to follow up with other presentations by speakers working on subjects of interest to the Siem Reap scholarly community. You will be noticed by e-mail of these developments as they occur. Please do not hesitate to forward this invitation to whoever you feel would be interested. Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) Siem Reap Phum Beng Don Pa, Khum Slâ Kram, Siem Reap, Cambodge Tel: (885) (16) 635 037 / (63) 964 630 Tel/Fax: (855) (63) 964 226 Email: efeo.angkor@camintel.com / efeo.rep.bib@camintel.com EFEO Web Site: www.efeo.fr http://www.efeo.fr/

Chain Stores Vietnam's contribution to capitalism, Trung Nguyen Coffee, has opened a store in Phnom Penh. It's got a vaguely Starbucks-like atmosphere, and some good blends of coffee. (Pricey for your average Cambodian though.) Dairy Queen has opened an outlet at Pochentong Airport. Will more chains follow? There's been a fake McDonald's in Siem Reap, and also in Phnom Penh. There's been a long tradition of fake chain stores in Cambodia, such as 'Pizza Hot'. I really can't diss these too hard. I'm not here in Cambodia to see things just like back home. But after years of underdevelopment, I can't blame people for wanting something foreign or different. (Just so long as we don't have McDonald's on every streetcorner.)

Standing on the Corner Why look, someone's set out a candle to light your way home. It's the friendly neighborhood condom vendor.

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