Siem Riep

A quaint old french town at the base of the most spectacular temple complex in the world . . and its totally underwater . . actually most of cambodia seems to be. The Tonde Sap lake which acts as a monsoon storage seems to have exercised its right over most of the country from what i can tell . . would love to see a satellite picture! Siem riep itself is a really touristy place, but its retained an old world pace that eludes even the smallest indian tourist spots. The cambodian people are so happy. The food is amamzing and the beer is cheap too . . not like vietnam, but cheap none the less. Thought I would go to Battambang to see the bamboo trrain, but Siem Riep seems to have superglued me . . :)

Vietnam

Communist, socialist or capitalist . . it really makes one think . . definitely not democratic, but after Bush I have to think of that as a tainted word . . . I have grown up respecting the power of the people, and it has been reinforced time and again . . . even as recently as the mad marathis nation bandh. it defintely seems great. the power of the people, freedom of speech, freedom of laziness and freedom of anything. at least that's what they'd have you believe . . . more and more it is seeming to me like an argument for limitations . . . here in this third world country, everyone is equal . . yes its a small country, one tenth of our size and population, but none the less . . there is something to be learnt here . . we can't go on using democray as a veil for capitalist exploitation and hiding behing and archaich education system and a social heirarchy which has been abused beyond belief forever . . how long can we keeep our women behing the scenes . . how long can we act like biharis are not human beings . . i sense some serious myopia.
Its really been a gift . . the experience of a society . . not an affluent society at all, but one which breathes a common spirit . . and if it was a hegemoneous society i would not grant it so much favour, but though it does appear such on the surface, the complexity of the social strata is very much there, much as it is there in say Delhi . . .
I guess its an economists game at the end of the day and that;s what i really hate about it . . .
:)

:)

The latitude and longitude of Phuket, Thailand is:

7° 53' 0" N / 98° 24' 0" E