Let's be havin' it? No... they're baggin it.
5/15/2005
Baggies bag it.
Congratulations to West Bromwich Albion for pulling off a minor miracle and staying in the English Premiership.
This weekend has actually given me more passion than I've ever felt in recent matches... football can get a little predictable sometimes... or focusing too much on the top teams... it's nice to see good ol' scrappin and emotion on the final day which we haven't seen in recent seasons. Best season since '94-'95, when Blackburn did it on the final day of the season... made me feel like paying footy for a living again.
Congratulations to West Bromwich Albion for pulling off a minor miracle and staying in the English Premiership.
This weekend has actually given me more passion than I've ever felt in recent matches... football can get a little predictable sometimes... or focusing too much on the top teams... it's nice to see good ol' scrappin and emotion on the final day which we haven't seen in recent seasons. Best season since '94-'95, when Blackburn did it on the final day of the season... made me feel like paying footy for a living again.
5/13/2005
We had another morning in Siem Reap before we left for Phnom Penh, which we dutifully took to explore the Old Market (Psar Chaa)... I wasn't interested in the textiles and the merchandise, though I did take some photos... but what we found was cheap food! Plain baguettes for 200 riel, Cambodian tau sar piah and assorted dishes with rice.
Our bus would leave at noon. We finally left Angkor Green, which wasn't the best hotel in the world... i mean they forced us out of our room into another one the morning we were to leave for Angkor.
The small bus brought us to the big terminal where the big bus was. It was a whole bazaar of people, and many other people were heading to Phnom Penh, apparently, not just tourists like us. It was a huge bus, as promised, with toilet, just like the huge ones in Taiwan which play CDs and DVDs, except this particular bus played Cambodian comedy shows... didn't get much... I know roughly that they made jokes with a Cambodian guy pretending to be Carlos Santana and saying "I am Carlos Santana" and "love" and other simple words in the only English he knew, while they all laughed in Khmer.
At one of the rest stops one of the women from the bus got off to get some fried spider... traditional Cambodian hospitality meant she offered some to Alex... who bit the legs off with glee... I think its spider, I took a photo.
The roads sucked... more potholes and dirt, but slightly better than Hwy 6... I think we were on Hwy 1. We drove into Phnom Penh as the sun set... across the Japanese bridge spanning the Tonle Sap and driving down, dropping us at the Central Bus Terminal... we had a little walk and found a guesthouse "The Last Home", which was one of the first ones we looked at... but it had a really big room and we were happy with it so we took it.
Phnom Penh is another place with wide boulevards and vestiges of French colonial architecture... it was also full of honking motorbikes because, guess what, it's New Year too, and they have water in it... so we still had to be careful. We strolled down Sisowath quay, a lovely waterside promenade... we were also looking for "Happy Pizza" to be happy people!
We ate some and got some pizza back where we would relax at our balcony with a TV! There was also a low beam coming down from the ceiling which Lip would periodically walk into, upon which he'd fall on the bed and start writhing. The toilet was also interesting, as Alex said he could see cockroaches fucking.
It was soccer then, and a Jean-Claude Van Damme B-grade movie on Star Movies, together with shitty pizza that made you feel sleepy. Life.
Our bus would leave at noon. We finally left Angkor Green, which wasn't the best hotel in the world... i mean they forced us out of our room into another one the morning we were to leave for Angkor.
The small bus brought us to the big terminal where the big bus was. It was a whole bazaar of people, and many other people were heading to Phnom Penh, apparently, not just tourists like us. It was a huge bus, as promised, with toilet, just like the huge ones in Taiwan which play CDs and DVDs, except this particular bus played Cambodian comedy shows... didn't get much... I know roughly that they made jokes with a Cambodian guy pretending to be Carlos Santana and saying "I am Carlos Santana" and "love" and other simple words in the only English he knew, while they all laughed in Khmer.
At one of the rest stops one of the women from the bus got off to get some fried spider... traditional Cambodian hospitality meant she offered some to Alex... who bit the legs off with glee... I think its spider, I took a photo.
The roads sucked... more potholes and dirt, but slightly better than Hwy 6... I think we were on Hwy 1. We drove into Phnom Penh as the sun set... across the Japanese bridge spanning the Tonle Sap and driving down, dropping us at the Central Bus Terminal... we had a little walk and found a guesthouse "The Last Home", which was one of the first ones we looked at... but it had a really big room and we were happy with it so we took it.
Phnom Penh is another place with wide boulevards and vestiges of French colonial architecture... it was also full of honking motorbikes because, guess what, it's New Year too, and they have water in it... so we still had to be careful. We strolled down Sisowath quay, a lovely waterside promenade... we were also looking for "Happy Pizza" to be happy people!
We ate some and got some pizza back where we would relax at our balcony with a TV! There was also a low beam coming down from the ceiling which Lip would periodically walk into, upon which he'd fall on the bed and start writhing. The toilet was also interesting, as Alex said he could see cockroaches fucking.
It was soccer then, and a Jean-Claude Van Damme B-grade movie on Star Movies, together with shitty pizza that made you feel sleepy. Life.
5/12/2005
A break from the usual programming
Alright, this is not about the trip. I'm sorry... trip updates have to wait.
I was at 'Diagnostic Radiology' this afternoon, waiting for an expert to pass judgement on me. Red light on, red light off. Please do not enter when the red light is on, with a big menacing radiological sign on the door. I like the name of that 'diagnostic radiology'. It is part of the millions of phrases that dance around my head, reminding me i am alive and i am living in a world of labels.
The resident radiologist didn't look local, but she was friendly and professional. She would tell me if I was ok. And I was.
I go through moods ocasionally, triggered by conversation with like-minded souls while watching the world go by, where you can take a step back and ask yourself questions. oh no, not more self reflection!
i'm perhaps too closed and never speak my mind, maybe always diplomatic answers. yes i have plenty of inhibitions, i'm not my own person sometimes and i can't say "fuck the rest of you all, i'm going it my way."
but deep down (ah yes, geography of the heart now isn't it?), where as commonly believed the core radiates with an inner heat, i know i really hate some things, and find many others laughable or pitiful. i'm building on those long bus rides overnights where you realise the same thoughts in your life keep recurring, and i'm sorry if it's boring but i'm afraid it's going to have to dominate your agenda?
if i open it up, and i show you "principles." it isn't pretty. principles are sometimes ugly on the outside. you can take mine and poke little holes into it, or hang it out to the sun to dry, where it becomes a raisin?
(what happens to a dream deferred?)
Alright, this is not about the trip. I'm sorry... trip updates have to wait.
I was at 'Diagnostic Radiology' this afternoon, waiting for an expert to pass judgement on me. Red light on, red light off. Please do not enter when the red light is on, with a big menacing radiological sign on the door. I like the name of that 'diagnostic radiology'. It is part of the millions of phrases that dance around my head, reminding me i am alive and i am living in a world of labels.
The resident radiologist didn't look local, but she was friendly and professional. She would tell me if I was ok. And I was.
I go through moods ocasionally, triggered by conversation with like-minded souls while watching the world go by, where you can take a step back and ask yourself questions. oh no, not more self reflection!
i'm perhaps too closed and never speak my mind, maybe always diplomatic answers. yes i have plenty of inhibitions, i'm not my own person sometimes and i can't say "fuck the rest of you all, i'm going it my way."
but deep down (ah yes, geography of the heart now isn't it?), where as commonly believed the core radiates with an inner heat, i know i really hate some things, and find many others laughable or pitiful. i'm building on those long bus rides overnights where you realise the same thoughts in your life keep recurring, and i'm sorry if it's boring but i'm afraid it's going to have to dominate your agenda?
if i open it up, and i show you "principles." it isn't pretty. principles are sometimes ugly on the outside. you can take mine and poke little holes into it, or hang it out to the sun to dry, where it becomes a raisin?
(what happens to a dream deferred?)
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
And if you want me to be honest then yes there's so much I have to hate about the world today. Langston Hughes, thank you. To all the bad people in the world, who I have so hated and not said anything about:
I hate it that people can do so much wrong and get away with it. No, i'm not even talking about big oil or big industry exploiting workers or any of that bullshit. I hate it that things are so impermanent, ephemeral (fuck not that word again), that so much bullshit goes under the cover of individualism and making the most out of life, that you take these excuses without the quotation marks and put it through that meat grinder of a brain together with your morality until you start dripping in your self-centredness.
me me me. fuck.
i hate money, not because it makes you rich, but just because you think you have it you can bury me in lawyers and what not and i could never touch you. no i'm not broke either. i know i would just hate it if you used all that extra money you had to fuck around with me.
i hate these words which will betray me to serve another more beguiling master who will use it to cover their lack of substance.
i hate people who mess around with people and think they can get away with it because they're young and it's okay because they're supposed to be stupid when they're young.
i don't mind if you mess around with yourself though. doesn't concern me.
urgh. i hate all the SHIT that is sold in this world. i hate hip-hop, people being "true to the music", and people who tell other people that they should be free. individualism, fuck off? who're you asking to be free? in fact, i'm going to be an adolescent party-pooper and scream FAKE!!!!
i talk to so many people and i just respect some of them but gosh some of them just infuriate me.
in the end... what is life? did you will yourself to be born into the world? no? so why is this life yours and what right does it give you to fuck around with others? responsibility free?
i can't... i just can't... ghosts say: be like me, who roam the world, who take from the world but give nothing to it.
be a ghost, floating around. that's responsibility free.
5/09/2005
5/08/2005
We ate at a Chinese restaurant, having not had much food, it wasn't that cheap, food wasn't great, but we hadn't had lunch and dinner and it was 10 at night. Alex got his cheap beer and all was great.
We decided to cycle to Angkor the next day, renting some bikes for a dollar each. The traffic was full of motorbikes, but after adjusting to the pace and learning how to cross junctions, it was fine. From our area, Psar Chaa (Old Market) in Siem Reap, we would cycle by the river, Stung Siem Reap, down the Blvd Charles De Gaulle... past the opulent hotels, the Grand Hotel D'Angkor, Le Meridien etc... the riverfront was pleasant... lined with lamps left over from colonial times, and there were still buildings in the French colonial style. Admission to Angkor was 20 USD for a day, and we decided to pay for that and not 3 days as we needed to move on soon. We got ourselves some riel to pay for little things. Inside... we still had a few more kilometres to cover, but it was tree-lined with good roads... we finally hit the dirt track and our first glimpse of the famous moat... it was amazing.
Now Angkor of course, is filled with tourists, being a famous temple just like Borobudur in Indonesia... but it didn't feel as if it was swarming with touts... we parked and locked our bikes just outside Angkor Wat itself. Many of the visitors were Khmer or Thai, and perhaps we missed the busloads of tourists by arriving a little later... it was really majestic, and you could imagine that kings strolled through the fields and forests... and the strategic addition of donkeys and horses added to the rustic feeling. From the outside, the silhouette of Angkor is stunning, but what's amazing are the carvings up close.
Inside the temple, which is restored, of course, not in its original state, there are numerous corridors and windows, which are themselves lined with colonnades and pillars. Some parts are dark, and a sudden streak of light from a hole can seem almost holy. There were statues of Buddha, yet the carving was predominantly of Hindu figures, like Tanah Lot in Bali. There were garudas, devas, asuras, apsaras and everything. Especially apsaras, who are dancing nymphs. Angkor Wat is roughly symmetrical... and there are huge murals on each side... in fact 3 on each face. There was the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, where the gods and demons fought over an elixir of immortality in the sea, using the giant serpent as a tug-of-war rope.
We adjourned for lunch, then cycled north to the Bayon. Now Angkor has this really "theme park" feel, but not in a bad way... I mean... it's such a huge complex, with so many temples, and each has its own attraction... and the large dust paths make and open fields make it look open and huge. And it's also lined with forest. The Bayon is another temple, with various faces of Avalokitesvara, whoever that is. It's also grand. Gosh, I'm out of words. We went to the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King, which sound really grand, but it's really nice terraces decorated with elephants.
In Angkor you get the feeling that archaeology is alive and ongoing, as you see various sites closed, as temples are currently being rebuilt or restored by archaeological teams from around the world... like China and Germany... we say Phnom Bakheng... where they filmed Tomb Raider and trees grew wild among the ruins.
We cycled back towards town at around 6... along the way, I saw the first p�t� baguette for just 1000 riel! It was wrapped in paper and behind there would be lists of common infectious diseases and ticks indicating what the said patient was suffering from, taken from the nearby hospital... hmmm.
at night, there was a "big religious debate" fuelled by the book "history of god".
Next: Phnom Penh
We decided to cycle to Angkor the next day, renting some bikes for a dollar each. The traffic was full of motorbikes, but after adjusting to the pace and learning how to cross junctions, it was fine. From our area, Psar Chaa (Old Market) in Siem Reap, we would cycle by the river, Stung Siem Reap, down the Blvd Charles De Gaulle... past the opulent hotels, the Grand Hotel D'Angkor, Le Meridien etc... the riverfront was pleasant... lined with lamps left over from colonial times, and there were still buildings in the French colonial style. Admission to Angkor was 20 USD for a day, and we decided to pay for that and not 3 days as we needed to move on soon. We got ourselves some riel to pay for little things. Inside... we still had a few more kilometres to cover, but it was tree-lined with good roads... we finally hit the dirt track and our first glimpse of the famous moat... it was amazing.
Now Angkor of course, is filled with tourists, being a famous temple just like Borobudur in Indonesia... but it didn't feel as if it was swarming with touts... we parked and locked our bikes just outside Angkor Wat itself. Many of the visitors were Khmer or Thai, and perhaps we missed the busloads of tourists by arriving a little later... it was really majestic, and you could imagine that kings strolled through the fields and forests... and the strategic addition of donkeys and horses added to the rustic feeling. From the outside, the silhouette of Angkor is stunning, but what's amazing are the carvings up close.
Inside the temple, which is restored, of course, not in its original state, there are numerous corridors and windows, which are themselves lined with colonnades and pillars. Some parts are dark, and a sudden streak of light from a hole can seem almost holy. There were statues of Buddha, yet the carving was predominantly of Hindu figures, like Tanah Lot in Bali. There were garudas, devas, asuras, apsaras and everything. Especially apsaras, who are dancing nymphs. Angkor Wat is roughly symmetrical... and there are huge murals on each side... in fact 3 on each face. There was the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, where the gods and demons fought over an elixir of immortality in the sea, using the giant serpent as a tug-of-war rope.
We adjourned for lunch, then cycled north to the Bayon. Now Angkor has this really "theme park" feel, but not in a bad way... I mean... it's such a huge complex, with so many temples, and each has its own attraction... and the large dust paths make and open fields make it look open and huge. And it's also lined with forest. The Bayon is another temple, with various faces of Avalokitesvara, whoever that is. It's also grand. Gosh, I'm out of words. We went to the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King, which sound really grand, but it's really nice terraces decorated with elephants.
In Angkor you get the feeling that archaeology is alive and ongoing, as you see various sites closed, as temples are currently being rebuilt or restored by archaeological teams from around the world... like China and Germany... we say Phnom Bakheng... where they filmed Tomb Raider and trees grew wild among the ruins.
We cycled back towards town at around 6... along the way, I saw the first p�t� baguette for just 1000 riel! It was wrapped in paper and behind there would be lists of common infectious diseases and ticks indicating what the said patient was suffering from, taken from the nearby hospital... hmmm.
at night, there was a "big religious debate" fuelled by the book "history of god".
Next: Phnom Penh
We decided to get the tickets the next day and we'd then be able to get off from Bangkok earlier than scheduled. And the train tickets were really cheap and would save us plenty!
The next day we crammed into one tuk-tuk to Hualamphong, it's amazing how they can cram four of us and 4 backpacks... (I've seen them do 8 people before) For once the streets of Bangkok were deserted, and I guess I'll always remember the traffic... I remember taking a photo of it from the overhead bridge...
The night before we headed to the World Trade Centre, a rather more expensive place near the Amari hotel with DFS and all that... I had some doughnuts, something which Singapore sorely lacks.
I love trains because rail lines always cut across the geography of the country... and you see the urban giving way to the rural... from Bangkok, where developments or slums srpind out on both sides of the track... to tracts of cultivated land. We had no idea what we paid for... and the reason the tickets were so cheap were because we were in 3rd class carriages... being train novices, having previously experiences only sleeper class on the S'pore-KL express... we lunged around having coffee at the train station before boarding the train to Aranyaprathet 10 minutes prior to departure at 5.55 am. It was a first-come-first-served carriage though, with limited seats... so we had to stand... but luckily we had some good standing seats where we could sit on the window-sill and look out.
And so it chugged away... I love the sound... and where we were, most of the occupants were Thai. There was a girl doing a Thai crossword puzzle and possibly it was her daily commute. She struck up rather nice conversation with another Thai youth on the train and probably made another friend. We would speed past the provinces of Chacheoengsao, stop at the provincial capital of Prachinburi... and these people with fruits and snacks would board the train at intervals to peddle stuff... and we could see that some had finished their weekly marketing and were returning to their rather more isolated homes. It was a 6 hour ride as the train was about 40 minutes off schedule... the terrain was really flat and unspectacular... but full of rural flavour, off to Sa Kaeo province where we finally got seats... and we tried to learn the Thai script by matching it with English names for the train stations.
At Aranyaprathet, we linked up with a couple from New Zealand to share tuk-tuks... it was a short ride to the border bridge... where we saw a huge and overwhelming QUEUE.
No problem. We're Singaporeans what. We got some water, I asked someone in the middle how long they'd waited. An hour. Alright.
Wait wait wait in the hot sun. 1 hour...2....3, the crowd would move forward in sudden surges during which I would suddenly feel the threat of stampede. There was a Thai Chinese family next to us speaking Teochew, I think, and they could understand a bit of Chinese. They were here to go to Poipet, to gamble. Well, more precisely, the casinos were located in no-man's land in between the two countries... apparently a Singaporean owns one of them. It was a horrible wait... we finally got into the air-conditioned immigration office at around 5 pm. There were what seems to me some sex tourists discussing their exploits behind us... which rather discomforted me... the time allowed us to strike up some casual conversation with English backpackers.
As we drew closer to the immigration booths, part of the reason dawned on us. "Sorry for the inconvenience, we are in the process of upgrading our computers." That and the large crush of people eager to flock to casinos to spend their new year's supply of luck away, lef to an insanely long wait at the border. Singapore beware!
We crossed over to no man's land where we were immediately solicited by a young man from the Cambodian side... he offered to show us what to do... bring us to the visa agent and all... he seemed rather shady and said it would cost more for a Singaporean to do a visa when we said we were Singaporeans. Eventually we found the visa agent and it would be 1000 baht for the visa, definitely cheaper than 30 USD. But we kind of regretted not doing it at Bangkok since it was on-the-spot visa registration and we didn't have sufficient baht... the local store, which charged rather high prices for water, offered us a ridiculous exchange rate of 37 baht for 1 USD... we decided to change some money with traveller who had excess baht and managed to get a marginally better rate of 38, considering that we couldn't deal in the cents... but it was better than being ripped off by a shop. What was interesting were the glitzy casinos in this place, giving no hint of the poverty on the other side of the border
The Cambodian side of the border was really high-tech, with digital cameras to capture our faces and we were cleared quickly. It was late and we didn't want to be stuck at Poipet, yet we knew transport would be expensive at this hour... we kept walking, pestered by the shady young man and managed eventually, to find a taxi that would take us there for 30 USD... of course it started at around 50 USD... but thank god he was probably making his last trip of the day... at 7.5 USD per person, along with about 3 USD for the train ticket, that made about 10 USD/person for the trip. Poipet reminded me of a Wild West town, dusty, remote, and full of dangerous people.
We were hustled by many young children begging for things, some who tried pilfering stuff from our pouches and just desperate for some money... Lip gave them 2 SGD which seemed like a novelty to them, but they'd probably try to change it for money they could use.
Our taxi driver was a decent, nice guy, didn't speak English. It was a relatively straightforward route on National Hwy 6 from Poipet to Sisophon and on to Siem Reap. That is, when we realised it was the highway. That meant no need for navigation to ensure the taxi driver wasn't bringing us to a remote Northeastern province to kill us and make off with our belongings.
He stopped for fuel just aways from Poipet which came in the form of bottles... really cute. The road was filled with potholes and his considerable skill in avoiding them showed, as he took the potholes with aplomb and impeccable technique. Clearly, he knew the road well and would save us some time. Alex wondered about the integrity of the tires and the taxi-driver said something about "Cambodian-made". Well, anything works.
Night fell soon (it falls around 5 plus throughout Indochina) and a storm soon beset us... made the road a little muddy. There was virtually no street lighting, and of course the "National Highway" was something like a Type Y track with many potholes. You found yourselves thinking that countless army rovers have driven past before. To the left and the right there wasn't much to see and you could see lightning across the plains. The countryside was devoid, sparse, lacking in trees and you found yourself thinking, god, how many mines have been lain here. You didn't know which side of the road Cambodian's drive on, (this particular one drove on the left, like in Singapore, meaning the driver's on the right.) because there was only one side of the road, and they would horn to pass and to warn oncoming vehicles... and the bridges were army-style bridges easily identified by Lip and Alex.
What added to the atmosphere were large signs (the only billboards, not much advertising in Cambodia yet) with drawings of AK-47s and other firearms, exhorting to Cambodians in what seems to be "Guns are not needed anymore." And some habitations or buldings had banners in front proclaiming "Sam Rainsy party", or "FUNCINPEC" or "Cambodian People's Party (CPP)", in English above the Khmer script. FUNCINPEC is of course a French acronym, and is the party led by Prince Ranarridh Sihanouk, whose father, Norodom is the king of Cambodia. Sam Rainsy is a trained accountant who represents the opposition in Cambodia and is slowly displacing FUNCINPEC as the main opposition party in Cambodia, since FUNCINPEC's power-sharing agreement with CPP broke down. Now of course, Hun Sen is in power, just as he was when Vietnamese forces removed the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979.
We arrived in Siem Reap safely and thank god, the storm abated. We looked for accomodation, but Siem Reap looked like some expensive town for tourists... but we did find a guesthouse in the end that was cheap enough, called Angkor Green... down a cheap alley.
The next day we crammed into one tuk-tuk to Hualamphong, it's amazing how they can cram four of us and 4 backpacks... (I've seen them do 8 people before) For once the streets of Bangkok were deserted, and I guess I'll always remember the traffic... I remember taking a photo of it from the overhead bridge...
The night before we headed to the World Trade Centre, a rather more expensive place near the Amari hotel with DFS and all that... I had some doughnuts, something which Singapore sorely lacks.
I love trains because rail lines always cut across the geography of the country... and you see the urban giving way to the rural... from Bangkok, where developments or slums srpind out on both sides of the track... to tracts of cultivated land. We had no idea what we paid for... and the reason the tickets were so cheap were because we were in 3rd class carriages... being train novices, having previously experiences only sleeper class on the S'pore-KL express... we lunged around having coffee at the train station before boarding the train to Aranyaprathet 10 minutes prior to departure at 5.55 am. It was a first-come-first-served carriage though, with limited seats... so we had to stand... but luckily we had some good standing seats where we could sit on the window-sill and look out.
And so it chugged away... I love the sound... and where we were, most of the occupants were Thai. There was a girl doing a Thai crossword puzzle and possibly it was her daily commute. She struck up rather nice conversation with another Thai youth on the train and probably made another friend. We would speed past the provinces of Chacheoengsao, stop at the provincial capital of Prachinburi... and these people with fruits and snacks would board the train at intervals to peddle stuff... and we could see that some had finished their weekly marketing and were returning to their rather more isolated homes. It was a 6 hour ride as the train was about 40 minutes off schedule... the terrain was really flat and unspectacular... but full of rural flavour, off to Sa Kaeo province where we finally got seats... and we tried to learn the Thai script by matching it with English names for the train stations.
At Aranyaprathet, we linked up with a couple from New Zealand to share tuk-tuks... it was a short ride to the border bridge... where we saw a huge and overwhelming QUEUE.
No problem. We're Singaporeans what. We got some water, I asked someone in the middle how long they'd waited. An hour. Alright.
Wait wait wait in the hot sun. 1 hour...2....3, the crowd would move forward in sudden surges during which I would suddenly feel the threat of stampede. There was a Thai Chinese family next to us speaking Teochew, I think, and they could understand a bit of Chinese. They were here to go to Poipet, to gamble. Well, more precisely, the casinos were located in no-man's land in between the two countries... apparently a Singaporean owns one of them. It was a horrible wait... we finally got into the air-conditioned immigration office at around 5 pm. There were what seems to me some sex tourists discussing their exploits behind us... which rather discomforted me... the time allowed us to strike up some casual conversation with English backpackers.
As we drew closer to the immigration booths, part of the reason dawned on us. "Sorry for the inconvenience, we are in the process of upgrading our computers." That and the large crush of people eager to flock to casinos to spend their new year's supply of luck away, lef to an insanely long wait at the border. Singapore beware!
We crossed over to no man's land where we were immediately solicited by a young man from the Cambodian side... he offered to show us what to do... bring us to the visa agent and all... he seemed rather shady and said it would cost more for a Singaporean to do a visa when we said we were Singaporeans. Eventually we found the visa agent and it would be 1000 baht for the visa, definitely cheaper than 30 USD. But we kind of regretted not doing it at Bangkok since it was on-the-spot visa registration and we didn't have sufficient baht... the local store, which charged rather high prices for water, offered us a ridiculous exchange rate of 37 baht for 1 USD... we decided to change some money with traveller who had excess baht and managed to get a marginally better rate of 38, considering that we couldn't deal in the cents... but it was better than being ripped off by a shop. What was interesting were the glitzy casinos in this place, giving no hint of the poverty on the other side of the border
The Cambodian side of the border was really high-tech, with digital cameras to capture our faces and we were cleared quickly. It was late and we didn't want to be stuck at Poipet, yet we knew transport would be expensive at this hour... we kept walking, pestered by the shady young man and managed eventually, to find a taxi that would take us there for 30 USD... of course it started at around 50 USD... but thank god he was probably making his last trip of the day... at 7.5 USD per person, along with about 3 USD for the train ticket, that made about 10 USD/person for the trip. Poipet reminded me of a Wild West town, dusty, remote, and full of dangerous people.
We were hustled by many young children begging for things, some who tried pilfering stuff from our pouches and just desperate for some money... Lip gave them 2 SGD which seemed like a novelty to them, but they'd probably try to change it for money they could use.
Our taxi driver was a decent, nice guy, didn't speak English. It was a relatively straightforward route on National Hwy 6 from Poipet to Sisophon and on to Siem Reap. That is, when we realised it was the highway. That meant no need for navigation to ensure the taxi driver wasn't bringing us to a remote Northeastern province to kill us and make off with our belongings.
He stopped for fuel just aways from Poipet which came in the form of bottles... really cute. The road was filled with potholes and his considerable skill in avoiding them showed, as he took the potholes with aplomb and impeccable technique. Clearly, he knew the road well and would save us some time. Alex wondered about the integrity of the tires and the taxi-driver said something about "Cambodian-made". Well, anything works.
Night fell soon (it falls around 5 plus throughout Indochina) and a storm soon beset us... made the road a little muddy. There was virtually no street lighting, and of course the "National Highway" was something like a Type Y track with many potholes. You found yourselves thinking that countless army rovers have driven past before. To the left and the right there wasn't much to see and you could see lightning across the plains. The countryside was devoid, sparse, lacking in trees and you found yourself thinking, god, how many mines have been lain here. You didn't know which side of the road Cambodian's drive on, (this particular one drove on the left, like in Singapore, meaning the driver's on the right.) because there was only one side of the road, and they would horn to pass and to warn oncoming vehicles... and the bridges were army-style bridges easily identified by Lip and Alex.
What added to the atmosphere were large signs (the only billboards, not much advertising in Cambodia yet) with drawings of AK-47s and other firearms, exhorting to Cambodians in what seems to be "Guns are not needed anymore." And some habitations or buldings had banners in front proclaiming "Sam Rainsy party", or "FUNCINPEC" or "Cambodian People's Party (CPP)", in English above the Khmer script. FUNCINPEC is of course a French acronym, and is the party led by Prince Ranarridh Sihanouk, whose father, Norodom is the king of Cambodia. Sam Rainsy is a trained accountant who represents the opposition in Cambodia and is slowly displacing FUNCINPEC as the main opposition party in Cambodia, since FUNCINPEC's power-sharing agreement with CPP broke down. Now of course, Hun Sen is in power, just as he was when Vietnamese forces removed the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979.
We arrived in Siem Reap safely and thank god, the storm abated. We looked for accomodation, but Siem Reap looked like some expensive town for tourists... but we did find a guesthouse in the end that was cheap enough, called Angkor Green... down a cheap alley.
Bangkok, 2nd day.
I woke up late and it was 10. Zhenliang was the earliest riser. I decided to look for him because I remember he said there was a parade in the morning... okay pretty fun, kinda like a poor man's Mardi Gras.
We then set off looking for famous duck rice... navigated, asked a few questions. Walking through Bangkok was hazardous because of people in tuk-tuks and trucks and cars with super soakers, some with flour... and I had to clean myself up at the restaurant.
Having enquired at several tour agencies about getting to Siem Reap, we decided it was rather expensive during the Songkhram period, if the buses left at all. Thought then it would be better to do it ourselves. I loved that because it meant taking the train and I love trains. Choo Choo! (Selphie I think, FF8)
Because I was stupid and I didn't see Bangkok Central on the map, and I thought eastbound trains leave from the east station, I brought everyone to Khlong Tan station in Phetburi district... sort of an outlying suburb of Bangkok...we also had trouble communicating with the taxi driver so he didn't drop us at the station but further down... we thus had to follow the railway track down to Khlong Tan station. As we walked we passed by slums and saw the other face of Bangkok, with plenty of marginalized denizens... but a few of the kids were still so happy and in the new year spirit.
We arrived at the station and were lucky to run into a helpful "station operator", for want of a better word. The train schedules were all in the Thai cipher, and a few helpful lines helped us... and we realised we could book from Bangkok Central... so we took a train back there.
Bangkok Central, at Hualamphong, is a really large train station in the tradition of large train stations.... trains, carriages... wide roof... big portrait of the king... i always though locomotives were symbols of power and largesse of a nation... see... people and produce from all the various provinces pulling in at one place.... trains carry much more than buses. and of course the blast of the pa system. unforgettable.
I woke up late and it was 10. Zhenliang was the earliest riser. I decided to look for him because I remember he said there was a parade in the morning... okay pretty fun, kinda like a poor man's Mardi Gras.
We then set off looking for famous duck rice... navigated, asked a few questions. Walking through Bangkok was hazardous because of people in tuk-tuks and trucks and cars with super soakers, some with flour... and I had to clean myself up at the restaurant.
Having enquired at several tour agencies about getting to Siem Reap, we decided it was rather expensive during the Songkhram period, if the buses left at all. Thought then it would be better to do it ourselves. I loved that because it meant taking the train and I love trains. Choo Choo! (Selphie I think, FF8)
Because I was stupid and I didn't see Bangkok Central on the map, and I thought eastbound trains leave from the east station, I brought everyone to Khlong Tan station in Phetburi district... sort of an outlying suburb of Bangkok...we also had trouble communicating with the taxi driver so he didn't drop us at the station but further down... we thus had to follow the railway track down to Khlong Tan station. As we walked we passed by slums and saw the other face of Bangkok, with plenty of marginalized denizens... but a few of the kids were still so happy and in the new year spirit.
We arrived at the station and were lucky to run into a helpful "station operator", for want of a better word. The train schedules were all in the Thai cipher, and a few helpful lines helped us... and we realised we could book from Bangkok Central... so we took a train back there.
Bangkok Central, at Hualamphong, is a really large train station in the tradition of large train stations.... trains, carriages... wide roof... big portrait of the king... i always though locomotives were symbols of power and largesse of a nation... see... people and produce from all the various provinces pulling in at one place.... trains carry much more than buses. and of course the blast of the pa system. unforgettable.
Perhaps the rest of the night was coloured by that incident... I was in rather no mood for fun. I realise too I got some of the chronology wrong... because Patpong just stands out in my mind. Before that though, we had lost Lip Jin at the MBK shopping mall... we had arranged to go our own ways for shopping and then meet at KFC at a pre-arranged time. Now of course there were 2 KFCs in the shopping centre, in accordance with the Rule of Murphy, which all retail shopping centre managers learn in Year 1 of their MBA course.
He got lost. Ohmygod! The biggest, tallest of us has been kidnapped by a Bangkok gang and had his limbs chopped off so he could become a beggar. Or maybe he was simply shopping around. Alex went off to look for in while I dutifully waited with Zhenliang. After some time, I was getting really worried and decided that finding him outweighed any embarassment caused to us or Singaporeans... so I went to the information counter and asked the obliging counter staff to help us make an announcement.... which nobody heard because it was really loud.
Eventually, I think Lip realised there were 2 KFCs and found the 2nd one... a potential crisis averted.
Back to the narrative. After some junk snacking at McDonalds, we decided to return to Th Khao San... we thought the morning was bad, but the night was simply insane.
There were thousands of revellers on the street spraying people like nobody's business. And we couldn't sleep so we decided to join in the festivities... time to change into clothes which we could afford to get wet in, buy some super soakers (a tad expensive), and steal some water from outside the hotel... okay I was still feeling rather disconsolate so I must admit I didn't really have fun and I thought that I hated the noise and the stupid people... and one brute stole some water from me.
We returned to a hotel and we had conversation with a drunk Swede. I forgot his name because I didn't really like him. He's a backpacker who's been around, had something to drink, and said stuff about Singapore having "fucking cheap electronics". He had a bit of trouble with the calculator when we told him the price of an ipod and he tried to convert it to crowns (it's crowns right, in sweden, or euro?) He then proceeded on with his grand philosophy of life. Being a psychology student, he said that shaking a man's hand firmly is important... and trust him... he has experience... people who shake hands limply are pussies and you can't trust them... while a firm one means you can trust the person... I was very irritated and I thought he was crazy and a nut because he started repeating it... and what's wrong with putting your hands together and bowing. fuck. crazy shit. I like some crazy shits, but not worthless ones.
The room we had was rather hot and had a hard bed... still managed to sleep well though.
He got lost. Ohmygod! The biggest, tallest of us has been kidnapped by a Bangkok gang and had his limbs chopped off so he could become a beggar. Or maybe he was simply shopping around. Alex went off to look for in while I dutifully waited with Zhenliang. After some time, I was getting really worried and decided that finding him outweighed any embarassment caused to us or Singaporeans... so I went to the information counter and asked the obliging counter staff to help us make an announcement.... which nobody heard because it was really loud.
Eventually, I think Lip realised there were 2 KFCs and found the 2nd one... a potential crisis averted.
Back to the narrative. After some junk snacking at McDonalds, we decided to return to Th Khao San... we thought the morning was bad, but the night was simply insane.
There were thousands of revellers on the street spraying people like nobody's business. And we couldn't sleep so we decided to join in the festivities... time to change into clothes which we could afford to get wet in, buy some super soakers (a tad expensive), and steal some water from outside the hotel... okay I was still feeling rather disconsolate so I must admit I didn't really have fun and I thought that I hated the noise and the stupid people... and one brute stole some water from me.
We returned to a hotel and we had conversation with a drunk Swede. I forgot his name because I didn't really like him. He's a backpacker who's been around, had something to drink, and said stuff about Singapore having "fucking cheap electronics". He had a bit of trouble with the calculator when we told him the price of an ipod and he tried to convert it to crowns (it's crowns right, in sweden, or euro?) He then proceeded on with his grand philosophy of life. Being a psychology student, he said that shaking a man's hand firmly is important... and trust him... he has experience... people who shake hands limply are pussies and you can't trust them... while a firm one means you can trust the person... I was very irritated and I thought he was crazy and a nut because he started repeating it... and what's wrong with putting your hands together and bowing. fuck. crazy shit. I like some crazy shits, but not worthless ones.
The room we had was rather hot and had a hard bed... still managed to sleep well though.
4/28/2005
"Just because it feels good,
doesn't make it right"
I've always remembered these 2 lines from a song called "Hedonism", if I'm not wrong. I can't even remember who sang it... I know I heard it at Wala's one night... I got the impression it was bout a girl who didn't want to be sucked in into some relationship.
It's always open to debate I guess... there's no point going through life thinking that ascetism and suffering in life is right either. And I guess it makes me feel guilty when I commit something close to what the song title is.
To the point I guess... now we decided to go visit Patpong, to see what the renowned Thai nightlife is like. Okay... we didn't really no our way, and we accidentally stumbled through the homosexual section, where we were propositioned... Patpong is full of aggressive touts who try to bring you to see "Thai-gers" and "Ping-pong pussy" and all sorts of fantastic sex shows.
I needed a break so I ducked into a 7-11 to get some smokes.
So there we were walking up and down the street, touts everywhere. I had a bad feeling, I guess everybody did. We walked the street once I guess, didn't find anything we liked. Most of the "sex" shows were located in suspicious looking second stories of shophouses, up some dark stairway.
I think we thought "what the hell, we're in patpong anyway, lets get ourselves a drink". I thought well I guess it'd be fine if we went to one of those lighted ones where women in bikinis dance around poles. I was suspicious of 2nd storey shophouses I guess because I know screwed up shit happens, but I guess I was curious. Just like the other time I was propositioned at Hsimenting in Taipei. Part of me wanted to "see", you know, been there, done that.
Went up to the first 2nd storey... gave me the freaks, went back down. Eventually, I we did go up to one of them, accompanied by a very irritating and pushy guy who seemed to be from the Bangkok underworld, with desperation seeping from his voice.
Okay, and then there were gyrating women and a few others lounging around in bikinis. Nothing about the room spoke eroticism. My bottle of Heineken was my friend. And as usual, when I am lost and weak and really really confused, I have a light.
There was a rather quiet whore (hostess/sex worker? whatever shall we call them?) beside me. We made casual conversation. (yes, talk to a whore. how typical.) in a fit of messianic emotion i decided to get her a drink (how noble.) In hindsight I probably just contributed more money to the big-bellied owners of this establishment.
I think I felt so bad because I felt so helpless... eventually we left. I felt moral outrage but I had gone in didn't I? I am disgusted with myself. I have to be honest, I also hated the world. Because you know, if you find the words, you could probably convince me that there is nothing wrong with paid sex, that sex is just some human instinct, and it's just stupid social mores that deny us our all-too-human sensuality. I guess so, but I guess then that this didn't feel sensual at all.
We walked out quickly, anyway. It was a joke and I felt very lonely. Being wrong is the next worst feeling the world. I hate this phrase but because I find it so hard to describe what I felt that night, I guess I felt that I was anchorless and drifting. And I really didn't like the world one bit.
doesn't make it right"
I've always remembered these 2 lines from a song called "Hedonism", if I'm not wrong. I can't even remember who sang it... I know I heard it at Wala's one night... I got the impression it was bout a girl who didn't want to be sucked in into some relationship.
It's always open to debate I guess... there's no point going through life thinking that ascetism and suffering in life is right either. And I guess it makes me feel guilty when I commit something close to what the song title is.
To the point I guess... now we decided to go visit Patpong, to see what the renowned Thai nightlife is like. Okay... we didn't really no our way, and we accidentally stumbled through the homosexual section, where we were propositioned... Patpong is full of aggressive touts who try to bring you to see "Thai-gers" and "Ping-pong pussy" and all sorts of fantastic sex shows.
I needed a break so I ducked into a 7-11 to get some smokes.
So there we were walking up and down the street, touts everywhere. I had a bad feeling, I guess everybody did. We walked the street once I guess, didn't find anything we liked. Most of the "sex" shows were located in suspicious looking second stories of shophouses, up some dark stairway.
I think we thought "what the hell, we're in patpong anyway, lets get ourselves a drink". I thought well I guess it'd be fine if we went to one of those lighted ones where women in bikinis dance around poles. I was suspicious of 2nd storey shophouses I guess because I know screwed up shit happens, but I guess I was curious. Just like the other time I was propositioned at Hsimenting in Taipei. Part of me wanted to "see", you know, been there, done that.
Went up to the first 2nd storey... gave me the freaks, went back down. Eventually, I we did go up to one of them, accompanied by a very irritating and pushy guy who seemed to be from the Bangkok underworld, with desperation seeping from his voice.
Okay, and then there were gyrating women and a few others lounging around in bikinis. Nothing about the room spoke eroticism. My bottle of Heineken was my friend. And as usual, when I am lost and weak and really really confused, I have a light.
There was a rather quiet whore (hostess/sex worker? whatever shall we call them?) beside me. We made casual conversation. (yes, talk to a whore. how typical.) in a fit of messianic emotion i decided to get her a drink (how noble.) In hindsight I probably just contributed more money to the big-bellied owners of this establishment.
I think I felt so bad because I felt so helpless... eventually we left. I felt moral outrage but I had gone in didn't I? I am disgusted with myself. I have to be honest, I also hated the world. Because you know, if you find the words, you could probably convince me that there is nothing wrong with paid sex, that sex is just some human instinct, and it's just stupid social mores that deny us our all-too-human sensuality. I guess so, but I guess then that this didn't feel sensual at all.
We walked out quickly, anyway. It was a joke and I felt very lonely. Being wrong is the next worst feeling the world. I hate this phrase but because I find it so hard to describe what I felt that night, I guess I felt that I was anchorless and drifting. And I really didn't like the world one bit.
The rest of the day was ambiguous, to say the least. Lip had lost his rain cover and damaged the buckle of his backpack, thanks to some inept baggage handling. Now, I mananged to pass immigration without much difficulty, nor did I get singled out for baggage check like in Singapore.
We decided the cab was the best way into the city, and we were heading to the backpacker's district at Th. Khao San. Now I had been to Bangkok what 6 or 7 years before, for a few days, so I did remember a bit about the city... but of course, what was familiar was the traffic, the "in your face" flyovers and uncompleted highways. In short, the concrete mayhem that was familiar thanks to me playing Burnout 3 on my XBOX just a few days back.
I wish we had a crazy shit ass taxi driver, but he was insane enough. We marvelled at the numerous modifications the taxis around us had, and we had a rather smooth trip (no jams) all the way to Banglamphu.
Aaah yes and we knew it was Songkhram... wet T-shirt time... the traditional new year celebrated by the Thais with the dousing of masses of people in water. It was hazardous, considering we were with our backpacks and didn't want to get ourselves too wet. But it was all good for us... hoping for some pretty young things to get their T-shirts wet. We looked around for some decent accomodation and got a room for 280 baht a night. In retrospect, as we would progress along with our journey, perhaps our first room was the crappiest of em all... It was clean though, and run by friendly people... called "Mom's guesthouse".
Okay... time to hit the tourist trail. Now, off to the Emerald Palace, "the Vatican City of Thai Buddhism". I had seen it before, but of course not all 4 of us had, and we decided it was worth another look. I guess we should have tried to pass off as Thais but then again I was bringing my camera about and so we had to pay the 250 baht admission fee... and it was wonderful wow... It's basically a series of really nice temples and lots and lots of gold so it shines in the sun... and a few museums showcasing the glory of Thai royalty. It was also bloody fucking hot.
There's something else to do in Bangkok. Shop!. Now once again I arrived in Bangkok on a weekday and would thus be unable to visit the famed Chattuchak market... but Alex, who was a Bangkok expert (hell, he has a Thai mom) could bring us to places to shop. We decided to take the public bus system, which at 4 baht per person! was unbelievably cheap. It was like taking 170 when I was 7 years old or something... with the old TMO buses... witht he conductor who would give you your ticket... and its amazing how they remember who's payed and who hasn't.
We went on to Siam Discovery Centre and MBK... now MBK is a miracle... when I was last in Bangkok, it definitely was rather more run down but I guess all the money brought in gave it a remarkable facelift and it looked really different. And there were like millions of shops selling handphones and I wondered how any of them could make money. Frankly, the shopping was bland and uninspired and I didn't feel like buying anything.
One great thing about Thailand is the food... we had roadside noodles and ate a huge variety of food at the food court...
We decided the cab was the best way into the city, and we were heading to the backpacker's district at Th. Khao San. Now I had been to Bangkok what 6 or 7 years before, for a few days, so I did remember a bit about the city... but of course, what was familiar was the traffic, the "in your face" flyovers and uncompleted highways. In short, the concrete mayhem that was familiar thanks to me playing Burnout 3 on my XBOX just a few days back.
I wish we had a crazy shit ass taxi driver, but he was insane enough. We marvelled at the numerous modifications the taxis around us had, and we had a rather smooth trip (no jams) all the way to Banglamphu.
Aaah yes and we knew it was Songkhram... wet T-shirt time... the traditional new year celebrated by the Thais with the dousing of masses of people in water. It was hazardous, considering we were with our backpacks and didn't want to get ourselves too wet. But it was all good for us... hoping for some pretty young things to get their T-shirts wet. We looked around for some decent accomodation and got a room for 280 baht a night. In retrospect, as we would progress along with our journey, perhaps our first room was the crappiest of em all... It was clean though, and run by friendly people... called "Mom's guesthouse".
Okay... time to hit the tourist trail. Now, off to the Emerald Palace, "the Vatican City of Thai Buddhism". I had seen it before, but of course not all 4 of us had, and we decided it was worth another look. I guess we should have tried to pass off as Thais but then again I was bringing my camera about and so we had to pay the 250 baht admission fee... and it was wonderful wow... It's basically a series of really nice temples and lots and lots of gold so it shines in the sun... and a few museums showcasing the glory of Thai royalty. It was also bloody fucking hot.
There's something else to do in Bangkok. Shop!. Now once again I arrived in Bangkok on a weekday and would thus be unable to visit the famed Chattuchak market... but Alex, who was a Bangkok expert (hell, he has a Thai mom) could bring us to places to shop. We decided to take the public bus system, which at 4 baht per person! was unbelievably cheap. It was like taking 170 when I was 7 years old or something... with the old TMO buses... witht he conductor who would give you your ticket... and its amazing how they remember who's payed and who hasn't.
We went on to Siam Discovery Centre and MBK... now MBK is a miracle... when I was last in Bangkok, it definitely was rather more run down but I guess all the money brought in gave it a remarkable facelift and it looked really different. And there were like millions of shops selling handphones and I wondered how any of them could make money. Frankly, the shopping was bland and uninspired and I didn't feel like buying anything.
One great thing about Thailand is the food... we had roadside noodles and ate a huge variety of food at the food court...
4/18/2005
I'm writing out of a cybercafe in Phnom Penh... the initial greeting messages and all were in French, but now they're in English... nothing like familiarity. I hope the connection co-operates and this is a really, really small cybercafe which doubles as a AUTOCAD/architectural company. Which reminds me that I made some errors in my draft the other time. Damn. I'm subsisting of really skimpy notes in my yellow notebook because I'm not bringing my PDA around like Lip is. Better get the firste few days out of the way. But photos... well I guess I'll keep them on my computer.
Bangkok Blues
The night started ominously enough, of course, with myself being unable to get any sleep. Because my sleep cycle had been irretrievably damaged by work... ok... so I was going to go for a trip un-fresh and totally screwed. So I thought.
I had 2 good hours of sleep and I headed off for the airport. So far so good. I hadn't left my flight itinerary nor my passports behind. Unfortunately... I left Jeff, who was supposed to send us off, behind, in my morning stupor. Screw-up 1.
Now the people over at Jetstarasia are really rather friendly people... when they checked us in, and I like the fact we had 20kg of baggage allowance. And of course, Changi Airport being the wonderful airport that it is, was pretty nice to mill around.
The plane wasn't. Now of course, we like to scare ourselves with budget airline stories, given they're relatively new to our region and being the bumpkin that I was, had never stepped foot on one. It was cramped and I had nothing to do, the seats were pretty fine, but generally it was ok but I hated being on the plane because I still couldn't sleep thought I knew I needed it.
So... 0920 - 1045... SIN - BKK, bearing in mind we're now back 1 hour thanks to I don't know, previous colonial differences or something. Okay... I think I'll continue another day.
Bangkok Blues
The night started ominously enough, of course, with myself being unable to get any sleep. Because my sleep cycle had been irretrievably damaged by work... ok... so I was going to go for a trip un-fresh and totally screwed. So I thought.
I had 2 good hours of sleep and I headed off for the airport. So far so good. I hadn't left my flight itinerary nor my passports behind. Unfortunately... I left Jeff, who was supposed to send us off, behind, in my morning stupor. Screw-up 1.
Now the people over at Jetstarasia are really rather friendly people... when they checked us in, and I like the fact we had 20kg of baggage allowance. And of course, Changi Airport being the wonderful airport that it is, was pretty nice to mill around.
The plane wasn't. Now of course, we like to scare ourselves with budget airline stories, given they're relatively new to our region and being the bumpkin that I was, had never stepped foot on one. It was cramped and I had nothing to do, the seats were pretty fine, but generally it was ok but I hated being on the plane because I still couldn't sleep thought I knew I needed it.
So... 0920 - 1045... SIN - BKK, bearing in mind we're now back 1 hour thanks to I don't know, previous colonial differences or something. Okay... I think I'll continue another day.
4/11/2005
Yay. I'm going travelling
Yes, again. Welcome... travel... aaah... most people would die for an opportunity to spit on other cultures, gawk at weird tribes and live like a king in developing countries where they earn US$1 per day. Where official corruption makes up for personal incompetence. Yes, lovely, all this and more.
D (-1), H (-24h50min), Monday, 11 April, 0830. 27 Coronation Road. A room in Singapore.
Timings look impressive and professional, and give the impression of miltary precision. Also gets the adrenaline going, because we all know how exciting it is to rush from place to place and be known as a "very busy person".
I thought it would be appropriate to start this way, because a good characteristic of any traveller is arrogance. And arrogance is when you think you can complete most of your preparations in 1 day. Au naturel.
Packing status : 0% complete
D (-1), H (-24), Monday, 11 April, 0920. 10 Leedon Park. Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Right. Thanks for the visa. Fucking lackey...from a company specializing in visas, running of and convincing me I had to get a visa done although I'm from an ASEAN country. Oh yeah, be safe, not sorry. And no run-ins with border guards. Nice embassy. Almost feel bad the ambassador has so many visitors each day. Ok... I have everyone's passports. Paranoid about losing 1.
Packing status : Still 0%
D (-1), H (-23h50min), Monday, 11 April, 0930. Back home.
Where the f*** is my green card. F***ing shite. Merde. F***ing Murphy. F*** his law. Ok.... fine... I guess I still have my re-entry permit. Should be fine. I'm calm, cool and collected. Message Alex. Check his car. Could have left it there again. Know I should have done all this rubbish earlier. F*** it. I'm walking to Leedon...
A nice person with a cat offered to pick me up.
Left-hand column: "Are you going to drive me to a quiet place in Bin Tong Park, beat me with a stick, and take away all my money."
"Is it the pink shirt I'm wearing?"
Official reason: He's a nice person sending his cat to the vet and going to his grandmother's place. He's watched me walk for the past 5 minutes and is going to take pity on me.
yay! my life is lovely. tomorrrow i will get married and live happily ever after.
didn't find the green card at embassy. (knows deep down supposed to be packing but... shit happens.)
Packing status: 0.00%
D (-1), H (-21h50min), Monday, 11 April, 1130. Coronation Plaza.
Get hair cut: Check. So won't look like a hippy after a month. Maybe it's nice, but I doubt so. I love my priorities.
Get photos taken: To please the border guards, in case they'd like to arbitrarily reject my visa.
Shop at NTUC: New toothbrush. Check. Hey... these wet wipes look nice... we could get dirty.... ok check. hmm... might as well get small shampoo.... and body foam.... check... check.... check.
Also: Have to get DVD for grandma working. The show "Big Fish" is not co-operating. She asks, "So, did the guy catch the fish?" How do you answer that? I've watched it at least twice.
It's not original, but they could raid my house now it's on public domain.
Packing status: More stuff, less packed: 0.00%
D (-1), H (-20h50min), Monday, 11 April, 1230. Coronation Plaza.
My green card and passport cover are found. Hallelujah!
D (-1), H (-19h50min), Monday, 11 April, 1330. Harbourfront.
Are there McDonald's restaurants in Vietnam? Or Cambodia, for that matter. I'm still in Singapore. Mistook 1300 for 1330, bad mistake. Had to spend money on cab. Yes, still had to settle my work, although I'm yes what's that number again yes 0.00% packed and sleep-deprived because of Spanish La Liga TV schedules. And work. And Tiger Woods winning at Augusta. Ok.
D (-1), H (-17h50min), Monday, 11 April, 1530. Lucky Plaza.
I have money to change. Speak to me. Give me your best rate. I have a lotta money to spend. What? You don't have enough USD? Lousy rate for baht? Fine. I'm changing this much (XXX) money. I'll survive on it. Okay. Some money. Check. Lunch. Check. SD card? Aaah fuck too expensive.
D (-1), H (-17h20min), Monday, 11 April, 1530. Plaza Singapura.
I like the cubes for packing because they make everything so neat and tidy but I haven't packed yet so how am I to know? And a waterbottle I guess, because I have a compartment at the side of my backpack for one and I guess I'd like to add it. Was thinking of adding LP: Vietnam (ooooh product placement) to LP: SEA on a shoestring, then decided to forget it.
Packing: soon, soon! We can be ops ready at short notice, anyway.
D (-1), H (-15h20min), Monday, 11 April, 1730. My bed.
I'm sleeping.... zzzz.... too little sleep. packing.... 0%
D (-1), H (-12h20min), Monday, 11 April, 2030. Still at home, yes.
Phenomenal progress. I've for my travel documents photocopied, in case shit happens. Like getting robbed by restive natives. I've made sure I've got my tickets (well, it's an e-ticket anyway), licenses, passports etc. I hope I didn't forget anything. I even have travel insurance in case I step on a landmine. Travel is dangerous you know. Called to confirm transport arrangements for tomorrow. Alex is going to walk to my place. sonofabitch. route march at 6. I've packed everything in cubes.... see... 90% done! shirts, socks, every damn thing. good thing is my backpack isn't bursting at the seams yet.
D (-1), H (-10h20min), Monday, 11 April, 2230. Still at home, yes.
Settling stuff... yes... must dutifully inform the army. Check mail... last stuff... blog... check if I have my roaming on.... and ready to sleep. Adjust straps of backpack. Pack all odds and ends. Charge camera battery. There. 99.5% FUCK YEAH! Let's go! sleep.
to be continued....
Yes, again. Welcome... travel... aaah... most people would die for an opportunity to spit on other cultures, gawk at weird tribes and live like a king in developing countries where they earn US$1 per day. Where official corruption makes up for personal incompetence. Yes, lovely, all this and more.
D (-1), H (-24h50min), Monday, 11 April, 0830. 27 Coronation Road. A room in Singapore.
Timings look impressive and professional, and give the impression of miltary precision. Also gets the adrenaline going, because we all know how exciting it is to rush from place to place and be known as a "very busy person".
I thought it would be appropriate to start this way, because a good characteristic of any traveller is arrogance. And arrogance is when you think you can complete most of your preparations in 1 day. Au naturel.
Packing status : 0% complete
D (-1), H (-24), Monday, 11 April, 0920. 10 Leedon Park. Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Right. Thanks for the visa. Fucking lackey...from a company specializing in visas, running of and convincing me I had to get a visa done although I'm from an ASEAN country. Oh yeah, be safe, not sorry. And no run-ins with border guards. Nice embassy. Almost feel bad the ambassador has so many visitors each day. Ok... I have everyone's passports. Paranoid about losing 1.
Packing status : Still 0%
D (-1), H (-23h50min), Monday, 11 April, 0930. Back home.
Where the f*** is my green card. F***ing shite. Merde. F***ing Murphy. F*** his law. Ok.... fine... I guess I still have my re-entry permit. Should be fine. I'm calm, cool and collected. Message Alex. Check his car. Could have left it there again. Know I should have done all this rubbish earlier. F*** it. I'm walking to Leedon...
A nice person with a cat offered to pick me up.
Left-hand column: "Are you going to drive me to a quiet place in Bin Tong Park, beat me with a stick, and take away all my money."
"Is it the pink shirt I'm wearing?"
Official reason: He's a nice person sending his cat to the vet and going to his grandmother's place. He's watched me walk for the past 5 minutes and is going to take pity on me.
yay! my life is lovely. tomorrrow i will get married and live happily ever after.
didn't find the green card at embassy. (knows deep down supposed to be packing but... shit happens.)
Packing status: 0.00%
D (-1), H (-21h50min), Monday, 11 April, 1130. Coronation Plaza.
Get hair cut: Check. So won't look like a hippy after a month. Maybe it's nice, but I doubt so. I love my priorities.
Get photos taken: To please the border guards, in case they'd like to arbitrarily reject my visa.
Shop at NTUC: New toothbrush. Check. Hey... these wet wipes look nice... we could get dirty.... ok check. hmm... might as well get small shampoo.... and body foam.... check... check.... check.
Also: Have to get DVD for grandma working. The show "Big Fish" is not co-operating. She asks, "So, did the guy catch the fish?" How do you answer that? I've watched it at least twice.
It's not original, but they could raid my house now it's on public domain.
Packing status: More stuff, less packed: 0.00%
D (-1), H (-20h50min), Monday, 11 April, 1230. Coronation Plaza.
My green card and passport cover are found. Hallelujah!
D (-1), H (-19h50min), Monday, 11 April, 1330. Harbourfront.
Are there McDonald's restaurants in Vietnam? Or Cambodia, for that matter. I'm still in Singapore. Mistook 1300 for 1330, bad mistake. Had to spend money on cab. Yes, still had to settle my work, although I'm yes what's that number again yes 0.00% packed and sleep-deprived because of Spanish La Liga TV schedules. And work. And Tiger Woods winning at Augusta. Ok.
D (-1), H (-17h50min), Monday, 11 April, 1530. Lucky Plaza.
I have money to change. Speak to me. Give me your best rate. I have a lotta money to spend. What? You don't have enough USD? Lousy rate for baht? Fine. I'm changing this much (XXX) money. I'll survive on it. Okay. Some money. Check. Lunch. Check. SD card? Aaah fuck too expensive.
D (-1), H (-17h20min), Monday, 11 April, 1530. Plaza Singapura.
I like the cubes for packing because they make everything so neat and tidy but I haven't packed yet so how am I to know? And a waterbottle I guess, because I have a compartment at the side of my backpack for one and I guess I'd like to add it. Was thinking of adding LP: Vietnam (ooooh product placement) to LP: SEA on a shoestring, then decided to forget it.
Packing: soon, soon! We can be ops ready at short notice, anyway.
D (-1), H (-15h20min), Monday, 11 April, 1730. My bed.
I'm sleeping.... zzzz.... too little sleep. packing.... 0%
D (-1), H (-12h20min), Monday, 11 April, 2030. Still at home, yes.
Phenomenal progress. I've for my travel documents photocopied, in case shit happens. Like getting robbed by restive natives. I've made sure I've got my tickets (well, it's an e-ticket anyway), licenses, passports etc. I hope I didn't forget anything. I even have travel insurance in case I step on a landmine. Travel is dangerous you know. Called to confirm transport arrangements for tomorrow. Alex is going to walk to my place. sonofabitch. route march at 6. I've packed everything in cubes.... see... 90% done! shirts, socks, every damn thing. good thing is my backpack isn't bursting at the seams yet.
D (-1), H (-10h20min), Monday, 11 April, 2230. Still at home, yes.
Settling stuff... yes... must dutifully inform the army. Check mail... last stuff... blog... check if I have my roaming on.... and ready to sleep. Adjust straps of backpack. Pack all odds and ends. Charge camera battery. There. 99.5% FUCK YEAH! Let's go! sleep.
to be continued....
4/07/2005
Friday, April 8, 2008.
My back hurts. If this continues I will be like many famous rich and powerful people who have hurt their backs. I know because I remember a book where J.F.K was screwing Marilyn Monroe (it was fiction), and his back hurt.
I average 5 am for my bedtimes. I envied insomniacs when I was in the army because they could stay up and get many things done. I think it's not bad, because you have all this time. But it's really dumb cause you're not having much fun.
I am leaving for my trip in 4 days. I would like to write about it. I would like to think I will be in a train and reflecting on what I have done. It will be a profound journey of spiritual enlightenment, but most likely, it'll be fun.
Not packing much... of course, before any trip there are all the trivialities to settle. At the moment I like to think I am a production worker. I always like ants, I played Sim Ant.
Godhelpme! I have feelings. Feelings go to the other folder.
New optimistic anthem (paraphrased from a song)
ain't got no nothing. ain't got no culture. ain't got no beer. aint got no smokes. aint got no sleep. ain't got no woman. aint got no love aint got no class. aint got no ticket aint got no token. aint got no god.
what about god?
why am i alive anyway?
yeah what about god?
nobody take away.
got my hair, got my head,
got my brains, got my ears
got my liver, got my eyes, got my nose, got my smile
got my tongue, got my chin, got my mouth, got my nose and my eyes too
got soul, heart, painful back.
got my blog, got my words, got my dick
got ym back, got my sex
got my fingers got my toes!
got my blood!
GOT MY BREATH!
got my freeeedom
got the life, got the life, got the life.
got to keep it.
nobody take from me.
My back hurts. If this continues I will be like many famous rich and powerful people who have hurt their backs. I know because I remember a book where J.F.K was screwing Marilyn Monroe (it was fiction), and his back hurt.
I average 5 am for my bedtimes. I envied insomniacs when I was in the army because they could stay up and get many things done. I think it's not bad, because you have all this time. But it's really dumb cause you're not having much fun.
I am leaving for my trip in 4 days. I would like to write about it. I would like to think I will be in a train and reflecting on what I have done. It will be a profound journey of spiritual enlightenment, but most likely, it'll be fun.
Not packing much... of course, before any trip there are all the trivialities to settle. At the moment I like to think I am a production worker. I always like ants, I played Sim Ant.
Godhelpme! I have feelings. Feelings go to the other folder.
New optimistic anthem (paraphrased from a song)
ain't got no nothing. ain't got no culture. ain't got no beer. aint got no smokes. aint got no sleep. ain't got no woman. aint got no love aint got no class. aint got no ticket aint got no token. aint got no god.
what about god?
why am i alive anyway?
yeah what about god?
nobody take away.
got my hair, got my head,
got my brains, got my ears
got my liver, got my eyes, got my nose, got my smile
got my tongue, got my chin, got my mouth, got my nose and my eyes too
got soul, heart, painful back.
got my blog, got my words, got my dick
got ym back, got my sex
got my fingers got my toes!
got my blood!
GOT MY BREATH!
got my freeeedom
got the life, got the life, got the life.
got to keep it.
nobody take from me.
4/04/2005
Cause we were waiting for the shops to open, lip decided to go blogsurfing at orchard... and he was showing me like blogs of well, popular bloggers.
there were some i liked... because of the design and tone and all... but some i didn't really like.
1 example... the pope just died right... and there so this well-informed blogger went around about how all these people were pathetic, finding some excuse to light candles for some old geezer who's gonna die and never did much. well, that was the drift.
and then he goes on about how xxxx people died in rwanda and xxxx people died in darfur and no one gives a fuck, and how xx% of the world's biodiversity is being wiped out... and probably everyone thinks he's a genius. probably implying that the world is full of hypocrites and ignorant christian fundamentalists. And probably he had a valid point... that the news media shouldn't be carrying so much on the pope dying and all, and more on real issues that threathen the world today.
wait. didn't the news media capture darfur. didn't journalists report about rwanda. hell. i wonder how the hell we knew about these genocides halfway across the world. i think we were disturbed too, hell, how many of us got up to fly to africa is one thing, but hell, not all of us are flying to the vatican to see the pope right?
and maybe he thinks the crowd is full of rich white people trying to rape the fatta the land, who also happen to be christians. fine, that is your politics. but to use "the world's grief is more than yours" is not very fine. and if this is what people care about, what business is it to care about their indulgences? people are NOTHING without faith. you just wished they'd care about per capita income gnp of the bottom third of the world... yeah, some of us do... but it doesn't take a rocket scientist... i mean most people take money out of their wallets to give to "rice for the poor" at church collections anyway... and we have doctors and people flying here and there to save tsunami victims... and we just look at one mass of people at st. peter's square and scoff. idiots. stupid tourists taking photos of the vatican. but you don't know... you never know... perhaps they've been working hard all their lives.... simple people, firemen, policemen, IT systems analyst... doing what they can do to yes, help themselves get by (or get richer)... they have their own stories, their own loves.... i think that's the problem with politics... we look at masses and "electorate", poor, huddling masses, oh let's drop money from the sky like manna, as if talking about ti would make said money drop. and let's not forget that 99.5% of the people in the world are leading stupid, unenlightened, unliberated lives and it is your duty to free them from their delusions. from the frying pan into the fire. i know, you're probably doing something to help, but i know scorn doesn't (hell, even criticism does, but not scorn).
to say that people are so STUPID to weep for someone who they BELIEVE in?
I don't know... there you have it... all the wisdom and erudition of the world, wow, this guy's a genius, and the common folk are stupid.
I don't know... I think I'm guilty of cynicism... but I guess a lot of people tell me about it and I guess I'm trying not to... I'm always trying to be optimistic, now, really, see that things can be done... it's just that everyone has their capacity, and we'll always be guilty of sins of omission. but it's irritating when you're cleaning one side of your car and someone tells you you haven't cleaned the other side... it's like... fuck, i'm getting there, or would you like to take a sponge and wipe with me?
and all the earnest workers... all the people i see... look at the filipino people... they're so devout, even in their mess of a country... even in indonesia... the spirit is strong. and i know, that there's something about us, without a culture of faith, can never match. but we're good at what we do (i guess that's to make money), and we do it well. and that's the best you can get from life, to be earnest and do your best, your way.
i don't want to sound communist by saying "worker, worker, worker", but I thinkt eh world would be a worse place if we all sat at home and listened to jazz. cause some people can't stand jazz.
there were some i liked... because of the design and tone and all... but some i didn't really like.
1 example... the pope just died right... and there so this well-informed blogger went around about how all these people were pathetic, finding some excuse to light candles for some old geezer who's gonna die and never did much. well, that was the drift.
and then he goes on about how xxxx people died in rwanda and xxxx people died in darfur and no one gives a fuck, and how xx% of the world's biodiversity is being wiped out... and probably everyone thinks he's a genius. probably implying that the world is full of hypocrites and ignorant christian fundamentalists. And probably he had a valid point... that the news media shouldn't be carrying so much on the pope dying and all, and more on real issues that threathen the world today.
wait. didn't the news media capture darfur. didn't journalists report about rwanda. hell. i wonder how the hell we knew about these genocides halfway across the world. i think we were disturbed too, hell, how many of us got up to fly to africa is one thing, but hell, not all of us are flying to the vatican to see the pope right?
and maybe he thinks the crowd is full of rich white people trying to rape the fatta the land, who also happen to be christians. fine, that is your politics. but to use "the world's grief is more than yours" is not very fine. and if this is what people care about, what business is it to care about their indulgences? people are NOTHING without faith. you just wished they'd care about per capita income gnp of the bottom third of the world... yeah, some of us do... but it doesn't take a rocket scientist... i mean most people take money out of their wallets to give to "rice for the poor" at church collections anyway... and we have doctors and people flying here and there to save tsunami victims... and we just look at one mass of people at st. peter's square and scoff. idiots. stupid tourists taking photos of the vatican. but you don't know... you never know... perhaps they've been working hard all their lives.... simple people, firemen, policemen, IT systems analyst... doing what they can do to yes, help themselves get by (or get richer)... they have their own stories, their own loves.... i think that's the problem with politics... we look at masses and "electorate", poor, huddling masses, oh let's drop money from the sky like manna, as if talking about ti would make said money drop. and let's not forget that 99.5% of the people in the world are leading stupid, unenlightened, unliberated lives and it is your duty to free them from their delusions. from the frying pan into the fire. i know, you're probably doing something to help, but i know scorn doesn't (hell, even criticism does, but not scorn).
to say that people are so STUPID to weep for someone who they BELIEVE in?
I don't know... there you have it... all the wisdom and erudition of the world, wow, this guy's a genius, and the common folk are stupid.
I don't know... I think I'm guilty of cynicism... but I guess a lot of people tell me about it and I guess I'm trying not to... I'm always trying to be optimistic, now, really, see that things can be done... it's just that everyone has their capacity, and we'll always be guilty of sins of omission. but it's irritating when you're cleaning one side of your car and someone tells you you haven't cleaned the other side... it's like... fuck, i'm getting there, or would you like to take a sponge and wipe with me?
and all the earnest workers... all the people i see... look at the filipino people... they're so devout, even in their mess of a country... even in indonesia... the spirit is strong. and i know, that there's something about us, without a culture of faith, can never match. but we're good at what we do (i guess that's to make money), and we do it well. and that's the best you can get from life, to be earnest and do your best, your way.
i don't want to sound communist by saying "worker, worker, worker", but I thinkt eh world would be a worse place if we all sat at home and listened to jazz. cause some people can't stand jazz.
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