A Twisted Nation

Argh

Ever feel things are moving too slowly? Desiring to cut the chase, speed things up. We live in a society of instant gratification. The prospect of letting time take its course seems ardous and prolonged. Then i remember this is the day that He has made, i will rejoice and be glad in it.

From Phnom Penh

Am back in Phnom Penh and posting from a drabby internet cafe. Honestly I cant wait to get out of Cambodia and back into Vietnam. The country doesnt really have good vibes.

Seen most of Angkor over the last few days and the hotel in Siem Reap was splendid. Food has been pretty cheap but mediocre throught and Khmer(Cambodian) food is somewhat uninspiring, unlike Thai or Vietnamese which have pretty distinct tastes and flavors; unless u count the more exotic spiders and bugs.

Whole place is pretty dirty and drabby and the city doesnt really have much life to it. Passed by the Ministry of Planning, gee they must be working hard cause nothing really seems to be executed yet. I really wonder how this country is going to pull itself out. Seems like their economy is founded on just tourism and agriculture. Hardly any signs of industrialisation evident at all. Really in stark contrast to Vietnam. Probably Thailand like 30 years ago.

Checked in to the Phnom Penh Hotel and its really crappy. THe room has a musty smell and the whole place looks really seedy. Went to the health club for the jacuzzi and the place lookslike a Hongkong triad movie set, with a bunch of tatooed men in a gaudy health club. They could probably be discussing business there. Really doesnt give you very good vibes.

Post more when i get back.

Kampuchea

Well im almost just about to finish packing. need to go take a quick shower and rush off to the airport to check in. Flight is at 1905 and first time flying Jetstar.

Will be heading to Cambodia for the first leg of the journey. Will stay over in Phenom Penh the capital and take a bus up to Siem Reap first thing in the morning. Then spend the next couple of days touring Angkor then bus back down to Phenom Penh and through it down south to the beach town of Sihanoukville for a night before settling in Phenom Penh for a couple of nights.

Then we'll bus over the border and into Vietnam arriving 8 hours later in Ho Chi Minh City for food and shopping.

Catch u guys in a week. :)

Malaysia Boleh!

1813

Man its good to be back from up north. Thoroughly enjoyed myself this week and got a good rest.

Heres a brief account of the trip.

Day 1 & 2: Left on Monday night on the 1830 Train 14 from Tanjong Pagar. It was an awesome experience just being on the train, cause i have a knack for trains (my dream is to do a Singapore to Moscow overland). The ride was a rickety affair with frequent stops in the middle of the night but the experience more than made up for it.

Woke up from my disturbed sleep at about 0630 and we went to the buffet car to grab a drink, which doesnt really serve a buffet so i guess its just a name inherited from the bygone railroad era. Ordered Milos which were sweetened with excessive amounts of condensed milk and watched the day break. It was really beautiful as the sun rose on the mist covered jungle as the train steamed(again another archaic term which shouldnt be taken literally cause the trains run on diesel locomotion now) pass rivers and through the Malaysian heartland, watching folks go to work and kids waiting to cross the tracks for school. In all it was a surreal exprience, which like all good things came to an end the moment we stepped of the train and had to fork out Rm50 for a taxi ride to the jetty to get to Perhentian BAH! Wat a ripoff!!

Took a package deal for Bubbles Resort on Perhentian Besar at Rm370 each for a 3D2N package which settled our accom, food and activities. The resort turned out to be great as it was on a private beach with its own reef, so snorkelling was just at our doorstep. Saw our original room which was a jungle fan chalet and it was really tiny and located near a damp and dark part near the jungle. Without hesitation we decided to fork out abit more and got an upgrade to an A/C chalet.

Spent the rest of the day sleeping on the beach, snorkelling and kayaking shiok! At night we just sat on the beach and cooked Indomie and luncheon meat, cause the place was isolated and there wasnt any TV. It was good retreat from everything.

Day 3: Woke to go for our packaged snorkelling trip. Didnt see much except when we went to the turtle hatchery where we played withe the baby turtles. Dun think we were supposed to but nobody really cared. Then we went to this bay to look for sea turtles. So the boat guy just cruised around and we all peered over the edge and you could see the bottom like 3-4m down. Then we finally spotted a really huge sea turtle and on went the masks and we leaped over and into the water haha. Stalked the guy for a good half hour and some ang moh kept diving down to touch it and it would swin away each time. So there was a whole group of us trailing the guy till we finally got bored and went back. The guy's shell was like 1-1.5m long! Boat guy said it was probably 50 years old.

Went back for lunch and slept on the beach again till dinner haha. After dinner was indomie with mushroom soup and canned rambutans. Since it was our last night we decided to build a bonfire till they told us fires werent allowed cause the beach was used by turtles to lay eggs and that they would be scared away. Stupid turtles.

So that was the end of my life as a beach bum. Dun think i could have taken any more of it.

Day 4: Left Perhentian early for a long long bus ride to KL. Wei Nurn was so fascinated witht he Tikam machine until the bus almost drove off with all our barang barang and we had to chase it to stop. Abit too much excitement for one morning.

Decided to stay in Chinatown and found an uninspiring hostel - Red Dragon, which was converted out of an old cinema. Cost us RM50 for a 2 bed room. On the whole not too bad though the toilets were rather dingy. KL hostels are deathtraps, would probably die in the event of a fire.

Walked through Chinatown that night, with stalls selling tone of the same old crap pirated DVDs, branded goods and crummy T shirts. Bleah!

Got sick of Chiantown so we went to Berjaya Times Square whichc brought back memories of last year's retreat. The place is mostly the same and we went to Dome for good coffee. Then we went to the open air night market for the wanton mee and char kway teow. Pity that the wanton mee standard drop so much man, and we didnt even finish the plate. Wasted sia.

Didnt want to go back yet cause we slept the whole day so we went to KLCC and caught Rush Hour 3. Totally retarded but we paid RM11 so who's complaining. The ads were supper funny and lame too.

Day 5: Got up late and had Nandos chicken for lunch, then off to Sungei Wang which is a cross between Sim Lim and Queensway and did some shopping at Factory Outlet. Ate KFC haha then went to watch Simpsons for RM8! Whoohoo! But it was really really dumb. Decided to give the Cosmos World indoor theme park at Times Sq a go (only Rm20 with UOB debit, love the card!) but the place was really crummy, roller coaster also not scary and we left the place with nausea. Walked around till the nausea cleared and resumed eating at Jalan Alor but the only memorable dish was KL Hokkien Mee, wah thick noodles in balck sauce shiok. headed back to the Dim Sum place ner Berjaya but standard also drop sian man.

Day 6: Went aroundlooking for good breakfast eats but turned up nothing and we boarded the bs for home. Clearing Woodlands, noticed that the BKE was spanking clean, could almost sleep on it. Next time people compalin about the government, PAP should sponsor them a trip up north and thry probably will all diam diam man.

Well Malaysia's national day coming and as a neighbourly gesture, heres a link to Negara Kuku, a spoof on the anthem and an account of all things wrong up north.

Jimmy

Bait-$4
Crab traps and gear-$20
Catch, cook & eat your crab - Priceless

Heres a pictorial account of how we caught, killed, cooked and ate Jimmy, our first and only flower crab catch that night.

A Few Parting Shots

Henceforth

Today is a milestone.

My internship ends and life begins hahaha.

Things I'm gonna do:
1. crabbing - gonna use stinky fish heads to catch flower crabs. if the catch is good, tmr will be a crab breakfast.mmm cant wait

2. Perhentian - islands off the coast of Trengannu(further up from Redang). Island paradise. gonna be a retreat to read Knowing God(and try not to konk out) and meditate. Might get distracted with the snorkelling, beaching etc etc.

3. X-Roads - will be down for a week to see wat i can do. Pron wants to plan a guys day so we'll see wat turns up.

4. Cambodia - leaving the first week of school for indochina. heard its a gruesome and sad place. luckily my hotel has a nice pool. densensitivity. but i like indochina. gonna end of in Saigon which btw will be my third trip.

Things I want to do/should get down to doing:
1. Photography - my camera is sitting around doing nuthing. at least it isnt collecting dust in my drybox. argh the inertia.

2. think of something to fill in blanks 2-5.

3. TBA

4. TBA

5.TBA

TBA- to be announced

Random grouse:
1. Malaysia - went to KTM this morning to buy my train tickets to JB for monday's trip up north. Was told u can only buy tickets one day in advance. argh wat sorta dumb system in the world issit man??? oh, its malaysian. hahahahhaa