Practical Uses of the GPS in Cambodia

Global Positioning System(GPS) receiver is a hand held device that could tell you exact location anywhere on earth. Suppose I am in the middle of my rice field, the GPS could tell the exact coordinate of longitude and latitude I am standing at. This technology really amazed me. If I’m to travel in the open sea, desolate desert or deep in forest I will never get lost.

What GPS is used for in Cambodia? I read in a Khmer language newspaper up in Banteay Mean Chey province, the rich and powerful who has connections with the ruling party did utilize the GPS. They used it for land grabbing from the poor. I could picture they just came to the villagers’ lands, pulled out GPS receiver and started to lay fences around the perimeter. According the news article the villagers got so mad they protested against them. They got a hold of the GPS equipments smashed and burned them in a pile of fire.

I love to have a GPS system, but I personally wouldn’t know what I could practically use it for in Cambodia. I am not a big person who has any connection with PM Hun Sen. Therefore I couldn’t possibly grab any lands from the villagers. Well, even if I’m a big person, I have a conscience not to selfishly do corrupted things. But, one thing I know our Cambodia government could use the GPS for: Border demarcation.

A Portable handheld GPS -- picture obtained from the internet.

Our border is very important for every Cambodian. We have our own land and home we must protect from Yuon to the east, Siamese to the west, and the Leov to the north. Currently our incompetence government does very little to clearly demarcate the border. Every time I pick up our Khmer newspapers I occasionally saw article on border dispute with the two greedy neighbours, mainly Vietnam and Thailand. We have maps to go by. Then now we should use the GPS to mark where our border line should be. What is there unclear about it? GPS can point to accuracy of physical marking of our border within 1.5 to 2 meters. This is one of the issues I hope our Phnom Penh government to resolve soon.

ខ្ញុំ​ Vanak.
Svay rieng (eastern border)

My uploaded music-- Enjoy !!

I played around with the media player. I'm able to have multiples songs onto the player. Here are ten of my favourites I just uploaded. I especially love the 2nd last from the bottom "REY09_16 Kantret tret heuy" កន្រ្តេតត្រេតអ្ហើយ!. The up-down of the music tune and lyrics are so fun! I hope you're able to listen to them OK. If you like them , Click here will take to the folder where I stored these songs. You can download them one by one to your computer. -vanak

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ឃាតករប៉ងសំលាប់ពៅបញ្ញាពេជ្រ Gun Men Shot Pov Panha Pich

Pov Panha Pich,23, one of my favourite singers was shot on the morning 23/02/2007 at around 6:35am by two gun men. She was rushed to Calumette Hospital, then taken to Vietnam for further intensive treament.

Press PLAY on Esnips player below to hear Pov Panhapich's song "Anna"

Anna_PovPanhaPich....

Pov Panha Pich not only has a great voice, but also very pretty. I remember when I first saw she performed on her song "Anna".

The police must act quickly to find who the assasins were and who really behind this attempted killing.

Most importantly, I wish and hope for Pov Panha Pich speedy recovery.

Vanak
=====Please continue reading below=====
(The article and pic are from Agence France Presse (AFP)
Fri Feb 23, 2:15 PM ET

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - A Cambodian pop singer was critically wounded Friday when unknown gunmen shot her twice as she arrived at an English-language school in the capital Phnom Penh, police said.

Pov Panhapich was shot in the stomach and throat and later evacuated to Vietnam for treatment, city police chief Touch Naruth said, adding that he did not think it was a case of robbery.

"When she got out of her car, the two offenders immediately shot her," he said. "It is not a robbery case, it is some other dispute. But we cannot conclude what the dispute stemmed from. We are investigating."

The 23-year-old is a popular fixture on the weekend concert circuit, and news of her attack quickly spread through Cambodia via SMS text messages and phone calls between distraught fans.

She is the third well-known local celebrity gunned down in recent years in Cambodia, where young performers are sometimes taken as mistresses by powerful businessmen or government officials.

Singer Touch Sreynich remains paralysed in the United States after being shot in the face and neck in 2003, while movie star Pisith Pilika was shot dead in 1999.

Several other lesser-known pop stars have also been attacked, sometimes by having acid thrown in their faces.

The Cambodia Watchdog Council, a local rights group, called the attacks against young female performers an emerging trend of intimidation, especially against women.

"(The attacks) show the weakness of the Phnom Penh authorities and Cambodian government to crack down on killers," it said in a statement, demanding that the international community also pressure authorities to rein in rising street crime.
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អូនរាំសមទេ?​​Upbeat Khmer song for the soul

The past week has been a very hectic schedule for me. I missed using computer and internet so much. It seemed like I was away from the civilisation. Beside reading books and newspapers, internet is another window to the outside world for me. I would read global news from all over. Google search on topic I don't understand. Interacting with Khmer students from all over the world. Read and post my comments on our Khmer fellows' blogs. I feel so free to express my opinion. I don't know if I could live without the internet.

I just uploaded a "Saravann" song. This song is one of my favourites! "Oan ram som tay?" . It's appropriate, since our Khmer New Year is around the corner. I don't know duets who sing this song. I'm guessing the guy's voice is Chhom Bunyong. But for the girl's I don't know whose voice might belong to. I need you expert out here to identify the female vocal is, because she sounds soooo good !!! Listening to these kind of upbeat songs always make me happy. The lyric is proper, yet flirtatious.
Press PLAY on Esnips player below to hear "Oan Ram Som Tay ?"

Oan_ram_som_te.mp3

Over the week I had a chance to finish my reading "The Garden of Eden" by Ernest Hemingway. I didn't like the book at all. I wrote a brief review over at my
LibraryThing.
My review: "Garden of Eden"
The story is the about David a writer with his newlywed wife Catherine on vacation in the south of France and Spain. Catherine then fell in love with another girl Marita. Catherine brings Marita into David life.

In the story, it's the most conversation between a husband and wife I ever read about. Pointlessly on most part, they talk incessantly about everything and about nothing. I gave 1 1/2 stars because there's no point of climax in the story at all. What they did was drink, have sex, drink, go swimming, have haircut, meet another girl, drink more, Catherine drives to town alone and ended unfinished. There's no more to read. Whew! I sighed and scratched my head.

I can't relate to the story line.It just doesn't apply to an average person who is an amateur writer where the wife doesn't work spent such a lavish vacation, then they hook up with another girl involve with a love triangle. I wasted my time of reading the whole 245 pages of this Hemingway and learned not a single thing from this book. I just didn't get it. I am sorry I felt short on the psychology of what Hemingway was trying to portray. This book is off from my shelf.

Vanak,
Cambodia
21 February 2007

សៀវភៅដែលខ្ញុំអាន Books I Read

Here are some of my books I manually uploaded to LibrayThing. My own personal library! (Click on the picture will take to the site)

I remember when I was at a very young age the only book my mother read to me was from Khmer Folks Tales & Legends ប្រជុំ រឿងព្រេងខ្មែរ. That was the beginning when I started to like reading.
Now I am quite an avid reader of newspapers and books. Through much readings I've learned new vocabularies and grammar. Subsequently, my writing both in English and Khmer have been improving gradually.
I have discovered website that keeps track of all books I have or have read. This site is very nice. It's like my very own personal library. Each book I read, I can write review and comment then rate the book from 1 to 5 stars depend on my liking of that book.

I have uploaded few of my Khmer language books up there. Some of these books I haven't give a rating yet. As of today (10Feb2007) including English books, I have recorded a total of 26 books. Please browse the 2nd page to see them. I will try to periodically update as often.

ខ្ញុំ វណ្ណះ
Vanak,