4 hours ago, khaolakguy said:

So it will be added to my next Cambodia trip!

The riverfront really is quite nice and they have done a good job with the beautification project. They are able to hold events along the waterfront such as concerts, festivals, etc, many people enjoy running, and in the evenings at different locations along the river you will find small groups of people doing exercise with music and a leader/instructor similar to what some people participate in at Lumpini Park in Bangkok. The area also fills up with different types of food carts in the evening, similar to Siem Reap and the river night market area. Battambang is nice, and we are enjoying our time here...the Phare circus school is located here and they do shows several days a week plus tours of the school, and there are a couple of nice art museums as well. Just not sure I would make this home base long term. Prefer Siem Reap.

6 hours ago, vinapu said:

It's all more complex than we are able to comprehend, including shameful Western support for Khmer Rouge government after they were overthrown by Vietnamese , even if all their atrocities become almost immediately known. You rightly are staying out of this subject when dealing with people thare

To be honest, when US first started fighting in Vietnam I was in junior high and high school. That was current so not something we even studied in high school history classes. Since meeting Cam and learning more about Cambodia, it's history, and the atrocities of Pol Pot, it really is both moving when you see these things up close and personal but also appalling that they killed so many of their own people. It simply goes beyond reason and understanding. I think Cam is also learning and experiencing much about his own country on our adventures that he never experienced before. His parents were elementary age during Khmer Rouge. I am sure they probably lost family members in all of the killings, but he said they never talk about it. It is one of those things that never gets discussed or talked about. I am very careful about what I say, and never...never ask personal questions.

2 hours ago, jimmie50 said:

I would say he must be the exception rather than the norm, and has definitely stayed focused on the end goal...building the new house. Gotta give the boy credit!!!

probably you right about Cam being an exception rather than norm but by no means unique. I know at least 3 guys ( 1 Cambodian and 2 Lao ) who during their bar career built houses for themselves or their families in their respective villages.

Generally boys are not that good with finances but lets to be honest - where they were supposed to learn money management skills if they almost exclusively came from hand-to-mouth environments ?

4 hours ago, vinapu said:

probably you right about Cam being an exception rather than norm but by no means unique. I know at least 3 guys ( 1 Cambodian and 2 Lao ) who during their bar career built houses for themselves or their families in their respective villages.

Generally boys are not that good with finances but lets to be honest - where they were supposed to learn money management skills if they almost exclusively came from hand-to-mouth environments ?

"Hand to mouth"? Or.....

6 hours ago, vinapu said:

probably you right about Cam being an exception rather than norm but by no means unique. I know at least 3 guys ( 1 Cambodian and 2 Lao ) who during their bar career built houses for themselves or their families in their respective villages.

Generally boys are not that good with finances but lets to be honest - where they were supposed to learn money management skills if they almost exclusively came from hand-to-mouth environments ?

I do think that Cam is quite intelligent and has reasonably good common sense. He is also able to stay focused on the long term goal and not easily distracted from that. I also think he has learned information about investing in gold from his Battambang friend who now lives in Australia.

I totally agree with you about learning money management skills...and it isn't just in Asian countries. In US schools many years ago, they would teach things like personal finance and money management. Not any more. Those days are long gone. Since the student population I taught for 30+ years was the moderate to severe special education students, we did try to teach them some of those basic skills so they could function in the world as independently as possible. I cannot begin to tell you how many parents of the general student population would ask us if we could teach the same things to their high achievers who were college bound.

21 hours ago, vinapu said:

worst part of that is that Khmer Rouge were also Cambodian people

15 hours ago, jimmie50 said:

appalling that they killed so many of their own people.

Actually, much of the Khmer Rouge leadership was ethnically Chinese, rather than Khmer/Cambodian. Pol Pot himself, Khieu Samphan, Nuon Cha, Son Sen etc. ...all Chinese. It is hardly surprising that this lot took their cue from Mao and China and received such strong backing from their ethnic cohort in China. It is hardly surprising that they had such hatred and contempt for 2,000 years of Khmer culture. After all, it wasn't their culture and the Khmer weren't really their people.

What was that saying that emanated from the Chinese Khmer Rouge leadership? "To keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss.." Such was their contempt for the keepers of Khmer culture.

Also to be added to that list of Khmer Rouge Chinamen with Cambodian blood on their hands is the current dictator, the Khmer Rouge defector, Hun Sen. No surprise that he has turned Cambodia into a Chinese colony, a haven for Chinese scammers and, once again, the native Khmer/Cambodians are being suppressed.

18 hours ago, jimmie50 said:

I am very careful about what I say, and never...never ask personal questions.

Why not? Aren't you Cam's boyfriend/partner and have known each other for at least half a year now and lived together for two months, under the most trying conditions? At what point will it be okay for you to ask personal questions of your own partner? I'll be the first to say relationships are rarely 50-50: the balance of power, commitment and sanguineness varies at different stages of the relationship but you seem to have taken yourself out of the equation altogether.

5 hours ago, Department_Of_Agriculture said:

had such hatred and contempt for 2,000 years

And you , how many years you been on this planet?

8 hours ago, Department_Of_Agriculture said:

Actually, much of the Khmer Rouge leadership was ethnically Chinese, rather than Khmer/Cambodian. Pol Pot himself, Khieu Samphan, Nuon Cha, Son Sen etc. ...all Chinese. It is hardly surprising that this lot took their cue from Mao and China and received such strong backing from their ethnic cohort in China. It is hardly surprising that they had such hatred and contempt for 2,000 years of Khmer culture. After all, it wasn't their culture and the Khmer weren't really their people.

interesting concept even if not really supported by anything other than usual scapegoating of perceived foreigners. Reminds me discussion I had in USSR when I pointed to my interlocutor that during Stalin times Russians killed so much of their own people. Answer was ' it were Georgians who killed us, Stalin and Beria were Georgians "

8 hours ago, mauRICE said:

Why not? Aren't you Cam's boyfriend/partner and have known each other for at least half a year now and lived together for two months, under the most trying conditions? At what point will it be okay for you to ask personal questions of your own partner? I'll be the first to say relationships are rarely 50-50: the balance of power, commitment and sanguineness varies at different stages of the relationship but you seem to have taken yourself out of the equation altogether.

Not completely out of the equation. lol. I ask plenty of questions about many things. Cam will confirm this, and probably state it becomes rather annoying at times. 😂 I don't ask questions about the family history of his parents, don't make statements that could be misconstrued or interpreted as judgmental of the culture, history or politics, and am careful about making comparisons to other countries and their cultures vs. Khmer. Even though Cam has gone to Thailand on numerous occasions for work over the years, I have learned he has some very strong opinions about how Thailand has stolen most of what they call 'Thai culture' from Cambodia. I prefer to maintain neutrality and remain silent...simply listening to him vent. It is a case of picking your battles.

4 hours ago, jimmie50 said:

I prefer to maintain neutrality and remain silent...simply listening to him vent. It is a case of picking your battles.

A very wise decision indeed!

34 minutes ago, a-447 said:

A very wise decision indeed!

I wish I could do that 😑

13 hours ago, vinapu said:

interesting concept even if not really supported by anything other than usual scapegoating of perceived foreigners. Reminds me discussion I had in USSR when I pointed to my interlocutor that during Stalin times Russians killed so much of their own people. Answer was ' it were Georgians who killed us, Stalin and Beria were Georgians "

The two situations are not cognate and that is, at best, a superficial equation. But since this thread is about Jimmie's Cambodian Dream, rather than of comparative politics, I will leave it at that. The "Khmer Rouge" was, essentially, a Chinese-led regime.

4 hours ago, floridarob said:

I wish I could do that 😑

There would be little point in keeping your mouth shut, considering that you speak through your backside most of the time.

One of the "benefits" of having an overstretched arsehole, I suppose.

11 hours ago, jimmie50 said:

I don't ask questions about the family history of his parents, don't make statements that could be misconstrued or interpreted as judgmental of the culture, history or politics, and am careful about making comparisons to other countries and their cultures vs. Khmer. Even though Cam has gone to Thailand on numerous occasions for work over the years, I have learned he has some very strong opinions about how Thailand has stolen most of what they call 'Thai culture' from Cambodia. I prefer to maintain neutrality and remain silent...simply listening to him vent. It is a case of picking your battles.

very, very smart way of doing things. Picking up those type of battles early in the stage of relationship may ruin whole thing and fast. After dozen years , when things settle, then either party may try to save the world own way

6 hours ago, floridarob said:

I wish I could do that 😑

relax , you will grow up one day

1 hour ago, Department_Of_Agriculture said:

But since this thread is about Jimmie's Cambodian Dream, rather than of comparative politics,

+1

glad we agreed here

1 hour ago, Department_Of_Agriculture said:

There would be little point in keeping your mouth shut, considering that you speak through your backside most of the time.

One of the "benefits" of having an overstretched arsehole, I suppose.

love , isn't it a beautiful thing ?