A Cambodian Christmas

Bah Humbug

It's essentially the same as any other day. This is what happens when spending Christmas in a buddhist nation. Sadly this year there was an abundance of Santa hats and a few more Merry Christmas' from the fruit toting kids on the beach. I really don't see any benefits in westerners spreading their over-commerialized holidays to any other country, let alone a poor impoverished one. Thankfully, that hasn't happened here YET, but its definitley grown since 2 years ago with the hats and even a few decorated trees. Ok, lets face it, nobody cares about Christmas here except the foriegners. So the expats and Khmers,
try to take advantage and make some money with the influx of tourists. I understand the economics of it, but I don't much like it.

My Christmas consisted of a tri-challenge with an Aussie who was staying at the same beach shack where I stay/live.We played best of 5 ping pong, best of 3 darts, and best of 3 sets in tennis. I was victorious in ping pong and tennis so I won the challenge. My sense of acheivement was quickly subdued and overshadowed by my Boxing day tri-challenge with Tommy, a dutch lad who co-runs the Orphanage I volunteer at. He beat me 3 straight in ping pong, narrowly beat me in pool and then beat me in tennis. The tennis was quite close, 3/4 of the games went to deuce but he is mentally strong and always won the points that mattered. Good job Tommy, I hope to wield some better success in the upcoming rematch.

An awesome Austrian juggler has rolled into town and I now have a teacher! He can do 5 clubs quite easily and sometimes even 7 balls. Damn, I suck in the world of juggling, but Im making some small gains here no doubt.

For New Year's eve we are organizing a beach clean-up followed by a BBQ at Chaimoy's Frog Shack (my home for now). This will kick off my road to innebreation to ring in 2007! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Give me fuel, give me FIRE!!!

We had a party at the bar I live/work/spend all my time in last night. We managed to get maybe 50 people which is about as much as it can handle. I got really into juggling the unlit torches before sunset so I thought I would give the fire a go to hopefully draw a crowd and get the bar busier.

A crowd was drawn indeed. It consisted mainly of small Cambodian children that seemingly emerged out of the sand from every direction. I usually juggle much worse in frot of a crowd. Yet last night the audience posed no problems for my nerves. The goddam fire did.

Juggling fire is hard. I thought juggling the torches during the day would transfer quite easily to when they are lit at night. But no, they didn't. I couldn't see the handles what so ever. It was like juggling blind. I reverted back to about day 4 when I was learning how to juggle them. At most I got about 30 rotations and a few tricks and persistent effort.

Nevertheless I didn't burn myself and I'm gonna have another go tonight on this very unfestive Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!
Now to put on my shades and head back to the beach....

ps I will post pics when I can, the computers suck here...

Oh sweet Cambodia,

So here I am, back again for my third visit (third consecutive xmas and new years as well). I finished up teaching in Korea at the end of November and headed right for the beach in Cambodia. This place has changed a lot over the past 2 years, but it still has an enourmously special place in my heart. I love the Cambodian family that I live with on the beach. My friend Chaimoy that was the face and namesake of her beach bar (with free accomadation) has married and moved to Sweden. I was gutted when I first arrived but quickly settled in with her cousin Day who now sort of runs the joint. He is an awesome guy, always smiling, making jokes and working hard.

I sort of hang out behind the bar and grab people water or beer if they need, but mostly I hang out. I'm learning the art of making cocktails as well, I've mastered the White Russian! I juggle lots, my goal is fire by Christmas. I'm running in the mornings and volunteering at an orphanage a few hours a week. It's the perfect lifestyle for me right now.

As for the adventure aspect....Well I went on a motorbike trip with a 250 cc dirtbike to an abandoned french village with a casino and church among other buildings on top of a mountain. The road was the worst you could imagine. I had a passenger on the back, a great person, an Aussie chick named Jo. It was the most difficult drive I've ever dealt with. Six months and 8500 km driving in Korea could not fully prepare me for it.

The ascent up the mountain took about 3 hours, mostly due to my fatigue and outright exhaustion. It was extremely dificult to keep the bike steady and direct it where I wanted to. I could barely feel my hands and my arms were trembling. We had to drive the last 45 min in pitch black darkness, making the drive substantially more dangerous and difficult. There were so many stretches of large, loose rocks where the bike was sliding in every direction. There was sand which required slow and steady driving. The jungle was extraordinary, but obstructing as well, since ferns and other trees close-lined me rifely.

Finally at 7:30 pm we arrived at the summit of the 1000 m mountain. It was a 6 hour drive from Sihanoukville, with 3 of them being the most intense mental and physical excercise. We were rewarded with the silence of nature. Only the ranger and his family were atop the mountain. The entire abandoned village was ours to explore.

We gazed at the starts which were bright and numerous. The milky way was oh so milky. It was so dark though that we couldn't even see the buildings that were 100 meters in front of us. At first we headed straight and walked right into a reservoir. I retreatred to get the map from the guesthouse, clearly we would need it. So with our map and Jo's excellent navigation skills we explored a smaller hotel and then the once-grand and vibrant casino and hotel. It was constructed in the 1910's but abandoned around 1940 when the Vietnamese took it over. The French colonials used it as their exclusive source of entertainment and (most likely) debauchery. The area was again occupied by King Sihanouk until 1972 when the ominous Khmer Rouge overtook it.

It was amazing to solely explore where the rooms were. Some were large and would have been extravagant no doubt. It was an eery feeling, very blair witch-esque to be in such a place, so far away from any civilzation.

The following morning we awoke at dawn to see the sunrise from the rooftop of the casino. It was nice to see what the surrounding area actually looked like once the sun rose. The casino is on the edge of a cliff which drops down to the jungle below. Just beyond the jungle was a large bay leading to the Gulf of Thailand. It was one of those peaceful moments when you feel like the nature around you is there for only you to view. This was something so rewarding after, for so long, being pushed through crowds of tens of thousands in the hustle-bustle of Seoul.

Around 9 am we headed down the mountain for an easier ride down. Relatively easy that is, still no peice of cake even for experienced drivers. And not that I am one of those by any means. However, I do feel like I've tackled a new stage in motorbiking. Perhaps I will work on my token asian family 4 on a bike skill. I've so far mastered the passenger side of that, just not the driving side...