John B, a regular reader and sometimes contributor, happens to be visiting Cambodia at the same time as a delegation led by Congresswoman Niki Tsongas is also in that country. Coincidentally, Chath pierSath, a Lowell-based poet and artist is also in Cambodia now. Last night, John emailed images of newspaper stories appearing in the Cambodian press about Tsongas and Chath, proving that oft-said statement that no matter how far you travel, you can never escape Lowell.

The Tsongas-related story appeared in Cambodia Daily and is shown immediately below (that paper doesn’t update it’s website very often). The story is about representatives of the opposition party showing up a day early for a meeting with Tsongas who the paper says represents the Congressional District with the “largest population of Cambodians in the US after California.” The second story (image far below) appears in the Phnom Penh Post and is available on that paper’s website under the headline “Khmerican gives lessons at Java Cafe.” I wonder if that Java Cafe has any connection besides coffee to Chelmsford’s Java Room?

Tsongas-related article in Cambodia Daily, 2/21/12

Chath pierSath in Phnom Penh Post 2/21/12