Wrapping Up

Monday morning I went back to the library at the National Museum to do a quick assessment of the facility. The librarian met with me for a couple of hours to talk about how they are trying to improve conditions. She has been there for 24 years, talk about the greying of the profession. She started working there right after the end of the Pol Pot regime. Wow, interesting person! Spent most of the afternoon trying to put the pieces together, but it is something I will have to work on some more when I get home. Had dinner at the Friends restaurant. This organization works in many ways to train street children to find employment. They have a large gift shop, and the kids who work in the restaurant are all being trained in the service industry. Struck up a conversation with the gentleman at the table across from mine. He was from the U.S. and works with a land mine group. Very interesting to talk to about the issue.


Today I visited three more NGOs, the National Library, and the Post Office! The picture is of the National Library. The outside of the library is quite beautiful, but the inside is depressing for the most part. The Khmer Rouge emptied out the building either burning or trashing the books, although some of the palm leaf manuscripts survived. When the Vietnamese took over, they filled the building with books from their country. When they left the French donated most of the books that are found in its walls today. There is also a good deal of material in English, but very little in Khmer. The publishing world in Cambodia is slowly recovering, but is not exactly robust at this point in time. The young man in the picture is my interpreter. He is an English student at the Royal University in Phnom Penh.

Finally, to end the Cambodia adventure, a nice sunset picture. Had dinner at a great Khmer restaurant tonight (you know my family travels on its stomach) with a couple of phd students from the States. Totally different view of many things. Tomorrow its off to Bangkok and then home.