catchup

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Hello people!
Well, it's been a long while since i typed out an email of what i'm
doing, but, since i don't really feel like typing too much, and i'm
sure you don't feel like staring at your computer screen until your
eyes bleed, i'm going to keep it as short as possible. So, missing
some details, but you'll get the gist (sp.?) of what i've been up
to.
So, last i wrote that i was going into cambodia, Dec 24th, long
time ago. So, i entered after paying the border tax and stamp fee
(the amounts of which were made up by how much the border guard
wanted that day/moment, managed to bargain for the price, funny).
Got into the cambodian border town after a dusty bumpy drive in a
'share taxi' (a mid '90's toyota camry with 8 people in it, cozy)
and had almost no money. Banks closed. Had enough to get to a
small, even dustier out of the way town (called Ban Lung, but after
walking the roads with traffic decided it would more appropriately
named Bad Lung) and after searching numerous places with no
results, managed to find a place to change my traveller's cheque at
an exceptional rate! So exceptional was the rate, and the fact that
they didn't check my id or make me sign the cheque, that i think
they had a scam going on, a scam that also worked in my favor.
Christmas day went to a local lake and had a little swim, and was
then joined on the bank by a cambodian family who shared a picnic
with me. So, i had a christmas family dinner, not with my family,
but a family nonetheless. No turkey and stuffing, just sweet
steamed meat pies and dried fish over a fire. Jealous? That night i
hung out with a grumpy aussie guy who i don't think wanted company
on christmas for whatever reason. Good times. After a few days
there, and some sightseeing with a local hill tribe kid/tour guide,
i decided to move on. And the hill tribe tourist guide wanted to
come with me and be my translator. i said okay, at a rate of $10
day and transport provided by his motorbike. So, he and i, and my
two backpacks set off on his little bike on a terrible road, i've
seen smoother bmx tracks. 160km, two bike repair stops, one near
stranding from an empty gas tank, a burnt down house, a thick layer
of dust and 8 hours later, we arrived to our destination, Stung
Treng, the border town where i had already been.
So i'll just mention the burnt down house. Tragic. Bamboo tree
frame, and bamboo leaf walls. We were passing by as the corner
started on fire, and a lady was screaming outside and getting
water. 2 minutes later you couldn't get within twenty feet of the
house cuz of the heat. husband came back, yelled, cried. They lost
everything. House, clothes, rice, kittens, and money. No banking
there, so literally, all of their life savings. Once again i had no
money, and was kicking myself, as $50 from me i think could have
helped them so very much to get started again.
a day in stung treng, no luck cashing a traveller's cheque, i had
to head straight for the capital, Phnom penh where they had ATM's.
I had to miss a few places cuz of my poor ability to plan ahead and
realize how little money i had (30 000 riels sounds like a lot, but
it's $10, idiot). An eight person share taxi for 4 hours, where the
driver was sitting facing the steering wheel at a 45 degree angle
as he was sitting half on the hand brake, and half on the
passenger's lap who was sitting in the driver's seat. It was also a
bit confusing as we had to change taxis, and noticed that unlike
the first taxi, the second one was a left hand drive. Left hand
drive cars....right hand drive cars....what side of the road do
they even drive on?
Phnom Penh was quite big and felt very modern as it was the first
big' city i'd been in in a month or so. It felt good to see lights
and billboard ads. And ATMs. I got money out (at the 'Canadia
Bank") and started touring the city. Interesting jumble. Some
street paved, some not, mechanic shops spilling onto the sidwalk,
welding on the sidewalk, open air markets that could have used more
ventilation, and horrible poverty of poor dirty children, mine
victims, and physically handicapped people. Saw the palace grounds,
walked to a temple in the city where monkeys (macaques) run wild. I
sat on the grass and fed them pieces of orange like i was feeding
nuts to squirrels! Monkeys! I restricted my donations to the
physically handicapped, as they have no chance of survival (i
think) without donations. Government help? nope. And even if they
had all of the intelligence and motivation in the world, i don't
think they'd could get a job anywhere. Stranded in life. children
mostly wanted money for their parents accord, so a couple of times
i bought a few plates of stir fry dishes at a street stand and fed
them, and they seemed happy at that (although one kid preferred his
bag of grilled crickets). Had a happy day at Tuol Sleng (torture
museum) and the Killing Fields, all made possible by the Khmer
Rouge, who in the '70's killed off about 3 million cambodians,
which was impressive because i think the population at the time was
about 7 million. Impressive is not the right word, but you know
what i mean. There's not much of an older generation there, because
they were mostly all killed. Khmer Rouge basically said, "Well, the
year is '0', there's no history, the world starts today. Anybody
who shows knowledge of remembering anything before will be killed.
And, we don't like educated people, cuz they know too much, and
they're upper class. And, children won't get special treatment, but
they do make good soldiers cuz they have less memory of history".
So, many people were shot and bludgeoned (to save bullets) to
death, and many many were tortured (hence the torture museum, which
was a former high school made into a crude jail and 'interrogation'
rooms. Some of the 'interrogation' rooms still had bloodstains.)
The Khmer Rouge mass genocide stopped in 1979, had a bit of a
second go in the early '90's, and then was finally ended in '93 or
'94 when the leader was imprisonned or killed (can't remember now).
Had New Years there with a east coast newfie and a cool moto taxi
driver. Out into the seedy night life of Phnom Penh. In the bars,
the booze is cheap, the guys are mostly white, and almost all of
the girls are hookers. Bar hopping to about 4 bars, good times of
drinking, dancing, and having a laugh. It was kind of good that the
Newfie had a working girl hanging around him, cuz she kind of acted
a "other hooker repellant", but even his common sense was working
at the end of the night, so he went home alone.
Next day was fuzzy.
Day after that i left to Siem Reap, where the famous Angkor Wat is,
the old Khmer (cambodian) temple ruins. Ran into an english guy i
had met before, and met a couple other people. We had a group to
share the cost of a tuk tuk around the Angkor Wat grounds. Went
there for sunset the first day, sunrise and sunset the next day.
Long time. Quite good. Big old stone temples, some three stories
high with intricate carvings. I'm not going to get into it cuz i
could talk forever about it. It's big, impressive, and you can buy
week long passes to fully explore it. One full full day was good,
but i could have spent a bit longer.
Kept heading west to get back to bangkok to meet my parents who
were to arrive in three days. Made it back, travelling by rickety
bus on a washboard road, passing pick up trucks with 15 people in
the back on the cambodian side, crossed the border, and was met by
smooth paved roads, and a huge comfy air-con bus on the thai side.
Back to thailand. Back to luxury. Back to amenities. Back to Khao
San Road!
Convenience stores, atm's, bars and shopping stands everywhere!
Within 24 hours of being on Khao San road i had run into 4 people i
had met elsewhere also, so lots of people and beers to be had. Good
times. Being the first place that i had been before, it almost felt
homely, familiar. A nice feeling after some taxing travels.
Then the parents came. So, 3 weeks of tea and biscuits, strolls in
the park, and conversations about "What to do with Eleanor Greene".
Kidding. It was good to see my parents, and i felt fortunate
(sometimes) that i was able to share some of my travels with them
and show them some great places i had seen. Bangkok was good.
Highlight, Grand Palace. Huge golden intricate temples with thai
gods decadently adorned (double word score), was all so impressive.
again, not going to get into it, but it was f*'ing impressive. Or,
we're all adults.......it was fucking impressive.
Then north by night train to Chiang mai. Some nice temples and a 2
day 1 night trek that was mostly very good. Very Good = nice
scenery, nice hill tribe peole, and nice waterfalls and trekking
group. Mostly= inadequate sleeping bags so the night wasn't about
sleeping, it was about trying to stop shivering for 5 seconds. It
was f*'ing cold, fucking cold. Okay, no more potty mouth.
From Chiang Mai we flew back to Bangkok, and the next day flew to
Phnom Penh. My parents enjoyed it, but more were just impressed to
see the poverty first hand, not so much that they loved the place.
Good news! Mom has since sponsored and cambodian kid! after a few
days in the capital, we went to siem reap, back to Angkor Wat. We
had a good day there, and after a full day, my parent's were
'templed out'. From there, bus to Koh Chang, and island in
thailand, near the thai cambodian border, our relaxation time after
a busy 2 and a bit weeks. So, we didn't want to do much, just laze
on the beach, but we could barely do that as we all had a visit by
the 'food poisoning fairy' (inbred cousin of the tooth fairly i
think) and never really wanted to stray too far from dear john.
Nice place though (the island). Hilly, fairly comfy, and surrounded
by the ocean (hence the term 'island').
Back to Bangkok where they flew out of for a few day in hong kong
before home. It was nice to travel with them, and take the
organizing burden from my mom, and be treated to comfier lodgings
and be treated to food. They said it was my christmas present, but
some days i really felt like i was earning those meals (try
organizing a stubborn old englishman). a bit sad to see them go,
but also well refreshed and ready to have some adventures of my own
again.
back north in thailand. Back to the Monkey Sanctuary! Just spent 12
days there. Helping where i could. Hosing cages, feeding monkeys,
playing with a nice young dog, bathing a stinky old mangy dog, and
hanging out with baby monkeys. Good times. Very comfy as i had a
nice room to sleep in, in my own seperate building, a dvd player
and lots of dvd's to watch in the evening, surrounded by jungle,
and a few guitars kicking around. I was happy to hang out with the
'kids' there, the guys who do all of the cleaning and feeding. Hung
out with them a bit, mostly giving guitar lessons as two of them
had started to play.
I sadly left after 12 days becasue my visa was/is running out
(tomorrow i'm doing a 10 hour day trip to jump over the border in
cambodia to renew my one month thai visa). On the way down from Tha
Thon, stopped in Chiang Mai to see some friends who i had met in
Australia. Spent a good day with them seeing chiang mai some more,
and then back to bangkok (always back to bangkok), where i am now.
Tomorrow, 5 minutes in cambodia, then south to beachland!! and,
have heard about a volunteer opportunity to spay and neuter dogs on
an island for free accomodation (thanks tom and libby)! excited for
that as it should provide some sense of purpose in my life right
now, like a job type thing, and it'll be nice to use some of my
skills that i've been forgetting (we'll see if i can tell a boy dog
from girl dog). So, excited. We'll see how it goes!
thanks for reading
thanks for writing
hope to hear from all of you soon
mark

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