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More photos on Cambodia 54th Independence Day!…

Source: France Reuters

Cambodia’s prime minister has promised to resign if he cannot stop the children of the rich from misbehaving.

Hun Sen says he is tired of young men causing chaos on the streets of the capital, Phnom Penh, by racing their expensive cars and motorbikes.

He has ordered the police to detain parents if they come to collect their errant sons from custody.

If they are government or military officials they will be sacked. If not, Hun Sen says he will quit himself.

It is not just that Phnom Penh’s traffic is getting worse. The quality of it is changing too.

Just a few years ago the streets were dominated by old Toyota Camrys and barely-functioning Daelim motorbikes – cast-offs from the United States and South Korea.

Impromptu racetrack

These days you are more likely to be forced into the gutter by a giant Hummer SUV, Mercedes S-Class, or at the very least a high-performance motorbike. And many of the drivers are little more than teenagers.

They are enjoying the benefits of Cambodia’s rapid economic growth – thanks to their wealthy parents. But the only thing the rich kids are earning is a reputation for anti-social behaviour.

Come the late afternoon, groups of them turn public roads near the riverside into an impromptu racetrack. There have been a number of serious crashes – and some drivers have threatened local journalists for reporting on their antics.

The tuk-tuk drivers who look for passengers along the racers’ route are fed up with the speed merchants.

“They don’t drive slowly, they drive very fast. So it’s very dangerous. The police are not here… they’re never afraid of the police,” one driver said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen is not the only one to notice that many of the boy-racers are related to government and military officials.

Source:

By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh

Source: Radio Free Asia (RFA)

Cambodia King Norodom Sihamoni ignited the torch inside the Independence Monument to symbolize the country’s liberation from 90 years’ colonial rule by France, while hosting the national ceremony to mark the 54th Independence Day here on Friday.”The victorious torch stands for our freedom and the soul of our nation,” said Min Khin, secretary general of the National Committee for Organizing National and International Festivals, adding that the torch fire will remain burning for three days. Prime Minister Hun Sen, Senate President Chea Sim, National Assembly President Heng Samrin and other senior country leaders, together with more than 20,000 students, civil servants, armed forces, government officials and foreign diplomats, also attended the ceremony.“Today we celebrate our Independence Day. We now have freedom and we manage the country by ourselves,” said Min Khin.“We have always remembered the achievements of retired king Norodom Sihanouk, who did his crusade to win independence from France in 1953. Our people can sacrifice their lives for the independence of the country,” he added.At the ceremony, a number of large size file photos of Sihanouk and Sihamoni could be seen at the hands of the audience.Meanwhile, Cambodian-language newspaper the Rasmey Kampuchea on Friday printed a lengthy editorial, praising the kingdom for its economic prosperity and politic stability and reviewing its history after the independence was won.“Now, Cambodia is led by Prime Minister Hun Sen. We have political stability for nearly ten years. We are walking on the right track of development and multi-party system in the process of democracy,” it said.

Source: Xinhua 

U.S. and Cambodian flags.

The President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, sent the following message to His Majesty King Sihamoni on the Occasion of the 54th Anniversary of the Independence of the Kingdom of Cambodia:

Your Majesty:

On behalf of the American people, I wish to congratulate you and the people of the Kingdom of Cambodia on the occasion of your Independence Day on November 9. I look forward to the year ahead as our two nations continue to identify opportunities to strengthen our bilateral ties, as well as to work together on mutual areas of interest. This past year has been marked by significant progress in our relations, with the arrival of the first U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers and a warmly welcomed U.S. Navy humanitarian ship visit. We value your commitment to further democratic development.

I wish you and the Cambodian people peace, prosperity, and good wishes.

Sincerely,
George W. Bush

It is Autum now, and the color of the leaves start changing into various colors which look so cool to view. As the begining of of this cool but not yet too cold season approaching, 4 groups from my graduate school, including me, went to one Japanese (semi) rural area, which is just 2 hours away from my city to conduct fieldwork research. It was a very interesting period of the research and to explore more about those characteristics with sight-ended mountains, forest, and valleys.

 In addition to the in dept interview with the villagers and officers there related to the research, what is more interesting is the time we spent there for 3 days having chance to share our joy with homestay family at night, gathering breakfast, lunch and dinner with the research teams, taking stroll in the village seeing the nice various color of the leaves, even those leaves are soon to show full autum color in the next 2 weeks.

It was a very memorable expereince and to be proud of with this such of opportunity.

Here is the link to some of the pictures I took during the fieldwork.

http://www.flickr. com/photos/ 7357750@N06/ sets/72157602772 531734/show/