W ho says adventure tourism isn't blossoming in the Kingdom? A Frenchman asked for permission to hang glide off of Bokor Mountain. He was told that Bokor wasn't possible but that if he wanted to give it a go from Phnom Vour, that was all right.

The Lao Aviation stewardesses seem to have a healthy thirst for cognac and whiskey. The flight lands at Pochentong and the ladies get off with all the passengers, pass through the arrival hall and then back into the departure hall with a quick visit to the duty free shop. With two bag loads of booze each, they then lead the departing passengers on to the plane for the return flight to Vientaine.

Reuters tried to call up Prince Sirivudh in Singapore at his hotel and was told by the Singaporean security guard who answered the phone that no interviews were possible. The Reuters guy then asked "Are you Singaporean?" to which the reply came, "No, I'm not Cambodian."

Mark Dodd sent in this report from a recent visit to the refugee camps in Goma, Zaire: "You're surrounded by psychos calling themselves INTERHAMNEY ('We who kill together'). These folks disposed of about one million Tutsies and allied Hutus in three months, making the Khmer Rouge look like the Salvation Army." Hard to believe, that one.

Media guru Mike Fowler has been collecting new nicknames faster than you can say jackrabbit. Various Khmer language newspapers have dubbed him a "river elephant", "the tiger who hides his claws", and "the oil man from Texas."

The hash house harriers, which has its own secret code, have just decided to call him "Clouseau", a name the hashers derived by spelling "uaesuolc" backwards, which as everyone knows is Transylvanian for "Ye who chuckles like Santa Claus when you rub his bowl full of jelly after he has three whiskey and sodas."

After exhaustive deliberation by a panel of expert judges, Sandy Deacon has been named the Gecko Sportsman of the Year. Deacon, 9, took on the Southern Hemisphere in the annual Cambodian North-South Cricket Match. Facing some of the South's most renowned batsmen, fast bowler Deacon took three wickets in one over, dashing hopes for a romp against the North (which lost by a score of 89 to 72 or thereabouts).