cambodia pt 2

wow, two days of walking around temples is so very tiring. i had a nice foot massage last night from a place called dr feet but even so, my feet and legs and back are still really sore. the girls doing the massages laughed at my toenail polish and asked if i was a ladyboy... hmmmph. still we all had a good laugh and they were good fun.

i started off yesterday by spending about 3 1/2 hours checking out angkor wat. it's huge and absolutely stunning. no words i can write will do it justice so if you're interested in reading about it and seeing some images, check out this link. following angkor wat, i headed off to the ancient walled city of angkor thom. this contains a number of temples, the biggest and most impressive being bayon which has massive carvings of faces looking in all directions - a way for the king to keep an eye on his subjects. these two sites took me a full day to explore and i was very weary by the end. i was also at the point where i thought i'd lose sanity if i had one more woman screech at me "mister, you buy mango", "mr, you buy pineapple", "mister, you buy banana", "mister, you buy cold drink"etc. i know they're only trying to eke out an honest living but seriously, if i want a friggin mango i'll ask for one!!!

today started at my favourite temple of all: ta prohm. it's the temple that was featured in the film 'tomb raider' and has massive trees and roots covering many parts. it was fun wandering around imagining what it must have been like for the people who first came across it in the jungle. a number more temples followed but really, there's not an easy way to describe them all and i'm sure i'd bore everyone if i tried. one thing i really enjoyed was lunch. i stopped at a small eatery and had amok with chicken. amok is a national cambodian dish and simply delicious. i reckon i'll have to learn how to make it as i could definitely go that again.

so that's me so far. i reckon i'll head upstairs for a shower now and then out for some fried noodles and a mango shake from a roadside stall.. great value for $1.75!!! then a cupla beers and time to hit the hay. i've another day of temples tomorrow before catching the night bus to sihanoukville.

cambodia pt1

i've been in cambodia for a few days now and thought it about time i made mention of it here. i arrived in phnom penh on saturday arvo and hopped into a tuk tuk to take me from the airport to my hotel. the traffic here is organised chaos. i thought this was the case in manila but phnom penh really takes the cake. cars, motorbikes and tuk tuks vie for space on the road and basically drive wherever they like. it's nothing to see several motorbikes driving against the flow of the traffic and people just move out of the way. it seems like madness at first but it seems to work very well.

on my first day i visited the former prison of tuol sleng (also known as S-21). prior to the khmer rouge taking over the country in 1975 it had been a high school but was turned into the most notorious place of torture under the regime. many of the people who were tortured and killed were photographed before their ordeal and there's several rooms of photos to take in. i also visited the killing fields were many of the prisoners of S-21 were taken to be killed. to save on bullets, the khmer rouge had them kneel next to a mass grave and bashed their heads in with farming implements. except for the small children. many of these were taken by the feet and had their heads swung into a tree trunk. all in all, they are exceptionally sad places and highlight the brutality of pol pot and his henchmen (and henchwomen). following this i visited the 'russian market' - so called because it was the preferred place for russians to shop in the 1980's. it is the most remarkable market i've ever been to. it's massive and sells nearly everything you can imagine; from food (veg, herbs, raw meat and also meals) to all sorts of nick nacks, clothing, material, motorbike parts, household goods, jewelery, books, cds, dvds and many other things. so that was day one and it was indeed a full one and was concluded with a great massage from the good people at seeing hands. they're a chain of massage places throughout cambodia which train and employ blind people.

day two started with a visit to the silver pagoda which is next to the royal palace. it is called silver as the floor of the pagoda is tiled with squares of silver. it must be the most expensive floor i've ever walked on. i then moseyed over to the national museum and checked out centuries worth of angkor artifacts but i must admit it didn't take long for all the little buddahs to look the same. the afternoon was a fairly quiet affair but did include another massage.. this time for 1 1/2 hours (not bad for $9).

day three was my last full day in phnom penh. i had a moto driver take me out into the countryside onto mekong island where i met a lady named clara and her family. they have a weaving thing (loom?) under their house and weave material to sell in the markets. she was lovely and very welcoming and so i bought one of her products. it was great fun getting out into the villages and riding on the back of a motorbike. of course, being on the back of a bike in the crazy phnom penh traffic took some getting used to but eventually it was more fun than scary. again, the arvo was a fairly quiet affair with a couple of beers at the famed FCC (foreign correspondents club) and another massage. yep, i could easily get used to a life of long, cheap massages. this time my masseuse decided to find every knot in my muscles and knead them fully. it was rather painful but, i guess, necessary.

day four involved and early start as i was to catch the 8.30am bus from phnom penh to battambang. of course, i got there early and, of course, it didn't end up leaving until 9.20am. on arriving in battambang, a tuk tuk driver offered to take me for a drive out to the bamboo train so i could go for a ride on one. for those who don't know, the bamboo train consists of two axles (one attached to what appears to be a lawnmower engine) with the equivalent of a bamboo fencing panel on top. they ride along a small railway which has trains coming in both directions. when two bamboo trains coming from opposite directions meet, discussions are held and in the end, one of the trains is dismantled and taken off the tracks to allow the other to pass. the train is then put back together and the journey continues. needless to say, it was great fun and a very unique experience. by the time i'd finished that, it was nearly dark so i took a quick wander around town before sitting down for tea at the famous 'smokin pot'. the food was great but the three loud obnoxious americans at the table next to me weren't so wonderful. seriously guys, there's no need to swear in such a loud voice in a restaurant and no one really wants to hear about photos of you baring your arse.

so, onto day five: today. the reason for going to battambang, apart from the bamboo train, was to catch the boat to siem reap. i'd read that it is a marvelous journey but it surpassed all expectations. we spent about 5 1/2 hours journeying through narrow passages with bushes rubbing against the boat. we passed numerous floating villages and even stopped at a shop in one. the toilet at the shop was just a drop over the water which makes one wonder how hygienic it is crapping directly into the water your home floats in. of course, they charged like wounded bulls but they have to make a living like the rest of us. there was also much bird life and jumping fish and even a bright orange snake winding its way through the trees. eventually we reached siem reap and a tuk tuk was waiting for me with my name on a card. a quick trip into town followed and finally i rocked up at the lovely guest house i'm now at (with free internet.. yay!!). i've been out and bought my three day pass to the temples and seen my first one which was spectacular. tomorrow i'll be hitting the legendary angkor wat which i'm sure will be mind blowing.

so that's the expurgated version of my cambodian odyssey so far. now it's time for a shower and a cold frothie before hitting the sack.

on refugees

i must say that i have great sympathy for those whose home has become so unsafe and antagonistic towards them that they're driven to the point of giving up everything they have in order to flee their country in search of safety. i couldn't imagine how dreadful life would have to be for me to sell my belongings in order to scrape together enough money to pay people smugglers to get me to asylum; usually in a country that wouldn't really want me there. it saddens me that so many australians lack even a basic compassion for these people. assigning them the derogatory term 'queue jumpers' demonstrates just how little the average australian understands.

now, having said this, the current case of the tamil people presently on a boat in indonesia has me baffled. they claim to have escaped from sri lanka to the jungles of malaysia so i'm puzzled as to why they didn't seek asylum there. they're now in indonesia so i don't understand why they're not claiming asylum there. surely if you're a fair dinkum refugee who had no choice but to flee your homeland, you wouldn't be fussy about where you end up but rather gratefully accept shelter in the first country you get to.

as i said, i have sympathy for genuine refugees and certainly feel that we have an obligation to treat them humanely, especially when they've fled countries such as vietnam, iraq or afghanistan which we've invaded. what does cheese me off is when people claiming to be refugees start issuing demands about which country they will accept asylum from. they should never forget that it is the right of each country to decide on whether they will be accepted; it's not their right to pick and choose.

perhaps there's some crucial point i'm missing here and would be more than happy for someone with greater knowledge than me to set me straight

long overdue update

crikey.. it's been ages since i last posted so i thought i should write a quick update.

flying home was an absolute ordeal. we left manila about half an hour late which is pretty much standard for arvo flights so i wasn't concerned. the dramas started nearly an hour into the flight when the pilot announced over the PA that there had been a power failure in manila which caused the air traffic control to lose all radar and radio so the plane would have to turn around and return to the airport there. groan. so we returned and landed and sat there. and continued to sit there. and then had our tea... and continued to sit there. eventually we were told to buckle up again as we were going to take off... over 3 hours later than our original departure time. of course, this meant we all missed our connecting flights in singapore. fortunately i was flying singapore airlines which is my favourite airline and they had things in hand. when we landed they had tables set up to tell us when our replacement flights would be leaving. ultimately, rather than landing in perth at 11.45pm on sunday night as planned, i landed at 6.30am monday morning.

this then brought on drama number 2... customs!! i was almost out the door to the foyer. almost. that's when a nice gentleman asked me to come with him. really? after everything else? being the compliant, friendly, law-abiding person i am, i complied with his request in a friendly law-abiding manner. he asked to check my hand luggage and proceeded to empty my bag whilst asking about my holiday - where had i gone? did i enjoy it? how was the diving? next it was my backpack's turn. i unlocked it and he proceeded to empty this as well. argghhh!! a lady came and took my cameras and memory cards away to look through whilst another person took away my empty backpack to be x-rayed. now, i'm seen enough episodes of 'border security' to know what was going on - they thought i was a drug mule which would ordinarily be laughable but wasn't quite so funny after the flight problems i'd had. i also had a job interview lined up for 3pm that arvo and just wanted to go home and get some sleep before it. obviously nothing was found so you'd think that'd be the end of the inquisition right? ahh.. you'd be wrong. i was told they wanted to do a frisk search and was given a card to read which explained my rights. naturally i had no objection so my shoes were taken to be x-rayed whilst a customs officer proceeded to give me a frisk search. sure enough, i was clean so i just had to wait for the sheila who'd taken my cameras to return them to me. i grabbed a chair and sat reading a book whilst waiting. eventually she gave everything back and i was told i could now repack my backpack. why is it a backpack which previously fitted everything comfortably is now full to overflowing? i guess that's just one of life's mysteries. i can't complain about the demeanour of the customs agents as they were polite. still, i don't know that i'll be as friendly and effusive if they search me again when i return from cambodia next month. i've a good mind to leave a few notes for them to find giving them a piece of my mind!!

so, once i was released from customs it was time to go home and get some sleep before my interview. long story short - i had three interviews that week and was offered two of the jobs. i turned them both down for different reasons and am consequently still unemployed. it's not a huge drama and something suitable will turn up eventually. i'm not eligible for the dole so am living off savings which don't take long to dwindle.

tomorrow i've enrolled to do the two day senior first aid course with st john so at least i'm putting my time to good use.

hopefully my next update won't be so far in the future

still in the philippines

so i'm now into my second week in the philippines and still having a great time. i'm presently staying at sabang beach in puerto galera which is the diving capital of the country. today i started my advanced diver course and did three dives, including my first ever wreck dive. it was amazing swimming around three submerged wrecks with fish swimming all around me. the second dive i did today was what's known as a 'drift dive' as it was in an area of strong current so we allowed the current to take us along. it's a strange feeling as we have limited control over where we go and the rate at which we go but it's important to learn how to deal with these conditions. again, the views were spectacular and i took a lot of photos. i have more dives tomorrow so it'll be another fairly early night for me. i went out on a dive yesterday but had a lot of trouble equalising my ears which left them quite sore last night. fortunately i didn't have the same problems today. i have also had a pretty sore throat with tender, swollen glands for a couple of days but thankfully this isn't enough to prevent me from diving.

it's still raining most of the time but it's not at all cold so it's not really a problem. the main issue is that the cloud cover makes what we see underwater a lot more dull than it would otherwise be. it's not looking likely that the rain will clear up this week so i'll definitely have to come back another time when the weather is better.

only a few more days to go until it's back to the real world but until then i'll be making the most of my island paradise.

ask the leyland brothers

so, i've been in the philippines since monday evening and am enjoying the place. manila is totally mental in a very asian way. there's people and traffic everywhere and both are very noisy. i've never seen (or smelt) air pollution like this. breathing whilst walking down the street is an experience in itself and akin to standing in a busy indoor bus depot. still, one quickly gets used to it. the poverty is striking with homeless people having set up camp on most streets. in the evening food is cooked on makeshift fires using old tins as pots. in the evening, people scour through the mounds of rubbish on the bayfront that has been brought in by the tide in an attempt to find anything of worth. and, of course, there's a massive amount of begging. then there's the 'salesmen' on every street corner. the usual MO is to first offer a rolex watch for the 'cheapest price'. once that's been declined, out is whipped a box of viagra/cialis and then finally the offer of a 'nice lady'. i've mastered the art of making no eye contact and not breaking stride whilst offering a polite 'no thank you'. somehow all of these apparent negatives add together to make the place intriguing and, ultimately, a place i like.

i'm now experiencing a full on tropical downpour and am expecting the streets to have turned to rivers by the time it's over. of course, it hasn't cooled the place down any. for someone who struggles with humidity as much as i do, i reckon i've done pretty well. still, thank goodness for the air conditioned hotel rooms at night.

so, that's where i'm at. i'm here until sunday week so there's plenty more time to experience all the place has to offer.

There is power in a factory, power in the land
Power in the hands of a worker
But it all amounts to nothing if together we don't stand
There is power in a Union

Now the lessons of the past were all learned with workers' blood
The mistakes of the bosses we must pay for
From the cities and the farmlands to trenches full of mud
War has always been the bosses' way, sir

The Union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, all workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters from many far off lands
There is power in a Union

Now I long for the morning that they realise
Brutality and unjust laws can not defeat us
But who'll defend the workers who cannot organise
When the bosses send their lackies out to cheat us?

Money speaks for money, the Devil for his own
Who comes to speak for the skin and the bone
What a comfort to the widow, a light to the child
There is power in a Union

The Union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, all workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters together we will stand
There is power in a Union.

i can't help but feel inspired when i hear billy belt this out...