For those who have blogged prolifically for many years, Cambodia: Details are Sketchy has been known as an online blog sensation after posting many comments on apparently sensitive issues such as politics to the Khmer Rouge tribunal. Blog posts about Cambodia have so far reached more than 2,000.

DAS blog
Tharum Bun has had the interview with
DAS.
When asked if the owner of DAS is a man or a woman and where she/she is from, DAS restricted the answer only to “from the United States”.
She rarely smiles to men or to anyone else she walks past in her village except her own close relatives and very few friends she has there. She takes psychiatric medication against PTSD (Post traumatic stress disorder). In her late 50s, Leang Korn has gone through so much that her Cambodian compatriots might not have the courage to face up to.
My day with her was a good opportunity to get closer to the truth. Leang Korn was born a farm girl in Kampot province in 1952 and had only 6 years of schooling. Before the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh, they already occupied her village. In 1974, her husband had been brought to be killed by Angkar (what the Khmer Rouge called themselves) after the first unsuccessful attempt and wrong accusation of working for the CIA. In the same year, she was cheated by her own neighbours who told her to go buy batteries in a far-away region. Miles from her village, she was stopped and surrounded by several armed Khmer Rouge soldiers. Luck escaped her; a bullet fired through her back to her chest. She ran with blood flowing profusely out of her body. The huge scar is very visible on her upper centre chest. After the shooting, her relatives found her in a paddy field but she asked them to keep her there. She might have thought that she would die, and that her life was worth nothing but fertilizer in the paddy. Continue reading →
Last Sunday, I thought of a change of an environment. After two unproductive days of work, I decided to give myself a new challenge. What was that? That’s to go out and see people. When did it become a challenge just to see people? I don’t know.
My sisters and I dashed off to Sorya Shopping mall minutes after arriving home. I saw nothing but same old things at the place, so went up to the top floor just only to find this spooky thing called “Ghost House” which I’m sure has been a craze in Asia. In Germany, there is also such a sort of thing, so I guess, it might not just be a thing for Asians. It’s for everyone who wants to experience hallucination or shock. When I spotted all these disgusting paintings of ghosts, I just switched a direction to the left. There, I found this game station where a small crowd was glancing at its screen. Four girls were being rocked ceaselessly in a roller-coaster car in a SMALL ROOM . Not funny. What were they seeing, I was wondering. Fazed by the mystery, I had my sister pay $3 for my curiosity.

What did you see?
Continue reading →