Whats happening my people? I have had enough free time recently to actually start to wonder what's going on in Sydney and yes, miss you a little bit... but not that much. So while your on the web reading this blog, take a minute to drop your uncle Dave an email with some news, plans, hopes & dreams and postal address if you want a postcards or dvd's or something.
Christmas is approaching and I want to feel the love. It is a time for giving & sharing, spending time with loved ones, hot cocoa & milk and a 2nd quarter spike in consumer spending boostering economic activity to counteract contractionary pressures of high interest rates. So in the true spirit of the corporate-sponsored holiday, purchase retail goods and also send me an email.
Another week, another country, this time the lovely Cambodia. Situated in the middle of Vietnam and Thailand it is actually like a cross between the two. There is a strong Indian influence (the people are darker for starters) because it is the halfway point between the India and China sea route, heaps of Hindu temples. I really do like this country, the people are friendly and don't hustle you too much... except for the kids, who cleaned me out. They all come up to you on the street and try to sell you pirated books, every time I left the hotel I'd come back with another book I didn't want, too hard to say no to the little faces.
There are some cool streets filled with French villas converted into bars & restaurants in Siem Reap. But really it's the history that makes Cambodia such an interesting place. The remains of the Ankorian empire provide it's only major industry (being tourism), the French colonisation influenced their architecture and food, their involvement in the Vietnam war & the reigning Pol Pot regime put Cambodia back into the dark ages. All their infrastructure and the whole intellectual population were destroyed. Only since the the U.N. administered democratic elections in 1997 has there been enough political stability for economic progress and for them to open up to the world. Understandably things are still pretty crazy in terms of government. Poverty is rife, and most of the people know someone killed in the mass genocide back in 1975-79. I visited the 'Killing Fields' where there are mass graves and a memorial building filled with shelves of skulls. They also keep the Tong Sleum prison where 14,000 people were kept and totured as a memorial museum as a reminder of the tragedy that occured.
Heavy stuff. Another thing that makes the place great are its sexy girls. In my opinion they are prettier than Vietnamese girls (Thai girls still win it - they are way over quota). But they don't think they are pretty because they have darker skin, which is an advantage for any guy who doesn't have the Asian obsession for white skin. I don't see how anyone can prefer the girls who look ill they are so white over the caramel skin colour of the Indochinese. There are plenty of sexy girls here who value themselves lower than they should; the difficulty is finding ones that don't require money for their services. I met a cool chick who used to be a soap opera actress and we hit it off, but things fell apart after she asked me what my bridal price was so she could get Australian citizenship. I told her I wasnt for sale (besides her offer was way too low!) and she seemed to lose interest. I suspect that her interest in me was not completely genuine.
It's worth visiting the country to see Ankor Wat. These world-heritage listed temples attract 1 million tourist visitors a year for good reason. There are hundreds but it only takes 3 days to see all the good ones. My favourite one is on top of a large hill and has a panoramic view over the major temples and mountain ranges, the best part being that you can ride an elephant all the way to the top. The temples that are over-run with jungle and have giant prehistoric trees growing throughout them are the coolest. Sometimes there are traditional bands playing to add to the atmosphere and seeing monkeys and elephants around always makes me happy.
In other news it looks as though I'll be heading to South Korea at the end of the month to teach at a winter camp over there! My Canadian mate is doing it and so I applied for the same camp. All looks good, just waiting on the contracts to arrive. Otherwise my plan is the same it's just my arrival in Japan will be delayed by 4 weeks. I'm super pumped! Korea sounds cool, and it will be good experience before I rock up in Japan and start asking people for jobs. Rick has had a good time teaching in Korea for the last year and he assures me it's a wicked place.
On unrelated note Asian popstars are hot!!! On television the choices are basically between: terrible asian soap operas which all feature moustache touting idiots or the Chinese Channel V which features pretty girls bouncing around & also pretty guys crooning in that un-masculine way that asians do. Both are very pretty but I prefer the girls over the girly-men. Asian music is genuinely terrible, but occaisionally it sounds a bit like a good song you heard 10 years ago. The redeeming factor being the pristine little girls that bounce around. There's this one pop group of four girls who do a mean cover of Maddonna's 'Material Girl'. I watched an hour long special on them, including a half hour interview which did not understand (couldnt even get the group's name). Intellectual stimulation is overated anyway and easily overlooked. The less processing required the better.
As the prophet Springer says: "Take care of yourselves & each other"
