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recent visitor to Pailin says that if you need a decent meal, go to the casino smack

on the border. You won't find anyone working there who speaks Khmer but the food

is free so nobody is complaining.

Also not complaining are the legions of pick-up-truck drivers who are speeding from

Thailand via Poipet to Battambang with jerry cans filled with smuggled gasoline.

Those crafty ex-KR boys! Jumped into the free market like a bear into honey.

** If you want to see sculptures made from AK-47s by artists from the Peace Art Project

Cambodia, they are on display at Talkin to a Stranger.

** Readers will be shocked to learn that a recent World Health Organization study

has determined that "Up to half of all people with serious mental disorders

in the United States and several European countries are not receiving treatment,

and the situation is even worse in some developing countries," according to

a WHO press release.

"The researchers found that the prevalence of having any mental disorder in

the prior year varied widely from 4.3 percent in Shanghai to 26.4 percent in the

United States," the WHO statement said.

The study did not determine what percentage of people with untreated mental disorders

were sending out spam via the internet.

** One US Government employee in town is giving his infant daughter a lesson in democratic

pluralism in preparation for the upcoming US elections.

"Who's the worst President?" he asks her, to which she replies "Bush".

"Who's the best President?" "Bush," comes the reply.

"Who's the most mediocre President?" "Bush" again.

** If you've lost your Kampong Som address book, don't forget that the Sea View Villa

is at: # Seround Dipty, Sihanouk Ville.

** Heartiest congratulations to David King and Le Thi Nguyet Minh on the occasion

of their marriage celebration. The newlyweds are so happy that David says he doesn't

even mind when some of his in-laws call him "country bumpkin" in Vietnamese.

** Alert readers will recognize immediately from the news item below that this is

what has been missing in the Kingdom.

Los Angeles-based journalist Shawn Adler prefaced an interview with Hollywood star

John Travolta by noting "his life's ambition is to open a branch of Scientology

in Cambodia."