Phnom Penh

AnalysisExpat LifeNewsPhnom Penh

Is Eric David Erdmann a falsely accused victim of mistaken identity, or a lying fugitive child sex offender?

In late March, a new Khmer440 poster with the username “sniper_m4” started a topic in our discussion forums about “Being Followed.” Sniper_m4 expressed concern that a tuk tuk driver recently told his wife that he was being followed by Actions pour les Enfants (“APLE”), a well known pedophile-hunting, child protection NGO.

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Charlie Chaplin’s Cambodia

Charlie and Paulette were big news, the reporters descended, and Charlie entertained them “with much courtesy and charm” in the hotel bar (presumably the Elephant Bar). Phnom Penh, he said, was charming, the palaces and pagodas delightful, the Cambodian houses picturesque. He felt he had to question whether French Colonial villas (the ones the Europeans lived in) were perhaps a little suburban and uncomfortable, but the wide boulevards, built over newly-reclaimed canals, were the equal of those in Paris. Asked if he might consider making a movie in Cambodia, he didn’t rule it out, but also didn’t see it happening in the immediate future. He would, however, undertake to publicise Indochina as a tourist destination on his return home.

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Phnom Penh’s urban artistic renaissance

Phnom Penh is enjoying an urban artistic renaissance, a revitalisation of Khmer contemporary music and art culture which is as fast and exciting as the development of the capital itself. The reasons for this revival are numerous and complicated, but it includes the influence of the increasing presence of international artists, a vibrant local art and music scene and numerous organisations who aim to encourage and rejuvenate Khmer artistic expression.

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