Friday, March 19, 2010

TED conference in Phnom Penh

I was very excited when Tharum posted on the Barcamp Phnom Penh Mailinglist that he is considering organizing TEDxPhnomPenh. He is one of the most prominent bloggers, writers, journalists in Cambodia, and also organizer of the Barcamps. Many people supported him on the list and were excited too.
I was then wondering about an Email, that a foreign NGO in Cambodia already owns the licence for TEDxPP. And I was wondering even more when people on the list were told to contact the licence owner soon.
Yes, legally its clear: You have the licence, you have the rights. Maybe it's just a big communication problem, and everything will be fine at the end. My concern is just that NGOs take over a small flower that was just planted by the Cambodian Internet community.
Yes, TED is more than a Geek event, but it is also clearly not just an NGO event. So let's hope that the local community will be involved in TEDxPP.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Please vote for my podcast

Please vote for me: http://www.thebobs.com/index.php?l=en&s=1155503109924847OMDFOOVR-NONE "Wanhoffs Wunderbare Welt der Wissenschaft". I was nominated as Best Podcast for the Bobs, an award by The Deutsche Welle. Thanks for voting!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

500 Entertainment places in Phnom Penh - at night

The Mirror re-published a story about the entertainment business in Cambodia, in particular the nightlife. People already know the bars and restaurants near the riverside, and probably some of the beergardens. But there is a hidden nightlife as well. What looks like a beauty salon offers also beautiful girls, and a restaurant might have a "special" room.
Please note that the sex tourists are not (only) white men, most are actually from Asian countries like Korea, China, Vietnam.

Phnom Penh: At present, there are nearly 500 entertainment places in Phnom Penh, such as beer gardens, karaoke parlors, night clubs, discotheques, restaurants or other places where alcohol and some meals are served, accompanied with music, and female beer seller [often called "Beer Girls"].




The above report went on to say that in Phnom Penh there are 142 hotels, 353 guesthouses, 8 [mainly poor people's building blocks, 54 massage shops, and 233 tourism agencies. 303 places were provided with tourism licenses, 91 new sites were opened, the validity of 266 sites was suspended, and 17 sites were closed because of armed clashes, sex trafficking, rape, and other disturbing offenses.