The sounds of Khmer speakers transports me a long time back to other years. Except for a very trashed Phenom Phen, the sound of the language and an undercurrent of violence is about all I remember of Cambodia.

Sihanoukville really did become a beach resort if a little bit scruffy. One can now take a bus to Ankor Watt which is a World Heritage Site visited by millions per year, and the border with Thailand is now a regular road that tourists travel, no longer a mined and guarded frontier or Khmer Rouge no man's land. The Khmer Rouge which seemed to live on forever in the jungles is no longer.

Hun Sen the strongman still runs the place, there are still lots of problems.

One job that would seem secure is landmine removal. At a few million Cambodia has enough landmines to last a while.