Up, Up and Away...

Sitting in the First Class Cathay Pacific Lounge in the airport in Hong Kong with Christmas songs playing in the background and conveniently seated next to a 10ft tall REAL Christmas tree smelling strongly of pine. Isn't that one of those smells that takes you back? I have to say that I have always TRIED to view the traveling to and from destinations as part of the actual vacation itself, but it is much easier to see things that way when you travel with this level of luxury. Someday this gravy train will end, but until then I savor every, little minute of it.
Last night we retreated to a roof top lounge for our $1.00 Tiger draughts just to get away from the constant barrage of tuk tuk travel offers and street peddlers. Then we came back down to street level to eat in an Indian restaurant. Had some really tasty curry - chicken masala I think. Medium hot, they said. If so, I will not go any hotter than medium hot in the future. But it was very good. Chatted with a gentleman at the next table from Singapore but of Indian descent. He is in the shipping business (Cambodia has just a smidge of coastline and a port) so we discussed corruption in Cambodia (apparently higher than most countries) and cultural differences between Cambodians and Filipinos. Quite interesting.
This morning it was just breakfast at the hotel and then to the airport.
At check-in we ended up with two aisle seats (that flight was only coach!) but it worked out very well since I sat next to a young US lawyer who specializes in international law/human rights law who came to Cambodia to work on some civil law suits related to the Tribunal. We talked about Duch's trial and the remaining four high level members of the Khmer Rouge still to be tried. She is involved with representing Vietnamese families torn apart/killed/damaged by the virtual extermination of the Vietnamese in Cambodia at the time and talked at length about (1) the corruption in the government (again) and (2) the challenges of working through translators in three languages that don't translate well at all. Also extremely interesting. In addition, she has worked on land mine and undetonated ordinance in Afghanistan and also spent several month in Gabon dealing with human trafficking. Now that's impressive work in spite of the fact that she was polite enough to ooh and aah about veterinary medicine - like I buy into such gratuitous fluff. Not! Oh and she is on her way to hang with friends in Kathmandu so she will email me with up to date impressions of the place so we can decide between Nepal and Bhutan for next year.
Meanwhile, Michael sat next to a gentleman and his young son. The son is on his way to a major math competition having been declared the number one 5th grade math student in Cambodia. His father is an entrepreneur who says if we come back to Phnom penh, he'll comp us a stay in a Five-star hotel. His father was a pilot killed by the Khmer Rouge and he and his mother were run out of Phnom penh to work slave labour in the country-side during the Regime. He talked to Michael about being in the labour camps at the age of 5, eating rice water and a few kernels of rice every day and fighting with other children over bugs to eat. He and his mother both survived. They eventually found their way to Indonesia where he volunteered in a number of agencies and learned English and typing and organizational skills as a volunteer and moved back to Phnom penh and is now a partner in a large holding company. Very nice and impressive man who also spoke on the topic of corruption in Cambodia. All in all some really enlightening conversations.
Finally, for anyone still wondering about the whole Vietnam-came-in-to-help-Cambodia dilemma....if you go to the reliable source of modern invormation called Wikipedia...the involvement is explained in the context of the bigger conflict between communist camps in Russia and China....Vietnam having been aligned with Russia who was worried about Cambodia being aligned with China so Russia backed Vietnam in running out the Khmer Rouge (China). Still worth a bit more research. Later, perhaps, when I'm not drinking free wine.
Safe travels.
Later.