on safari

While in Phnom Penh this weekend my Moto driver Han explained to me on Sunday that Tuol Sleng was closed. Now, this is normally just a way for touts to encourage tourists to go somewhere else and receive commission. It seemed strange to me that Han would do that, and I tried to find out more about it, but he didn’t know any details. As I didn’t want to go to Tuol Sleng anyway, I wasn’t bothered about finding out. Anyway, now I know what happened: Mia Farrow’s anti China rally has brought about some turmoil. See the Bangkok Post article for details.

Yes, I finally get to go on a holiday! Next weekend I’ll be in Phnon Pen for my first Thai visa extension. Actually, my visa is not due for another two weeks, but with Fabian coming to Thailand on January 24 and me not wanting to overstay my first visa, I figured, I’ll get it done next weekend. I had a couple of options like Penang, Singapore, or Macao. But why should I want to go to another shopping paradise? For shopping in Asia, Bangkok is the destination of choice today, so Phnon Pen seemed much more tempting. It’s been over five years since I’ve been to Cambodia last time and I have very good memories of Phnon Pen, especially this one french restaurant by the riverside. Not sure if I’ll find it, but I will definitely try to, though there might be more food options available now than in 2002.

I only have two days, arriving on Saturday morning and leaving on Sunday evening, but I still hope to visit some of the places I missed last time, like the royal palace, the national museum and, of course, the killing fields. After visiting the very depressing Tuol Sleng prison last time, Fabian and I simply couldn’t deal with the killing fields and decided to skip them. However, I should go and visit next week as I truly believe that visiting places of historical disasters and tragedies is very important as it’s the only way to keep the memories alive.

Today I went to a pharmacy nearby to buy some eye drops. Bangkok’s dust and dirt as well as the constant exposure to air conditioning and fans doesn’t seem to agree very well with my contact lenses. I actually wanted to buy some mild eye drops like ‘natural tears’ to ease the occasional irritations. I really thought that’s what I explained to the pharmacist. She gave me a box and said that this was mild. With all the Thai writing on it (which I still can’t read properly), I was kind of forced to trust her, so I bought it for 30 Bath (equals about one Swiss Franc). When I got home, I opened the box and started reading the package insert and the first sentence is: ‘[…] is a synthetic soluble corticosteroid, 30 times as effective as cortisone’. So that’s supposed to be mild? Sounds like a serious drug to me…

In Thailand and pretty much anywhere in Asia for that matter, any kind of medicine is freely available at the pharmacies. Just name it, and you’ll get it. Problem is, you even get it when you don’t name it. Therefore, people here tend to take antibiotics and really strong drugs for pretty much everything, simply because there is nothing else available at the pharmacies and everyone does so. But for my slightly irritated eyes, corticosteroid is a bit too much. Guess I’ll try to find a different pharmacy tomorrow.

I bought a box of birds’ nest drink, but somehow I can’t get myself to drink it, so it still sits in my fridge.

On January 2nd, the Sri Lankan government has cancelled the ceasefire agreement between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The economist titled yesterday: “The government and the Tigers stop pretending they have a ceasefire”. As a matter of fact, the war has continued over the past two years, without however, the agreement being annulled.

In my last post on Sri Lanka (on my old blog, this link might break some day) I wrote:

“Today the LTTE and the government security forces, continue to fight in the northeast, although none of the parties have officially affronted the ceasefire agreement yet. […] Neither the government nor the LTTE want to take the responsibility for beginning a new war. […] It therefore seems most likely that the status quo will be maintained with the government forces and the Tamil Tigers continuing occasional attacks in the north and east, while Rajapakse will emphasise economic development in the south.”

So what does it mean if the government cancels the ceasefire? Very probably it means that the Sinhalese/Buddhist pressure on the government has increased over the past few months. It must have increased so much that the government no more fears the decline of the country’s international reputation. The anti-Norway movement in Sri Lanka has thus won. The Sinhalese hardliners don’t want a federal solution for the “Tamil problem”, they use populist methods like myths and folklore to explain why the territory cannot be separated.

Starting new peace talks will be even more difficult under the current circumstances. Nationalism, populism and Buddhism will do anything in their power to prevent further peace attempts. I believe at this point only the international community could pressure the government to continue working on a peaceful settlement of the conflict as the local opponents have lost their voices.