TEDxPhnom Penh: My personal review

A dream came true for me: getting an invitation to a TEDx-conference. For those who dont know what TED is, check out TED.com. Basically, it is a conference for the brightest people. The claim is "Ideas Worh Spreading:, and Phnom Penhs subtitle was "Building The Future".
The brightest people in Cambodia to answer the question are, at least the TED organizers selection:
Keeda Oikawa & Kung Nai: Live Painting & Chapei
Sithen Sum “Self-Education”
Mike Rios “Dong Chim the Quarter-Life Crisis”
Enemies of the People Video Presentation by Rob Lemkin & Thet Sambath Live
Tiny Toones “Dance Your Life Around”
Kounila Keo “Blogging: The New Generation of Cambodia”
Chris Brown “Lean Startup – a bootstrapping guide for young entrepreneurs”
Channe Suy “Building the Future of Cambodia starts with Sharing”
Colin Wright “Extreme Lifestyle Experiments”
Chris Noble “From Little Things, Big Things Grow”
Theary Seng “Reconciling Peace with Justice in Cambodia”
Phloeun Prim & Cambodian Living Arts Performers “Transformation of a Nation through the Arts”

The dramaturgiy of the event was well prepared and executed. I dont now how much they had to follow TED rules, but the organizers did a great job. Keeda Oikawas live paiting, while Kung Nai was playing, was already a highlight right at the beginning.
Sithen Sums call for more self-education was exactly the kind of talk I was expecting at TED conference, well presented, leaving me a lot of things to think about. I found myself in this talk as someone who has no dregree or diploma. Most things you need you find in life, not at school.

Mike Rios vibrant talk about the life quarter crisis after you finish university went in the same direction. "Give your life a meaning" was his key point, and if you have to quit your job for that, do it. I hear this many times at conferences, and I actually followed this advice four years ago, but I can also understand why people still walk in the treadmill of a 9-5 job. It's not that they can't leave, it's becaue the treadmill is comfortable and safe. To understand, that emotional saftey and balance is at least as important as financial stability, is, in my opinion, propably only possible if you have gone through a crisis first.

Although Rob Lemkin & Thet Sambath did a great job with their movie "Enemie of the people" I was a bit disappointed to see it at TED, where the claim is "Building the future". Same counts for Theary Sang. It's not that I am saying the past is not important, and they we need to understand the past to build the future, but I would like to see a shift in the importance of topics. Cambodia needs after the economy development a social development, in culture and education. To constantly tell people that their families are either killer or victims, doesn't bring a society forward. My hope was that TED was focussing on the future. It was, at least partially, not.

Kounila Keo, a young cambodian women who I admire a lot and who helped me, was talking about the future and the social development I am demanding. "Blogging gives us a way to express our thoughts and feelings and make it public", she said. And she is right. Blogging can have political or social impacts, but it has impacts. Since Cambodia is still a bit more relaxed compared to their neighbors Thailand and Vietnam, she calls for taking the chance and participate in a civil dialogue.


Chris Brown is an old Barcamp buddy, I always love to listen to his talks about lean businesses and how to start up, minimizing the risks. "Fail fast, fail cheap" is one mantra, and "Customer development before product development" another. I hope that his engagement and enthusiasm will encourage more Cambodian people to start their own business. The upcoming Khmertalks and the Cambodian Young entrepreneurs are a good sign.

I know Channe Suy from a Minibarcamp at the Insteed headquarter, where she works. These guys doing a great job developing software for desaster and health response. Geochat is an application that works as a group and locations based sms communication tool. It gives people the tool to respond fast and share with other. Building the future means for her sharing information and knowledge. I cannot agree more.

It is a already challenge to move to another country, and even more if you do it every 4 months. This is exactly what Colin Wright is doing. He calls it the extreme lifestyle, and it certainly is, at least for someone from a western country. His most important defiance is to deal with the unexpected. You can prepare a lot, but you will for example not think about that internet connections in New Zealand are just bad.

Chris Noble, the founder of Footprints and Worldnomads, talked about how travellers can make a positive impact to the places they visiting. He received one million Dollar from 400.000 donors, to build houses, roads, roofs or whatever was needed in rural amd poor areas. I personally think that the impact for the so called voluntourist is bigger than for the communitys. Having a bunch or young travellers in your village might be a a welcoming distraction from the daily life, but doesn't mean the house will be build faster and better.

Last but not least the impressive talk by Phloeun Prim, who I also admire a lot, about transforming a country through the living arts. He talked about preserving the Cambodian culture as a fundament a future is build on. Again, the debate about how to build a future is a starting oint, and arts were always a basis for a developed society. Cambodia dveloped the arts centurys ago, and need to remember the values this art gives the country, but also daily life.

So my conclusion: A well organised conference, where I learneda lot, where I learned from other people as well, and where I had moments when some tears came out. TED is not just a rational event, but also emotional. This TEdxPP followed this claim. In the future, the planning team should try to get a location that represents Cambodia better then the expat compound of Northbridge. There are good and suitable locations in town. Also I would like to see more Khmer people in the planning team, and not only the usual young white volunteer gang. And please, no more "from that dark ages of the Khmer rouge regime" talks. We know it, thanks.

Again, a big thank you to the organizers for making a dream come true for me.

Open tech talk in Phnom Penh

For those who might be interested, got this by email

Hey, we are having a very great news especially for IT geeks who eager to share or learn new things. In the cooperated ideas of the guys from SharevisionTeam, Khmerjoomla or Jumcam, PytonKhmer, Pailin (Ruby user group in Cambodia), ….We are planning to arrange a very big event ever which we believe it help to open more gates of sharing and learning new things with the specialized communities as mention above.


The event is officially called “Open Tech Talk”, aim to call for the participants in the above communities to meet, discuss, share and give the tech talk to the respective audiences. Right here, you are invited to expression your impression or desire/needs of what you to expected to see from the event and of course, feel free to suggest ideas by replying to this email. For those in each community who interested to organize this event, I would suggest to register in SharevisionTeam group (http://groups.google.com/group/sharevisionteam?hl=en) and have communication there.


The draft date of the event is suppose to be 2011, Jan 15.

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.

Photoexhibition in Phnom Penh: Tensions in the performnce of music and dance

Just want to tell all the people I know in Cambodia that my photoexihibtion "Tensions in the performnce of music and dance" together with Jim Mizersky USA/Cambodia opens at Monday Dec 1st at Art Cafe Phnom Penh, 81 Street 108 at 7pm. The exhibition will last for December and January.

And yes, of course you can buy the pictures

Cambodian Circus

Its quite a while since my last blog, but as we all I am busy too these days. I am still working on my book (actually a translation project, topic is blogging), which takes time beneath my dayjob in the toyshop.
To get some new impressions beside blogs and toys we went to the Cambodian Circus today at the Chenla Theatre. It was so amazing, I didn't expect such a high level, especialy in expression and choreographic. They did everything right, wether the way the did acrobatics or the part II, when they combined historical stories with dance, acrobatic and contortion.
Here a short video I made.
The original production was created by Ms. Nay Nary, Deputy Director of the National School of Circus with support from the Asian Cutural Coucil/Rockefeller Mentorship Program and Amrita Performing Arts. Sponsor was ANZ BAnk.

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Tech Saturday Phnom Penh aka Bloggermeeting

Since weeks of silence the geeks and freaks gathered again at T N Coffee at Monivong. Of course we had a topic (Viirak and me decided to talk about Twitter), and of course it ended in a total different way. Preetam Rai from Global Voices was announced to come, but even in the century of wirless communication sometimes its hard to get connected. He finally showed up at 4 when I had to leave.


But tomorrow on Sunday will be another meeting, 2 p.m. at T N Coffee, should be a talk about the first barcamp in Phnom Penh.

Recommended: Corner 33

I was curious when I saw the ads on the tuk tuks, but from outside Corner33 was looking quite small and - hmm, reminds me a bit of the Cafe Sentinel on Monivong. But hey, today we went in and what a surprise: Very stylish and comfortable, even quiet in the morning, great selection on food and drinks, friendly and attentive staff. The cafe latte is as good as the wifi connection (free), and although its near FCC and Riverside it was not that crowded. So, as Natalys said, its on our list.

No riverview anymore in Phnom Penh

The most crazy thing I saw in the recent weeks is the new fence on the riverfront. Sometimes I really wonder who are the people are responsible for a nonsense like this. For the next 3 years - as an article in the Cambodia Daily told me - people sitting on the riverfront ion one of the bars, restaurants and cafés will just have a look on a green fence, covering a drainage improving construction side. I hope one of the powerful people, how they are called here, will see this fence personally and will take action to remove it. Otherwise, the last remaining tourists will skip a visit to Phnom Penh. What will be understandable.

French women died in Phnom Penh after beeing robbed

UPDATE: Its still not clear if it was an accident or a robbery. Different police office are telling different stories. The problem seems to be the lack of witnesses. When I passed by, a foreigner (man in the 30s, red shirt) were standing there, apparently talking on the phone to somebody. Maybe he is a witness.. If someone got more information regarding Aurelia Lacroix accident, please send me an email or a comment.

There are stories in Cambodge soir as well as in Cambodia Daily right now.

I was passing by an accident scene, where a young french woman died after robbers tried to snap her handbag. She was sitting on a mototaxi and fell off, when a minivan was passing by. She was hit by the van and died. The Motodriver as well as the van driver and of course the robbers fled the scene. I had to pass just centimeters from her body. It was a shock.

I just got this message i copied from the campodiaparentsnetwork:

Yesterday afternoon my driver informed me that he witnessed a scene where a foreign woman was pulled off of her moto taxi by purse snatchers (he called them "gangs") and was then instantly (accidentally) hit by a vehicle and killed. This story haunted me for the rest of the evening, as I worried about this poor woman, wondering how they would identify her to inform her family if her purse was taken. Today the story made it to the newspaper and it seems that they did not succeed in taking her purse so she's been identified as a 28 year-old French woman named Aurelia Lacroix. The article ends by saying that evidence is inconclusive as to whether it was a purse snatching or regular traffic accident. Let me assure you that this was a purse-snatching that ended tragically and is now the 3rd (and worst) story I have heard of foreign women being injured after being dragged off moving vehicles by men on motorbikes who were after their bags. It seems that they are not deterred by broad daylight or crowds, nor the fact that their victims bags are secured to their arms or bodies. So far all the victims I've heard about have been foreign women. So please please beware! At this stage it would seem advisable to avoid riding motodops altogetherr and if you must, to not carry any kind of visible purse or bag. The same would apply to tuks tuks. Either keep bags completely hidden, or
on the contrary, put valuables in your pocket and leave bags on the floor of the tuk tuk, unattached to your body, so that if someone really wanted it, they could just take it. This is unofficial advice and what I would choose to do, but if anyone else has other safety tips, please share them. My condolences to anyone who knew Aurelia.

And thats the story from AFP:

PHNOM PENH, Nov 14, 2007 (AFP) - A French woman was killed Wednesday when she was struck by a mini-bus after being pulled off a motorcycle taxi by purse-snatchers in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, police said.
Aurelia Lacroix, 28, died instantly following the noon-time robbery, which occurred when at least two young men on a motorcycle pulled up alongside her and grabbed her purse, said Ben Khun, deputy Phnom Penh traffic police chief.
"The victim fell off the motorcycle taxi and the mini-bus ran her over," he told AFP.
Officials said Lacroix was working as a legal intern in Cambodia.
The robbers escaped, he said, while both the bus and taxi drivers fled the scene, he added.
While robberies have decreased overall in Cambodia, purse and chain-snatching are on the rise and are particularly problematic around major holidays, affecting Cambodians and foreigners alike.
Cambodia next week is set to begin celebrating the Water Festival, which draws millions of people to the capital for four days of boat races and parties.

Dog-owners meeting

Its really hard to let your dogs run in Phnom Penh, because there are no parks, and if there are some squaremeters of green dogs are not allowed. So its really helfpul that the owner of the GASOLINA, located oin the 57th street, allows dogowners to bring their pets in every Saturday from 10.30 a.m. on. The dogs can run and play arround while we have breakfast and chatting a lot. Perfectly.

Mc Donalds in Phnom Penh?

When I came back from Sihanoukville, we passed the new special economic zone far outside the city. Until now, they finished just the gate, but I was wondering about an advertising there: It shows the brave new world of shopping centers there, but surprisingly with a Mc Donalds. As far as I now, KFC will come to PP, but McDonalds? I think it just what the believe should be reality (for better selling the appartments), not whats contracted..

Recommend: Haircut and Cafe

Just two loctions I used frequently or the first time. Yesterday I went to the Paragon Centre for a new haircut: There is coiffeur in the second floor, and, wow, that was amazing. Separate cabin, verything clean, very friendly staff, good haircut and an outstanding shampoo-headmassage-comination. And I paid just 10 Dollars. Recommended!

One of the foreingers most loved places is the Java Cafe on Sihanouk Boulevard. Its terrace is nice, the bagels too, also the pumpkin soup. We even tried the delivery servcie, wich was fast and good. They have Wifi (via online) there and great art exhibitions.

What I do not understand, is the not-so-good service. They are slow, you have to wait a long time to place your order, they never ask you if you like to have something more. Yesterday, some people complaint about the internet shutdown. It is always the router which needs to be restartet. Bt it tooks more than an hour before a staff member did anything. Thats really sad, because the internet wifi is a major reason to come to Java Café. I hope, they will train there waiters a little bit..

Cloggersummit Video: Citizen Journalism

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