Cambodia

Let's be straightforward here, some folk like to get a little stoned. And most folk who like to get a little stoned, like to ramble through dusty, tuk-tuk, BBQ-scorpion-on-stick, backwater kind-a places, well,
...stoned.
And yet, even with the shadow of spending one's last minute against an ominous, pock-marked wall in East Java, the same people, will still try to get a little stoned. And succeed :)

Yet there are some places in the world, that regardless of whether someone could show them to you on a world map, will evoke a Deep Emotional Response, a look of pained remembrance and whispered, hallowed advice,"...terrible things happen there".

Such a place is Cambodia.

Maybe it has something to do with bookshops having a disproportionate number of titles in 2 genres*: Theme One: Barangs (Foreigners ) and their their gruesome survival tours in Asian prisons, or Theme 2: Books on the Khmer Rouge, Cambodias infamous genocidal government of the late 70's.
Oh course, the fact that most people seem to be related to a policeman/army captain in some way, might also help to aggravate the feeling of paranoia.

In fact,Cambodians are a great people and I did not test this hypothesis, but more likely to "fine" you for unscrupulous tourist behaviour than truck you off to some jungle gulag, ( progressive behaviour that is far less likely to happen(anymore) in places like modern South Africa.)
But For all the good humour of the people of Cambodia, there lingers deep in all minor tourist criminal minds, the awful dread of ever having to call long distance with 6 terrible words to impart,"Mom, I'm in Jail.... in CAMBODIA".

Poor Cambodia. Great people. Beautiful place. Heavy Name.

p.s. Due to extreme superstition, this blog was not published until after leaving Cambodia.

*This generalization about Cambodian bookshops in fact grossly untrue and was a cheap ploy to make a point and rustle up some cheap laughs... there are also lots of great coffee table books about Ankor (a phenomenally beautiful place and 1 of the Ancient Wonders of the World)...