Rambling Aimlessly

The problem is that sometimes you aren't quite inspired by your own experiences to fill up a page or two. This time I'll try to get you caught up and throw in some pictures at the end.

Travel: In hindsight, probably should have seen these countries in reverse order. We started in modern, westernized country with amenities galore and ended up in a shabby hotel in the grimey capital of Myanmar.

 Our first stop was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Very modern, clean city with an interesting mix of cultures and religions. The particular mix of Malays, Chinese, and Indians was a composition  I had never really considered, but am definitely interested in. It was also our first exposure to an Islamic country, during Ramadan. We traveled extensively around the city by train, fantastic rail system, stayed in a good hotel called the Seri Pacific and were able to get our hands on the nectar of the gods, McDonalds. We ate there 4 times in four days, half for the food, half for the free wifi and A/C. Visited Batu Caves, Petronas Towers, Chinatown, Little India, got Visas for Myanmar, went to a mall or two, ate street food, tried to go to the national mosque, but it was closed for prayers.  Crossed paths with some other buddies from work that were there too, ate Indian food. 2014 has seen more Indian food consumption for me that the previous 32. Good place, worth a visit, would like to see other parts of the country.

Good English speaking, public transport, reminded us a little of home.
Bad Taxi drivers during Ramadan are cranky as hell.
Ugly: New theory on economic indicators. Everywhere you go in Kuala Lumpur, there are advertisements, no big deal, we got billboards and enough ads to effectively melt our brains back home, but what struck me was the type of ads that were all over the train system. Like the US, urban Malaysia seems to have a bit of an expanding waistline. It is no coincidence that along with Ronald Mcdonald and the venerable Colonel Sanders come other American exports like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. The problem is so bad that they have gone to the en vogue regulation of posting calorie counts for all of their food. Health risks aside, these people are not worried about corruption, third world poverty, hunger. They have enough money to be most concerned with how many calories of fat the colonel can squeeze into one of his roided up birds. As long as they are counting calories, I think it is safe to say that they're doing just fine financially.

On we go to Bangkok, Thailand. Best way I can describe it is:
Facade

Everywhere you look there are construction sites for new highrise condos, being built next to rapidly decaying 10 year old buildings. The roads are severely overcrowded, so they put in a state of the art "skytrain" that only accepts coins at their ticketing machines. Everyone gets in line for change, then gets in line again to buy the actual ticket. Great idea to alleviate traffic, lacking in execution. It is a big, dirty mess that seems guided by the makers of sim city.

Good AMAZING ( hi syna) street food, chicken, pork anything else you want on a stick barbequed up, served with som tom salad, darn good. Two people can eat for less than $3 and be full of good food. Loved it, would go back, just for food, and maybe head down to beaches

Bad Poor design, planning, too many malls (another unfortunate US export) literally, the only thing to do in Bangkok is go to the mall, really, that is it.

Ugly SLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZYYYYYY

On to Yangon

End of our trip blues or maybe there is just little to do in this dirty, run down, in my opinion worse than Cambodia place. Buddy recommended some really cool things to do and we enjoyed all of them, trouble is we were done enjoying the city in about 6 hours. Next time I suppose we need to get out of the city, started to feel like a jackwagon when we're completely unimpressed by yet another Pagoda, Temple, Shrine, Holy Place, etc. Schwegadon Pagoda (famous for 8 strands of Buddhas hair that are enshrined there, if that doesn't rev your engine I don't know what will

Good 50th street bar on pizza night, woohoo Myanmar beer, same urinesc beer you get all over Asia, just with different label.

Bad by this time we were both pretty grumpy about everything and missing our beloved 4 legged companion somethin fierce.

Ugly: YANGON


Made it back to Siem Reap, Phans cousin held down the fort in our absence, took care of our aforementioned muse and looked after the abode. He was off to Battambang the next day and we layed low for the next week.

I just finished my first week of school, no students yet, just lesson planning and many wonderful meetings. All of the staff that I have come in contact with have been nice and inviting and welcoming. It is definitely a younger group of teachers so the vibe both on and off campus is something I am not used to. They all have ideas about teaching and starting clubs, and I keep reminding myself to avoid being cynical or negative and allow them the room for creativity. Hopefully removing some of my own jaded tendencies in the process. Looking forward to seeing the kids next week and teaching.

Dave got us slingbox, so I've been watching U.S. TV here and there, the other day I woke up in the middle of the night watched the pads, nascar, swimming, golf. It was great. It'll be fun to be up in the middle of the night for Charger games and NFL Football, most of them will start at 3am so that'll make for a good Monday morning.

Phan and I both got traditional Khmer massages this week at this place called Lemongrass Spa, $10 for an hour massage, we have a discount card and get it even cheaper now, just an awesome thing for $10. Phan is starting to see what is out there and what if anything she would like to do, either volunteering or working in some sort of part time capacity.

We are continuing to meet new people and get to know folks here and there. I am taking a Khmer language class every Sunday, its going good, but it's going to take a while. Our town is relatively small so you start to see some of the same people again and again, most are very nice and slowly we are blending into the local expat community.

Some NGO's that we are interested include
The Center for Khmer Studies
(they have one of only a handful of libraries in the entire country)
check it out
Smiling Hearts Association
(Friends of ours are volunteering there and doing some good things.)
smiling hearts

 We are still very much enjoying Siem Reap and Cambodia. Really getting to know the place a little better and finding our groove hopefully. Hope to hear from you

 

Petronas Towers

 ask phan if you'd like to see more, these are all jumbled up. 

love from Cambodia

Schools Out For Summer!

Party people
Yeah Tag Team music
In Full Effect
That's me Steve G the Brain Supreme
And my man Hoon Roll'n
We're kicking the flow we're kickin' the flow
And it goes a little somethin' like this.

 On Tuesday we set out for a little vacation from Siem Reap to Kuala Lumpur (4 nights at the Seri Pacific Hotel, then head from KL (that's what all the cool kids call it) to Bangkok (3 nights at the Asoke Residence Sukumvit), then leave Bangkok for Yangon in Myanmar for 3 nights at the Clover City Hotel. We leave on the 22nd of July and return on the 2nd of August.

One of Phan's cousins who we met when we last visited in 2011 came over from Battambang and will be taking care of our house, but more importantly taking care of our life (Hooner) while we are away. What a great blessing, without him our  little adventure wouldn't be possible. He has been staying with us the last few days getting to know Hoon and running around all over town with us. Rity
 (pronounced Rit-E) is a cool dude.

 We have been going out quite a bit of late, mostly to dinner, but also to a couple of establishments, like the yellow submarine, a Beatles themed bar that is 4 or 5 levels ( 1 level is a pool table, the next is a ping pong table). We are slowly discovering some good food in our area which is called Wat Bo, because of our proximity to that pagoda. When you come visit us, do not worry one bit about the food, while there are crazy crickets,frogs,snakes etc. Your more likely to eat Hawaiian Pizza and Buffalo Wings.

Lets get caught up.......

Phan has found some really fun people to have brunch with. (Brunch is a term used by people that are hung over or are on vacation and really have very little need to wake up before 10am) From left to right Shavon (Ireland) Megan (Pronounced MEEgan from Melbourne Australia), Hannah(Ireland), Phan (Cambodia, by way of Thailand and the US), Hooner (Mexico), Yvonne (Ireland again)

Sadly, by the time you read this all of these wonderful ladies will have left Siem Reap and returned home to work, continue their education, finish up med school or whatever the heck else they are doing. I don't know Shavon and Hannah too well, but they did come out to trivia to support an NGO the other night that one of our other friends works at and answered 1 question right. Who was the 7th President of Ireland?

Mary Robinson

Anyway, Phan has had a great time hanging out, going swimming, eating, shopping with these ladies and I am sure they will be missed. One of the realities here is that you get to meet amazing people from every corner of the planet, but they usually only stay for a few weeks or so. That'll take some getting used to. All of these girls are friends or family of folks that I work with, so we should be able to keep in touch and hopefully go visit some time.

This picture was taken a few nights ago on a little goodbye outing before everyone hit the road for their "Holiday" (if you say it with an English accent, its more meaningful that way)
Left to Right Collin (Colorado, U.S., he'll be missed when the new school year begins, standing up is Daphne, (The Dream of The Nineties), then Lindsay (Australia), Troy our neighbor from Richmond Virginia, Paul and Tina from Belgium and of course beautiful Phan enjoying a refreshing ginger ale in typical Phan fashion. I love her so much.

We took this one on a rooftop establishment called X-Bar, all of these young hipsters are sitting atop a full size half pipe singing CCR, heard it through the grapevine. We stayed up late enough to call my beloved sister back home and wish her a happy birthday, while she had to wait a bit longer, Phan and I were able to celebrate her thanks to the international date line.

L to R CJ (Colorado, went to Columbine high, he was a little guy when it happened, but still remembers, St, Collin, and Brandon (Alabama native that was in the Peace Corps here in Cambodia)
Enjoying 15 rounds of Bingo to support some other NGO that Daphne works for. There were a lot of us. We walked away with an apron, $5 gift certificate to get our nails done, $30 massage gift certificate. They use bottle caps for Bingo markers, so naturally that became more appealing then the actual game itself. It was bedlam, it was awesome, it was painful.

 After a month of work and fun, we finally made it back to Angkor Wat. Most of our group hadn't been so we did a highlight tour of some of the more popular temples. We have plenty more to explore there and it was a great time. We took 1 tuk tuk and 2 motos. I got to drive a moto out there, it was pretty fun, by the end of the day though, I was pretty saddle sore. Convinced Phan to ride with me between temples, so that was fun. Not pictured are Phans MC Hammer pants that she had to buy, because her shorts were too short to enter the top of Angkor Wat.

    STAN

So the boys from work have found it too laborious to keep repeating the words Steve and Phan when asking if we are going to dinner or if we'll be hanging out or if we want to go to the market, so they have come up with the clever mash-up of STAN. Instead of having to utter three syllables they have cut it down to just one.

Hooner-
the other night we were meeting some friends for pizza, buy 1 get the 2nd one for $1. So our friends had a visitor in town and I walked up and they introduced me. I had Hoon in his back pack and they said and this is Hooner, their friend extends his hand to Phan and in all seriousness says' Hello Hooner, its nice to meet you.'Haha

Got a bank account
I guess they have some infrastructure problems in Cambodia, so their internet security isn't as robust as one might like, they gave me a small device that generates a code every 3 minutes or something that I need in order to access my info online. Pretty Snazzy!

Drove a moped-sorry Brad

 

Favorite Picture from my runs, er jogs this week

Went rock WALL climbing. That was hard stuff. Apparently, you don't just climb the stupid wall, there are certain paths you can take where your only allowed to use certain grips, this ups the degree of difficulty quite a bit. 

While I was waiting my turn this seemingly nice kitty noticed Hooner and straight up attacked him, I pull Hoon out of the way and the little psycho kitty knicks him with his claw, Hoons screaming bloddy murder, I pick him up and that damn cat climbs up my leg and buries his claws into my arm trying to get at Hoon. I kinda throw him off with my shoulder and he starts coming at me again. 

 It was at this point that I had a decision to make, continue my strategy of solid defense or go on the offensive against this crazy feline assassin. I hated to do it, but as little kitty came at me again, I had to boot him, he flew a good 10 or 15 feet. Hoon was freaking out, I was bleeding, but that cat didn't want any part of us after that. Punk!

Hoon,clearly shaken at rock climbing

Wow, Summer School flew by. We have been on a whirl wind adventure with plenty of places to go and too many adult beverages to consume. Things so far at work are fantastic. I am in a really good place and things couldn't be better. We have the next three weeks off, so it'll be nice to talk to my teaching buddies back home as they prepare to return to work this week at ye olde SUHSD. Shout out to Pablo for starting his gig at THE DRO. He's a Coug, nbd.
BTW, Dave got a slingbox for us, so now we can watch good ol cox cable, from the comfort of our third world country. Its pretty cool being able to see local news and the Pads, first game I watched they gave up 3 runs in the 1st, which is a death sentence. Its really funny though because their phone settings have caller ID appear on the TV screen so I am able to see who is calling them too. I can't wait for Dave to DVR something other than Master Chef, but I'll take what I can get. I watched sportscenter and nfl network the other night for hours, thanks Dave!

Whomp, There It Is

Tune in next time for Pictures from our adventures and hopefully some funny stories of life on the road.

The Goings on in Siem Reap

Hello again, the more serious stuff first. One of the more interesting possibilities that I had  hoped for during our time away was that my mind would go places and confront things that otherwise would have never been possible.  One of the 5 TV stations that is in English is the BBC. The video above details the exodus of undocumented Cambodian workers that are now leaving Thailand for fear of prosecution from the new military led Thai government. The interesting part of this is not that there is instability in the region, but that it is not just something on the news in a far away place. On a recent car trip around the city we have seen several dozen trucks like this,

Cambodian migrant workers returning from Thailand

this is something that is sure to have an impact on every province in Cambodia as the already abysmal job market is flooded with more and more people.
In our city there seems to have been an uptick in burglaries and petty thefts, some attribute it to the arrival of these workers, while others have pointed to gambling losses on World Cup matches as the reason.

We have been very fortunate thus far to quickly assimilate into a group of positive, welcoming people. Although we come from different places, it has been really neat to get to know folks from other parts of the world and to learn what brought them to Cambodia,  a co worker who says things like gooday mate! but moonlights as a jazz crooner at one of the local hotels, think Crocodile Dundee meets Dean Martin, it is a trip how talented he is or a former Peace Corp volunteer in Cambodia from Alabama. We are looking forward to meeting new people and becoming involved in the Siem Reap community during our time here.

Sincerely, Phan and I couldn't have asked for a better settling in experience. Please don't think that there are not challenges, I have become adept at extermination, it is almost expected that when we leave there will be a Cambodian creature that quickly finds their way into our house. It is really quite hot here, so any sort of outdoor activity is quickly accompanied by massive amounts of sweat, Fun fact, didn't know my knee cap could sweat, pretty weird.

Last Nights House Guest

 So far things are shaping up to be very interesting. We are arranging for trips outside of Cambodia in the next few weeks after summer school wraps up. Thailand, Malaysia, and China if everything works out. Cousins from Battambang are going to come to stay at our house and hang out with Hoon master flash in our absence.
Phan gets offered a job every time we go out together, it is a good thing, but I think for the time being she'd rather not jump into a permanent situation.
Best part of my day is getting back from work, walking in the cool house, (Phan turns on the A/C for me before I get home, so awesome) I get a kiss from her and several kisses from Hooner and we get to hang out or go out and enjoy each others company.
Since I'm at work during prime North American hours I will probably be a skypeaholic on weekends. I really like hearing everyone's voices and seeing your faces,  it makes me feel better.

Latest Photos and Funny Comments

Flowers in the park on a recent jog

Recent Meal, 13 types of meat, including Ostrich and Alligator

Phan Convinced me to get a scoop of Durian ice cream, I thought maybe it'd be Vanilla with little pieces of Durian, I can take it. BAAAAAAARRRRRRFFFFFFF.

So gross, took one bite and handed it to Phan. Couldn't even walk behind her in the store, stanky!

 Pierre and Hoo'ner, our landlords son, they live next door, he speaks Khmer, English and French and loves him some Hoo'ner

Bag of Snails, not too shabby

Sunrise, on a jog, the streets are quiet and it isn't too hot

 

The river, not exactly begging for a swim

Ah, thats how you do it.

Going to the New Leaf Cafe on Monday night to watch a film , A River Changes Course, it was produced by a Cambodian Ameican who we know because I borrowed some of her research for my big Cambodia paper, turns out she is really talented. The film won at Sundance.

Here's the trailer

Thats all for now, with all our love, Phan, Steve and Hoon

Special thanks to my Ghostwriter for this blog post

Riders On The Storm

Pregame
We had a very successful journey from the U.S. to Cambodia. We were chauffeured to the airport, said our goodbyes and we were off. Here are some highlights and low lights from the adventure
First bit of business was to get Hooner cleared to fly, Phan dominated with all of the required documentation and we were through check-in/security in no time.
(Note: We had to keep Hooner and crate under 11lbs in order for him to ride in cabin with us, we put him on a diet, took him on walks all in the name of shredding a few unsightly ounces, and guess what, they didn't even weigh him. haha)

 Phan owns this lady

 Hooner has no idea he's going to be on an airplane for 20 hours

Our Yumbo Yet

Took me an hour to find it, but Hoon took advantage, one last leak on American artificial turf at the Pet Relief area at LAX. (more on this later)








Gametime
Our route took us from Los Angeles to Siem Reap via Korea. First leg was 13 hours, watched Nebraska ( black and white crap), ate weird asian food airplane edition, sleep, sneak hooner out, him and phan sleep, (the guy in our row was cool so no worry about being rat terriered out if you know what I mean) watched Anchor Man 2 ( funny crap), sleep, western choice for food, but with Korean beer, sleep, watched 3 days to kill (plain ol crap), sleep, slip into a weird time warp begin to explore the games section, street fighter 2, ms pacman, blackjack, texas hold em, and finally Tetris, we played until out eyes hurt. I made it to level 11, Phan could only muster 9.

Phan playing some Tetris

 

 

We make it to Korea, have an hour layover, try to get Hoon to "go" but he's too excited to be out of a crate to answer the call of nature.

We change planes and things got fuzzy

The next one is this cool time lapse I was able to do, do not attempt to adjust your screen. I was able to pull apart a picture of Phan frame by frame. Stop me if you've seen this one before.

Phan drinks

Phan sleeps 

 ....

Steve sleeps,

Hoon sleeps

We make it to Siem Reap Airport, looks and feels like Big Island, but a lot less Hawaiian.

 

 Phan says awesome things in her mother tongue and we breeze past the throngs of Koreans and Backpackers and clear customs, they didn't even say a thing about us bringing in a dog, $5 slipped into a passport sure goes a long way.

Back at the hotel now and hoon and I are out in front, he hasn't gone in almost a day, I'm talking him into his 1st pee in Asia as the now quiet street (1 in the am) allows for music to drift from pub street,

Into this house we're born, 

into this world we're thrown,

riders on the storm.

Welcome to Cambodia

 

 

Purpose

Purpose

We are figuring out what exactly this blog will be. Instead of a super polished hyper linked mecca,this will be a place to record our thoughts and feelings, a place to keep in touch without voices, a small sample of our experience, remarkable or otherwise, a place to connect with home, an occasional platform for viewpoints, hopefully insightful and inspirational.