Cambodia

From Phenom Penh, Cambodia:

I have been here for four days now, staying at a backpacker in outskirts of Phenom Penh. Paying $3/night it provides me with a single bed with thin mattress in a 7 bed dorm, shared fan and cold showers. It is super basic, however, it's clean, no rats, nice balcony, pool table, friendly staff and a great bunch of other travelers.

A walk down the street will attract attention of the many tuk tuk and moto (motorbike) drivers. Their products range from tuk tuk rides to guns or shooting a grenade at a cow. I think by now I have mastered every way of saying "no" in the book. A typical conversation would be something like this,

Seller: "sir sir!! you want tuk tuk?"
me: "oh no thank you"
Seller: "where you go? I take you there.."
me: "no it's alright, I'm walking"
Seller: "sir you want marijuana?"
me: "haha no thanks"
Seller: "what you want? you want opium? I have anything"
me: "nah man I'm all good"
Seller: "girls? lady girls cheap cheap"
Seller: "how about guns? want guns?"

I feel like people are doing anything they can to find a days living. I guess for majority it is really a day to day living. If a book seller on the street don't find enough cash for the day, he/she would go to sleep hungry. I've seen a street side market shop owner sleeping on a bench in the rat infested market. I've seen a kid may be ten years old sleeping in the grass alone with no shelter. Poverty is everywhere here. Nevertheless, there is the rich that parked up their fancy cars right next to the sleeping child on the grass and walked away without a glance.

This is what Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge tried to eradicate three decades ago. They called it Communist Revolution or Khmer Nationalism. The process was sickeningly ruthless - it was mad!! I saw the killing fields and torture camps of tens of thousands of the educated, intellectuals, government officials, monks, teachers, trades people, foreigners and their families. By the end of Khmer Rouge era, close to 2million of Cambodian population was killed.

I see the intentions of Pol Pot that lead to all this chaos, to eradicate the contrast between the rich and the poor. Every one of us were humbled by the poverty, and that was spawned out of love. However, we should all understand that the despise for the rich that arise has in fact nothing to do with the poor. A true solution should only arise out of the same love and kindness we all felt up on seeing the poor and not out of hate, anger or despise for the rich. One may believe in a solution that was fueled by anger and hate only to find that in the end it had created more problems. Hence, the current situation in Cambodia.



~Stupa made in memory of all the people that had died in the "killing fields" which contains remains of 9000 bodies and 11000 more still berried underground~



~Inhabited by the poor~



~my $2 hammock in the balcony~

The road to get there

All good things in life are like treasures waiting to be discovered and there is a road to get you there. What the treasure holds for you is unknown to you until you reach the end. The road may be full of twists and turns, steep hills, in fact dangerous, and you could easily get lost. But haven't we all come across those good things in life?...

Road to: Da Lat (a city in the mountains in Central Vietnam)
Means of travel: motorbike

People were really helpful when I told them I like to go from Nha Trang to Da Lat on a motorbike. I guess it reminded the older people of their younger days and youngsters a road they like to one day travel.

The road was dusty, weather was hot and navigation was difficult. Initially I had constant tears in my eyes from the dusty road. I had to not just dodge the traffic and pedestrians, but also the numerous holes in the road. For a good hour or so I was on the way to "Dac Lac" instead of Da Lat (I only suspected when I had to cross a river with my bike). It also rained for a little bit, and the mountain road was cold even with three layers of cloths on.

I guess it is far easier to note all the good things when things are so tough, and good things are of plenty when the complaining and contemplating stopped. I mean sooner or later I had to accept the fact that the going gets tougher (and tough gets going).

The road had it's own flow that I had to tune myself into. Not so much road rules here, but people are in tune with the road. It was interesting how somebody gave me directions using an internet Viet-English translator website. As much as I stared at the passing villages and their people, I got stared back at; probably being dark brown guy with a beard on a motorbike with a large backpack tied to the back. I can't forget trying to converse with the locals when I had look for food or when I ran out of petrol in a middle of a village. They spoke no English and I couldn't say more than Hello and Thank You in Vietnamese. Nevertheless, I did find good food to eat and petrol to get me back on the road.

The road carried me through some paddy fields, tropical bush, across rivers to the high lands. Air was thinner, cooler and comfortable. The scenery that was unraveling in front of me was breath taking: blue mountains, water falls here and there, bush flowers in various colors and the butterflies that butterflying around. There was clouds, and there was rain, but above the clouds there was the Sun shine.

Good times along the way was wound up with the tough and the uncomfortable. Those were the treasures to be discovered. At the end of the road there was no treasure stashed in a chest. The treasure was in fact spread out along the road for us to pick up..



~Winding road~


~Waterfall on the way~


~Means of transport~


~City of Da Lat~

Another world under water

This is an account of my first Scuba Diving experience:

Location: Nha Trang, Vietnam - 7.30am start, blue skyies, clear water, 40min boat ride to the Moon Island, my first dive site. We started with some basic skills training at 4-5meteres deep on a sandy patch near the island. Mare fact that you can move in all three directions upon your will truely takes you in to another space.

Then we dived down to 12meters following the reaf along the island. I found myself entering into a whole new world. The sensations came very accute and very simple. Warmth of the water on my skin, water brushing past through my finger tips, the sound of my breathing through the regulator and the colors and shapes that is opening up infront of my eyes. Yourself dissapears and takes shape as this mystical world all around you - eyes are only watching with this overwhelming excitment and curiousity, and the breathing and swimming happening automaticaly...



~Moon Island, Nha Trang, Vietnam~

Art of War

This account is no way justify or encorage the brutality of war. The war is the complete opposite of what considered human or animal for that matter.

Chu Chi Tunnels - used to be one of many underground tunnel/bunker system built by the Vietcongs (National Liberation Front) to fight the US Army. Some parts of the tunnel system stretched as far as Cambodia (about 250km away). The tour took us inside some of these tunnels. Air inside is heavy and it is pitch black. You could only manage to crawl. Someone could really die of claustrophobia. Just 7meters of crawling in the dark felt like it took forever.

Some of these tunnels have a number of layers, for fighting, cooking, living, storage and escape. A wrong turn could mean a boobytrap and would be lucky if you come out alive. I couldn't help being impressed by some of those smart ways of killing people. I mean it is truely imaginative.

During this tour I could hear gun fire, first I thought it was just loud speaker. Turned out that you could actually buy some bullets to shoot some real guns. Oh well why not huh :)
So I tried the American made M16. Probably way too powerful for a first timer. The kickback was massive - but not as bad as I expected. Noise was alot louder however. My ears were ringing for the whole day.

I guess the knowledge is there lovingly for anybody to access. What? Why? No questions asked. This that made for art, whatever it may be..



~Chu Chi Tunnels~


~Some M16 action~

A weekend with Nuban

A Friend of mine I had gotten to know really well in NZ, now works in Malaysia has taken his time off to come and pay me a visit in KL. It was indeed such a delight to see him after such a long time, 3years I think. For those who know him - he is still the same!! If any changes in a good way ;)

So the weekend started off with a clamped car followed by a lot of swearing. A roadtrip to Genting Highlands was really when it started. It really blew me a way to see such a difference in climate within a 2hrs drive from KL. Top of the mountain there lies a massive entertainment villa. Casinos, theme parks, restuarants, bars, clubs, shopping, hotels, etc, etc. This all surrounded by a mist that pretty much swollowed everything back into the surrounding forrest.

Next day we found lunch at this far away place near the old airport. The food was the most amazing, far out man!! Needless to say, too full to move afterwards. Thanks bro that was awesome, delicious, too good to ...... speachless!!

Oh yes, a boatride searching for fireflies. About a 20km stretch of Selangor River lies one of the largest firefly colonies in the world. At night you paddle up the river and the mangroves along the riverside are flashing with little white sparks, thousands of them. It is simply magical to see this beautiful creation of the nature. I don't know why the fireflies chose this river, why these trees, why here and why now? It simply doesn't matter - the magic is here, then and now.

It was a sweet weekend bro - thanks heaps. Most of all it was great just catching up with you. Hope to see you again sometime. Take care of yourself

~~~ Dedication to Nuban Muthukumar~~~



~"F#$kers clamped my car!!", Nuban says~


~A misty night in Genting Highlands~


~Giant eels at the seafood resturant - yes you can eat em along with everyother moving thing you see in the restuarant~

Batu Caves

Limestone caves, aging over 400million years. Now it consists of a number of hindu temples, scattered around and inside the caves. After the 270 steps of climb to enter the caves, I was overwhelmed by its shear size and majesty. Statues that are hidden away into the walls and the echoing sounds of hindu chantings bring a secred feeling to it. However, I think the real secredness is the caves themselves...

~Giant statue by the entrance~

~Inside the caves - 100m high ceilings~

What really matters

I was walking down the street today when I was interrupted by a man who appeared professional. Looking closer, his eyes told me of a weary story, cloths were dusty and he had swollen dry lips. He spoke softly. First he tried to speak to me in Hindi, I think. To my surprise, he could switch to English upon hearing that I couldn't understand him.

He told me that he is from Pakistan and he can't find work. "I've lost all my money, please help me", he said. I replied, "I am sorry, I don't have that much money, I am on a tight budget". He continued saying "please, I haven't eaten for a while...". I can't remember what he said after wards, but I was overwhelmed by this plea for basics of survival, to eat. I handed over a 10Riggit note and said, "make sure you get yourself some food".

Why this whole way of life I thought, school, uni and work 9-5? This is how we manage our survival, provide food, water and shelter. Isn't that what really matters? What comes afterwards is merely what considered "important" by the society. Chasing after it blindingly would make one forget what truly matters...

Waste Not Want Not

A tour bus driver is driving with a bus load of seniors down a highway when he is tapped on his shoulder by a little old lady. She offers him a bag of peanuts,which he gratefully accepts and eats the peanuts as he drives.

After about 20 minutes, she taps him on the shoulder again and she hands him another bag of peanuts. She repeats this gesture several more times on the tour. When she is about to hand the driver another bag … he asks the little old lady, ‘Why don’t you eat the peanuts yourself?’.

‘We can’t chew them because we’ve got no teeth’, she replied.

The puzzled driver asks, ‘Why do you buy them then?’

The old lady replied, ‘We just love the chocolate around them.’