Olddaddy Posted July 23 Posted July 23 On 7/18/2026 at 11:41 AM, floridarob said: Anyway, I'm rooting for you Oh don't be disgusting Keithambrose and vinapu 2 Quote
PeterRS2 Posted July 23 Posted July 23 5 hours ago, jimmie50 said: Yes, at the moment that is what I have. It will be fine for my upcoming trip in September. However, if this becomes a more permanent move I will need to get some type of health insurance for expats. One more thing to investigate. That list continues to grow. lol. I'd attempt to get a policy now without waiting another day. The problem for those of us in the older age bracket is that the older we get, the more diffiult it is to find any insurance policy. And those we can find often have multiple exclusions. With minor ailments requiring just a quick visit to a doctor I would not bother with cover. It's the major medical problems that need to be covered. vinapu and jimmie50 2 Quote
Olddaddy Posted July 23 Posted July 23 3 hours ago, PeterRS2 said: Apologies, duplicate It was so good you said it twice ! floridarob 1 Quote
PeterRS2 Posted July 23 Posted July 23 2 minutes ago, Olddaddy said: It was so good you said it twice ! Oddly, when i tried to submit the original post, nothing happened. Same the scond time around. Quote
jimmie50 Posted July 23 Author Posted July 23 I was running some errands this morning and while waiting on the card shop to open I decided to go into the Barnes & Noble bookstore which was right next door. The bookstore was already open. I thought I would see what books they might have about Cambodia. I guess it should come as no surprise, but there was not one single book that provided any information specifically on Cambodia. In the travel section, there was one travel guide that included Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. In Military History and World History that was nothing...not even anything on the Vietnam War that might have included details about the bombing of Cambodia. I even asked at the Customer Service desk and they could find nothing in their computer system that I could even order. It seems the country, their history and culture, and the atrocities of past and present are of little interest to anyone. khaolakguy 1 Quote
Olddaddy Posted July 23 Posted July 23 I wonder if Arthur & Paul is still going ...I did stay there two nights back in 2018 before heading NEXT Door to the Rambuttan hotel and half the price The sauna of A&P was dirty back then I didn't really think much of Phonm Penh , no reason for me to go back Oh mind ya own business Quote
vinapu Posted July 23 Posted July 23 2 hours ago, Olddaddy said: I wonder if Arthur & Paul is still going ...I did stay there two nights back in 2018 before heading NEXT Door to the Rambuttan hotel and half the price The sauna of A&P was dirty back then I didn't really think much of Phonm Penh , no reason for me to go back Oh mind ya own business yes, still going . How I know ? One of my friends was staying there very recently. We may even hear a word since he is member here. For me main reason of going to Phnom Penh is Space Hair bar and it's guys ichigo, a-447 and Olddaddy 2 1 Quote
PeterRS2 Posted July 24 Posted July 24 10 hours ago, jimmie50 said: I thought I would see what books they might have about Cambodia. I guess it should come as no surprise, but there was not one single book that provided any information specifically on Cambodia. Sadly that does not surprise me. Bookshops nowadays generally will not read unsolicited manuscripts. They depend on literary agents to do that for them and then recommend books to include on the shelves. The wars in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos all happened in the late 1950s - mid-1975 period. Since bookstores are generally staffed by elderly or young men and women, that basically means there is virtually zero interest. The older ones in the USA don't want to remember and the younger ones know virtually nothing about that period. There is therefore little interest in stocking books dealing with these wars, the more so as the USA lost them all. I have had three books on other issues published. Three years ago I started on a fourth with Myanmar as its main background. Myanmar is a fascinating country with a rich history, kings who tried to modernise the country but also the seat of rebellions and wars. As the fires of war were breaking out in Asia after WWII - Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaya etc. - Myanmar was in a period of relative calm - relative to those other countries. Yet it has been beset since 1962 by increasingly brutal dictatorships and a civil war that continues to this day. My book centres on a refugee from that country. I have sent formal Proposals to more than 50 literary agents. All have rejected it. Not because they have read the book - no agent wants a full book on their computers, just specific details which unfortunately take ages as each seems to want different information. One was at least honest. She said no one is interested in Myanmar now. Most readers would have no clue where it is, although some may have heard of Aung San Suu Kyi. To quote the title of a 1970s movie, it is basically The Land That Time Forgot. Very sadly, I am sure the same is basically true of Cambodia. I would check amazon which seems to have a variety of books on Cambodia. vinapu, tm_nyc and jimmie50 3 Quote
floridarob Posted July 24 Posted July 24 14 hours ago, jimmie50 said: It seems the country, their history and culture, and the atrocities of past and present are of little interest to anyone. Much like the red states in the USA.... vinapu, splinter1949 and jimmie50 1 2 Quote
PeterRS2 Posted July 24 Posted July 24 17 hours ago, jimmie50 said: It seems the country, their history and culture, and the atrocities of past and present are of little interest to anyone. I fear this is more or less true of most of Asia - and many other parts of the world. Before the colonists arrived to be followed by nationalists seeking control of their own countries, many had been beset by a whole range of disasters, many now all but forgotten. Perhaps only in India and China are some major atrocities regularly recalled. jimmie50 1 Quote
khaolakguy Posted July 24 Posted July 24 11 hours ago, PeterRS2 said: Bookshops nowadays generally will not read unsolicited manuscripts. They depend on literary agents to do that for them and then recommend books to include on the shelves. This doesn’t sound right at all. The normal process is that Literary Agents(I take it you don’t have one) recommend books to publishers. Publishers recommend books to bookshops via sales reps. So the issue normally with unsolicited manuscripts is getting literary agents, or if you don’t have one to get publishers, to read them. I suppose if you are having to self publish(paying to do so yourself, because no one else will) and sending these or your manuscripts direct to bookshops I can see why you are not getting very far. This is sometimes known as Vanity Publishing. Quote
jimmie50 Posted July 24 Author Posted July 24 11 hours ago, PeterRS2 said: I would check amazon which seems to have a variety of books on Cambodia. I have checked amazon, but was hoping to find something a little more current. Most of what amazon has to offer only includes events through approximately 2010. I was hoping to find something beginning around 2018 to the present. They had a couple, but not the hard copy...only online editions through Kindle. I hate reading books online. I am old school and want to actually hold the book in my hands and flip the pages. I tried to locate a hard copy of the two more recent books but it seems they are only available on Kindle. I am not that desperate. khaolakguy and FunFifties 2 Quote
khaolakguy Posted July 24 Posted July 24 4 hours ago, jimmie50 said: have checked amazon, but was hoping to find something a little more current. Possibly https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-handbook-of-contemporary-cambodia-katherine-brickell/5a87d4350a90487b ~Disclaimer: I haven';t read it jimmie50 1 Quote
jimmie50 Posted July 25 Author Posted July 25 4 hours ago, khaolakguy said: Possibly https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-handbook-of-contemporary-cambodia-katherine-brickell/5a87d4350a90487b I checked and Amazon actually has the book in stock. It is a little on the expensive side...$65...but from the description I think it will provide more up to date and in-depth information that I am looking for. Thanks for the recommendation. Quote
PeterRS2 Posted July 25 Posted July 25 2 hours ago, jimmie50 said: I checked and Amazon actually has the book in stock. It is a little on the expensive side...$65...but from the description I think it will provide more up to date and in-depth information that I am looking for. Thanks for the recommendation. Yes, sounds an excellent book. But note that it was published in 2020 which means it would have been written in 2019. It may therefore not be what you are looking for. jimmie50 1 Quote
Tomtravel Posted July 25 Posted July 25 3 hours ago, jimmie50 said: I checked and Amazon actually has the book in stock. It is a little on the expensive side...$65...but from the description I think it will provide more up to date and in-depth information that I am looking for. Thanks for the recommendation. Jimmie50 I think you are now well informed on the general issues. If you want to continue deep five, German Konrad Adenauer Foundation is a reputable organisation and they have couple of fresh free downloadable reports on Cambodia, in English. https://www.kas.de/en/web/kambodscha/laenderberichte/detail/-/content/policy-brief-social-issues-in-cambodia Leave something to be explored locally and with Cam and his family!🙂 Despite the country situation people live their lives and have fun, what else they could do? khaolakguy, jimmie50 and bkkmfj2648 2 1 Quote
Tomtravel Posted July 25 Posted July 25 I just had webcall with my friend who is finalizing his BA studies. He said he and other students dont pay bribes for passing exams. He said he wouldn’t know how that could be done. Quote
jimmie50 Posted July 25 Author Posted July 25 1 hour ago, Tomtravel said: I just had webcall with my friend who is finalizing his BA studies. He said he and other students dont pay bribes for passing exams. He said he wouldn’t know how that could be done. This is one of the reasons I was hoping to find a more up-to-date book about Cambodia. Most of the books available were written more than 30 years ago, so I would hope things have improved in that regard. Quote
thaiophilus Posted July 25 Posted July 25 There are Asian publishers that Amazon has never heard of. Next time you're in Thailand (or a friend is!) you might find books from those publishers in some of the more academically-oriented Bangkok bookshops. For example: Asia Books https://www.asiabooks.com/en/search.html?query=cambodia&source=all&page=1 Kinokuniya https://thailand.kinokuniya.com/ Dasa Books https://dasabooks.com/search Chula Books https://www.chulabook.com/en/categories?text=cambodia jimmie50 1 Quote
jimmie50 Posted July 26 Author Posted July 26 Well, it would seem the internet and cellular service is not always the most reliable in the rural area where Cam's family lives. There have been a couple of times now where he had no internet access for approximately 8 hours. He uses Metfone, and says it is better in the larger cities (Siem Reap, Battambang, Phnom Penh). Think I might look into some type of satellite service I can pay for in advance of my upcoming trip so I don't run into such a problem. Evidently Starlink is illegal in Cambodia. Anyone have other suggestions or recommendations? Since we will be in Battambang and Siem Reap most of the time, I am hoping it will not be an issue. A little more than six weeks now until I leave for Cambodia. Anxious to see Cam, but a little nervous exploring someplace new...especially after reading about all of the corruption everywhere. Quote
jimmie50 Posted July 30 Author Posted July 30 Well, I can see that this forum is not nearly as active or interesting as the Thailand forum. However, I thought I would give a quick update on the construction project and on Cam. They have completed the digging of a footer around the entire perimeter of their property, put together steel rods into a framework and have it positioned around the perimeter as well. Next up is to build the wooden molds around the steel framing so that they can begin to pour concrete. They have had rain the last two days so been unable to work. Cam is hoping they can begin building the wooden frames tomorrow. The timing of the rain was actually a good thing, because Cam has been dealing with a toothache. It was bad enough over the weekend that he actually went to the local hospital to see a doctor. The doctor (no idea if this was an actual dentist, a medical doctor, or what the level of education was) required $40 up front before he would even see Cam. Good example of the corrupt system. No payment, no office visit...period. This doctor wanted $100 to put a crown on the tooth in question. Cam did not care for the doctor, did not trust him, and refused to do the crown. He went to see someone different on Tuesday. This is someone his mother took him to when he was a little boy. Anyway, the end result was a tooth extraction for $10 and Cam was satisfied with that. Poor guy was in a lot of pain over the weekend. He was taking their version of Tylenol without much benefit. Difficulty sleeping and eating. Said it was even hard to focus on work. When we did our usual video chat this morning he said it was much better now that the tooth was removed. I am not sure that a crown would have done much good as it sounds like he also would need root canal. That was never mentioned by the first doctor. If he was in that much pain, something must have been going on with the nerve as well as the tooth itself. A crown alone would just cover up the tooth but not fix any nerve damage. Makes me think the first 'doctor' had very little training in the dental field at least. khaolakguy, bkkmfj2648, vinapu and 1 other 3 1 Quote
PeterRS2 Posted July 31 Posted July 31 On 7/24/2026 at 11:07 PM, khaolakguy said: This doesn’t sound right at all. The normal process is that Literary Agents(I take it you don’t have one) recommend books to publishers. Publishers recommend books to bookshops via sales reps. So the issue normally with unsolicited manuscripts is getting literary agents, or if you don’t have one to get publishers, to read them. And I suppose you know all about this subject because you have in the last few years had books published. Really? I doubt it! You are talking through a hole in your head! As I said, I have had three books published. Two in the UK went through literary agents. No, I do not have a specific agent because they only take on writers who have either a reaasonable volume of work they are interested in or they see a best-seller shouting at them from the page. My two were on very different subjects For the one in Hong Kong (being a far smaller market) I was recommended directy to a publisher but by a literary agent based in Shanghai who did not first read the book. You will do well to read the following from the Penguin Books website - Agents act as a crucial connection to the rest of the industry. For those writers hoping to sign with a publisher, for example, having an agent is a key part of the process. Most publishers don’t take unsolicited submissions - which is the industry term for the manuscripts a publisher receives directly from a writer without asking for them, and without an agent. This is because the volume of submissions received would be so high that it would be almost impossible for editors to get through them all. Instead, agents help streamline this process by ensuring editors receive manuscripts for genres or types of books in which they have particular expertise or interest. https://www.penguin.co.uk/about/company-articles/what-is-a-literary-agent As for finding a literary agent, my books had very specific subjects and so were not of interest to just one particular agent as they believed they would not be able to attract interest from publishers. And for your interest since you do not know the subject at all, there are masively more authors than there are llterary agents. More than half the number of agents in the UK are closed to submissions for much of each year. On 7/24/2026 at 11:07 PM, khaolakguy said: So the issue normally with unsolicited manuscripts is getting literary agents, or if you don’t have one to get publishers, to read them. Many agents generally receive 5,000 - 10,000 book submissions annually. No way are publishers going to read them first! And no way are agents going to look at any of them unless there is something in the book proposal that particularly interests them. Please know a specific subject in detail before you comment on it. Quote
PeterRS2 Posted Friday at 02:19 PM Posted Friday at 02:19 PM 18 hours ago, jimmie50 said: This doctor wanted $100 to put a crown on the tooth in question. Cam did not care for the doctor, did not trust him, and refused to do the crown. He went to see someone different on Tuesday. This is someone his mother took him to when he was a little boy. Anyway, the end result was a tooth extraction for $10 and Cam was satisfied with that. I'll have to go to Cambodia for my next dental work. A crown in Bangkok varies in cost depending on the dentist but it can cost as much as Bt. 20,000 and a root canal around Bt. 16,000! An extraction about Bt. 8,000!! Quote
