Dancing in Circles is now LOVE and LOSS in CAMBODIA!

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John Bingham
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Re: Dancing in Circles is now LOVE and LOSS in CAMBODIA!

Post by John Bingham »

Cinnamoncat wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 9:30 pm Image

It seems I read a great article in the Post or Daily (online) some time back about this building. There was a large community of people who lived here. It looks pretty bad, but once inside, people claimed their own space and had it how they wanted it, and they had good friends there.

Is it still standing?

I can't imagine it would have been torn down. It's in P P, after all, not SHV.

I'd love to know if any of you have been in it.

That was the White Building, known as "Boudeng" to locals, it had a large community of artists, and also a fair few drug dealers and houses of ill repute. When I first lived here it was surrounded by thousands of shack slums, they are long gone though and that building was demolished at least two years ago. Here are a couple of posts I made about it in 2010:
Image
Image


http://phnompenhplaces.blogspot.com/201 ... in-it.html
http://phnompenhplaces.blogspot.com/201 ... mmune.html
Silence, exile, and cunning.
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CEOCambodiaNews
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Re: Dancing in Circles is now LOVE and LOSS in CAMBODIA!

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Cinnamoncat wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 9:30 pm Image

It seems I read a great article in the Post or Daily (online) some time back about this building. There was a large community of people who lived here. It looks pretty bad, but once inside, people claimed their own space and had it how they wanted it, and they had good friends there.

Is it still standing?

I can't imagine it would have been torn down. It's in P P, after all, not SHV.

I'd love to know if any of you have been in it.
October 2016 thread:
RIP
newsworthy/white-building-plans-laid-ou ... 11392.html
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fax
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Re: Dancing in Circles is now LOVE and LOSS in CAMBODIA!

Post by fax »

It's been demolished, its tenants compensated and Naga World 3 is planned to start construction in its place.
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Re: Dancing in Circles is now LOVE and LOSS in CAMBODIA!

Post by Cinnamoncat »

I'm glad to say that I received a review on Amazon yesterday that made me think one of you bought and reviewed the book. It was really kind. Whoever you are, thank you.

Next, I had a FB note today from one of the four "stars" of the Angkor Arms, a British-style pub that opened in Sihanoukville when we lived there. We helped a lot with it, as the four owners were the late Christopher Clifton, Tony Cirello (sp.?), Pech Arrun (friend of mine who still lives in SHV), and Bart Sinos, who lives in SR with his wife.

LTO designed a coat of arms for the pub that included, in one corner of the square, four stars. I'm so glad I'm still in touch with two of them!

It was so good to touch base with Bart. Hard to believe that twenty-five years ago, he was an owner of the only expat-owned pub in SHV, and we were sitting in booths and swigging Angkor Arms beers and playing darts.

Chris Clifton, significantly older than the rest of us, asked me to help design the wait staff's outfits. He wanted them to wear those blouses with elastic around the neckline, and then pull them slightly off shoulder. I talked with a few of the young women, and it was NOT going to fly so we went with that design, but they were able to keep them modestly pulled up with a scoop neck. No señorita style for those sreys!
They wore those with long, Khmer style "sampots" សំពត់សម្លុយ

One night, I went to the Angkor Arms with a friend named Jack. He worked as a prosthetics designer in SHV, working with an NGO to help amputees down there. We used to play board games at his place, hang out, laugh. He was from Scotland. We both had a couple shots of Bailey's Irish Cream, and I went home to LTO. The next morning, I woke up feeling very odd.

Within an hour, I had food poisoning so bad I nearly died. LTO carried me from the bathroom floor, where I'd passed out, to the bed, and yelled at me to stay there. My legs were cramped, my arms were cramped. My hands were tightened into little balls, and I was in bad, bad shape. The doctor just down the street was our student at ACE, as was his daughter. He had fluids going in me from every direction, and gave me some medicine to stop the "total evacuation" my body was forcing on me. If he hadn't come, he said, I would have died.

I contacted Jack later. He was fine. It was some odd, isolated situation. Perhaps the glass was not quite clean. Perhaps I'd come into contact with something earlier in the day, who knows? LTO was relieved, and the rest of the day was quiet. Later, the doctor gave me a beautiful sapphire pendant and thanked me for letting him treat me. What an amazingly kind man. We reciprocated, I don't remember how.

Those were the days!
"Love and Loss in Cambodia: a memoir" available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578537788
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fax
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Re: Dancing in Circles is now LOVE and LOSS in CAMBODIA!

Post by fax »

Cinnamoncat wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 10:42 pm One night, I went to the Angkor Arms with a friend named Jack. He worked as a prosthetics designer in SHV, working with an NGO to help amputees down there. We used to play board games at his place, hang out, laugh. He was from Scotland. We both had a couple shots of Bailey's Irish Cream, and I went home to LTO. The next morning, I woke up feeling very odd.
No offense but where is all this going? Writing down everything you have in memory doesn't make a very good story. I just read everything you know about someone to find out that you got food poisoning. That's it? It's quite an anti-climax to be honest. I've had food poisoning numerous times myself and it's not exciting to read about.

Perhaps you should figure out what you are trying to say with all of this. I'm missing a red thread other than you being in Sihanoukville 20 years ago.
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Re: Dancing in Circles is now LOVE and LOSS in CAMBODIA!

Post by Cinnamoncat »

Fax, what's the problem? Sorry to disappoint you with a ramble.

I heard from Bart, and wrote about it.

If you don't like my post, scroll on.
"Love and Loss in Cambodia: a memoir" available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578537788
Chester
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Re: Dancing in Circles is now LOVE and LOSS in CAMBODIA!

Post by Chester »

The food poisoning tale isn’t particularly interesting. What else happens?
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Re: Dancing in Circles is now LOVE and LOSS in CAMBODIA!

Post by Cinnamoncat »

Chester wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:55 pm The food poisoning tale isn’t particularly interesting. What else happens?
This isn't from my book, Chester.
"Love and Loss in Cambodia: a memoir" available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578537788
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Re: Dancing in Circles is now LOVE and LOSS in CAMBODIA!

Post by Cinnamoncat »

Image

# 4 in SE Asia Travel sales.

Memories are drawn from the '90s when the author lived in Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh. That decade was considered dangerous, with Khmer Rouge active on Route 4. When she first arrived in 1994, three Westerners had recently been killed by KR bandits, and three more Westerners had been kidnapped are were being held on Phnom Vour. She and her teacher friends at ACE can't predict what will happen next.

In 1997, political opponents take the battle to the streets of Phnom Penh. Though many people fled the violence of the fighting, she and her husband stayed. This story is one of adventure. It's also about finding friends, not only the Cambodian people who become family to her, but others from all over the world. Ultimately, it’s a story about facing the truth, about loss—and about resilience. This book will resonate with those who love Cambodia and Southeast Asia, or readers who want to know what it was like to live as a Westerner in that era.
"Love and Loss in Cambodia: a memoir" available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578537788
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John Bingham
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Re: Dancing in Circles is now LOVE and LOSS in CAMBODIA!

Post by John Bingham »

I'm gonna grab a copy for a long haul flight I have to take soon, looking forward to finally reading it, the teasers you posted were fantastic.
Silence, exile, and cunning.
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