The incredible Angkor region and Sihanoukville

The Angkor ruins
I had the most amazing day. Never have i seen such unbridled beauty in my life.

I've been pondering for a while now how to describe today  eloquently but can't seem to put it in writing. so fuck it - this was the most spectacular scenery i have ever witnessed in my life. Out there enough for ya?


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I started this journal probably a week ago but couldn't finish it. There is little motivation to write at the moment since i am sick and injured though i have this voice in my head telling me to "please eat some rocks and harden the fuck up".

I am currently sitting in an internet cafe right next to where i'm staying. The place is pretty good, social, fun, decent food. A bit pricey though. On first arriving in Sihanoukville i had a pretty big night which resulted in a fucked up knee and a cold. perfect. I missed a full moon boat cruise because of my ailments. Is God telling me to quit booze or merely shitting on me for laughs?

I suppose i'm pretty well off really. I mean, i do have all appendages that a male human being should possess, i haven't lost a leg and an arm to land mines, i do have money to travel and consume good food and booze. There are so many poor people here and others who work 7 days a week. I can't comprehend how people can enjoy life if it is all consumed by work. Mental. But what other option do they have?

Sihanoukville is pretty touristy though i don't mind that. I can't imagine being ill in a decrepit town sleeping in a shack precariously held up by rotten posts above a horrible polluted marsh, (as  have witnessed on bus trips around Cambodia) getting annihilated by mosquitoes whilst not being able to understand a word the locals say. Maybe i'm a pansy traveller because i like my comforts. Think that all you want. I simply do not give one single fuck though. Before i had ever travelled i marvelled at those who could go to the toughest places and have a ball there as i would see on the occasional travel documentaries. After some experience going to different places around the globe i can assuredly say that difficult travel sucks in the long run. week stints here and there add a huge amount of spice to the overall experience though 3 and a half months of living in poverty would not be nice. I know of people who happily spend their holidays working in orphanages, eating rice 3 times a day and shitting in buckets. I admire these people immensely.

Not for me though, not for me. This is more my style.





I haven't done much here but read and embrace my sickness. I don't feel very social at the moment as you can probably tell. I've barely even ventured outside of my backpackers. So much for seeing the sights. Still, when i do coalesce the world shall marvel at the ardent nature in which I tackle all the sights and activities in this beautiful Sihanoukville. There, some positivity.

until next time

nene

Cambodia

It's been a while since i last entered anything. I've been keeping up audio entries on my iphone though i find that these tend to sound all over the place as i try to recount what had happened over the days prior. Alcohol does not help your memory, either. I feel as if i think much more deeply on my experiences as i try to filter them into presentable writing here and that entrenches the memories in the ol' psyche.

The place i'm in right now is architecturally heavily European-French influenced. Dark polished wood doors and windowsills, with half the wall likewise coated with dark wooden panels whilst the middle and upper margins being plaster painted over with a light cream colour and upon which Khmer art hangs. Elegance that is distinctly un-australian. Nice yet peculiar in such a place. Walking outside the backpackers presents a vastly different space. Muddy dirt roads riddled with potholes and puddles after the rain, or dusty in dry times. The houses that row the street tend to be shadowed in lush greenery though are obviously run down and poor. Other parts of the city are dominated by European architecture though in the area i'm staying in, apart from the residence I reside at now, the streets tend to look the same as detailed above. I nearly lost myself earlier today coming back to the backpackers from lunch. Still, i don't tend to pay any attention to where i wander so i suppose it is no one's fault but my own when that happens.

The bus here was long though relatively restful as i slept most of the way. It's intriguing, i do very little in terms of physical exercise save the occasional set of pushups yet i feel far more tired. I've been sleeping a minimum of 10 hrs per night and sometimes even a 1 or 2 hour siesta finds its way into my day.


This place feels a lot more open than in Bangkok and much the nicer for it. It has a country town feel even though it is an important city in Cambodia with a population of 750 thousand people. Most of the locals have been able to communicate in English very well which i was surprised by. I exchanged my Thai money for combodian Riels, only to find out that 90% of the currency in use is in the form of the US dollar. Their official currency is used as change since they do not use US coins. I suppose on the bright side i did get to hold 1.2 million Riels in my hand and was heavily tempted to do the money rain dance in my dormitory. I felt like a gangster making mad cashmoney, handling huge wads of cash like mere trifles to my prodigious wealth.

I told myself to keep these writings short so to not intimidate myself every time i think of entering something. That plan i shall stick to. This is where i plan to go tonight


peace

Thailand 

Didn't even realise what i was off to do. I suppose it's just starting to sink in now; I'm in an entirely different place. The flight was relatively uneventful. I always feel before boarding when I'm checking myself in that a colossal error has been made like I've got the completely wrong day and my flight actually departed yesterday at 12, or it departed today at 9, or something horrible.

I do have some reason to think this way. On my way home from South America i missed my connecting flight. Why? I thought 15:00 was 5pm. During that time i went on a bus ride around Miami and acted like a real Steve Irwin telling people with authority that no, that fish in the water was not actually a crocodile but a normal fish. Is it bad that i play up the Australian accent and abuse the stereotype that we're wild jungle men?

Anyway, chilling at the moment in the backpackers sinking a Singha. The hostel people are playing obnoxious “western club music”. Think apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur T-pain styles. So far I've been wandering round the city like a lost child looking for someone to play with. I kept feeling like i was in dragon ball Z. The architecture reminds me of the old dbz cartoon days. Have not seen goku yet though might check the local Muay Thai Gym.

What i have seen a lot of is meat head roid ragers. Everywhere. I wonder if their endeavour for oversized biceps is to reach a complete feeling of self trust and confidence. What if the more you try to build your confidence in that manner you end up completely missing the point and further away from a true feeling of self belief and rather develop an absurd view that goes something like this: Skinny – you're a pussy. Huge – you're a man.

Thing is, i've seen 50kg nerds with more calm and self belief than half of the roid ragers I've encountered. Aggression does not equal manliness. To me it screams self doubt.

Saying all that people who know me know that i go to the gym and have even bought myself a power rack that takes up half of my room. Maybe the above is one big freudian slip or i'm jealous that they're twice the size of me. bastards.