Oh.....nice Bass-Weillers....JLP!!
....Gotta go sleep right now....BRB soon....much more to come...
....Gotta go sleep right now....BRB soon....much more to come...
-
As of today ICMag has his own Discord server. In this Discord server you can chat, talk with eachother, listen to music, share stories and pictures...and much more. Join now and let's grow together! Join ICMag Discord here! More details in this thread here: here.
S.E. Asian Expedition 2008...Cambodia/Vietnam...
- Thread starter Gypsy Nirvana
- Start date
Flying high on Thai!
Flying high on Thai!
Hey everyone, yes when Gypsy mentioned my reluctance to travel in SE Asia when first proposed a few years ago, he's right in that I did have certain concerns and fears about going that far away from my comfort zone (the West). Growing up during the volatile Vietnam war era in the US kinda compounded some preconceived notions and stereotypical prejudices instilled by a combination of the media and the folks around me that I grew up with.
One of my brothers was in the military during the 60's and was stationed out that way. Many hometown boys never made it back, and some that did relayed a lot of negativity, many returned with wounds (not only physical) and I guess this all seeped into my psyche over many years.
I heard all these stories of them filleting up kitties and puppies for consumption at home and in restaurants, it all seemed so alien to me. I had also heard how the folks (particularly in Vietnam/Cambodia) weren't too keen on Americans. So as a foreign traveler I found this intimidating and so sure I initially shied away from Gypsy's many invitations in years past to come out to see for myself and get to know and love what he was so intrigued about.
Just over a year and a half ago I made my first trip out to Bangkok, then Cambodia and Laos....steering clear of Vietnam. My first impressions with Thailand/Cambo/Laos couldn't have been better, so this time around we will venture into a country I thought I'd never ever visit....Vietnam!
First, we will go to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. I had a whale of a time last year, particularly liking the small markets, gorgeous architecture of the buildings and general funkyness of the place....not to mention the excellent smokeables and cuisine, heavily influenced by the French (cuisine) since Cambodia was once part of what was once called French Indo-China. Look for a good T-Bone in Cambodia you won't find it easily (mostly on import from US or Australia).....but look for Fois Gras, superb french baguette bread, and exotic salads and fruits and it's all there.
We soon boarded our flight in Bangkok at Suvarnabhumi Airport (try saying that after a couple of glasses of bubbly) and settled down into some very comfortable seats near the front of the airplane. Suvarnabhumi is a beautiful airport, extremely modern looking architecturally, with one of the best duty free shopping situations I've ever come across. It's like miles and miles of gorgeous shops full of the most wonderful products from all over the world...and especially Thailand (ohhhh do I love to shop!)
We were delighted to find out upon check-in for our Thai air flight that we had been upgraded to business class and soon after boarding we were given the menus to look at and I was offered a glass of Pommery (champagne....woo hoo!)
Unfortunately for me, I can not eat any type of seafood, whether it be in the form of a fish, a prawn, crab, mussels, you name it...if it came out of the sea it cannot be for me. This makes dining in SE Asia a bit problematic because they use things such as shrimp paste and fish sauce/oils in virtually every dish. This is a very serious health concern, so much so that it requires me to travel with an Epi-Pen full of adrenelin to be administered post haste if I go into anaphylactic shock (sever allergic reaction causing difficulty breathing...swallowing...and a multitude of possibly unsavory side effects which can if untreated in some cases be fatal!)
Gypsy knows exactly where to find my Epi-Pen and has had instructions on how to administer it if ever needed.
As always I have to explain this to anyone who might try and serve me with fishy infused foods, so I told the flight attendant about this...but the special meal request message for my itinerary had somehow got lost and was not given to those who provide the cabin crew with special meals. Oh dear....I'd have to wait till I got to Phnom Penh to eat...thankfully it's just an hour flight, so I wasn't going to starve....so I dined on more Pommery....and got a bit tiddly....gives new meaning to the phrase liquid diet. Gypsy enjoys seafood so much I just passed my meal on to him and it disappeared rather quickly.
Flying high on Thai!
Hey everyone, yes when Gypsy mentioned my reluctance to travel in SE Asia when first proposed a few years ago, he's right in that I did have certain concerns and fears about going that far away from my comfort zone (the West). Growing up during the volatile Vietnam war era in the US kinda compounded some preconceived notions and stereotypical prejudices instilled by a combination of the media and the folks around me that I grew up with.
One of my brothers was in the military during the 60's and was stationed out that way. Many hometown boys never made it back, and some that did relayed a lot of negativity, many returned with wounds (not only physical) and I guess this all seeped into my psyche over many years.
I heard all these stories of them filleting up kitties and puppies for consumption at home and in restaurants, it all seemed so alien to me. I had also heard how the folks (particularly in Vietnam/Cambodia) weren't too keen on Americans. So as a foreign traveler I found this intimidating and so sure I initially shied away from Gypsy's many invitations in years past to come out to see for myself and get to know and love what he was so intrigued about.
Just over a year and a half ago I made my first trip out to Bangkok, then Cambodia and Laos....steering clear of Vietnam. My first impressions with Thailand/Cambo/Laos couldn't have been better, so this time around we will venture into a country I thought I'd never ever visit....Vietnam!
First, we will go to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. I had a whale of a time last year, particularly liking the small markets, gorgeous architecture of the buildings and general funkyness of the place....not to mention the excellent smokeables and cuisine, heavily influenced by the French (cuisine) since Cambodia was once part of what was once called French Indo-China. Look for a good T-Bone in Cambodia you won't find it easily (mostly on import from US or Australia).....but look for Fois Gras, superb french baguette bread, and exotic salads and fruits and it's all there.
We soon boarded our flight in Bangkok at Suvarnabhumi Airport (try saying that after a couple of glasses of bubbly) and settled down into some very comfortable seats near the front of the airplane. Suvarnabhumi is a beautiful airport, extremely modern looking architecturally, with one of the best duty free shopping situations I've ever come across. It's like miles and miles of gorgeous shops full of the most wonderful products from all over the world...and especially Thailand (ohhhh do I love to shop!)
We were delighted to find out upon check-in for our Thai air flight that we had been upgraded to business class and soon after boarding we were given the menus to look at and I was offered a glass of Pommery (champagne....woo hoo!)
Unfortunately for me, I can not eat any type of seafood, whether it be in the form of a fish, a prawn, crab, mussels, you name it...if it came out of the sea it cannot be for me. This makes dining in SE Asia a bit problematic because they use things such as shrimp paste and fish sauce/oils in virtually every dish. This is a very serious health concern, so much so that it requires me to travel with an Epi-Pen full of adrenelin to be administered post haste if I go into anaphylactic shock (sever allergic reaction causing difficulty breathing...swallowing...and a multitude of possibly unsavory side effects which can if untreated in some cases be fatal!)
Gypsy knows exactly where to find my Epi-Pen and has had instructions on how to administer it if ever needed.
As always I have to explain this to anyone who might try and serve me with fishy infused foods, so I told the flight attendant about this...but the special meal request message for my itinerary had somehow got lost and was not given to those who provide the cabin crew with special meals. Oh dear....I'd have to wait till I got to Phnom Penh to eat...thankfully it's just an hour flight, so I wasn't going to starve....so I dined on more Pommery....and got a bit tiddly....gives new meaning to the phrase liquid diet. Gypsy enjoys seafood so much I just passed my meal on to him and it disappeared rather quickly.
Doctor Who
Member
I am jealous. Be safe and have fun. Thanks for sharing your travels and pics with us!
Dreams of days gone by....
Dreams of days gone by....
Flying.....especially when comfortably seated always calms me down alot and once I had eaten the delicious double-dose of a meal my eyes started to close and I drifted off into a cosseted slumbar......and into my own dreamy world....
I had in the past looked for some seeds in Cambodia and not really had much success just managing to get a small number of seeds on one or two occasions that I gave away to some growers that had grown them out and enjoyed the herb from them, but had never used them in any breeding projects....This was to be my 4th time in that country over a span of 10 years or so and since I had been contacted by my associate specifically on the subject I definately had my hopes up that this time I might manage to get a good quantity of seeds that would be of a decent quality at least.....
Back like 7-8 years ago I had met an ex-patriate American called Skully up in Siam Reap who had moved there from Hawaii and had exchanged seeds with him and toke tested what he had grown which was excellent.....this he called the Lemon Loas as the genetic material had been brought to him over the Loas/Cambodian border and he had grown them out in Cambodia......I had given him some Romberry to grow that had been gifted to me by Vic High which Skully grew out to much delight somewhere near the temples of Angkor.......
Over the years I had lost contact with Skully.....but last year had met and asked another grower/canna-enthusiast who lives in Cambodia to give me a call if he saw anything that might be interesting.....
Yeah I was dreaming of fields of fragrant herbs and spices.....probably snoring away in the front cabin of the airbus as it made it's way over the Thai/Cambodian border and was awoken by DG as the plane prepared to land.....and just had time to fill out my arrival card/visa aplication fumbling around in my hand luggage looking for a passport sized pic of myself to present to the Cambo Immigration peeps......
Dreams of days gone by....
Flying.....especially when comfortably seated always calms me down alot and once I had eaten the delicious double-dose of a meal my eyes started to close and I drifted off into a cosseted slumbar......and into my own dreamy world....
I had in the past looked for some seeds in Cambodia and not really had much success just managing to get a small number of seeds on one or two occasions that I gave away to some growers that had grown them out and enjoyed the herb from them, but had never used them in any breeding projects....This was to be my 4th time in that country over a span of 10 years or so and since I had been contacted by my associate specifically on the subject I definately had my hopes up that this time I might manage to get a good quantity of seeds that would be of a decent quality at least.....
Back like 7-8 years ago I had met an ex-patriate American called Skully up in Siam Reap who had moved there from Hawaii and had exchanged seeds with him and toke tested what he had grown which was excellent.....this he called the Lemon Loas as the genetic material had been brought to him over the Loas/Cambodian border and he had grown them out in Cambodia......I had given him some Romberry to grow that had been gifted to me by Vic High which Skully grew out to much delight somewhere near the temples of Angkor.......
Over the years I had lost contact with Skully.....but last year had met and asked another grower/canna-enthusiast who lives in Cambodia to give me a call if he saw anything that might be interesting.....
Yeah I was dreaming of fields of fragrant herbs and spices.....probably snoring away in the front cabin of the airbus as it made it's way over the Thai/Cambodian border and was awoken by DG as the plane prepared to land.....and just had time to fill out my arrival card/visa aplication fumbling around in my hand luggage looking for a passport sized pic of myself to present to the Cambo Immigration peeps......
Phnom Penh....Once Again....
Phnom Penh....Once Again....
It was August and at the height of the rainy season which was quite obvious to see thru the cabin window as we came into land…..Many rivers and fields looked flooded out and the skies were mostly dark and overcast. …My mood was quite sunny though as I love to travel around experiencing the new and past familiarities’ particularly in this area of the globe.
D.G. was her usual bubbly self, excited to return to Phnom Penh once again chattering away about buying some Cambodian silk pyjamas and antique pipes in the market amongst other things….
The Hotel Indo-Chine had sent an old Toyota with a very helpful and courteous driver to pick us up once we cleared immigration and customs sporting our $20 short stay visas in our passports.
Soon we were in the traffic on the road from Phnom Penh airport to the city staring out thru the wetness at all sorts of odd vehicles and unusual people that rode upon them, mostly different forms of older motorcycles, bicycles, trucks and cars many of which were overloaded with goods and passengers……As in many other countries around these parts whole families would ride on just one small scooter…..
The old Toyota smelt a little musty but it was relatively clean and the brakes worked ok and soon we arrived at our destination without any fuss or bother…….
Phnom Penh....Once Again....
It was August and at the height of the rainy season which was quite obvious to see thru the cabin window as we came into land…..Many rivers and fields looked flooded out and the skies were mostly dark and overcast. …My mood was quite sunny though as I love to travel around experiencing the new and past familiarities’ particularly in this area of the globe.
D.G. was her usual bubbly self, excited to return to Phnom Penh once again chattering away about buying some Cambodian silk pyjamas and antique pipes in the market amongst other things….
The Hotel Indo-Chine had sent an old Toyota with a very helpful and courteous driver to pick us up once we cleared immigration and customs sporting our $20 short stay visas in our passports.
Soon we were in the traffic on the road from Phnom Penh airport to the city staring out thru the wetness at all sorts of odd vehicles and unusual people that rode upon them, mostly different forms of older motorcycles, bicycles, trucks and cars many of which were overloaded with goods and passengers……As in many other countries around these parts whole families would ride on just one small scooter…..
The old Toyota smelt a little musty but it was relatively clean and the brakes worked ok and soon we arrived at our destination without any fuss or bother…….
E
EatShitake
Mmmm. I do miss the tropics.
This has been a great read so far. Thanks for sharing.
This has been a great read so far. Thanks for sharing.
G
grapepunched
WOW.... such a journey, I feel like I am a part of it!
Your writing skills are so great, the details so vivid...
Can't WAIT to see how this one turns out! W00t W00t!
-gp
Your writing skills are so great, the details so vivid...
Can't WAIT to see how this one turns out! W00t W00t!
-gp
Sounds like one hell of a good time Gypsy and Dutchgrown!!!Wish I were there right now...I love the tropics and only dislike a few of the tiny critters that live within..From those damn mosqitoes down to the microscopic type which can really put a hurting on ya!!
Killer tropical flower pics DG!!
Sounds like you 2 avoided the little nasties and had a really good time!!
Time to work so you can do it again!!!
Take care...................................................CC
Killer tropical flower pics DG!!
Sounds like you 2 avoided the little nasties and had a really good time!!
Time to work so you can do it again!!!
Take care...................................................CC
WOW speechless....glad u 2 documented this occasion...staying tuned....DG u sleep in ur pj's lastnight?..hehe.............stay safe......MmGypsy Nirvana said:It was August and at the height of the rainy season which was quite obvious to see thru the cabin window as we came into land…..Many rivers and fields looked flooded out and the skies were mostly dark and overcast. …My mood was quite sunny though as I love to travel around experiencing the new and past familiarities’ particularly in this area of the globe.
D.G. was her usual bubbly self, excited to return to Phnom Penh once again chattering away about buying some Cambodian silk pyjamas and antique pipes in the market amongst other things….
The Hotel Indo-Chine had sent an old Toyota with a very helpful and courteous driver to pick us up once we cleared immigration and customs sporting our $20 short stay visas in our passports.
Soon we were in the traffic on the road from Phnom Penh airport to the city staring out thru the wetness at all sorts of odd vehicles and unusual people that rode upon them, mostly different forms of older motorcycles, bicycles, trucks and cars many of which were overloaded with goods and passengers……As in many other countries around these parts whole families would ride on just one small scooter…..
The old Toyota smelt a little musty but it was relatively clean and the brakes worked ok and soon we arrived at our destination without any fuss or bother…….
Phnom Penh market shopping and cuisine..........
Phnom Penh market shopping and cuisine..........
Going to the street markets in Phnom Penh is ... well ... an experience not to be missed! Everything from silk, in various lengths to already finished garmets, (like pajamas...lol), to pipes of various sizes and shapes, to hand carved wooden pieces, it's all there.
Cambodian silk is available in a variety of colors and designs, it has a texture that is very soft instead of slinky...yes, we bought many pajama presents for friends and those that work with us...I tried to get some in kitty-cat size for the SB kitties but they would have to be made to order and since we were only in Phnom Penh for a couple days it didn't seem feasible....sorry kitties.
Of particular interest are the intricately designed opium pipes, some of them antiques and others look as if they have been made quite recently but with an antique look to them.
All that walking around in the market got our appetites up, so we went off looking for a good restaurant to enjoy some local Khmer cuisine. The driver of the car that was taking us around suggested that we stop by a particular one and once we got a view of the outside, looking at a fine Buddha statue that was just inside, we decided to take a table and eat there.
The appetizers were hot and spicy! Stuffed eggplant and stuffed chicken wings that contained peanuts, served with a sweet chili sauce and fresh sliced hot peppers. I didn't see any dog or cat on the menu, so all this seemed ok and we went ahead and ordered more.
Although I had tried my best, and Gypsy too, to explain about my fish allergy, I felt it best to stick with things that had the least chance of containing any fish oils or shrimp paste used in it's preparation. Soup...yeah that looked ok, was made with fresh bamboo, a chicken broth base, and local green herbs. It was quite tasty as I love the taste of corriander (cilantro). My main course was beef in bamboo boat and Gypsy opted for the lamb curry.
We now had the shopping fix satisfied, our tummies full, and was now time to hit the road, meet up with someone and sample our other favorite herb and check out some seeds. This would take us on a venture outside the hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh and into a remote area of countryside. It's simply amazing how many things the vehicles travelling on the roads contain...overloaded to the max!
Phnom Penh market shopping and cuisine..........
Going to the street markets in Phnom Penh is ... well ... an experience not to be missed! Everything from silk, in various lengths to already finished garmets, (like pajamas...lol), to pipes of various sizes and shapes, to hand carved wooden pieces, it's all there.
Cambodian silk is available in a variety of colors and designs, it has a texture that is very soft instead of slinky...yes, we bought many pajama presents for friends and those that work with us...I tried to get some in kitty-cat size for the SB kitties but they would have to be made to order and since we were only in Phnom Penh for a couple days it didn't seem feasible....sorry kitties.
Of particular interest are the intricately designed opium pipes, some of them antiques and others look as if they have been made quite recently but with an antique look to them.
All that walking around in the market got our appetites up, so we went off looking for a good restaurant to enjoy some local Khmer cuisine. The driver of the car that was taking us around suggested that we stop by a particular one and once we got a view of the outside, looking at a fine Buddha statue that was just inside, we decided to take a table and eat there.
The appetizers were hot and spicy! Stuffed eggplant and stuffed chicken wings that contained peanuts, served with a sweet chili sauce and fresh sliced hot peppers. I didn't see any dog or cat on the menu, so all this seemed ok and we went ahead and ordered more.
Although I had tried my best, and Gypsy too, to explain about my fish allergy, I felt it best to stick with things that had the least chance of containing any fish oils or shrimp paste used in it's preparation. Soup...yeah that looked ok, was made with fresh bamboo, a chicken broth base, and local green herbs. It was quite tasty as I love the taste of corriander (cilantro). My main course was beef in bamboo boat and Gypsy opted for the lamb curry.
We now had the shopping fix satisfied, our tummies full, and was now time to hit the road, meet up with someone and sample our other favorite herb and check out some seeds. This would take us on a venture outside the hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh and into a remote area of countryside. It's simply amazing how many things the vehicles travelling on the roads contain...overloaded to the max!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's the captain the last time he moved his grow......LOL....
Keep those pics coming DG!
That's the captain the last time he moved his grow......LOL....
Keep those pics coming DG!
Getting down to business..........
Getting down to business..........
Yes...it was a fine meal but it was now time for me to get down to business.
First of all I managed to acquire a new Cambodian sim card for my phone, figured out how to load some credit on it, and promptly called my associate there who lives quite a ways outside of Phnom Penh.
Charlie (let's call him that for security reasons: pseudonym) was pleased to hear from me and that I had arrived. He offered to come and pick me up to take me out to his place...mentioning that this would be a more secure way to bring me to his place, for if I was to engage a local driver to take me then that wouldn't be so cool.
I told him that I was travelling with D.G. and he was ok with her coming along too...he did ask me where she was from and when I told him that she was a southern belle he went into his 'good ole boy' accent with much humour and said 'Dang....let's bring her on down!'
There is always a lot of planning and consideration security wise in what I do to manage to get seeds from some of the more remote parts of the world back to a place where it is far more comfortable to store and own them. After Cambodia we were due to visit Vietnam and I was not going to contemplate travelling with a large quantity of seeds cross border. Years ago...when I was much younger and not perhas as quite sensible....I took many risks over many borders...with not only seeds but copious amounts of weed and hashish and considering my luck in the past I was not going to bank on it at present nor in the future.
Charlie's security also could not be compromised in any way as a supplier so during our phone conversation I broached the subject lightly of photographs/cameras etc and Charlie was adamant that he would not be at all happy for us to record anything pertaining to his whereabouts...who he was exactly...and what he was doing, I completely agreed with him and of course understood absolutely. It was agreed for us to meet him at a gas station just outside of Phnom Penh and our driver was to drop us off there 20 minutes before Charlie would show up to pick us up.
We both went back to the hotel after lunch and dropped off the things we had bought in the market and went out on the street and hailed a taxi to go to this gas station, looking at the time I realized that Charlie would not be able to get to the pickup point for another couple of hours so we decided to take a bit of a tour in the rain around Phnom Penh, snapping a few shots before returning again to the hotel to drop off the camera, giving us enough time to get to the rendevous point.
We passed the Royal Palace in the rain and I got a shot of the building where the Cambodian royal family in years gone by would mount the royal elephants from this platform...which as you can see is quite ornate.
Anything concerning Tibet seems to make the front pages of the newspaper here since Cambodia is known to be a buddhist orientated country.
Here's a pic of the US Embassy...just letting you know how close you are to uncle sam even though you are far from the west.
Getting down to business..........
Yes...it was a fine meal but it was now time for me to get down to business.
First of all I managed to acquire a new Cambodian sim card for my phone, figured out how to load some credit on it, and promptly called my associate there who lives quite a ways outside of Phnom Penh.
Charlie (let's call him that for security reasons: pseudonym) was pleased to hear from me and that I had arrived. He offered to come and pick me up to take me out to his place...mentioning that this would be a more secure way to bring me to his place, for if I was to engage a local driver to take me then that wouldn't be so cool.
I told him that I was travelling with D.G. and he was ok with her coming along too...he did ask me where she was from and when I told him that she was a southern belle he went into his 'good ole boy' accent with much humour and said 'Dang....let's bring her on down!'
There is always a lot of planning and consideration security wise in what I do to manage to get seeds from some of the more remote parts of the world back to a place where it is far more comfortable to store and own them. After Cambodia we were due to visit Vietnam and I was not going to contemplate travelling with a large quantity of seeds cross border. Years ago...when I was much younger and not perhas as quite sensible....I took many risks over many borders...with not only seeds but copious amounts of weed and hashish and considering my luck in the past I was not going to bank on it at present nor in the future.
Charlie's security also could not be compromised in any way as a supplier so during our phone conversation I broached the subject lightly of photographs/cameras etc and Charlie was adamant that he would not be at all happy for us to record anything pertaining to his whereabouts...who he was exactly...and what he was doing, I completely agreed with him and of course understood absolutely. It was agreed for us to meet him at a gas station just outside of Phnom Penh and our driver was to drop us off there 20 minutes before Charlie would show up to pick us up.
We both went back to the hotel after lunch and dropped off the things we had bought in the market and went out on the street and hailed a taxi to go to this gas station, looking at the time I realized that Charlie would not be able to get to the pickup point for another couple of hours so we decided to take a bit of a tour in the rain around Phnom Penh, snapping a few shots before returning again to the hotel to drop off the camera, giving us enough time to get to the rendevous point.
We passed the Royal Palace in the rain and I got a shot of the building where the Cambodian royal family in years gone by would mount the royal elephants from this platform...which as you can see is quite ornate.
Anything concerning Tibet seems to make the front pages of the newspaper here since Cambodia is known to be a buddhist orientated country.
Here's a pic of the US Embassy...just letting you know how close you are to uncle sam even though you are far from the west.
vodoochild
Active member
Absolutely amazing you guys! That must be some wild ride your on. DG i love those flowers, it must be nice to be in the tropics and grow those great varieties although you know where im from gets pretty tropical 
Gypsy you sure do go thru great lengths to aquire this stuff but you cant tell me its not a blast!
Gypsy you sure do go thru great lengths to aquire this stuff but you cant tell me its not a blast!
vodoochild said:Absolutely amazing you guys! That must be some wild ride your on. DG i love those flowers, it must be nice to be in the tropics and grow those great varieties although you know where im from gets pretty tropical
Yeah man.....it's a blast alrighty!.......and I throughly enjoy what I do.....But as you can grasp, to be able to accomplish a successfull bean-hunt/mission you must always be aware and as safe as you can be as a stranger in a strange land.....
Most all of the countries that I have visited with the purpose to aquire such genetic material in seed form have severely draconian laws pertaining to any cannabis plant matter, it's derivatives and seeds ....Many of the people that live there live in abject poverty and might take the opportunity to put the squeeze on you by informing the local authorities of your actions, if they are privvy to them for financial reward.......and it might not only be your own skin that is at risk since to aquire seeds you would most probably need someone living locally to supply them to you, then you need to find a way to get them out of that country and into one that does'nt criminalize the possesion nor distribution of them......
Cambodia has been relatively lax on prosecuting people for cannabis use up untill recently......always better to be safe than sorry....
Here is a recent report from the Asia-Pacific News:
Asia-Pacific News
The high times are a-changing in Cambodia's cannabis crackdown
Jun 5, 2008, 7:43 GMT
Phnom Penh - Cambodian police arrested and jailed six men allegedly caught smoking marijuana, local media said Thursday.
The six Cambodians all worked as motorbike taxi drivers and were detained in custody pending a court hearing in the seaside resort town of Sihanoukville, 240 kilometres south-west of the capital, according to Khmer-language Rasmei Kampuchea daily.
Their arrests follow a statement by the country's anti-drugs chief, General Lou Ramin, earlier this year that marijuana, known locally as ganja, was no longer available in Cambodia and people caught with the drug would be harshly punished.
However police said Thursday the six would probably be let off with a fine and a stern warning for a first offense.
Cambodia was once viewed as a safe haven for ganja users, compared to neighbouring countries such as Thailand, which jails smokers, and has been described in pro-marijuana publications such as US-based High Times as a 'pot smoker's paradise'.
But times appear to have changed, according to Rasmei Kampuchea, which warned that not only backpacking tourists who once came to Cambodia for its legendary crop but locals as well are no longer guaranteed of being exempt from the law if caught with the drug.
Gypsy please tell me that you ate at the AMOK restaurant (phnom penh), with out a doubt the best khmer cuisine in the country. if you get the opportunity i recomend the morning glory and spare ribs 
good luck with the bean searching, i found some thing special off the beaten track half way from phnom penh to siem reap
good luck with the bean searching, i found some thing special off the beaten track half way from phnom penh to siem reap
I'm in love with this thread!
Thanks for documenting your trip Gypsy & DG!!
Thanks for documenting your trip Gypsy & DG!!
