so, it's christmas here today and it's about 9 in the morning and i am about to go hiking with michelle and charlie. i guess it's been a long time since i've written so i'll try to catch you up. i guess i haven't written since i've entered into laos.
right now, i'm in vang vieng; which is a kinda smaller city on the nam song, which is song river in lao. the landscape here is beautiful and there are a bunch of outdoor activities that you can do; which is basically all i've been doing. that and finishing the day playing darts with charlie at gary's irish bar. yeah, darts. it's been a super duper good time here. i've gone rock climbing twice and am thinking i'll go a third, hiking (through a cave to a waterfall, that i swam in, over a mountian, ending at the tubing bars (which i'll get to)), kayaking, tubing through a cave, and then taking charlie and michelle on the hike i went on to the waterfall today. not a bad christmas. anyway, i'm loving it and feeling great; which is super nice because i had a bit of a hard time through central laos and then in vientiene.
i'm thinking i got over my first wave of homesickness and just anxiety in general. it was about 2 and a half months into my trip. which is the longest i've ever been away from home, not a big deal but i was feeling it a little, a little mental hurdle if you will. i was driving through laos and i got rid of all my cold weather clothes and it was COLD. not super cold but cold enough. i was all alone, don't get me wrong, i had fun, going to the lao disco and hanging out with lao people but i just couldn't get over this anxiety, this feeling of what am i doing here and what am i going to do when i get home. how i'm going to make money to go back to school and working and doing more yoga school. just a feeling that i needed to get moving on my life. but this is my life and i had this planned out and i specifically made it a long time so i would have to get over some waves of homesickness and self doubt. so i got over it.
so back to vang vieng and what is going on here. in 1998 the owner of this organic farm a little north of town got some tubes for his employees to float down the river. he didn't know what he started. at first it was just people tubing but now there are bars lining the river and kids float down the river stopping at different bars and getting hammered. they all blare SUPER loud music. they do have platforms to jump off of and zip lines and rope swings and waterslides which are all badass. but some aren't really safe and kids get pretty injured here. apparently like 17 have died this year, i don't know if that a lao year or our year but that's a fucking lot. i haven't tubed but we have stopped off at some of the bars and done the swings, ziplines, and waterslides. i had a blast on those. but it's kinda turned this town into a mess. but you get the good with the bad. some lao people like it and make lots of money, but the lao kinda frown upon super drunk whities and you get a lot of those. every night when i go out to dinner, i see kids passed out on the side of the road, walking wasted down the middle of the road, carrying other passed out kids. i feel it brings people to laos and that they might come here for that and then branch out. plus it's just kids and kids will be kids. it does look pretty fun too, just don't get too drunk. you can youtube it and see tons of videos of the tubing.
anyway, vang vieng is also beautiful and the landscape around here is amazing. like i said, on the nam song, and set in some mountians that really remind me of halong bay and nim dinh, limestone mountians; which create lots of caves and rock climbing areas. it's beautiful. there are restaurants lining the river in town and you can watch the sunset over these mountians, it's pretty scenic. i like it a lot, and it really reminds me of buzios in brazil.
i don't really know what else to write, i'm ready to do some christmas hiking, swim in a waterfall and have a great christmas day. so on that note, merry christmas to you all from charlie, michelle, and i.
take care, pics coming.
nick
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
motorcycle diaries
okay, i've been in laos for about a week now. gone about 800 and something kilometers on betsy in laos from the boarder to pakse to paksong to two other towns i don't know the name of, to vientiane capital. what a journey! it was a long one, but amazing. i ate some cricket, i was pulled into a lao neighborhood party where i learned how to dance lao, i've met village councilmen, i've drank lots of beerlao with lots of lao people even in some shanty towns, i've been to lao disco, i've stopped at roadside chicken boxing spots, i went looking for a cave and got lost for two hours, and i saw a great wall of some kind (it was pretty enormous). oh yeah, and i took a lao sauna. which is fucking sweet, they have it like lemon essenced, it was super great and the only time i've had hot water (sort of i guess, but i'm counting it) in months???
i spent the last 5 days making that journey, no map, no phone, and most of the time with no idea where i was. only maybe an inflated confidence level that i can figure anything out. betsy had a bit of a hard time on the last day of the journey, yesterday, and i had to take her to two shops to get fixed up. it was a 200 km travel day though, usually i only make about 150 a day. not a long way, but i like to stop at all sorts of places and check out shit and talk to the people.
lao people ask me 4 questions right off the bat, usually the first is where are you from? the second is then, speak lao? a couple words, i feel like my brain is packed and i have so much khmer now in my head that i keep reverting back to it. like i used to try to speak spanish to any foreigners because that's the only other language i know. but i've got a few words down now: thank you, hello/how are you, goodbye, hahahah; that might be it. i'm still trying to learn though, because the people love it when you can speak a little bit of their language. the third question is, beerlao? of course, you gotta be careful cuz it's a lot stronger than the lager in vietnam and cambodia. and the fourth is always, are you single? if they can they usually ask why. or they try to hook me up with chicks. i don't know if it's standard or what but i've had a village councilman tell me i "could" take a lao wife and move to laos. like he approved of me enough. dudes are also trying to hook you up with girls all the time, it's a little weird. the women are way more upfront here too, than in vietnam or cambodia. i've been told, i love you by a handful of girls; from old ladies to younger ones my age. i've also been told i'm handsome from many women and even some dudes. and that i have a beautiful nose. laos is doing wonders for my confidence! hahah. the women also smoke and drink beerlao. i didn't see any women smoking in vietnam and only maybe one or two in cambodia. when i was chilling out in the sticks in a shantytown outside of pakse; i was hanging out with some dudes and some women that were getting after it. putting the beerlao back.
oh yeah, and it's also cold here. not terrifically cold but cold enough that's it's forced me to stop riding by about 4. i think the first day i encounter the coldness i got a little bit of hypothermia. not bad but i was shivering while riding and as soon as i got to a guest house i got in the bed and tried to warm up. this was partly due to the wind in central laos. man, it was windy, i almost got knocked down a few times one the bike and had to lean so much to the right while riding i might have permanent lean. i've been shedding items from my pack along the way too. and a few weeks ago in kampot, a few hours from sihnoukville, i got rid of all my long underwear, an extra warm shirt and my rain gear. i miss those items now, but i'm okay. i've kept one light type jacket and a sweatshirt and my beanie. but the only pants i have are some really thin, hippie like, traveler pants and the ones i got custom made in hoi an. and they are not very thick. so it goes...
okay so i know that i've said this before, but these people, the lao, are now the most friendly people ever. maybe it's just me being open too, but i swear. my first night in pakse, i was GRABBED off the street and PULLED into this lao community party. like a block party sort of. i was immediately handed a glass of beerlao and again PULLED onto the dance floor. no one spoke english, i didn't even know thank you at the time. but they just speak to me anyway and i usually nod and laugh or shake my head and shrug my shoulders, saying i don't understand. "no speak lao." but it doesn't matter, they still talk to me and teach me a few words and i try to learn and sometimes will repeat what they say back to them. it's really kind of amazing. at the community party a whitey was finally pulled out of somewhere and it was this lady lanna who had married a lao dude. i was a little confused at first since the dude she said is her husband looked to be about 22 and she looked... well a lot older than that. i learned later on that she was 49 and he was like 35. she has been living here for the past 11 years. she moved because it was so much of a simpler life here. she said it's becoming more like ours though, still a far way off but changing. her husband was very jealous of my beard, which since then i've gotten a lot of. the dudes always try to feel it and mention it to me at rest stops and anywhere else. the husband had a little bit of a goat tee and he had been growing it for years. i've got a fairly well developed beard by now and i told her not to tell him it was only two months worth of growing. they were super now though and wanted me to wait around for the weekend and they would throw a party and eat either some duck or some goat. i don't believe that i've tried goat yet; but then also, i've eaten a ton of mystery meat. i don't know why i didn't wait around to go to this party they wanted to throw for me but i felt a need to hit the road. since i've been emailing lanna.
the next day while riding i passed a little town and noticed that there was a ton of motorbikes parked at this one outdoor restaurant. i knew they had chicken boxing here because i'd talked to other travelers that had mentioned that. so i stopped because i knew at least something was going down with all the bikes. i was right, it was chicken boxing! now this was truly a enlightening experience. i had always thought it was pretty cruel and barbaric, and it might be, but these dudes LOVE their chickens. i mean love. i'd always thought it was a fight to the death, but this is not so. i couldn't really understand but i guess it's til one chicken gives up by trying to jump out of the ring. i'm still not really sure and i've been to a couple of these roadside chicken boxing matches too. okay, so it's pretty much like human boxing, theirs fucking rounds, who knew. AND in between rounds they doctor the chickens up. i saw a dude suck swelling or blood or something off his chickens neck. they wipe them down with hot wash clothes and water. i even saw some medicine at one of them. i had no clue! it's madness! they always laugh and smile at me when i show up too and kneel down to watch them doctor up the chicken between rounds. it's really interesting though, fascinating.
that night i stopped in paksong. as i was walking down the side of the road their were some high school aged kids riding in the back of a truck type vehicle, hooting and hollering and just being kids in general. they had a long canoe back there as well. i walked by them twice while looking for a place to get some food. they yelled hello to me the first time i walked by. the second they told me i had to row, not in so many words mind you but more gestures. so i walked across the road to talk to them. i was immediately handed a glass of beerlao and ushered into a seat. asked if i speak lao, no, but then someone always speaks "a little" english. they emphasize this whenever someone usually speak english. "i only speak english a little." normally it's pretty decent though. they played american songs off their phones for me to listen to and danced with me for a minute and fed me some shish kebabs, which you dipped into a little bowl of oil with hot peppers in it. i thought some of the meat was chicken heart and liver; but i have no clue what it is. i've eaten it for dinner a few times now too. it's pretty good. anyway, the kids had to go home so i walked to another kiosk to get a beerlao. there i sat with some other people who owned the shop and was told i love you and have a beautiful nose. i always tell them i love them back too. anyway, i bought them a beer and we sat around drinking them and talking what we could, one of the dudes spoke decent english. after a while he said we go to disco lao, okay? what the heck, okay. so we head over to this outdoor party with a big stage all setup and food vendors and lights, it was pretty cool. we got some more beerlao and then i was told it was time to dance. now lao dancing is pretty simple, which is good because i'm very self-conscious about dancing. but this you just kinda move your feet, sway your hips and and kinda roll your wrists around. after a while, i was told that i dance lao very good. which was cool. i one point we were sitting down when the dude that spoke english had me get up, i assumed it was to dance some more. i was wrong. he started to go around the stage and i just thought he was introducing me to the band. i was wrong. we did meet the lady in the band but then he walked up on stage. i followed, i mean i guess what else was i supposed to do. we get up there and he says we're gonna sing. hahahhaha. he pretty much sang the song and i danced around on stage. it was fucking wild. i mean, i don't think i would ever get on stage and dance in america. but i'm trying to make it a point to be brave here, and do things i normally wouldn't do. it was really cool. people in the crowd would come up to the stage and shake our hands. and when the song was over, i felt elated, pure joy. and i thanked the dude profusely for bring me out to this disco lao. by now, as the only whitey there and going on stage and the lao people being as friendly as they are, i was a hit at this party. i had people coming up to shake my hand and ask where i was from, taking cell phone pics of me, one gorgeous girl told me she loved me (boo-yeah), i was invited to a couple other tables to drink beer. i visited another table for a bit but made my way back to my friends cuz they had brought me. after a lot more dancing and sharing some quail eggs and beerlao, i was told it was time to go home and go to sleep. okay. it was one helluva night. on the way out the dude that spoke english asked if we were friends, i told him hell yeah we're friends, it's not even a question. best friends.
it was a pretty mellow journey after that night for the next couple. i met a monk in training the next night and he taught me how to eat lao, with your hands after washing them, and we spoke about lao and his plans for what he's going to do when he graduates from monk school. he didn't know. i spoke to his brother, he spoke, "a little bit" of english. he was in high school, he played soccer. i let him drive my motorbike, they taught me how to say goodbye in lao. the next day, when i stopped for lunch, i was invited to eat with these dudes. this is where a couple of them decided that i "could" move to lao and take a lao wife. i took it as an honor. i spoke with one of them, a mechanical engineer working for a mining company about lao and how it's freedom now and happy and good. he'd gone to school in germany. we spoke about other things, he wanted to show me around his province. he would always translate to the three other dudes what we were talking about. they taught me how to eat lao pho. with the veggies on the side, you just pick up the green beans and lettuce and cabbage and eat it with your hands. he told me the other three dudes were farmers and i asked what they grew, rice. and one was village councilman. he gave me his address and phone numbers and said in ten days he has some time and if i could come back and he would like to show me around his province, as it's very beautiful and in the mountains. again i felt honored.
last night in vientiane, i found a local soccer game and watched them play. it was great! afterwords the ref and i had beerlao (they seriously love beerlao) and we tried to speak, he knew no english and me no speak lao. but we had a good time. he gave me his phone number and then had me sing karaoke with one of the teams that was in the restaurant next to the field. when he left i sat down with the team and sang some more karaoke and we spoke because one of them spoke "a little bit" of english. i was translated that one of the dudes liked my style and i let him wear my beanie for a bit. we talked about being friends and i have noticed that this is very important to the lao people, to be friends and friendly. i told him of course we're friends.
okay, that's it for now. i think i've been in this internet cafe too long.
PEACE!
i spent the last 5 days making that journey, no map, no phone, and most of the time with no idea where i was. only maybe an inflated confidence level that i can figure anything out. betsy had a bit of a hard time on the last day of the journey, yesterday, and i had to take her to two shops to get fixed up. it was a 200 km travel day though, usually i only make about 150 a day. not a long way, but i like to stop at all sorts of places and check out shit and talk to the people.
lao people ask me 4 questions right off the bat, usually the first is where are you from? the second is then, speak lao? a couple words, i feel like my brain is packed and i have so much khmer now in my head that i keep reverting back to it. like i used to try to speak spanish to any foreigners because that's the only other language i know. but i've got a few words down now: thank you, hello/how are you, goodbye, hahahah; that might be it. i'm still trying to learn though, because the people love it when you can speak a little bit of their language. the third question is, beerlao? of course, you gotta be careful cuz it's a lot stronger than the lager in vietnam and cambodia. and the fourth is always, are you single? if they can they usually ask why. or they try to hook me up with chicks. i don't know if it's standard or what but i've had a village councilman tell me i "could" take a lao wife and move to laos. like he approved of me enough. dudes are also trying to hook you up with girls all the time, it's a little weird. the women are way more upfront here too, than in vietnam or cambodia. i've been told, i love you by a handful of girls; from old ladies to younger ones my age. i've also been told i'm handsome from many women and even some dudes. and that i have a beautiful nose. laos is doing wonders for my confidence! hahah. the women also smoke and drink beerlao. i didn't see any women smoking in vietnam and only maybe one or two in cambodia. when i was chilling out in the sticks in a shantytown outside of pakse; i was hanging out with some dudes and some women that were getting after it. putting the beerlao back.
oh yeah, and it's also cold here. not terrifically cold but cold enough that's it's forced me to stop riding by about 4. i think the first day i encounter the coldness i got a little bit of hypothermia. not bad but i was shivering while riding and as soon as i got to a guest house i got in the bed and tried to warm up. this was partly due to the wind in central laos. man, it was windy, i almost got knocked down a few times one the bike and had to lean so much to the right while riding i might have permanent lean. i've been shedding items from my pack along the way too. and a few weeks ago in kampot, a few hours from sihnoukville, i got rid of all my long underwear, an extra warm shirt and my rain gear. i miss those items now, but i'm okay. i've kept one light type jacket and a sweatshirt and my beanie. but the only pants i have are some really thin, hippie like, traveler pants and the ones i got custom made in hoi an. and they are not very thick. so it goes...
okay so i know that i've said this before, but these people, the lao, are now the most friendly people ever. maybe it's just me being open too, but i swear. my first night in pakse, i was GRABBED off the street and PULLED into this lao community party. like a block party sort of. i was immediately handed a glass of beerlao and again PULLED onto the dance floor. no one spoke english, i didn't even know thank you at the time. but they just speak to me anyway and i usually nod and laugh or shake my head and shrug my shoulders, saying i don't understand. "no speak lao." but it doesn't matter, they still talk to me and teach me a few words and i try to learn and sometimes will repeat what they say back to them. it's really kind of amazing. at the community party a whitey was finally pulled out of somewhere and it was this lady lanna who had married a lao dude. i was a little confused at first since the dude she said is her husband looked to be about 22 and she looked... well a lot older than that. i learned later on that she was 49 and he was like 35. she has been living here for the past 11 years. she moved because it was so much of a simpler life here. she said it's becoming more like ours though, still a far way off but changing. her husband was very jealous of my beard, which since then i've gotten a lot of. the dudes always try to feel it and mention it to me at rest stops and anywhere else. the husband had a little bit of a goat tee and he had been growing it for years. i've got a fairly well developed beard by now and i told her not to tell him it was only two months worth of growing. they were super now though and wanted me to wait around for the weekend and they would throw a party and eat either some duck or some goat. i don't believe that i've tried goat yet; but then also, i've eaten a ton of mystery meat. i don't know why i didn't wait around to go to this party they wanted to throw for me but i felt a need to hit the road. since i've been emailing lanna.
the next day while riding i passed a little town and noticed that there was a ton of motorbikes parked at this one outdoor restaurant. i knew they had chicken boxing here because i'd talked to other travelers that had mentioned that. so i stopped because i knew at least something was going down with all the bikes. i was right, it was chicken boxing! now this was truly a enlightening experience. i had always thought it was pretty cruel and barbaric, and it might be, but these dudes LOVE their chickens. i mean love. i'd always thought it was a fight to the death, but this is not so. i couldn't really understand but i guess it's til one chicken gives up by trying to jump out of the ring. i'm still not really sure and i've been to a couple of these roadside chicken boxing matches too. okay, so it's pretty much like human boxing, theirs fucking rounds, who knew. AND in between rounds they doctor the chickens up. i saw a dude suck swelling or blood or something off his chickens neck. they wipe them down with hot wash clothes and water. i even saw some medicine at one of them. i had no clue! it's madness! they always laugh and smile at me when i show up too and kneel down to watch them doctor up the chicken between rounds. it's really interesting though, fascinating.
that night i stopped in paksong. as i was walking down the side of the road their were some high school aged kids riding in the back of a truck type vehicle, hooting and hollering and just being kids in general. they had a long canoe back there as well. i walked by them twice while looking for a place to get some food. they yelled hello to me the first time i walked by. the second they told me i had to row, not in so many words mind you but more gestures. so i walked across the road to talk to them. i was immediately handed a glass of beerlao and ushered into a seat. asked if i speak lao, no, but then someone always speaks "a little" english. they emphasize this whenever someone usually speak english. "i only speak english a little." normally it's pretty decent though. they played american songs off their phones for me to listen to and danced with me for a minute and fed me some shish kebabs, which you dipped into a little bowl of oil with hot peppers in it. i thought some of the meat was chicken heart and liver; but i have no clue what it is. i've eaten it for dinner a few times now too. it's pretty good. anyway, the kids had to go home so i walked to another kiosk to get a beerlao. there i sat with some other people who owned the shop and was told i love you and have a beautiful nose. i always tell them i love them back too. anyway, i bought them a beer and we sat around drinking them and talking what we could, one of the dudes spoke decent english. after a while he said we go to disco lao, okay? what the heck, okay. so we head over to this outdoor party with a big stage all setup and food vendors and lights, it was pretty cool. we got some more beerlao and then i was told it was time to dance. now lao dancing is pretty simple, which is good because i'm very self-conscious about dancing. but this you just kinda move your feet, sway your hips and and kinda roll your wrists around. after a while, i was told that i dance lao very good. which was cool. i one point we were sitting down when the dude that spoke english had me get up, i assumed it was to dance some more. i was wrong. he started to go around the stage and i just thought he was introducing me to the band. i was wrong. we did meet the lady in the band but then he walked up on stage. i followed, i mean i guess what else was i supposed to do. we get up there and he says we're gonna sing. hahahhaha. he pretty much sang the song and i danced around on stage. it was fucking wild. i mean, i don't think i would ever get on stage and dance in america. but i'm trying to make it a point to be brave here, and do things i normally wouldn't do. it was really cool. people in the crowd would come up to the stage and shake our hands. and when the song was over, i felt elated, pure joy. and i thanked the dude profusely for bring me out to this disco lao. by now, as the only whitey there and going on stage and the lao people being as friendly as they are, i was a hit at this party. i had people coming up to shake my hand and ask where i was from, taking cell phone pics of me, one gorgeous girl told me she loved me (boo-yeah), i was invited to a couple other tables to drink beer. i visited another table for a bit but made my way back to my friends cuz they had brought me. after a lot more dancing and sharing some quail eggs and beerlao, i was told it was time to go home and go to sleep. okay. it was one helluva night. on the way out the dude that spoke english asked if we were friends, i told him hell yeah we're friends, it's not even a question. best friends.
it was a pretty mellow journey after that night for the next couple. i met a monk in training the next night and he taught me how to eat lao, with your hands after washing them, and we spoke about lao and his plans for what he's going to do when he graduates from monk school. he didn't know. i spoke to his brother, he spoke, "a little bit" of english. he was in high school, he played soccer. i let him drive my motorbike, they taught me how to say goodbye in lao. the next day, when i stopped for lunch, i was invited to eat with these dudes. this is where a couple of them decided that i "could" move to lao and take a lao wife. i took it as an honor. i spoke with one of them, a mechanical engineer working for a mining company about lao and how it's freedom now and happy and good. he'd gone to school in germany. we spoke about other things, he wanted to show me around his province. he would always translate to the three other dudes what we were talking about. they taught me how to eat lao pho. with the veggies on the side, you just pick up the green beans and lettuce and cabbage and eat it with your hands. he told me the other three dudes were farmers and i asked what they grew, rice. and one was village councilman. he gave me his address and phone numbers and said in ten days he has some time and if i could come back and he would like to show me around his province, as it's very beautiful and in the mountains. again i felt honored.
last night in vientiane, i found a local soccer game and watched them play. it was great! afterwords the ref and i had beerlao (they seriously love beerlao) and we tried to speak, he knew no english and me no speak lao. but we had a good time. he gave me his phone number and then had me sing karaoke with one of the teams that was in the restaurant next to the field. when he left i sat down with the team and sang some more karaoke and we spoke because one of them spoke "a little bit" of english. i was translated that one of the dudes liked my style and i let him wear my beanie for a bit. we talked about being friends and i have noticed that this is very important to the lao people, to be friends and friendly. i told him of course we're friends.
okay, that's it for now. i think i've been in this internet cafe too long.
PEACE!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
keyboard anthropology
okay, so i will try my hand at a little keyboard anthropology. in the old days they called it arm-rest anthropology, meaning that old white dudes wouldn't go study a culture, they would just comment based on bias mostly and reading a bit about others trips. so i made up keyboard anthropology. maybe i'm the first keyboard anthropologist! hahaha.
so, what i've learned in cambodia, about the people, their culture, their thoughts on america, their government, their life, and then aspects i've noticed. this by no means is a comprehensive study, i feel like i have to have a warning. mostly my thoughts and then some condensed conversations from kim, savin, three dudes i met at dinner last night, chin, and others.
my thoughts on the garbage here. i think it's dirtier than vietnam, although i'm not sure it's hard to remember. but it's pretty polluted with debris, not smoggy like hanoi but garbage all over the place. i've stopped at tiny roadside kiosks and seen the back of markets. it's just literally tons of garbage, and they mostly burn it. i've seen a couple of garbage trucks but not much. the other night in skun, i saw a little girl starting a plastic garbage fire, it broke my heart, a new generation just burning plastic. there is recycling, but it's mostly limited to bottles and cans. not plastic bags, and they put drinks in plastic bags if you buy one at the market. that way the store can keep and return the can/bottle for money.
i had conversations with savin and kim about the government. it sounds fairly corrupt. the president has been in power for the last twenty years and has said he WILL win the next election (side note: i don't know if cambodia is communist or democractic). they did cancel the boat races for this years water festival to help the poor as many areas were damaged by the floods that hit here as well as thailand. but the government is still selling rice to other countries, keeping it from people who need it here, as they want to portray a picture that even though they've had massive floods and damage; they can still afford to export rice. savin was pretty upset with the government, the president, and the police. the police, are corrupt. i was stopped and asked to bribe the police in sihnoukville; i've been afraid it'll happen elsewhere too, but it hasn't. savin said he had been stopped by police for nothing too, just the cops asking for money. we've seen more police and ambulances here though than we ever did in vietnam. kim had a place at a different beach in sihnoukville, before Dany's Place at Otres Beach. it was shutdown and confiscated by the government. no reason, just taken; and there's nothing she could do. she is happy though, and savin is happy. i'm sure they wish for a better government and more fair and equal rights for all; but they are still happy. i find this true for most cambodians.
my first thoughts were that i had a love/hate relationship with cambodia. i liked it but i fell for that gambling scam. i had to let that go. i can't let a bad experience settle what i think about the rest of the country and it's people. plus, that was one hell of a scam, i mean really, so complicated. but i've changed my mind, i love cambodia. it's still raw, developing but upbeat and alive. i had the best converstion with three lecturers last night (i called them professors but they just said lecturers).
we spoke about everything but the kitchen sink! we spoke about america and our foreign policy and why countries do not like us and why they now seek help from china rather than us. this lead to them telling me that they've met many americans that think the same way as me, that our foreign policy (imperialism) is ruining the true american way of life, and that we have the means to feed the starving and ease the suffering of the poor worldwide on nearly one tenth the budget we spend on trying to control the worlds' natural resources. we spoke of love and why i am still single (one dude sweated me a bit about this; a lot of people in cambodia have commented on this, i think they marry fairly young compared to us, early twenties). i spoke of learning all i can about myself and becoming confident in what i am doing and what i want out of life before i can fully commit myself to another person and start a family; which i emphasized that i would like to do. we spoke of religion, and the religions i've studied. they were impressed that i've studied so many, confucianism, islam, christianity, catholicism, buddhism (cambodia is mostly buddhist, and the buddha is said to have traveled here), taoism, judaism, and pagan or naturalist religions. they wanted to know the difference between judaism and christianity and islam. i summarized that the christians believe that jesus is the prophet, that islam believes muhammad is the prophet, and that judaism doesn't believe that the prophet has come yet. we spoke of meditation and if i thought that meditation had been beneficial as a part of my life, i said yes it has. we spoke of meditation as a means to being more conscience during life and how this can lead to a deeper appreciation of, well, everything life involves. more focused on living than planning, and not getting caught up in the worries and banal complications of everyday life. how being present is one of the keys to being happy; as well as compassion. we spoke about cambodian life compared to american life. i noted that despite hardships and pauperism, the people seem to be happy. one of them replied yes, they are happy; but life here is hard. we wake up at 5-5:30 and work til 6-7; just to survive and don't make a lot of money. we spoke of how americans are always chasing the ball (his euphemism); and this is what leads to our general suffering, always wanting more, striving for more. to appreciate being happy with what you've got and saying thanks to whomever/whatever you believe, whether that is yourself (godhead in buddhism), a certain god, or bountiful nature. there is something to be said for this conversation. i am still thinking about it a day later. i complimented them on their english and fact that i thought their students were lucky to have such intelligent and thoughtful teachers. we ate more delicious khmer food.
i'll reiterate, i would love to bring kim and her family back to the states to start a khmer restaurant. i think it would do well and school people on this tasty food and the people of cambodia.
the people are fashionable. they always look cool. the men mostly wear jeans or slacks with a button up long sleeved shirt. the women the same pretty much except when they go out at night, in which case they will dress up.
did i mention that the people are friendly? they are. everywhere i go i am invited to join their party. last night i had dinner with the three professors. the night before i hung out with white people in kratie (two czech women and a danish duder). the night before in skun, with first some teenagers at a kiosk and then some older dudes. at a rest stop i was invited to have a beer with some kids, mostly in their early twenties who worked at a casino in bavet. we had beers and then they took me karaoke once again. i sang and danced, with no cares in the world. they asked if i wanted a girl, i said no thanks. they said if i changed my mind let them know and i can have my pick. this seems a pretty standard policy in much of cambodia, i saw in sihnoukville, phnom penh, that random rest stop, and siem reap. it happens i guess, although, i would put it down as foreigners looking for sex that has led to such a prospering sex trade. it looks as if age does not have such a settle limit, young ones.
the country is beautiful though, physically. great geography, beautiful sunsets (i've only taken pictures of a few). the hot cambodian sun. spralling rivers and flood lands. cities half built with dirt roads and dust.
i guess that's it for now. off to laos tomorrow.
pictures are finally all up:
https://plus.google.com/photos/100425108117169097988/albums/5682575081408852801
so, what i've learned in cambodia, about the people, their culture, their thoughts on america, their government, their life, and then aspects i've noticed. this by no means is a comprehensive study, i feel like i have to have a warning. mostly my thoughts and then some condensed conversations from kim, savin, three dudes i met at dinner last night, chin, and others.
my thoughts on the garbage here. i think it's dirtier than vietnam, although i'm not sure it's hard to remember. but it's pretty polluted with debris, not smoggy like hanoi but garbage all over the place. i've stopped at tiny roadside kiosks and seen the back of markets. it's just literally tons of garbage, and they mostly burn it. i've seen a couple of garbage trucks but not much. the other night in skun, i saw a little girl starting a plastic garbage fire, it broke my heart, a new generation just burning plastic. there is recycling, but it's mostly limited to bottles and cans. not plastic bags, and they put drinks in plastic bags if you buy one at the market. that way the store can keep and return the can/bottle for money.
i had conversations with savin and kim about the government. it sounds fairly corrupt. the president has been in power for the last twenty years and has said he WILL win the next election (side note: i don't know if cambodia is communist or democractic). they did cancel the boat races for this years water festival to help the poor as many areas were damaged by the floods that hit here as well as thailand. but the government is still selling rice to other countries, keeping it from people who need it here, as they want to portray a picture that even though they've had massive floods and damage; they can still afford to export rice. savin was pretty upset with the government, the president, and the police. the police, are corrupt. i was stopped and asked to bribe the police in sihnoukville; i've been afraid it'll happen elsewhere too, but it hasn't. savin said he had been stopped by police for nothing too, just the cops asking for money. we've seen more police and ambulances here though than we ever did in vietnam. kim had a place at a different beach in sihnoukville, before Dany's Place at Otres Beach. it was shutdown and confiscated by the government. no reason, just taken; and there's nothing she could do. she is happy though, and savin is happy. i'm sure they wish for a better government and more fair and equal rights for all; but they are still happy. i find this true for most cambodians.
my first thoughts were that i had a love/hate relationship with cambodia. i liked it but i fell for that gambling scam. i had to let that go. i can't let a bad experience settle what i think about the rest of the country and it's people. plus, that was one hell of a scam, i mean really, so complicated. but i've changed my mind, i love cambodia. it's still raw, developing but upbeat and alive. i had the best converstion with three lecturers last night (i called them professors but they just said lecturers).
we spoke about everything but the kitchen sink! we spoke about america and our foreign policy and why countries do not like us and why they now seek help from china rather than us. this lead to them telling me that they've met many americans that think the same way as me, that our foreign policy (imperialism) is ruining the true american way of life, and that we have the means to feed the starving and ease the suffering of the poor worldwide on nearly one tenth the budget we spend on trying to control the worlds' natural resources. we spoke of love and why i am still single (one dude sweated me a bit about this; a lot of people in cambodia have commented on this, i think they marry fairly young compared to us, early twenties). i spoke of learning all i can about myself and becoming confident in what i am doing and what i want out of life before i can fully commit myself to another person and start a family; which i emphasized that i would like to do. we spoke of religion, and the religions i've studied. they were impressed that i've studied so many, confucianism, islam, christianity, catholicism, buddhism (cambodia is mostly buddhist, and the buddha is said to have traveled here), taoism, judaism, and pagan or naturalist religions. they wanted to know the difference between judaism and christianity and islam. i summarized that the christians believe that jesus is the prophet, that islam believes muhammad is the prophet, and that judaism doesn't believe that the prophet has come yet. we spoke of meditation and if i thought that meditation had been beneficial as a part of my life, i said yes it has. we spoke of meditation as a means to being more conscience during life and how this can lead to a deeper appreciation of, well, everything life involves. more focused on living than planning, and not getting caught up in the worries and banal complications of everyday life. how being present is one of the keys to being happy; as well as compassion. we spoke about cambodian life compared to american life. i noted that despite hardships and pauperism, the people seem to be happy. one of them replied yes, they are happy; but life here is hard. we wake up at 5-5:30 and work til 6-7; just to survive and don't make a lot of money. we spoke of how americans are always chasing the ball (his euphemism); and this is what leads to our general suffering, always wanting more, striving for more. to appreciate being happy with what you've got and saying thanks to whomever/whatever you believe, whether that is yourself (godhead in buddhism), a certain god, or bountiful nature. there is something to be said for this conversation. i am still thinking about it a day later. i complimented them on their english and fact that i thought their students were lucky to have such intelligent and thoughtful teachers. we ate more delicious khmer food.
i'll reiterate, i would love to bring kim and her family back to the states to start a khmer restaurant. i think it would do well and school people on this tasty food and the people of cambodia.
the people are fashionable. they always look cool. the men mostly wear jeans or slacks with a button up long sleeved shirt. the women the same pretty much except when they go out at night, in which case they will dress up.
did i mention that the people are friendly? they are. everywhere i go i am invited to join their party. last night i had dinner with the three professors. the night before i hung out with white people in kratie (two czech women and a danish duder). the night before in skun, with first some teenagers at a kiosk and then some older dudes. at a rest stop i was invited to have a beer with some kids, mostly in their early twenties who worked at a casino in bavet. we had beers and then they took me karaoke once again. i sang and danced, with no cares in the world. they asked if i wanted a girl, i said no thanks. they said if i changed my mind let them know and i can have my pick. this seems a pretty standard policy in much of cambodia, i saw in sihnoukville, phnom penh, that random rest stop, and siem reap. it happens i guess, although, i would put it down as foreigners looking for sex that has led to such a prospering sex trade. it looks as if age does not have such a settle limit, young ones.
the country is beautiful though, physically. great geography, beautiful sunsets (i've only taken pictures of a few). the hot cambodian sun. spralling rivers and flood lands. cities half built with dirt roads and dust.
i guess that's it for now. off to laos tomorrow.
pictures are finally all up:
https://plus.google.com/photos/100425108117169097988/albums/5682575081408852801
Friday, December 2, 2011
angkor temples/reading list ideas/rambling
so, we've made it to siem reap to visit the angkor temples. the angkor temples are one of the reasons i was most excited to come to cambodia. they were everything they promised to be and more. built between 800-1100 bce; they are some of the biggest temples/temple complexes on the planet. so amazing. we read that you could go out there after 5 pm get a pass, watch the sunset there and that would still allow the pass to be good for the next day. so we went, we missed sunset per se, but it was still light and we walked around angkor wat for a bit, marvelling. that night we went out with this british girl we had meet at Dany's in sihnoukville, it's a small world, we had seen her on the streets of siem reap earlier that day and said that we'd give her a ride to the temples for sunset, so she didn't have to pay a tuk tuk to take her.
we did meet up with a cool tuk tuk driver that night, chin, and had him take us to some local hangouts. we told him we didn't want to go to pop street, which i guess is where all the white people hangout. so, he took us to a khmer beer garden. it was way cool, we got a tube of beer and had some fried shrimp, chilling and talking with him. i ended up walking around a bit speaking with some locals, practicing the few words of khmer i knew and ended up dancing with some people on the way out. the people love it when you can speak khmer, even if it's just, no thank you, which we've ended up using a lot to say no thanks to the tuk tuk drivers, they also love it that we've got motorbikes and travel like them. chin took us to a few places to drink and then to hangout with his friends; he wanted to take us out to the khmer dance club but since we had to get up for sunrise, we declined. gotta get that beauty sleep, ya know.
so, we did get up for sunrise. it was amazing, really cool, beautiful, awe-inspiring, surreal, ethereal, and everything else. i must have taken twenty pictures of the sunrise, just like every minute, i was like, oh, it's different colors now, gotta take a pic. most look the same. it was still cool. we wandered around angkor wat for a bit til checking out the different rooms, the massive bas-relief carvings of ancient hindu wars, and just reeling from the immensity of it all. we got some breakfast after that as we were pretty hungry by then, just running on coffee and tired from the night before. charlie and michelle were off to take a nap as it was like 9 in the morning by then; but becky (the british girl) and i had it in our heads that we would power through. so we split, deciding to meet back up for lunch. becky and i headed off to the jungle temple that had been used in Tomb Raider, the Angelina Jolie move about the video game of the same name. it was way cool. the temples had been taken over by these massive trees. trees just growing on top of them with huge roots all over the place. it was really cool, but small than angkor wat and more packed with tourists. we went outside back to the parking area, had an ice cream, a red bull, and then a nap in some hammocks that were out there. back to meet charlie and michelle for lunch, then explore angkor wat a little more after breaking off from michelle and charlie again as they were gonna head over to the jungle temple. we tried to go to the top, the bakan (i believe) but becky wasn't allowed as she had only shorts not pants and i decided not to go and hold that over her head for the rest of time. hahahah. next, we drove around to a few other temples, checking them out and marvelling at the size and area of angkor. the place and the temples are so massive, covering miles, and so intricate it's incredible. built in squares that on the bas-reliefs are carved to match these battle scenes from the ramayama (again, i think). i kept wondering about the artists who did it, i mean it seems that most of these types of structures are built by slaves, but these most have been some seriously good artist/slaves or something, i don't know. we ended up driving around and checking out the temples for hours. the place was seriously big. we didn't stay for sunset as we had it in our minds to go do some yoga that night at a hostel in town. i ended the day doing yoga and then having some indian dinner with becky. it was a good end to a great day.
on another note, i've started reading, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. what a time to be reading this book. it's basically about how the hitmen, go into developing nations and make a deal for US companies, hahahah, i just finished working for one of them, to upgrade their infrastructure on loans from the IMF, World Bank to modernize their country; but leaving them with exorbitant loans that they have to default on. Leaving their government/leaders no choice but to open up their boarders to the US for natural resources, military bases, and whatever else we want; pushing our neo-colonial/global domination agenda. i'm not sure if we ever have done this in cambodia, but i was just in one of the places it failed, vietnam and know that's it's failed in iraq and afghanistan; which is why the military had to be brought in. this basically only benefits the US corporations, our military/industrial complex, and a few priviledged individuals; usually making the poor even more poor when all is said and done. anyway, it's seems like an auspicious time for me to be reading it. i know india just opened it's doors to giant supermarket conglomerates and seeing the disparity between the rich and the poor here. anyway, this isn't a political blog; so i'll stop there. it's just a great read, very informative and should be checked out.
later,
nick
p.s. i'm trying to post pics to google+ but it's taking hours.
we did meet up with a cool tuk tuk driver that night, chin, and had him take us to some local hangouts. we told him we didn't want to go to pop street, which i guess is where all the white people hangout. so, he took us to a khmer beer garden. it was way cool, we got a tube of beer and had some fried shrimp, chilling and talking with him. i ended up walking around a bit speaking with some locals, practicing the few words of khmer i knew and ended up dancing with some people on the way out. the people love it when you can speak khmer, even if it's just, no thank you, which we've ended up using a lot to say no thanks to the tuk tuk drivers, they also love it that we've got motorbikes and travel like them. chin took us to a few places to drink and then to hangout with his friends; he wanted to take us out to the khmer dance club but since we had to get up for sunrise, we declined. gotta get that beauty sleep, ya know.
so, we did get up for sunrise. it was amazing, really cool, beautiful, awe-inspiring, surreal, ethereal, and everything else. i must have taken twenty pictures of the sunrise, just like every minute, i was like, oh, it's different colors now, gotta take a pic. most look the same. it was still cool. we wandered around angkor wat for a bit til checking out the different rooms, the massive bas-relief carvings of ancient hindu wars, and just reeling from the immensity of it all. we got some breakfast after that as we were pretty hungry by then, just running on coffee and tired from the night before. charlie and michelle were off to take a nap as it was like 9 in the morning by then; but becky (the british girl) and i had it in our heads that we would power through. so we split, deciding to meet back up for lunch. becky and i headed off to the jungle temple that had been used in Tomb Raider, the Angelina Jolie move about the video game of the same name. it was way cool. the temples had been taken over by these massive trees. trees just growing on top of them with huge roots all over the place. it was really cool, but small than angkor wat and more packed with tourists. we went outside back to the parking area, had an ice cream, a red bull, and then a nap in some hammocks that were out there. back to meet charlie and michelle for lunch, then explore angkor wat a little more after breaking off from michelle and charlie again as they were gonna head over to the jungle temple. we tried to go to the top, the bakan (i believe) but becky wasn't allowed as she had only shorts not pants and i decided not to go and hold that over her head for the rest of time. hahahah. next, we drove around to a few other temples, checking them out and marvelling at the size and area of angkor. the place and the temples are so massive, covering miles, and so intricate it's incredible. built in squares that on the bas-reliefs are carved to match these battle scenes from the ramayama (again, i think). i kept wondering about the artists who did it, i mean it seems that most of these types of structures are built by slaves, but these most have been some seriously good artist/slaves or something, i don't know. we ended up driving around and checking out the temples for hours. the place was seriously big. we didn't stay for sunset as we had it in our minds to go do some yoga that night at a hostel in town. i ended the day doing yoga and then having some indian dinner with becky. it was a good end to a great day.
on another note, i've started reading, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. what a time to be reading this book. it's basically about how the hitmen, go into developing nations and make a deal for US companies, hahahah, i just finished working for one of them, to upgrade their infrastructure on loans from the IMF, World Bank to modernize their country; but leaving them with exorbitant loans that they have to default on. Leaving their government/leaders no choice but to open up their boarders to the US for natural resources, military bases, and whatever else we want; pushing our neo-colonial/global domination agenda. i'm not sure if we ever have done this in cambodia, but i was just in one of the places it failed, vietnam and know that's it's failed in iraq and afghanistan; which is why the military had to be brought in. this basically only benefits the US corporations, our military/industrial complex, and a few priviledged individuals; usually making the poor even more poor when all is said and done. anyway, it's seems like an auspicious time for me to be reading it. i know india just opened it's doors to giant supermarket conglomerates and seeing the disparity between the rich and the poor here. anyway, this isn't a political blog; so i'll stop there. it's just a great read, very informative and should be checked out.
later,
nick
p.s. i'm trying to post pics to google+ but it's taking hours.
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