Phnom Penh, Cambodia

had to kill a couple more nights in Phnom Penh until our visas to Vietnam became valid...

• visited the zeppelin cafe again. i requested i'm stranded by the saints but our zen dj was unaware of the track so he lost a point with me, but he was able to play some husker du instead so i was still happy.
• we also visited a restaurant that is run by an organisation that assists former street kids. they've won an order of australia for good deeds to humanity, which was a nice touch. the food was delicious too, which was an even nicer touch.

Kep, Cambodia

some musings from Kep...

• the place is littered with the shells of rich residences built first by the French and then the Cambodian elite before the Khmer Rouge evacuated the whole town and looted what was left. the bush/jungle grows around them and it's facinating to see such recent ruins left to their own device.
• $8 = 3 crabs and 3 beers. the crabs were cooked in a shack right on the water and flavoured with the local green pepper grown at Kampot and were that delicious that i felt like i was cheating on Murray Cray. the first day we were there we sat in our shack eating this as a tropical-esque storm passed over - it was extremely impressive.
  
• we took a couple of bikes for a ride and i went off on my own for a bit and managed to both get a puncture and drop the chain on my bike.
• we were also still able to get a message from the o&k grand final to hear the sensational news that Tarra had won the flag and my brother Craig had done alright. i was pretty rapt with the news and a little sad i was going to miss the party... but the crab and $1 beer helped a little.
• i'd also seen a beer advertised over here called "Victory", but despite my best efforts i was unable to track one down and literally "join in together for a Victory beer"!
  

Cambodia, in general

Just another observation...

• the kids over here love to wave and say hello when they see us, even if we are just driving past in a tuk tuk. it reminds me of how when we were kids we used to try get the trucks to sound their horns and the enjoyment we got from that. so i make sure i always wave back and say hello.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

some snippets from Siem Reap...

• we saw a dog that was half Inspector Rex and half Murder She Wrote. it was brilliant.
• 50 cent pots of cold beer.
• took a Cambodian cooking class, for which we traveled a little bit out of town and down a few wonky dirt roads. to our surprise there was a nice hotel there with the class conducted just a short walk down the road. they also took us to visit one of the families at the local village for which we gave them 2 kilos of rice as a thank you. they were a young couple 23 years old, with 2 kids and a third 7 months on the way. they were extremely poor and i was grateful we were able to visit and hope the rice helped. if the husband works laboring in the city he will work an 8 hour day for $2.50. later in the arvo (during our class) the 7 month pregnant lady rode past us off on her way to search for snails near the lake to use in her cooking for her family and hopefully some extra that they can sell.
• Angkor Wat. deserves to be the 8th wonder of the world. impressive, huge and nearly 900 years old.
  
• our tour guide for Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom was Socur with an old, mad Englishman named Shah (of Indian heritage and born in Sth Africa) rounding out our group of four. Socur joined us for lunch and it was interesting to have a chat with him. he had a good sense of humour (well i found him funny!) and his english was pretty good. he only works 2 days a week, because of the oversupply of english speaking tour guides and his wife, 18 month old daughter and him all live with his mother in law - apparently it's not a happy situation, but he's thinking of trying to move to Qatar to work.
• "Angkor What?" was probably not as impressive as Angkor Wat, but it was a good pub none the less.
  

Cambodia, in general

a couple further observations of the country in general...

• i love how tuk tuk's use cd's as reflectors
• the inventiveness of kids is gold - so far we've seen thong soccer, thong bocce and what i'm pretty sure was some version of thong marbles
  

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Some random summations of the above location...

• first impressions are how poor a country it is, then how crazy the traffic is, then the amount of wood stacked in (and on and hanging out the back of) that tarago.
• our driver delighted in telling us how much fun it is to throw a hand grenade and highly recommended us trying it. he was interested to know whether i'd fired a gun in Australia.
• he also informed us that the current Thai/Cambodia border situation sees 30,000 Thai troops at the border and only 10,000 Cambodian, however, the Cambodian government has just decided to send more troops up there.
• the key to crossing the road (we think) is to walk very slowly.
• riding in a tuk tuk is a pretty good and cheap way to travel. you feel the wind in your hair, you hear the sounds of the streets and at the speed they travel you can take in a fair bit. and there is a fair bit to take in.
• we visited the killing field outside of Phnom Penh. the route our there saw us passing some pretty basic residences and the field and monument itself were extremely saddening. it was truly horrible what occurred there.
• on the way back in to town our tuk tuk passed about 4 meters from a moto which was totally engulfed by flames. we were concerned it was going to explode with us next to it. our driver pulled over so he could enjoy the show.
• we visited a bar called Zeppelin Cafe where they were playing great songs and had an awesome record collection (i'm currently reading High Fidelity which probably only enthused me more!). the dj had the long pony-tailed hair of an aging rocker, the zen calm of a Buddhist monk as he sat there and the glasses of a female librarian from the 80's. i requested rock and roll high school by the Ramones and he played it. i was stoked.

Another Friday Flim Cilp

Apologies for the absence, which brings me to the next clip - i suggest you drink some absinthe.

Both to help you (possibly) get your head around the clip and also as a nod to my good friend Dave who helped me out with this one.

the sweet sweet sweaters on the backup dancers and their sweet sweet moves + "how can i be sure you're not pretender" + the open neck shirt + the grease in space ending = i have no idea what and please feel free to fill me in!