Royal T.
If our lives are dominated by a search for happiness, then perhaps few activities reveal as much about the dynamics of this quest - in all its ardour and paradoxes - than our travels. They express, however inarticulately, an understanding of what life might be about, outside of the constraints of work and of the struggle for survival. Yet rarely are they considered to present philosophical problems - that is issues requiring thought beyond the practical. We are inundated with advice on where to travel to, but we hear little of why and how we should go, even though the art of travel seems so naturally to sustain a number of questions neither so simple nor so trivial, and whose study might in modest ways contribute to an understanding of what the Greek philosophers beautifully termed eudemonia, or ‘human flourishing’. FishBowlEscapes
- The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton
Cambodia, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya,...
Travel Blog Posts
December 15th 2005
The last few weeks of work before leaving Cambodia have been pretty heavy. Initially, when I started I comfortably slid into the 8 to 6 work day with a 2 hour siesta lunch, but lately it’s been more of 8am to 9pm with a 30 minute lunch break. Not that anyone has been keeping me locked in an office but I’m trying to get all of my projects wrapped up and the clock is winding down. I think the most valuable lesson I’ve learned doing public sector work in a developing country is to double, triple or quadruple whatever amount of time you originally suspected your work may take you. But fortunately I’ve also been able to do a few site visits lately to a couple of the hospitals and orphanages the foundation supplies ARV’s to ... read more
November 23rd 2005
I began to hear whispers in my travels of this foriegn Asian land I initially picked up on them in Laos and followed them down into Cambodia. They were quiet at first, faintly spoken phrases that would catch your ear as you walked past old men, talking in the still night air. As I trekked deeper into uncharted lands the whisper became louder and spoke of a myth, a legend if you will. A living legend, so spiritual, that to speak of it in public or to an outsider, is considered a sin of the gravest err. Many refuse to mention it at all for fear of upsetting the supernatural force. But I pushed on. I endured. One night during a monsoon, a torrential deluge, I came across a village elder in a small town in ... read more
November 22nd 2005
Here are the pictures from the temples of Angor Wat. Its an absolutely amazing place I can’t really say any more more about it than the pictures say for themselves, so here …... read more
November 21st 2005
The half marathon started at 6:30am, so I figured if I was up that early I’d get there a few hours before to see the sun rise over the main temple of Angkor Wat. Possibly enhanced by sheer delusion and exhaustion, it was a truly remarkable experience. The run was amazing. I had seen a few Cambodians exercise in Phnom Penh but it was mostly in jeans, a button shirt and black leather sandals briskly walking with intense arm pumping. I guess based on this I assumed that the run would be almost exclusively foreigners, but to my shock at least half the runners were Cambodian. And since the cause was to raise money and awareness for landmine victims there were a group of amputees that participated as well. Which besides making me feel woefully inadequate ... read more
November 20th 2005
Here are some pictures from the Water Festival in Phnom Penh. Its absolutely mental, the entire country seems to converge on the capital for a week of fireworks, boat races and drunken debauchery. I’ve really never seen so many people in one place! The city completely shuts down, everything. Once you’re on the road you have no say in which direction you go; the massive current of people sweeps you away. Its a bit maddening if you need to get somewhere but if you go with it it's kind of fun. At least for about the first half hour, then when you want to get out of the middle of the road or head back, its maddening again. It’s a notoriously bad time for petty theft and pick-pockets as a lot of poor rural Cambodians come ... read more
November 19th 2005
Leaving Don Det I booked a package deal through one of the guesthouses all the way back to Phnom Penh. I didn’t have a new visa to get back into Cambodia but the tour operator/guesthouse owner promised that it would be fine, I could get one at the boarder despite the boarder crossing being an unofficial boarder crossing, not recognized by either government. The bigger problem was that the boat was leaving from Laos so I’d have to exit Laos cross the boarder into Cambodia get the new visa then cross back into Laos to meet the boat then renter Cambodia via the river. I should have realized that would have voided both my visas 4x over, but I hadn’t really put the logistics of it together and they assured me it was OK. At 7am ... read more
November 13th 2005
I’ve pretty much been known to eat, or at least try, any food presented to me. And I generally go out of my way to find new things, but the problem with that is that the more you try the more creative you have to get. I was walking down the street in Kratie observing traditional rural after wedding party: tent in the middle of the road, live band, lots of food and 5 to 6 hundred closest family and friends. As I slowly walked past I heard in broken english: “hey, where are you going?” Which wasn’t that unusual Cambodian’s like to test out there english and I’m generally spotted as American from a few blocks away. As I returned to respond the man walked up to me and again asked where I was going. ... read more
November 1st 2005
Monday and Tuesday were national holidays for the King’s birthday. So with a painful Saturday night behind me I made plans to head south to the coast. Cambodia is supposed to lack beaches that compare to Thailand, but thanks to a few reccomendations I found a small beautiful little cove on the Cambodian coast of the Gulf of Thailand. Bath water lapping white sand beaches that wrap around the cove to a rocky outcropping dotting the tidal zone. At the far end is a samll Cambodian fishing village. Near the rocks are a few little beachside bungalows catering to backpackers, ranging in price from about $25 all the way down to free. (One place actually advertises free rooms in an attempt to get people to eat at the restaurant. But you get what you pay for: ... read more
October 18th 2005
To get one thing out of the way: jet-lag sucks. I figured it wouldn’t be that big of an issue. When I go to the west coast I just tough through it the first day get a good night sleep and by the next day your fine. Yeah, well that didn’t work here. Apparently being 12hrs off is a little harder for my body to adjust to than I thought. I wake every night at 3:30am wide awake then fight to get back to sleep. But the Cambodian work day starts at 7:30am so there’s not much time to get back to sleep before having to get ready. (Here’s where my Dad jokes about me getting to work by 7:30am let alone getting out of bed by noon. Well it doesn’t really matter when it feels ... read more
October 15th 2005
I sat next to David Sedaris on the flight from Sydney to Bangkok. Not the real one but a grown up version of his youth. I can’t remember which book he talks about growing up as a raging fidgety OCD youth, maybe its all of them, but that’s all I could think of as the guy sat down next to me. My first suspicion that something was off was upon witnessing his ‘entry’ into his seat. I’m already seated in the window seat and a nice gentleman is sitting in the aisle seat as David Sedaris approaches; a somewhat scrawny, balding English man with a black leather fanny pack. The man in the aisle seat offer to get up to allow him to slide by but David refuses, puts is hand on the back of the ... read more
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