Happy Khmer New Year 2013!
Year of The Serpent, Buddhist Era 2557
Welcome to my website! Here you'll find some of my favorite pictures I've taken and the stories behind them, as well as the links to selected blog posts and other websites covering the economic and social development issues and international affairs. Of particular importance are the blogs and sites related to Cambodia (Kambuja or Srok Khmer or Sovann Phoum), her people, history and culture. The contents, findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed on these sites and blog spots are those of the authors and they are included on this website only for the purpose of promoting analytical and critical thinking through wider dissemination of ideas and information. This is a work in progress, so changes and improvements will be forthcoming. You are cordially invited to visit regularly to see what's new. Enjoy!
My Core Values & Code of Conduct:
FAIR2 - Fortitude, Accountability, Integrity, Responsibility and Righteousness.SMART - Scholarship, Morality, Achievement, Rectitude, Transparency.
"The best richness is the richness of the soul." -- Anonymous
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” --
Albert Einstein
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.” -- Confucius
"The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice." -- Mahatma Ghandhi
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." -- William Jennings Bryan
Transliteration of a Khmer poem written by my father:
"Haisathukchun Taing As Khnea | Chamneh Vichea Taing Sampeay |
Meankun Vises Thom Tuleay | Kuor Yoeung Vichspeay Kom Khlach Thngon." --
Pundit Maha CHHIM Soum
English Translation:
"Be known to all, the burden of knowledge and learning has a special value of immense proportions, let us embrace and carry it without hesitation and fear."
Pundit Maha CHHIM Soum, Professor of Pali at Preah Suramarit Buddhist High School, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
(excerpt from a poem in Khmer written by my father, first published in Kambuja Surya magazine by the Buddhist Institute in the 1930s and later published as a book entitled "Vichea Kunakatha", by Somanaksowath bookstore, 42 Keo Chea Street, Phnom Penh, Cambodia)"The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice." -- Mahatma Ghandhi
"La vertue se perd dans l’intérêt comme les fleuves se perdent dans la mer.”
--Antoine Lameuse (professor of Philosophy, Lycée Sisowath, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, ca. 1960s)