W edding fever has struck Phnom Penh, especially among several senior officials

from FUNCINPEC who, after resisting the temptation for many decades, have

finally decided to take the plunge.

Co-Minister of Defence Tea Chamrath,

Minister of Tourism Veng Sereyvuth and Secretary of State for Defence Ek

Sereywath, so the Gecko hears, are all headed down the road towards matrimonial

bliss in the next few months. Details of who the lucky ladies are have been

extremely difficult to pry loose from the grooms-to-be. The only thing heard so

far is that H.E. Chamrath's fiancee is a woman thirty years his junior who got

the green light for the wedding from her parents after a fortune teller said

their daughter would marry an "older man".

An UNTAC veteran was in town

recently. He said that in the heady days of 1992 when Phase II broke down after

the Khmer Rouge refused to canton and demobilize their troops, General

Sanderson's comment was "they've saved us". Apparently, according to the

ex-UNTAC officer, the UN had no detailed plans in place for how it was going to

take care of feeding, clothing, housing and - most importantly - keeping busy

and out of trouble 100,000-plus cantonned soldiers.

If anybody wants to

hear a stormy tale about life on the high seas, ask Barry about his boat.

Casino fever is slowly percolating around Phnom Penh. One veteran card

shark who's been having a go at the Holiday International said he saw the wife

of an Undersecretary of State plop down a $30,000 bet at the roulette table -

and lose! Someone needs to come up with a name for the headache you get after

the fever breaks. It's likely there will be an increase in the number of such

cases about town in the days ahead.

A world famous environmental expert

was in town recently. He said his 75-year old father gave him this advice: 1)

always keep your sense of humor; and 2) never sleep with someone who has more

problems than you do.

The mystery of the headless, legless torso that

washed up on Ochateal Beach in Kompong Som on April 22 remains unsolved. The

cops were called. When they arrived on the scene several hours later, they had a

quick look and then left. The torso washed back out to sea only to show up

several days later on the beach close to the military base. No word at press

time on the torso's latest whereabouts.