Sep 20th, 2006 by Jinja
Coup next door.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog for a news update:
Thai military coup.
via CamNews: http://tinyurl.com/s5jr8
http://tinyurl.com/zawqy
All over the news media shortly.
Damn. Over the last year, I was getting the impression that ASEAN countries were getting into the habit of resolving political differences more and more via institutions rather than force of arms. Guess I was wrong.
Sep 20th, 2006 by Jinja
Starbuckian
San Francisco, Christmas vacation, 2004:
I am walking the slanting streets of San Francisco. No matter where I turn, there is always a coffee shop within my sight. Starbucks coffee, to be precise. Just how much coffee does one city need?
There is room in the market for an upscale coffee shop. But when I see them everywhere, it’s like the urban cityscape has been infested with these franchises.
Phnom Penh, September, 2005:
This logo caught my eye driving along Norodom boulevard:
The green circle and ornamentation looked very familiar. http://tinyurl.com/mpkf5
So I went in and had a coffee. It was passable.
Looks like someone’s paid careful attention to the coffee shops in Bangkok – you can even get a green tea frappe if you want.
The difference between this and other coffee shops of its kind? Price, much cheaper than an actual Starbucks. I expect buses to disgorge hordes of tourists in the near future. Me? I came to Cambodia for new things, not familiarity. If I visit, it’ll be sparingly. To each their own.
Along with BB World and Pizza Hot, it looks like Phnom Penh’s precession of simulated franchises will continue until consumer and corporate demand is satisfied.
I’ll leave the proper restaurant review for Phnomenon.
Palais Coffee, 50 Norodom, near Cine Lux.
Sep 18th, 2006 by Jinja
Feather Weight
is a photo essay and a book on Cambodian boxing by John
Vink, a Belgian photographer based in Phnom Penh.
That and the prospect of free drink lured me to Le Popil, this last Friday (15 Sept).
(Center: Stefan and Delphine: OK,where’s the bottle opener? Far right: people check out the book.)
The book is a compendium of some of John’s finest photos about Khmer boxing, with text by prolific writer/translator Christophe Macquet. (Okay, so it’s in French. Deal with it.)
It was fun to talk with John, and very interesting to see his choices of what to focus on – both the actual fighting and the seemingly mundane moments of training.
John Vink: www.johnvink.com
Cheers to Stefan for making a touchstone for photographers of all kinds to share their work in Phnom Penh. If you haven’t been there yet? Do yourself a favor and check it out.
Popil PhotoGallery
126, Street 19 – Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 7pm.
www.lepopil.com
Sep 17th, 2006 by Jinja
Beer Girls Poster
Media and propaganda went hand-in-hand in much of the 70s and 80s.
We now have a genre of nonprofit art in Cambodia. It’s not terribly subtle, as you can see.
Me, I’m just trying to document this wacky stuff before it before it disappears.
Mainstream advertising? Getting better, but often pretty surreal.
More on the issue of beer girls here and here. It looks like the activist sites on the beer trade have been updated, which could make for some interesting discussion. I still think that real change in working conditions will need involvement from consumers – people who actually enjoy drinking beer. (Crazy, I know.)
The more folks I talk to that work in HIV prevention here, the worse it sounds. Information is out there, education efforts are everywhere, condom use is increasing. But adults simply aren’t changing their habits much.
Tags: Cambodia
Sep 16th, 2006 by Jinja
Jinja
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