Pics of Del Gusto - may become a favourite cafe of mine

 

So hot

It is so hot - really it is so hot.

Have a fun Friday. Went out to Elsewhere's monthly party where I talked to many and drank much. I met some sort of coudin of mine - my first cousin is his second cousin on the Kerry side which was unique. I also met a pile of people from Cork and even a girl who used to go to my school so adventures all around. Photos to be posted later.

Ended up in the Heart of Darkness - a nightclub that is infamous for have foreigners shot - mor e so in the past but it was weird all the same. Left there around 5am - got a moto home and slept. I heard on Sunday that a girl I had met that night was dragged off a moto and robbed just down the street from my home. Big city blues - she's shaken but ok.

Saturday was a bit of a non starter. I motivated myself enough to go to buy a DVD player. Got one for $50 so was quite happy with myself. Spent $20 on juice, water, and diet coke to rehyrate and watched many DVDs that previously did not work on my computer. I find this extremely strange. According to my computer there was nothing on the disk so why does it work in the player then?

Sunday was market day and sipping Green tea in Del Gusto cafe day. Spent it with E and we had a grand time talking and buying much! I actually have some photos but they're in my camera so I'll post them later.

I'm returning home for two weeks for my brother's wedding so my calendar is now open to pencil people in. I was thinking wouldn't it be fun to all go to Kerry for a weekend ... there's a Ryanair airport near for the european contingent!

Currency matters

Well I just got back from the bank - cashing my monthly check. The riel is the official currency in Cambodia but with 4000 riel to each dollar, dollars are the de facto currency. It was strange to receive a foreign currency in a Cambodian bank and then have to go to the Bureau de Change to get $2 in riel.

Weird

Good versus evil

I just did the "How evil are you quiz" and it turns out that I'm good - YAY!

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, margarita in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming ~ WOO HOO what a ride!

Mi fin de semana

Well it was a good weekend for the most part. I went swimming after work on Friday which was lovely. I had my 20 laps done by the time D arrived but continued so she could get hers in. Then jacuzzi and relaxation until I realised that I was late meeting P and we still hadn't eaten. So off to the Khmer Kitchen where I had a spectacular omelette and panicked the whole time about being late to meet P. I showed up about an hour late to Gasolina but P had made himself comfy talking to a couple of American girls so I could have not hurried. Oh well. Gasolina was a laugh and a half. We snagged on the best seats - a bed in the garden with plush red cushions – it’s the kind of place Gasolina is. Almost any bar here required flip flop removal! K and other had a dance off. When it was time to leave (2.30am) I was able to walk home it's two blocks away. The dog was cool.

So obviously slept in on Saturday and read most of the day. E and I went with a friend of hers to Luno d'Autumo - a fancy Italian restaurant when European pricing - actually I'd said more like Irish pricing cos it was so expensive. We had a good time and a good bottle of wine! And then we went for one drink to Pontoon - a boat bar. I really like that place because of the natural air con (wind) and the plethora of comfy lounging chairs. It's lovely to kick off your flip flops and bounce until a bedlike couch where you can almost trail your hand in the water. The water it quite polluted so the image is enough. E didn't stay very long as she had had a long day of meetings but she introduced me to R before she left and R and I had some very interesting conversations about race and slavery. He had heard somewhat bizarre stories on Irish history but I set the record straight!

The aussie crowd turned up rather late and we danced the night away. R introduced me to his friends including the very cute Brazilian that I have noticed around - he plays football and DMD showed his face too. More dancing, drinking, and messing around - fun was had but at 3 am I disembarked and moto ed it home. The dog was cool tonight too. The dog is weird. He'll sometimes freak out when I arrive home and then others he'll ignore me - barely a whimper. I don't know what's up at all with him.

OK Sunday, yesterday, oh my head. Brought all the not working DVDs back to the Russian market and the girl exchanged them showed me that they work - went home and they don't work. I do not understand and the DVD sitch is quite annoying. But I went to the pool to cool down and then walked home from the supermarket in the rain cos I'm a little strapped for cash right now. It was quite pleasant though. Raindrops falling on my head.

Watched a documentary on the Bible of Judas that had some very interesting theories. Tonight there is a programme on the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail. National Geographic is doing a "Secret Bible Week" and I'm enthralled.

TGIF

Want to go swimming now. D and I will go to the pool after work and do laps. So hot here even with air con 35 degrees with 79 % humidity.

There's a party later at Gasolina and I probably will go. It should be fun.

Later

Rice and UNSC

"In order to be credible, the Security Council, of course, has to act" – Condoleezza Rice Thursday, April 27, 2006

You know it's this sort of statement that annoys me. Well Dr Rice who is on the council? The five permanent members are the US, France, the UK, Russia, and China. Each of these states has its own agenda and may not agree with your ideas on the Iranian nuclear situation. If one of these states exercises its right to vote for an option other than yours, does that mean that the UN Security Council loses its credibility? The two are not linked. Perhaps you meant the UN Security Council members. This appears to be another less than subtle attempt to discredit the UN.

Certain states persist in declaring that the UN is no more if the UN does not vote in the manner that state wishes. Please get down off your high horse.

Under the Charter, the functions and powers of the Security Council are:

• to maintain international peace and security in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations;
• to investigate any dispute or situation which mightlead to international friction;
• to recommend methods of adjusting such disputes or the terms of settlement;
• to formulate plans for the establishment of a system to regulate armaments;
• to determine the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression and to recommend what action should be taken;
• to call on Members to apply economic sanctions and other measures not involving the use of force to prevent or stop aggression;
• to take military action against an aggressor;
• to recommend the admission of new Members;
• to exercise the trusteeship functions of the United Nations in "strategic areas";
• to recommend to the General Assembly the appointment of the Secretary-General and, together with the Assembly, to elect the Judges of the International Court of Justice.

provided the five permanent members are not squabbling among themselves.

Of critters and other ancedotes

Well Blogger was down yesterday so posting was not possible. Great weekend in terms of my social life - dinners, market visits, and my friend D had a housewarming party on Sunday evening which was most enjoyable.

D had quite an episode with a visitor to her bathroom. In the middle of the night she went to the bathroom. When she turned on the light, not two inches from her foot, was a foot long black scorpion. That's quite a surprise when you have just woken up. After she told me I started considering whether I should start turning on the light when I go to the bathroom at night. I have never felt inclined to before. After all with the darkness surrounding you, you can pretend to be asleep and so tell yourself that you will actually get your necessary eight hours. Perhaps I should reconsider. I am not overly concerned because my bedroom is on the third floor. I think scorpions would have a hard time climbing up three flights just to scare me.

The weather has, of course, been hot and humid averaging at 35 degrees with 74% humidity. I love my air con so much that I may have to start taking it out to dinner and sending it flowers. Last night after work I went to the Himawari Hotel for a swim. It was a most enjoyable experience - did laps, messed around, and sat in the jacuzzi - lovely!

If anyone has a spare $14 000 lying around, for that price you can build a rural school in Cambodia. $14 000 will build a three to five-room school, and support teaching and supply materials for two years (to be matched by an international fund.) An additional contribution of $1,700 will fund the installation of solar panels that provide energy to operate a computer with future Internet access. See http://www.ratanakiri.com/ for more info.

Ciao for now

Interesting facts?

Things I have learned while living in Asia:

1. Drinking bottled water causes gallstones

2. Having sex with a virgin will cure AIDS

3. A fan in a closed room can cause death

4. The government has found a cure for HIV

P.S. None of these "facts" are true!

Karon Beach, Phuket

I had a fantastic week in Thailand with P. Thailand is amazing – pure perfection and beauty. The hotel was absolutely beautiful with wonderful ten degrees air conditioning. It was lovely to enter that cool room and jump on the bed for a pillow fight! The food was lovely but we mainly stuck to Western food, since we’ve been eating mostly Asian food for the past three months. Yes, that’s three months - a quarter of my year in Cambodia over – unbelievable! Phuket is quite expensive for Thailand apparently and was pretty expensive compared to what I am used to in Cambodia, but in saying that, it was still very very cheap compared to Ireland. Don’t know how I will cope if I return to Ireland. Buying the same stuff but for ten times the price and a lot of the time, much better quality over here!

Thai people are absolutely beautiful people, so friendly, unassuming and usually very respectful, inoffensive and are not in your face when trying to sell you stuff. Quite a change from the motodops in Phnom Penh. The people are very different for neighbouring countries.

We went out most nights and the first night was spent helping P to avoid the many prostitutes that were after him. He finally accepted that they were not going to bite his head off so we just enjoyed their company after that. There are prostitutes in every bar we went into. Lovely, young, girls who spend their time in bars trying to hustle Western men. I saw seventy year old men with girls that looked barely out of their teens. It was quite perverted.

Karon beach where we were staying was absolutely amazing. The weather was weird. The first day on the beach it was a bit cloudy but hot and we both got burnt without realising it. I tried to convince P to put on sunscreen but due to the clouds he declined. Its strange, I put on factor 40, a hat, a t-shirt, my sarong, and stayed under the brolly and I got burnt to a crisp. P put on factor 12 and lay in the sun all day and tanned – not fair. I don’t particularly care about the colour but the burning burns!

Anyway half way through the day it started to rain. It was an early monsoon. So we went to the sea to swim in the rain. It was like stepping into a bath. The sea was warm and the rain was cool so we stayed submerged for an hour. I did enjoy the contrasts. The rain passed and the blue sky broke through and lasted for the rest of the week apart from a few thunder storms at night but good weather during the day for the most part

Patong is the next beach north from Karon and is quite the party town with flashing neon signs and water guns. New Year celebrations in Thailand and Cambodia were in full swing so I celebrated 2006 New Year for the second time. The local tradition is to throw water on everyone around you, which means a market for supersoakers, especially passing tourists. So on our first visit to Patong, we got all dressed up and within thirty minutes we looked like drowned rats. Quick jump into an Irish bar to escape the wall of water. We were the only Irish there and the band was playing Irish music so we made some requests and had a sing song between the two of us. The Thai band loved us. The first night if getting soaked was fun and a laugh but it continued for three more days and nights, so it got slightly annoying by the end. It also provoked some stupid associations on my part. It sounds silly but seeing all those guns in everybody’s hands made me uneasy.

So all week I was thinking of the tsunami as I floated in the crystal clear water in the sea. I thought of the people who must have been swept out to sea when the ocean retreated. I also thought of all the people who were on the beaches, just as we were – on holidays. Another thing that gently reminded us of the otherwise completely recovered resort was the bits and bobs that was washed up on the beach each morning after the thunder storms. A shoe, or a headlight off a motorbike, a piece of decking floating in the sea one day, which had been varnished at some stage but had also been clearly in the sea for some time. These all reminded us of the tragedy, but on the third last night we got talking to this Swedish guy. He was in Thailand when the tsunami struck. He was part of a group of thirty four friends and family in Thailand for Christmas. Out of the thirty four friends and family, twelve returned home alive. Twenty two people from their group died including two pregnant women. Over 800 Swedish people died altogether. Most of his friends who died were on the beach. The only reason he wasn’t was because himself and his girlfriend were trying to settle their new baby into a sleeping pattern. They were on the third floor of the hotel and the waters completely submerged everything up to the second floor of their hotel. He saved two people himself. Their group are all returning this November to commemorate the event.

We flew from Phuket to Bangkok in the middle of a lightning storm (at night), which was a little spectalular even if air crash films were running through my mind. Other than that, it was just a lovely holiday.