Violet--I started writing the book after my ex died. He and I had a great friendship. I was miserable, and wanted to capture the memories. Over the last two plus decades, he and I have served as each other's "memory banks," confirming and reconfirming some of the crazy stuff we went through together. We had a very interesting time in Cambodia, especially as we arrived right around the time things were--in my opinion--very interesting, Autumn '94.

I have a small handful of women friends who were there in early days too, but while many of the male expats are fairly well known, not so much us women. Our points of view differ, for sure.

Today, I had a gentleman write me after reading the excerpt you read above, and he argued my experience, essentially claiming it wasn't the same town he'd experienced on his holiday. I am having to take deep breaths. We were there for much longer than two weeks.

--We were there when C's two babies both died in the same week.
--We were there when we required bodyguards to teach at Ream, with AK 47 in the back seat and a grenade between seats. It was a Toyota Camry, of course.
--We were there when a student's mama committed suicide by drinking something in her gardening shed.
--We were there when classrooms of students would jump to their feet, remove their flip flops, and beat the centipedes crawling up classroom walls during monsoon rains.

We were there. And I'm so glad for the memories.

Extraordinary times and memories. You raise an interesting point. The expat women in Cambodia in those times, with their own experiences and perspectives in parallel with the men's.

To be honest, I have smiled more than once at the number of current expats who allude to the "wild west" and the more interesting times of the nineties and early 2000's. My ex (RIP) constantly assured me that things were safe, fine, normal, et cetera. I know that it was not like walking through some parts of LA and Chicago at midnight in the USA, but there were plenty of issues that came up for us. I hope that people like reading my book, and to be honest, I am pretty sure that Ken would mostly approve of it.

Cinnamoncat wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 5:16 am Today, I had a gentleman write me after reading the excerpt … essentially claiming it wasn't the same town he'd experienced on his holiday … We were there for much longer than two weeks ...

Circumstances could change in a flash. A deceptive calm could turn to fluid chaos.

I know what the guy meant, though. I share-taxied to Sihanoukville and back in early 1992.
Very relaxed and uneventful.
Easy peasy.
Almost zero traffic.

But doing the same trip a few months later, things were very different. Along the road, there was 'an issue' as Deb would put it.
So, two similar journeys down there within similar time periods but with each leaving a very different impression.

A couple of years later, three young Westerners who ran a restaurant in Sihanoukville got snatched at a Khmer Rouge roadblock. They'd done a shopping run to PP for food, and should have overnighted in PP because the word was that any KR activity along the road occurred only in late afternoon. They chose to risk a late return, and seem to have been killed almost immediately.

At the time it was also common for backpackers to head down by slow train. Not long after the road snatch, that train was halted and three Westerners riding on the top got taken for ransom. When extended negotiations over that payment went horribly awry, they too were killed.
Yet dozens of others had made that same journey, and while finding the experience 'different' many also found the trip way too slow and tedious, humdrum even.

Different experiences; different perceptions.

I address the two incidents in my book, too, and I'm so glad that you've weighed in with both.

I was a bit stunned that a fellow who claimed to be on holiday (what, a week? two weeks?) questioned the veracity of that chapter. We lived there for about eighteen months. Shopped at Psah Luah. Lived near it, actually. Ken was the manager of the SHV branch of ACE, and I taught there the entire time we lived there.

We were there....with Angkor Arms' first starting up, the seal on the road, the HHH. Right after the three young men were bombed to sh*t and subsequently killed, we were there. The three restaurant 'kids' (very young adults) were mourned by all---and many of our Khmer were horrified. I remember the look on Tori's face telling us, "stay off Route 4"....

Yes, you nailed it---as Ken would say, "everything is fine until it isn't," but we weren't just visiting. We lived there. For quite a long time.

https://thenasiona.com/2018/08/29/sihan ... y-the-sea/

Thanks, everyone for reading my chapter on The Nasiona--Sihanoukville by the Sea.

The editor contacted me to let me know it has been the "most viewed" item on the site.

I appreciate your support!

I do think that a restaurant owner has written a few comments at the bottom of my excerpt. Take a look.

It's a fantastic read, from an unusual perspective. The other books that deal with the 90s are mostly written by NGO/ Aid workers, for example Red Lights and Green Geckos by Liz Anderson, or UN staffers like Tom Riddle with Cambodian Interlude or even worse Emergency Sex. Then there was the cringe-worthy Amit Gilboa book, and nothing much of any substance since, as far as personal accounts go. So I'm really looking forward to reading the whole book.

I'm eagerly (anxiously) awaiting hearing back from three publishers about my book "Dancing in Circles: An Expatriate in Cambodia."

Today I heard from the second publisher who has agreed to publish my book (which is cause for celebration, when I do accept!), but I want to leverage my opportunities and get the best possible deal.

It's not nearly as much "fun" or as easy as some people might think to be in this phase of being an author, but the end for me is in sight.

If you haven't read my chapter published yet, I'd love you to. Please throw a like on it at the end (you'll see it) if you do indeed enjoy it. If you don't, send me a message!

https://thenasiona.com/2018/08/29/sihan ... y-the-sea/

Thanks again, everyone, for your support.

Khmer Rouge checkpoint murders were easy peasy relaxed and uneventful. I used to have PTSD. I still do but I used to too.

Good luck with the book Debra. Looking forward to reading it.

fax wrote: ↑Thu Oct 11, 2018 7:14 am Khmer Rouge checkpoint murders were easy peasy relaxed and uneventful. I used to have PTSD. I still do but I used to too.

Given the mimicking of some of my words, this rather meaningless post appears to be masquerading as a devastating put-down of either my contribution to the thread or to myself.
Would you care to elaborate?