Just arrived at Blogfest Asia 2012 this morning and had a nice day. It’s wonderful to see so many ASEAN nerds under the same roof. Met my first folks from Myanmar/Burma today and am looking forward to my upcoming visit.

Watching a bunch of Asian blogger kids get down at the Angkor Wat Pub on Friday night was also rather amusing.

To get a sense of this event: it’s a blogging and tech conference held at a Siem Reap university, down a dusty road adjacent to where people keep cows. Some might find this a disturbing development indicator. Not me. I think it’s fantastic that we’re blending high-tech and low-tech.

Most people associate Cambodia with poverty, corruption, and genocide as speaker David Isaksson pointed out: way less so with a vibrant blogosphere, a relatively free Internet, and a number of innovative open source software creators. But that’s what we’ve got here in Cambodia—an ominous Internet “anti cyber-terrorism” draft-law aside.

Talks today included Isaksson on Internet freedom and empowerment, followed by a panel with Khmer bloggers and technologists Chak Sopheap, Sorn Ramana, and Ngeth Moses on topics ranging from gender roles in tech to Internet security to the “ideal 21st century wife.”

I attended breakout sessions on Wikipedia and Wikimedia (growing in Cambodia) and digital security, a topic of great import to bloggers forced to work under oppressive regimes. Quite interesting. I’m delivering a panel on Internet Freedom tomorrow. I have, er, drafted up some notes.

FCC reception this evening. Enjoyed circulating and meeting lots of people from all over the place. Nerds: they’re easy to befriend. I should know, I am one.