The New York Times has a piece on visiting Phnom Penh. I love Cambodia. Ankor Wat, even with all of the tourists, is an incredible place.
Phnom Penh though is responsible for who I am as a development economist. In the span of literally 10 minutes on the street I was offered drugs, women and guns. After visiting Choeng Ek Killing Fields memorial, my motorcycle driver, expecting for some reason I was interested in guns, took me to a shooting range.
Of course I found all of this rediculous, but I still can't stop thinking about how complicated the issues are for a country that is still today trying to overcome an incredibly violent past. The people struck me as genuinly friendly, but incredibly complex. The place is a constant reminder that "post-conflict" isn't just a phase a country goes through, but a process that may never end.
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