tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-291024252024-03-05T21:44:12.406+11:00Haiko on the road......... ... .. . . .----o(O)o---- SEAsia travel stories ----o(O)o----Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-82569342384742216842013-06-14T17:36:00.001+10:002013-06-14T17:38:12.895+10:00light weight travel computer - lightest so far <!--[if !mso]>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Haiko: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I figured out the most
light weight travel computer laptop system: Samsung Tab2, with Bluetooth
keyboard, handles files, internet, messengers, everything... <br />
good bye to the 3kg laptop/ adaptor system...</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mr T2F:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I may have to invest in one then</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Haiko:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this keyboard here is actually an Apple
keyboard, notice the 4th key from bottom left</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mr T2F:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes I noticed that</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mr T2F:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have the same keyboard</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Haiko:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>any decent Tablet or phone can do this, as
long as they have Bluetooth -- the cheaper phones like Samsung DUOS don't
allow keyboard entry, but if your tablet or phone can edit text files such as
*.doc then my guess is 99% chance you can use Bluetooth keyboard to do text
entry to emails, sms, chat etc...</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mr T2F:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see now, thats why you have been writing
long paragraphs, ur enjoying ur new toy and putting it to full use</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Haiko:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>yes</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Haiko:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like a full keyboard, to do real replies</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mr T2F:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very good man, you can use now display your
writing skills now</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Haiko: if you access Google Drive or Dropbox or some cloud storage then
even more 'with it' . </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-67195958789951332672012-09-18T14:17:00.002+10:002012-09-18T19:53:59.930+10:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PhAeRVC186A/UFf1rKPVNsI/AAAAAAAALn4/Tr2ccbGAfco/s1600/IMG_0882.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PhAeRVC186A/UFf1rKPVNsI/AAAAAAAALn4/Tr2ccbGAfco/s1600/IMG_0882.JPG" /></a><span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"how much ?" I asked <br />the lady pointed to the number 13 and said <b>"Sapp Saam" </b><br />sh*t! <br /><br />I was in Hong Kong and she said "<b>Sapp Saam</b>" <br />In Thai the number 13 would be called: "<i><b>Sipp Saam</b></i>" <br /><br />Since then I noticed a lot more similarities between Thai and Cantonese <br />it seems that Cantonese is the 'Latin' of SE Asia and China.</span> </span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-5139339358485649362012-07-13T19:49:00.000+10:002012-07-14T22:28:50.681+10:00beyond language<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0K-Ope8m5eY/UAFhXvQ3MMI/AAAAAAAAH9k/1oOOLlkDyJM/s1600/IMG_8733.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0K-Ope8m5eY/UAFhXvQ3MMI/AAAAAAAAH9k/1oOOLlkDyJM/s640/IMG_8733.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reflections</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">10July 2012 Tuesday, Dawei, </span><span style="color: red; font-size: 18pt;">1756hours.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"She looks nice. Would
be just ready to marry..." </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I'm coming up the steps to
gawk at a huge long, lying Buddha. He's covered under a corrugated iron hangar
type of cover, the kind used for Jumbo Jets. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">A group of Myanmar young ladies stroll past. The in the dark red
dress, looks at me and I look at her. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">She's pretty, and has that
'I'm entering the world' look about her. She's ready to make some moves. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The thought, while strange
does not surprise me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">'Observe, do not reject any
thoughts or feelings, just take note -
that was what I got out of my Buddhist meditation marathon, the 10 day, no
talking, no smiling, no communicating,
just meditate your a**** off meditation marathon last year. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I really like the idea. It
tells me, don't hold onto nice thoughts
of feelings or push the unpleasant ones away or even deny them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I've since read exactly the
same idea in many other teachings. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">So coming up those stairs
didn't really surprise me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"Oh, they like you, they
are talking about marry," Aung Naing Winn (ANW) tells me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"Huhh??"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I look over to them, yep,
they ARE talking about me, their reactions and
vibes give them away. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"You mean one look and
they decide ? I thought only I was that impulsive ?"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">ANW shrugs. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Wandering around the
pagoda, I realize, there was more to it. My own thoughts coming up the
stairs had been on a totally different track. Then the cool calm idea of
marriage when I looked at the face of the girl in the red dress. I must have
picked up on their thoughts. There
wasn't the emotional heat that comes my own thoughts, this was something I'd
picked up from outside, like a radio receiver tuning in on their frequency. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Strange, but I'm getting used to such things now. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Interesting that my immediate
reaction was to run, figuratively and literally from the idea of marriage. I physically
kept away from them. I had to laugh at
myself when I realized, gosh is it really THAT terrible that even instinctively
when it is definitely not serious you run ? wow. Serious issues there old chap,
time to look at them ?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Later when I thought about it
I realized I would have been much better to just go and chat with them. Smile
talk and let it go. But something deep inside never saw the casual side of it
all. Serious issues like I said. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">We had come in by motorbike
and as we drove out the same girl still sat by the entrance. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">She seemed lost in some
daydream, some trance almost and I realized she might be one of the 'dream
touched' or in some way 'different'. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I felt sorry for he and
thought how hard life must be to be outside the world and not accepted by other
humans. To be laughed at and made fun of, or just ignored and to walk alone all
your life.. hm... </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">So on the way out, I really
looked at her on the few split seconds our motorbike took to pass her. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">ANW is the guide this
afternoon, I'm following his plan. We get off at the next pagoda. The sounds a
monk chanting on a speaker system is as much part of the scene as the
dogs lounging about and people calmly slowly wandering about. The gleaming
golden, HUGE Pagoda complex is the flower of the village. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The life of Gautama
Buddha.... in pictures on the long walkway.... </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">All very very familiar. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">As we turn a corner a few
young guys hang out. One of them dances about, shadow boxing and seems full of
life and energy. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">In a Western country I'd be
worried. Young guys, shadow boxing, hanging out, nothing to do.... uhhh uhh....
sounds like trouble.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Not here. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Take a picture of me the
shadow boxer asks with a broad smile. He's full of life and fun. He proudly
stretches out his arms and shows off his tattoos. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VgVhl2XTJ5M/UAFWmDs42mI/AAAAAAAAH9M/tTHOhyr-8hE/s1600/IMG_8723.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VgVhl2XTJ5M/UAFWmDs42mI/AAAAAAAAH9M/tTHOhyr-8hE/s640/IMG_8723.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tattooed guy, asked to have his pic taken!<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Well actually I wanted a
picture anyway so this is great </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">He is very interested in
seeing more pictures on my camera. I
show him Yangon/Rangoon, which he's never visited yet </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P4rS2k3fy94/UAFaetm2YOI/AAAAAAAAH9Y/AOw8B-uhmrk/s1600/IMG_8724.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P4rS2k3fy94/UAFaetm2YOI/AAAAAAAAH9Y/AOw8B-uhmrk/s400/IMG_8724.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The world still has a sense
of wholeness in this place. It has something indefinable that I and my fellow
termite hill dwellers the world over have long lost. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">He's not afraid to show his
curiosity and that fact that I only know one word of Burmese "Mengalaba"
and he can only say "hello" is no problem at all. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">ANW is helping with some
relevant phrases but most of what we want to say to each other is pretty
obvious to figure out. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Look at pictures. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Where are you from.... I've
no idea what the Burmese words are but by now, I can somehow tell when I'm
asked that question. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Ok, we say goodbye and move
on. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Somehow I feel energized and
it has been a fun, happy meeting. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">ANW and I complete the circle
together to the front of the pagoda. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">It's not the pagoda I'm
really interested in, it's the people. The pagoda presents the people, in a
different way, from say a restaurant of a hotel does. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">And actually it's people and
it's more than that: It's the energy and feelings of a place. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">And this place, outside a
small country town, in a province where only business and officials go, and
which is off the tourist map, and is sleepy and forgotten, life has something
else.... that I miss. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I know I can't bottle and can
it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I can only get into it and
enjoy it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Oh! At the front of the
pagoda sits our tattooed shadow boxer and he's talking very animatedly to a
woman who can't speak properly. She has smiley eyes and uses her hands a lot. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">They seem to be able to
converser pretty well, even though she only makes a few funny sounds. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">We sit down next to them and
suddenly I realize: this is the girl I saw sitting by the entrance of the last
pagoda. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I point to her top, she is
now wearing a brown top and outside the pagoda she wore all purple. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"Oh I changed it." </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"And you are the one
from the pagoda, the lying Buddha pagoda ?"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"Yes."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">And all this simply with
gestures and non-verbal sounds. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I can't remember what we
talked about in detail, but the four of us had a fun time chatting. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"I think I understand
her better than someone who can speak," I tell the others. The words don't
get in the way. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">She's faster and quicker at
'getting things' than other people in Myanmar. She knows how to look for the
cues and clues and how to communicate non verbally. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">She's also not shy in coming
forward. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"Take a picture, with
you and me," she points to me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Ok. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">She wants it in the main room
in front of the main Buddha image. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Whatever.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Off we go. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Then the same photo with ANW.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoCaption">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">1</span> Aung Naing Winn (ANW) and Ma Sandoe Moe San<span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">She writes her name, 'Ma
Sandoe Moe San' , and we all exchange names and emails. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Sandoe Moe San explains she
helps in the meditation retreat, 10 day and it's now in day 7. We had visited
the hall and met the monk leading it just before. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I feel no trace of self-pity.
He 'handicap' is totally in the
open she is has found ways around it
that really work. In fact she if fun to talk to and has a remarkable sense of
humour. ANW is impressed with her jokes and funny comments. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Well, in that case, I have
the guts to directly talk about the fact that she can't speak. Something that
one does not do in 'polite society' and that could break all sort of unwritten
social taboos and sensitivities. But thank god I'm not in polite society. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"You use images and you
express yourself with direct feelings, because you can't talk", I gesture,
and deliberately use images in my mind and feelings to convey what I'm saying,
the way I imagine she would be using. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Sandoe Moe San gets it, she
understands and nods. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Obviously if she uses images
from her mind and direct feeling energy from her guts to communicate this would
make sense. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">She has found a way to go
beyond language. Not a totally new way, I think we all use some of the image
and feeling energy but we rely mostly on words. She can't, she can only use
images from her mind animated with the feelings she imparts them with. And by
what I've seen, it's remarkably efficient. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">ANW is still better than me in deciphering her
words because can breathe fragments of Burmese words at times </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">She invites us to go to her
house. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"She says to come at
9pm," ANW tells me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"We can't do that, we
rent the motorbike until 5pm."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"Go now ?" I ask. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">A bit more talking and we are
left with the problem that while three people can fit on one motorbike, if one
of those three people is a woman in a langyi/Hteimen, then this won't work.
She's clear that she won't go on the bike with all three of us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">What to do ? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">It turns into a long and
difficult problem. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">She offers to walk and we
ride. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">No. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">We try to ring her brothers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Can't get through... </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Then suddenly I get the
answer, duuuuuuuuuuhhh so simple. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"Aung Naing Winn, you
driver her home first, then come back and get me." </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Duhhhh. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Done. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">At her house she shows us
around, a simple, clean house and Sandoe Moe San tells us who sleeps where,
which is the kind of detail that goes through my mind like water through a
sieve. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I've been getting some images
of 'marriage' while at the pagoda and after the experience at the previous
pagoda decided to let things lie and see what they told me. Well it was as I thought, stuff received on
the 'radio' again. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
</div>
<div class="MsoCaption">
2
At Sandoe Moe San's fmaily house</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoCaption">
3
the three of us, in a large mirror</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Ah, as we sit and talk it
becomes clear.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">She wants to know if ANW is
single etc... </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I bow out at this point with
a vague mumble that can be interpreted in a myriad ways. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">One those myriads must have
worked because they get me off the hook. Attention stays more on ANW. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">She is not hitting on him but
it is clear that she is looking for someone to share life with. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Again, I'm impressed by her openness.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">There is a charming
directness. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">She shows us pictures of
herself, with an engineer from one of the costal oil rigs. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">And a certificate, that ANW
tells certifies that she was a policewoman - for a while. She tells us that she couldn't do
it for long because of her speaking problem. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">After half an hour we are off
and head back to the hotel to return the rented motorbike. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">To give you an idea of just
how non-touristy the area is: Renting the motorbike was as simple as asking the
hotel to find a taxi driver willing to rend it to us. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">No papers to sign, no
contracts. Not even advance payment. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"No pay when you get
back", I'm told, "here is the key". </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I'm the only non Asian
tourist in town. Everyone knows where I stay. The only way out of town is by
plane, overland is not allowed, and impossible with a face like mine. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">At the airport I always have
to show my passport to guys in uniform wearing guns. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">If anything goes wrong with
the bike, it is understand on all sides that the tourist pays. I'm clear on
that too. So all we have to do it take the key and hop on, and ride off. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">That simple. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">All the rest is common sense.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-70591049987581504552012-07-13T02:15:00.000+10:002012-07-13T02:50:26.813+10:00man, bus, rain, - first aid<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Man,
bus, rain. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Strings
of water, poured down over the city and traffic plunged around in the wet lakes
on the road. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I was
comfortably settled in the Traders Hotel,
because it has the fastest and most stable wifi internet access I've
been able to find in town. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Unlike
the usual short shower, this one lasted over an hour and half, and eventually
settled to a comfortable drizzle. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Trying
to go home, Taxis were hard to get. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Walk.
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">That's
ok, exercise is good for you, payment for all that time sitting still,
eating chocolate cake. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
make my way along BoyokeAung San street, past the Railway station ticket area,
past the cinemas, and under the bridge with the huge LED screen showing advertisements.
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(It's
all a bit like Blade Runner, the rain the darkness the advertising sign, people
milling about, the rich the poor the glitzy cars.). </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Just
before the Asia Plaza Hotel, is a bus stop. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A bus
pulls up its engine roaring, the driver isn't in the mood to stop for long. In
fact it he doesn't even pull off the road, he just stops and people push in.
The rain gives them an extra urgency. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">For
some time I've noticed the crazy aggressive way busses in Rangoon/Yangon drive.
Greg, explained it's like that because the crew rents the bus, for a flat fee.
The more passengers they transport and the faster they go, the more money they
make for themselves. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Then
another buspulls up, engine running fast, growling and shooting out exhaust way
more than is necessary.This one undercuts the first, it screeches to a halt and
takes the space between the sidewalk and the bus in the middle of the road. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Clever
but risky. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I get
a bad feeling about this. There is lots of rain, it's dark, people darting in
and out of traffic and the roads are slippery. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">'These
guys are pushing their luck, something's got to happen to get them back to
earth. These thoughts go through my mind. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
feel bad because I realize, that if not now, sometime, somewhere enough people
have to get hit and injured to drive the message home. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
wish it wasn't like that.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This
situation simply can't go on like this and NOT hurt people. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
remember a time 11pm at night, when I caught a bus back from north of the
Rangoon/Yangon airport. I was the only passenger. The driver and the conductor
drove the bus like a racing car, overtaking every other car and truck. Then
behind me another bus pulls closer. They are racing all the way to downtown
Yangon. I get scary images of the bus rolling down the road on its side. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But
it didn't. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">They
kept overtaking each other. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I have to grip the supports with both hands to avoid being tossed around the inside of the bus. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
thought about getting off and catching a cab. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But I
didn't. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
bus that's squeezed in loads its passengers faster than the first one and it
pulls up ahead of the first one. Oh, I get it, they are racing (again). </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I can
almost hear the driver snicker and laugh as he pulls out and passes his rival. The engine is howling in pain.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
other bus can't let this go unchallenged: Smoke pours out of his exhaust and the crunching of gears and whining of the engine as he gives chase. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Suddenly
the leading bus stops. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Very fast. It crunches to a halt. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">That's
weird I think why would he stop in the middle of the road ? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
pursuing bus has to brake really hard not to run into it. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I'm
impressed, those breaks really work. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As I
get closer I see a middle aged, 40 ish well built man lying on the road. I think
the bus went over him. There is no external blood but he is totally out of it. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Like a doll. Leg at funny angle. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Everyone
stands around in shock, keeping a meter of distance from him. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
hold his hands and feel for a pulse. Can't feel anything much, but I'm calling
on the higher guides and all spirits/gods/Buddhas out there to help. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He
gives some mumbled grunts, makes a few movements, but does not regain
consciousness. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Internal
injuries could be horrific. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I don't want to think about it. OMG. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Who
knows what's going on inside him. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
crowd moves in now, and I'm part of the crowd and a few guys decide to move
him. Out of the way of the road. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Others
collect his wallet, bag, stuff money from his top pocket back into his chest
pocket, which is ripped. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">At
this point I drop his hands and let them take over. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Only
later do I realize it would have been good to put him on his side, check the
tongue and all the physical first aid
stuff that I thought I knew. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Head
knowledge versus real knowledge. Hm... </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Not
knowing what to do and losing my own head a bit I call two Burmese friends who
live in town, but there is not much they
can do. There are lots of local Burmese helping
already and soon a pickup truck arrives and takes him away. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
last I see of him, he is being cradled
by one of the younger men, as the car takes off quickly. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Should
I have gone with them ? </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">To do
what ? </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Do
energy stuff ? I can do that from the hotel room. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">No,
that's fine. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Though
the CPR of first aid would have been useful.... hm... </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
realize how little I'm prepared for this kind of emergency, and that I need to
brush up my first aid training. Once I'm
working for RMIT again, I'll ask for first aid training again. The lady that
taught me last time was a dedicated soul who told story after story of applying
her first aid knowledge. Hm.... </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Actually
as I write this a few hours later in my room, I feel the man has already
crossed over - he's on the other side. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He
said thank you. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Hm....
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">-------------</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Road
safety stuff would help, but the system of charging a flat fee for the bus
encourages the crew to drive as fast as they can, cramming in as many people as
they can. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">On
top of that, the bus drivers have a kind
of mucho bravado about racing each other. It's a deadly combination where
muchismo aggression and profit motive all combine and meet in one point: drive
as fast as you can with as many people as you can and beat the others guys. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Even
if it rains. Your are big and powerful. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Roar
the engine, scare the pedestrians out of the way Yeeeehhhhhhhhhharrrr ...... </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Kings
of the roads we is..... </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">----------</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Outside
the hotel I stay in , a particular bus line's busses scream down the road with
the engine howling and the bus swaying up and down side and back like a mad
horse. It's always loaded with people. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
slightest error or unforeseen carelessness .... </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
don't want to think about it.... </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And I
managed not to, -- until tonight. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I really understand
the links between how a financial system shapes what happens on the ground, and
how it happens.... </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The rules made on
paper, translate into a different reality on the ground. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Some saves
lives, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">others cost
lives... </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">12July2012,
Rangoon/Yangon, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Heiko
Rudolph, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Motherland
inn2 Guest house. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #6600cc; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Myanmar/Burma</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-59209935424035426182012-07-09T00:30:00.001+10:002012-07-13T18:48:10.994+10:00cycles of the soul -Tenasserim calling ...<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">today: the last afternoon in
Dawei .... I wander the streets, it's a lot less cloudy and no rain for a long
time, clear sky. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Powering along on foot, suddenly
I get the inspiration, '...you know, you really ought to look at the beach.....
12km away" </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">for the first time in 7 day I
really FEEL like getting out and walking and seeing it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKyqeWu1AWGZ7nxzOt85YJk7FcQIOWJAufGfE6IvwTZolGhnr5AlQxiTh_hq8v3AZvOOX7qMqdU63_Q3e2lb6__Mcij34_EJnnU6Bot2t0fR0CJhNxKuho0Nq6UBeXeb6-7GaU/s1600/IMG_8508.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKyqeWu1AWGZ7nxzOt85YJk7FcQIOWJAufGfE6IvwTZolGhnr5AlQxiTh_hq8v3AZvOOX7qMqdU63_Q3e2lb6__Mcij34_EJnnU6Bot2t0fR0CJhNxKuho0Nq6UBeXeb6-7GaU/s640/IMG_8508.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First view of the Andaman sea </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">When I first arrived in Dawei
I just wanted to crash in the Hotel, it has an inviting upstairs lobby, with
wifi and space and a quiet. lovely atmosphere. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I was somehow tired out and just
ate, walked, typed and went to sleep early . </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I think lots internal stuff
was processing.... whatever. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I was too tired. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">After a week of this I had
recovered - something happed deep in the bowls of the subconscious, - I could
tell I was back to normal because I felt like staying up late. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I feel like I've spent the
last 7 days in a womb, in cave, enjoyable, but now I gotta get outta there.!!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The last thing I read, in my
cave in the afternoon was .... how the deeper parts ourselves, our sould,
subconscious, has it's own rythems, and how it always moves and pulses just
like physically we breathe. -- it has it's own cycles and rhythems. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Ok so having wandered quite
some distance on foot, how the h*** do I get to the bitch, oooppps I mean"
BEEECH ", pardon my bad pronunciation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I stand around by the side of
the road and look like I want a ride, and voila, someone stops and offers me a
ride.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> He looks like he's just going home from work,
and doing some freelance taxi driving when he sees the chance. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The guy has guts, we speak
zero of each other's language, but that does not matter, gestures while talking
your own lingo works fine. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">He's worried though, he stops
and gets more petrol, --- good idea. It's going to be faaaaaaaaaaar</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">But he's still worried,
because he's not yet figured out where exactly this foreigners wants to go. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3MzsDFuXJOw/T_maVPay2yI/AAAAAAAAHqs/duXiswotoz4/s1600/IMG_8545.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3MzsDFuXJOw/T_maVPay2yI/AAAAAAAAHqs/duXiswotoz4/s640/IMG_8545.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the way out of Dawei</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I mean, where would any
foreigner want to go if he points in the direction of the beeeeeech ? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The beeeeeeeech of
course !!!- surprisingly enough. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">But he had guts, he never
drove a foreigner before I think, he's totally fazed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">We stop at another shop and
he asks the guys there, "hey where dya reckon this crazy tourist wants ta go ? I got no bloody idea, can you figure out
what he's saying ?" </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">We waffle a bit and the word
"bitch" or " beeeech" pops up. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I Jump on the word, and nod
vigorously, YES ! YES! beeeech! that's right BEEEECH!!!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Who needs big vocabulary ? gestures and one of two key words and all
is fine. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Ok we all got it now, he no
longer looks worried and we go much faster, the purpose of the trip has been
established yeehar!!! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mIGA5aiwvyo/T_mdQk7cPvI/AAAAAAAAHrU/BhYYIqgZO2Q/s1600/IMG_8515.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mIGA5aiwvyo/T_mdQk7cPvI/AAAAAAAAHrU/BhYYIqgZO2Q/s640/IMG_8515.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drier and author (holding camera at arm's distance)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">He still points and asks me the directions. I've never
been here in my life, but I pretend I know what I'm doing since someone has to
make a decision. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">- STRAIGHT I point - Right I
point...etc...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">As we go over the little
mountain ride (a very modest ridge) there is the sea, The Andaman sea. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Wow. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">....and then something
"gets" me... images and feelings of far away places, nice memories of
beaches, no idea where they come from, with a very distinctive flavour and
taste swamp me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">OMG</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> I got to spend more time here! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I can't leave tomorrow.- I'm not MAKING a decision - I'm not making it, I'm simply recognizing
it as what I WILL do
- </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Gosh... I wonder why I didn't
come earlier ? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">...cycles of the soul.....
Ok, yea, that makes sense. It wasn't time. I really had no desire to get out
there, 7 days ago.... </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">But what really got me is
that this energy, flooded me the
instant I saw the sea, I knew, this was "it",
It was like meeting a human person, with a personality and all. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The trip to the beach was
simple, more directions from me guided by a rough sense where it ought to be. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">At the beach a young man
asked me where I'm from what I'm doing etc.... and for some reason I totally
don't mind. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">In fact I tell him with gusto
and we chat away. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Pretty soon I get this
sense... oopps ok the 'guys upstairs' have set this up, they've sent him to
you. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"Walk with me..." I
ask hiim. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">We head for the water. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">He comes from Mandalay, did a
Bachelor of Physics, (standard stuff in Myanmar) and is a photographer, oh yes,
he has a camera slung round his neck. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mkigQUuhhiQ/T_mblC9IkQI/AAAAAAAAHrE/okGeqsE3Pxg/s1600/IMG_8525.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mkigQUuhhiQ/T_mblC9IkQI/AAAAAAAAHrE/okGeqsE3Pxg/s320/IMG_8525.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photographer from Mandalay, </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">But he's not your average
country guy hopping round on his motorcycle doing wheelies, he seems like a
lost professor, an intellectual in search of his niche, wondering why the damanations he can't seem to fit in
anywhere (I can tell the signs, been there, done that, probably still doing
it... duhhh... ) </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"There are some hot
springs near here," </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"Oh really, how far
?"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"Five minutes" </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"And,...see this ?"
He points to the edge of the crescent shaped bay. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"yep"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"Its the Myo yit Pagoda", sitting on the edge of the sea, quite a
distance away, but I know by now when something has that 'must visit, this is
meant for you' smell about it. This does. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Just as well I've already
decided to do another day. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I get paper and pen and ask
him to write it all down, in Burmese. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I'll show it to the motorcycle
taxi driver tomorrow.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> "Oh and give me your email," I add. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Somehow I'm surprised at
myself, for taking charge and making decisions snap snap snap, - but I know I
have little and time and I'm like a dog let out of his (self imposed) kennel. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"Oh, and here is a book,
for your English," that Paulo Coelho book, I knew I had to give away.... </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">"bye"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Hot springs are next, on a
slimy muddy, "road" with lakes and pot holes the size of a car.... </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbIUiGCt3ufN_4uNMY2YqMcVRhFDyJq2KS8BKFFpz5_BgCkAfeR-cw5IA-vu6lATBC_jLeY0vajcBPCo9uMD886Mpjve8Fkbcs89k8WbiXkukXE6SG1Jzokyx2GGKbHxNbgF8b/s1600/IMG_8530.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbIUiGCt3ufN_4uNMY2YqMcVRhFDyJq2KS8BKFFpz5_BgCkAfeR-cw5IA-vu6lATBC_jLeY0vajcBPCo9uMD886Mpjve8Fkbcs89k8WbiXkukXE6SG1Jzokyx2GGKbHxNbgF8b/s400/IMG_8530.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Road to hot springs.... </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Yep the springs are there,
and "dey is damn HOT!" </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">All young guys hang around it, fully dressed, totally
wet, with plastic scoops to splash themselves. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Do I feel conspicuous ? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">What gives you that idea ? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Just because I'm the only non-Asian
tourist in the whole region with a bright backpack and a camera ? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Best thing to do is to shout
a loud "Mengalaba" - which Translates as the equivalent of :
"Gidday 'ow arre ya going mates?" or something like that. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">That breaks the ice.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYLye6lpQhjT556EDgYJmqGegIE2-G6SDu_1q0plj2H0Dys9IxdbtgEcVLwB_C1eiY2u2Ic0do_ayqzmyjFWLgEtOr19Mz6b7dNt4x8i9XeOzf-6M6-uokK1vJqRXdhbdT3Igs/s1600/IMG_8531.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYLye6lpQhjT556EDgYJmqGegIE2-G6SDu_1q0plj2H0Dys9IxdbtgEcVLwB_C1eiY2u2Ic0do_ayqzmyjFWLgEtOr19Mz6b7dNt4x8i9XeOzf-6M6-uokK1vJqRXdhbdT3Igs/s640/IMG_8531.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hot Springs MaungMakan beach (nearby)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">More chatting, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Where are you from ?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Australia ...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">the usual blah blah.... </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">then it's time to hop on the
bike and take off. This is really just a reconnaissance trip for tomorrow. I
need to go and change my airline ticket and the office might be shut and the
sun is almost set already. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Something else I've noticed
about this little visited area of Myanmar: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">There is a certain kind of
facial structure, a certain kind of racial mix I've never ever seen anywhere
else. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Not the usual Burmese face,
not even Thai looking, not round or any of the usual variants of faces I've
seen in SE Asia, no, this facial structure is totally uniquely different - It's a small subtle thing, but it is not
just the face, it is like a different kind of body build. And a different
attitude that goes with it. A different 'energy' or personality. Fascinating. Would like to find out more. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I met one man like that at the teashop, in the morning, - he
sat opposite me. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b3VoOxzwMek/T_maouT6ahI/AAAAAAAAHq0/B8NTQYeLN9o/s1600/IMG_8538.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b3VoOxzwMek/T_maouT6ahI/AAAAAAAAHq0/B8NTQYeLN9o/s320/IMG_8538.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">And now at the hot springs there
is a guy with the same kind of bone structure at the hot springs. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">He is the one who talks to me
the most. Both of them had something
that reminded me almost of the fierce dignity of the Masai Warriors, a different kind of strength, what little knowledge
I have of all of that. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The whole Tenasserim area is
off limits for land travel, only flying is allowed, No tourist go there much .</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Lonely Planet gives it one
page and says it's too hard to go there.
Well not if you fly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">But I hope it stays secluded,
though I doubt it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">A 50 Billion dollar pipeline
for gas/oil ??? is being built all the way from Kunming China, Dawei, to this
beeeech, and a new special deep sea port is going to change the face of the
coastline and the whole society for a long distance in both directions ... </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Hm... </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I'm reminded of the Tao To Ching....
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Those who look down upon this
world</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> will surely take hold and try to change
things</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">But this is a plan</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> I've always seen fail </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The world is Tao's own vessel</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">It is perfection manifest</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">It cannot be changed </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">It cannot be improved</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">For those who go on tampering,
it's ruined</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">For those who try to grasp, it's gone</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Allow your life to unfold
naturally</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Know that it too is a vessel of perfection</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Just as you breathe in and
breathe out </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> Sometimes you're ahead and other times
behind</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> Sometimes you're strong and other times weak</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> Sometimes you're with people and other times
alone</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">To the Sage</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> all of life is a movement toward perfection</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">So what need has he</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> for the excessive, the extravagant, or the
extreme ?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Tao Te Ching, verse 29 (Star
translation)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">-- </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> ---o(*O*)o----</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Dance me to the children, who
are asking to be born </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">*- Leonard Cohen. *</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-26234355511141288322012-07-06T14:33:00.001+10:002012-07-06T14:34:03.259+10:00kind heart story: human first<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dnD_2-ugbt4/T_ZqWJSBtuI/AAAAAAAAHUY/ayPpbK8pKqU/s1600/IMG_8317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dnD_2-ugbt4/T_ZqWJSBtuI/AAAAAAAAHUY/ayPpbK8pKqU/s640/IMG_8317.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
kind heart story: - going to the air <<NAME withheld to protect the nice people>> office to get a flight ticket from Dawei to Rangoon/Yangon, the girl at the desk tells me...<br />
"Oh, its quiete expensive..." <br />
Heiko thinks: "Yep I know, it IS pricey, -- but - I flew here, but I'm here so I have accepted the cost as part of the price of coming.... e... my dear" - but I said nothing just smiled. <br />
<br />
the manager just arrived, (I was early) .... he too told me, <br />
"Oh, it's very expensive....." <br />
heiko thinks: "well yes, I've kinda accepted that, else I could not come here at all, I'm a rich tourist, don't worry about it.... " <br />
but I say nothing, just nod.<br />
<br />
"Oh ", he tells me, there is an agent that can do it cheaper, do you want that ?"<br />
Of course. <br />
He sends out the office boy, in pouring pelting rain- the boy cames back with a ticket that is $7% cheaper. <br />
Nice. <br />
<br />
<br />
I like that real humanity in Myanmar, human first, corporate robot second.... lovely.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-58640651871431943472012-06-24T13:11:00.000+10:002012-06-24T13:11:04.246+10:00Myanmar, (Burma) take clean new banknotes<b style="color: #cc0000;">In Myanmar: </b><br />
<i>Take cash.</i><br /><i>Take US dollar bills. </i><br /><i>The dollar bills must be brand new. </i><br />This means brand NEW. The tiniest smallest mark and hotels and money changers will NOT accept it. <br />Why
? Because they will not be able to pass it on. They will be stuck with
it and and no other Burmese will accept it from them. <br />
<img border="0" src="https://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/_/rsrc/1282044872174/Travel-burma--myanmar/IMG_9755.JPG" /><br />The same applies to strong fold marks, creases or the tiniest of nicks and tears. <br />I've
seen Westerners argue and get upset with locals for not taking their
USD $100 just because it has an insignificant, tiny mark or crease or
tear. <br />Don't insist. If the Burmese person takes your money they will
have great trouble spending it, likely they have to spend it at a big
loss. <br />It would be like you taking $500 from someone and you know you will only get $300 for it when you spend it, (maybe less). <br />Westerners can always spend those dollar bills in other countries. <br />Burmese can't, they take a serious loss. <br />
<div>
</div>
<b style="color: #351c75;">So at the risk of boring you: The dollar bills must be BRAND <span style="color: red;">NEW</span>. </b><b style="color: #9900ff;"><br />Money Laundering - the real meaning. </b><br />The
20 dollar bill below was given to me in July 2010 as I left the
country. Notice the horizontal crease ? - that alone makes this bill
useless in Myanmar. Notice the vertical writing near his right eye ?
That by itself makes the bill useless in Myanmar. Together, those two
things make the bill totally worthless. I double checked by using this
note to pay my airport tax (US$10, cash only, pure new notes only) . As I
expected it took a second before this bill was rejected as <b>not acceptable. </b><br />I
accepted this bill because I was leaving Myanmar and could easily
exchange it in Malaysia. The Burmese would have great trouble spending
it, and it would be a problem for any other Burmese. <br />So if you want
to do a good deed, just before you leave the country, ask your Burmese
friends if they have any unacceptable dollar notes they want to get rid
of - and which you can still spend outside Myanmar. That's the literal
meaning of money laundering :-) <br /><div>
<div style="display: inline; float: right; margin: 5px 10px;">
<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/Travel-burma--myanmar/DSC02915.JPG?attredirects=0"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/_/rsrc/1282044872174/Travel-burma--myanmar/DSC02915.JPG?height=300&width=400" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 5px; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/Travel-burma--myanmar/IMG_9757.JPG?attredirects=0"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/_/rsrc/1282044872174/Travel-burma--myanmar/IMG_9757.JPG?height=240&width=320" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Oh,
and one more thing: Ironed dollar bills are also unacceptable.
Sometimes a dollar bill gets so worn and creased people will use a hot
iron to flatten it out. For a foreigner that's not a big deal. But
ironed notes are also 'not acceptable'. Ironed notes feel brittle, too
flat, and may be discoloured. Use your commonsense. <br /><b style="color: red;">But most of all: don't get too paranoid: remember even unacceptable dollars in Myanmar are fine outside the country.</b>
A dollar bill would have to be pretty badly mangled to get rejected
outside Mynanmar. When you get Myanmar notes you may get notes that are
old, patched, sticky taped, and dirty beyond belief, they only just hang
together. That's ok for Myanmar currency. You will be able to spend it.
<br /><br />Friends who visit Myanmar tell me of stories where foreigners are left
with no money to spend, because their money is not brand new or they
relied on ATM's. <br />Don't rely on ATM's. The situation is changing but not fast. <br />Cash is king in Myanmar. <br /><br />The
exception: if you stay in 5 star places and take limousines and pay
everything by credit card and don't mind paying commissions and taxes
and VAT's and biased hotel exchange rates. <br /><br /><table border="1" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-color: rgb(136,136,136); border-width: 1px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="height: 16px; width: 954px;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;"> My guess at why bank notes have to be so clean and perfect</span></b> - writing my own urban legend and myth. </td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td style="height: 301px; width: 954px;"><i>"Master, how did this ridiculous standard in super perfect bank notes start ?" </i><b><br />Ah,
you see grasshopper, The people who change the money for you are not
going to use that money. They 'sell' the bank notes on to a higher up
middle man, who in turn sells them on to the next bigger "poobah" in the
food chain and so on it goes. So the story might go something like
this: <u><br /></u></b>In the beginning old and crappy banknotes were accepted. <br />At some point a standard for how soiled a bank note can be was introduced. <br />After all: would you accept a note that is almost torn in half and so dirty you are not sure it's real ? <br />At some point <i>"normal human greed"</i> would have used this standard as an excuse to pay the lower down person less than the full rate. <br />"This note is very torn, instead of $100 I'll only give you the equivalent of $95 for it. <br />Make sure the next ones are clean and not torn." <br />And so on it would go, with an ever increasing standard of perfection spiraling ever higher. <br />Any imperfection in the bank note would be used by the higher up guys to pay less than the going rate. <i><br /></i>And thus, dear Grasshopper, was born the spiral of ever increasing perfection in banknotes. <br /><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">In
case anyone is going to jump on Myanmar as particularly corrupt because
of this: it's just my theory, based on general human nature. Secondly:
You can see similar examples in any culture, any country. Any
bureaucracy is usually more interested in its survival than the thing it
was set up to do. (safety bodies, etc... many degenerate into rubber
stamps and making money. Stamp duties were once upon a time service fees
for a real service, nowadays they are simple an excuse for another tax)
... there are many such examples if you look around. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Oh,
and once you have those brand new, pristine beautiful dollar notes,
don't fold them. Don't treat them as you treat bank notes at home. They
will get creased, sweaty and dirty and maybe a little bit nicked on the
edges. Keep them flat, safe, dry, close to your body in a <a href="http://heikorudolph.blogspot.com/2009/05/travel-tips-for-single-travelers.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">money belt that is inside your clothes and invisible from the outside</a>. <br />Foreigners
who folded their new bank notes found themselves with lots of money
they could not spend. Can be frustrating. Can lead to painful scenes.
Keep them clean, don't fold 'em. <br /><br /><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: x-small;"><b>"Change money?</b></span><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: x-small;">"</span><br />Those nice USD bills won't do much until you exchange them. <br />Myanmar is a safe country for tourists. The police look out for tourists. People are honest. <br />In no other country did I leave all my luggage in the rickshaw/taxi while I went into a hotel to check the rooms. <br />In Myanmar I didn't hesitate, it felt totally ok to do that. <br />
<div>
<div style="display: inline; float: right; margin: 5px 10px;">
<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/Travel-burma--myanmar/DSC03241.JPG?attredirects=0"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/_/rsrc/1282044872174/Travel-burma--myanmar/DSC03241.JPG?height=400&width=300" width="300" /></a></div>
</div>
<b style="color: #351c75;">
<div>
<br />Change money INSIDE the Bogyoke Aung San market </div>
</b><div style="margin-left: 40px;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogyoke_Market" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogyoke_Market</a></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;">Not outside, the market. You will get lots of offers outside. </span><br style="color: #351c75;" /><span style="color: #351c75;">Inside the Bogyoke market it's much safer, the rate is not as fantastic but you will get a fair deal. </span><br style="color: #351c75;" /><span style="color: #351c75;">If
you go out of Yangon for long, do all your money changing in Yangon,
better rates. Don't whinge if you get worse rates in Bagan or out of the
way place. Plan ahead, this is not a western country with ATM's at
every corner, (That's why I like going there <b>:-P</b> ). </span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;">Mandalay is generally ok for exchange rates. </span><br style="color: #351c75;" /><br />When it comes to changing money though, in Yangon around the Sule Pagoda then be careful. <br />The guys there specialize in slight of hand trickery. They are the expert magicians. <br />They
will offer you a great rate to get you interested, then ask you to up
some stairs or some place quiet and out of the way with them. <br />Don't go.
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">
If you decide to exchange money with them: <br />Don't give them any of your money until you have the Myanmar money. Count EVERY single note you get. <br />Double
check every USD bill YOU give THEM, or they will turn around and claim
the US$100 you gave them was mistakenly a USD$10 or $1. </div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">
Their hands will never leave the table as they show you the $10 bill you just gave them. <br />This is the main place to be careful of when changing money. </div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">
Read the warning notes frequently left by other travellers in guest houses. <br />In fact, it's better you don't change money near the Sule Pagoda at all. Your choice of course. </div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">
If you want to study masters in high pressure sales and manipulation,
this is an excellent place to do it. These guys are superb at it. Every
move, every word is carefully crafted. Consider it a research project
if you do go. <br /><br />Lonely Planet's guidebook has some good advice on
this as well. (No I don't get a commission from Lonely Planet, I like
their basic and down to earth advice :-) , hope they stay that way and
not go too commercial and high brow) </div>
<br /><b style="color: red;">Update 2012</b><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;">
there
is now a bank, that does money exchange, and the rates are a tiny bit
better than the Boyoke market. The bank is not far from the Market, in
fact just over the street, next to American Otpical shop. <br /><br />Guys
on the street offering higher and better rates are doing that to get
tourists to come with them, there is no way they can make money at over
the bank rate, unless there is trickery involved. Read the notices in
guesthouses about not changing money in the street, ... often
interesting and sad stories of loss. </div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">
<br /><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/Travel-burma--myanmar" target="_blank">taking cash to Myanmar more at https://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/Travel-burma--myanmar</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-60729864401401643052011-11-15T00:17:00.001+11:002011-11-16T03:22:46.388+11:00Thai Red cross Flood relief - some heavy lifting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iSVUwPdjagY/TsEaP6I7JiI/AAAAAAAADrg/I8VVxm8O9-4/s1600/IMG_9870.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iSVUwPdjagY/TsEaP6I7JiI/AAAAAAAADrg/I8VVxm8O9-4/s640/IMG_9870.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
<span style="background-color: orange; color: #cc0000;">Update: pictures on the flood situation </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150380622047643.355034.574347642&type=3" style="background-color: orange; color: #cc0000;" target="_blank">15Nov2011 here.</a><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Take a bag walk in a large circle and the bag is filled as you pass different stations.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Give it to the a group of 30 people sitting and tying the bags up.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Then a human chain laods about 100 bags into one of the HUGE trucks.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Load 40 kg bags of rice into a trucks from forklift pallets. Two man job.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
I insist its always two men, no heroics, the young ones will try anyway though.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Ok, whatever.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Finally some REAL action and heavy lifting. </div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Enough sittinig and typing on my computer, I want to DO some REAL work, (yes ok: Writing is real work too.) </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xuKP2gzlUaA/TsEcZ-JPD8I/AAAAAAAADrw/hYglBLmpVaE/s1600/IMG_9862.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xuKP2gzlUaA/TsEcZ-JPD8I/AAAAAAAADrw/hYglBLmpVaE/s400/IMG_9862.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
I've not seen any real action on the flood relief front - because as a foreigner I wasn't able to find it till now.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
It's a'happenin' though, and with real gusto.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
About 10 huge trucks needed filling, 130 volunteers mill around the Thai Red Cross.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Students, tiny petite girls, lanky tall dudes, weatherbeaten veterans, the whole mix is here. Even a farang (foreigner) or two.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Its fun</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
There is a spirit of adventure and all joining in, everyone just looks for stuff to do and does it.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
I only speak a little Thai, but the organization is kind of organic.It's easyto pick up. Monkey see, monkey do, stuff.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
I'm the monkey. </div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
People know the drill.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Ok, now we do the bag fill run again.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Then the human chain to fill the truck with water, with boxes, with bags.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
The 40kg bags or rice are out of their league. "Da Boiyz" do those. "Two at a time", <i><b>"Song Khon"</b></i> I tell them in Thai. It's about the only thing I input into the process and they listen.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ULKodoyLdvY/TsEcRBle1II/AAAAAAAADro/hciB9Ak_J5A/s1600/IMG_9869.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ULKodoyLdvY/TsEcRBle1II/AAAAAAAADro/hciB9Ak_J5A/s640/IMG_9869.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Still surprises me that people listen to me.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Then a young Thai explains it to me.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
"It's because your old, they'll listen to you."</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Ouch... there I have it !!!</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Ouch...!!!</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
I now have the seniority of age, I finally made it to that level.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
I have felt things were kinda easier, people listened to me recently, esp in Asia.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Get older in Asia, seems a wise choice.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
A thoroughly enjoyable day, real action, witnessed first hand.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
And I didn't get any funny stares or looks. Just turned up, did it.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
I wonder about the process in Australia, I can just imagine it. Kilometers of forms, insurance, legal stuff to sign.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Here you just wander in and help.</div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #351c75;">
Today I've found my balance in work: the recipe is: mental work for half the day, and physical work for the other half. Perfect. </div>
<div style="color: #999999;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #999999;">
----- Musings:</div>
<div style="color: #999999;">
Why is something like that so enjoyable ? And working in a large bureaucracy/organization is so deadening ?</div>
<div style="color: #999999;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #999999;">
This thing today is:</div>
<ul style="color: #999999;">
<li>Temporary,</li>
<li>clear common purpose</li>
<li>freedom to choose your activity, </li>
<li>spirit of adventure.</li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #999999;">
Large org is:</div>
<ul style="color: #999999;">
<li>Long term,</li>
<li>for money</li>
<li>you are a cog in the machine, </li>
<li>caged dogs barking and snarling at each other.... </li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #999999;">
but then: the system is a product of its people. WE created it. ...</div>
<div style="color: #999999;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #999999;">
hm... bears thinking about more....</div>
<div style="color: #999999;">
Too tired to do much more now. </div>
<div style="color: #999999;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #999999;">
H</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-78665674821693355732011-11-14T13:36:00.001+11:002011-12-17T14:37:48.819+11:00stomach bugs, belly problemsIf you ever have a stomach problem like this lady:<br />
<br />
<div style="color: blue; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Universe please let a truck stop, I think I need help arranging my funeral </span></b></div>
<div style="color: blue; text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="color: blue;">
<b><span style="font-size: medium;">My
stomach gives up sometime during the night as I am camping during the
season’s first frost and I lose track exactly how many times I have
hurled. When the sun comes up in the morning, I pack up and decide to
pedal into the closest town to look for a pharmacy or a place to die,
whichever comes first.</span></b></div>
<div style="color: blue;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="color: blue;">
<b><a href="http://www.skalatitude.com/2011/11/dear-universe-please-let-truck-stop-i.html" target="_blank">http://www.skalatitude.com/2011/11/dear-universe-please-let-truck-stop-i.html</a></b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jTBgUbxvZME/TuwNyY8fx0I/AAAAAAAADsY/wDAho5_x4zM/s1600/carbon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jTBgUbxvZME/TuwNyY8fx0I/AAAAAAAADsY/wDAho5_x4zM/s1600/carbon.jpg" /></a></div>
</div>
<br />
There is an old non chemical way to deal with stomach bugs of all types that I've used in India 1978: <br />
<br />
It's called the plunger system, (if you are squeamish stop reading here) :-) <br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>you eat a lot of dry oats, or the Indians have just dry chaff, </li>
<li>you eat it raw, no fluid, or as little as possible. </li>
</ol>
The oats/chaff/dry stuff expands in your stomach, and moves down the system like a "SOAK IT ALL UP" plug. <br />
<br />
works wonders (at least in my experience) <br />
works when pills won't anymore<br />
<br />
In Thailand they have carbon tablets to do a similar job. <br />
<br />
hope you never need to try this <br />
<br />
:-) <br />
<br />
<br />
PS: the reason it works when pills and chemicals won't is that it's purely mechanical, you effectively create a big sponge that soaks up all the crud and moves it down and out. <br />
<br />
With pills you have to get the right ones. If you get the right ones all is fine. But if you get pills for Amoeba's and you have the 'other' variety of bug, they won't help and vice versa.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sbShuzRkG3s/TsCFexOcNsI/AAAAAAAADrQ/_RbYAcsT0Yo/s1600/IMG_6072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sbShuzRkG3s/TsCFexOcNsI/AAAAAAAADrQ/_RbYAcsT0Yo/s400/IMG_6072.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNSQdZVFz_bi1OoVGyf7YLe5zstpadcqLWID9Yxv0Nq2JqvgfmMybUBkNcJjbuLoWKm9ZhwBPgeHxQj9HgXMctyzVEYUWFLEYDXCZBgT5sGTqUWBLEEQ4jBKz6FHIeMbcYHO6J/s1600/IMG_5572.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNSQdZVFz_bi1OoVGyf7YLe5zstpadcqLWID9Yxv0Nq2JqvgfmMybUBkNcJjbuLoWKm9ZhwBPgeHxQj9HgXMctyzVEYUWFLEYDXCZBgT5sGTqUWBLEEQ4jBKz6FHIeMbcYHO6J/s400/IMG_5572.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999;">Saigon 2011 Tao Da Temple</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Plunger works on anything. If it doesn't - time to call it quits.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-1976341364507373592011-11-11T03:26:00.001+11:002011-11-11T04:47:31.582+11:00Golden Mount of Bangkok<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0hfiXtN_qe8/Trv9BZ842eI/AAAAAAAADqY/WpDFAnE9lII/s1600/IMG_9797.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0hfiXtN_qe8/Trv9BZ842eI/AAAAAAAADqY/WpDFAnE9lII/s640/IMG_9797.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
the HUGE brass Gong fills the whole space around me. <br />
the air shimmers and booms with shifting harmonies. <br />
Booooooooooooooooooom, booooooooooooooooooooooooooom, <br />
it vibrates all of your body, you feel it in your bones,.... <br />
<br />
The hot tropic air is cool up here, the Golden Mount, the highest natural point in Bangkok. <br />
Thousands upon thousands of people shuffle up centimeter by centimeter, bodies against bodies, hot, human mass of bodies winding its way up and around in a huge spiral. <br />
<br />
I'm at the very top now. <br />
Boooooooooooooooooooooom, boooooooooooooooooooooooom, <br />
something dislodges in me, the deep vibrating sounds loosens something in me. All around is the vast sea of lights of Bangkok. Fireworks going off in the distance. <br />
Boooooooooooooooooooooom, booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom, the air shimmers,<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HA0cisE7lbs/Trv9VENc2MI/AAAAAAAADqw/DW9onpwGWDM/s1600/IMG_9783.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HA0cisE7lbs/Trv9VENc2MI/AAAAAAAADqw/DW9onpwGWDM/s400/IMG_9783.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
I have no idea where the sounds comes from, <br />
its in me and around me and through me. <br />
Why do I feel like crying ? <br />
Who cares, no one would notice and if they did they'd not think it strange. <br />
<br />
People kneel in prayer around the most central stupa, - today and only tonight, it is clothed in read cloth, illuminated by bright lights, it shines like a lighthouse for tense of kilometers. <br />
<br />
The smell of cooking, drifts up, the sounds of the fair far off. <br />
Everywhere, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, but up here, it's cool and there is space to walk, on the roof of Bangkok. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VgOfd6B43-Q/Trv9IpTpGAI/AAAAAAAADqg/VKPHkiEoMgE/s1600/IMG_9788.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VgOfd6B43-Q/Trv9IpTpGAI/AAAAAAAADqg/VKPHkiEoMgE/s400/IMG_9788.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
I kneel down, take off shoes, pray. <br />
First issue..... oh... I know what to do.... hm... how come I suddenly just knew what to do ? Great. <br />
Second issue.... I get a picture... about the situation, it describes it and I see what the best path would be... its a clear image, for the next 3-to-4 years ahead. <br />
Third issues..... Yes, that will happen. No problem, it's ok. <br />
<br />
Relieved I get up. Something happened, no idea how or why, but I feel different. <br />
And then the long way down, it's much faster. <br />
The path to the road takes 30 minutes, shuffle, body to body, touching on 4 or 5 sides, squeezy, slow, smoke from the grills on the side drift over us. <br />
Shuffle shuffle, shuffle.... .<br />
But I don't mind, I knew this was the deal. <br />
I knew I HAD to go to the very top tonight. <br />
And that would be the price, I knew that.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P_0265NQgy8/Trv9Q_Y1kpI/AAAAAAAADqo/zoYB0j0NDoE/s1600/IMG_9801.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P_0265NQgy8/Trv9Q_Y1kpI/AAAAAAAADqo/zoYB0j0NDoE/s400/IMG_9801.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
---(<b style="color: red;">O</b>)---</div>
<br />
I've visited Thailand since 1978, and today was the first time I'd ever gone up the Golden Mount.<br />
The couple who run the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/travel-bangkok/bookshop-in-bkk" target="_blank">Passport bookshop</a> told me about Loy Kratong there today.<br />
When I saw it shining up there in the distance, I decided to go there, through the crowds and hours of shuffling........<br />
<br />
Heiko Rudolph. (c)<br />
Loy Kratong 2011 <br />
10Nov11 THursday, <br />
Bangkok, Banglamphuu, Bangkok House.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-55367605442262671592011-11-10T18:15:00.001+11:002011-11-10T19:51:54.635+11:00Bkk-FloodsSunday 6th Nov, I joined a group of farangs and Thais to raise money for the flood victims.<br />
We offered to wash windscreens at intersections around Bangkok.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k5AlbiVDs3M/Trt_-S3Q3NI/AAAAAAAADp4/34TVoQLmtko/s1600/IMG_9742.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k5AlbiVDs3M/Trt_-S3Q3NI/AAAAAAAADp4/34TVoQLmtko/s400/IMG_9742.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
details of how the idea started and what we did are here<br />
<a href="http://bangkokvanguards.com/wipe-the-tide/" target="_blank">http://bangkokvanguards.com/wipe-the-tide/</a><br />
then after a few days they wrote about how it's working, here:<br />
<a href="http://bangkokvanguards.com/2011/11/07/wipe-the-tide-an-idea-evolving/">http://bangkokvanguards.com/2011/11/07/wipe-the-tide-an-idea-evolving/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
future events by this group on Facebook: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wipe-the-Tide/209254372476047">http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wipe-the-Tide/209254372476047</a><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uKglKFW8xPM/TruDKaSu7wI/AAAAAAAADqQ/gkgbrQ-ji1s/s1600/IMG_9741.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uKglKFW8xPM/TruDKaSu7wI/AAAAAAAADqQ/gkgbrQ-ji1s/s400/IMG_9741.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">9Nov11 Asoke Junction 13 pax, 3 hours, 33KBaht. :-)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<b>Another group "Baan Arsa Jaidee"</b> also found this method useful and joined in as well. Their blog is on: <br />
<a href="http://www.baanarsajaidee.blogspot.com/">http://www.baanarsajaidee.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<br />
tomorrow I"m going to visit their HQ and ask about helping with the flood appeal.<br />
I might be delaying my trip to Laos a little.<br />
<br />
Ongoing fund raising from BannARsa Jaidee: by washing car windscreens here <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=242610212466029" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=242610212466029</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Heiko<br />
<br />
More details below for anyone really interested in the nitty gritty:<br />
Baan Arsa Jaidee's Thai langauge main website (The government agency): <a href="http://www.arsadusit.com/">http://www.arsadusit.com/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b style="color: red;">videos of windscreen washing in BKK.</b><br />
<br />
What actually happens out on the street: <br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pQtBScH0kU&feature=share">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pQtBScH0kU&feature=share</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Talking about the idea: <br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9ffgg78qls">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9ffgg78qls</a><br />
<br />
--------------------<br />
<b>SUMMARY OF WEBSITES related to fundraising via windscreen washing:</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;">Arsan Jaidee </span><br />
Home page is: <a href="http://www.arsadusit.com/">http://www.arsadusit.com/</a><br />
Ongoing fund raising by washing cars <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=242610212466029">http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=242610212466029</a><br />
more info <a href="http://www.baanarsajaidee.blogspot.com/">http://www.baanarsajaidee.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;">Michael's idea of washing windscreens :</span> <br />
http://bangkokvanguards.com/2011/11/07/wipe-the-tide-an-idea-evolving/<br />
http://bangkokvanguards.com/wipe-the-tide/<br />
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wipe-the-Tide/209254372476047<br />
<br />
videos.<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9ffgg78qls<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pQtBScH0kU&feature=share<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="color: red;">
<b>Flood news and maps: </b></div>
Map from CS: thanks to JtG: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://maps.google.fr/maps/ms?msid=203278216882407399461.0004af623e23c9dccde11&msa=0&ll=13.748723,100.706177&spn=0.812362,1.454315" target="_blank">http://maps.google.fr/maps/ms?msid=203278216882407399461.0004af623e23c9dccde11&msa=0&ll=13.748723,100.706177&spn=0.812362,1.454315</a><br />
<br />
Tourist areas:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=210550963008557722983.0004b0e502d21dd2b1ec3&msa=0&ll=13.818744,100.579147&spn=0.436734,0.617294" target="_blank">http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=210550963008557722983.0004b0e502d21dd2b1ec3&msa=0&ll=13.818744,100.579147&spn=0.436734,0.617294</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Updates on situation in Thailand <a href="http://www.thaitravelblogs.com/" target="_blank">http://www.thaitravelblogs.com/</a> <br />
<br />
Pictures:<br />
<br />
1. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.289173864436462.71079.286840474669801&type=3" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.289173864436462.71079.286840474669801&type=3</a><br />
<br />
2. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.291011427586039.71626.286840474669801&type=3" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.291011427586039.71626.286840474669801&type=3</a><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<b>Info in English on Baan Arasa Jaidee: </b><br />
- click on pictures for full readable size. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vgRb8N1syRY/TruAL3sAHRI/AAAAAAAADqA/x8WxEc1yaC8/s1600/IMG_9683.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vgRb8N1syRY/TruAL3sAHRI/AAAAAAAADqA/x8WxEc1yaC8/s640/IMG_9683.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BaTUN2OQXAA/TruAYWjHUQI/AAAAAAAADqI/IWQeLamP_MM/s1600/IMG_9684.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BaTUN2OQXAA/TruAYWjHUQI/AAAAAAAADqI/IWQeLamP_MM/s640/IMG_9684.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-75422610188606008252011-07-29T21:26:00.001+10:002011-07-29T21:26:37.823+10:00Myanmar in the rain<div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:Courier New, courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif;font-size:14pt"><font color="#6600cc"><font size="2"><font face="verdana,sans-serif">rain, <br>humid, <br>crumbling city<br>tea houses, <br>great places to sit and zone out. <br>smells sounds... <br>nuns in pink drift past. <br> My mind is full of things... to think about but no work pressure, <br>gentle nibbling of things I like to do, write.... <br>man what a life.... <br>can i do this for longer ? </font></font></font></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-16972871805691216992011-07-21T19:01:00.002+10:002011-07-21T19:01:26.492+10:00is this legal ? moral ? allowed ?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RFXVZ7pJqYg/TifpyNIhVhI/AAAAAAAADnM/9ryj5KTIK7M/s1600/IMG_7304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RFXVZ7pJqYg/TifpyNIhVhI/AAAAAAAADnM/9ryj5KTIK7M/s400/IMG_7304.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This guy loved posing for a picture, he really got into the fun of it all. a HUGE wok with prawns 21July Bukit Bintang area, Kuala Lumpur</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
writing from air asia LCCT KL: next to McDonalds is one of 2 or 3 power points that are not turned off or locked. <br />
wifi is free. <br /><br />
</span></span></span><span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">I did my first real "on the road, writing my books" stint today.... worked really well. love this life....<br />
I found an area in KL that is like the one I stayed in in Saigon, long
term livable at retiree level, nice clean simple room, lots of cafe's
and actions and a good vibe.... <br />
I reckon I could do this in almost any major city in SE Asia now... inc
Japan and Taiwan... find retiree/backpacker area, settle in.....
write..... <br />
<br />
</span></span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #bf00bf;"><span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">feels strange, here I am wandering around the world wherever the wind blows while others are "working" <br />
I'm working too, but it's my kind of lifestyle and work.... finally after 51 years... :-) <br />
feels like I'm cheating... shouldn't this be harder ? <br />
shouldn't there be more pain and angst ? <br />
is this legal ? moral ? to wander about on my savings and rental income... ? <br />
amazing....</span></span></span></span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-43945432099257670492011-07-21T00:14:00.001+10:002011-07-21T00:14:17.125+10:00Kuala Lumpur - the journey begins...12 months of leave without pay.... week 3: Kuala Lumpur, the journey begins....<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A3IbACHvTH0/Sv-wUgOX-HI/AAAAAAAADAM/VpdRYYc9KEg/s1600/DSC02615.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A3IbACHvTH0/Sv-wUgOX-HI/AAAAAAAADAM/VpdRYYc9KEg/s400/DSC02615.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">I arrived in KL, the smell, the people, so different. ( 20Jul11 )<br />
Something in me relaxed. <br />
KL is nothing as clean or organized as Melbourne, but the tropical
warmth, the smile on the people, - or is it just me ? Smile and world
smiles with you ? <br />
<br />
Something in me changed.<br />
I'm more relaxed. <br />
I belong here, - well right now, I belong here... <br />
<br />
I wander the streets like a sleepwalker, soaking in the atmosphere like a man drinking water after weeks in the desert. <br />
Don't know what I'm soaking in but it is something. <br />
something like this: <br />
<br />
A planet spinning around a gaseous ball doing nuclear fission in space. <br />
For millions and millions of years things slowly move and grow. ....and
then one day like a flash a whole lot of people are around, and a Heiko
is born, he wanders about the planet. <br />
"Worry about old age, worry about jobs, worry about ...." his mind tells him....others tell him, he tells himself.... <br />
and in all those millions of years,.... this one moment, <br />
this one instant, where Heiko writes this email. <br />
This evening where he walks through the tropical atmosphere of restaurants and guest houses.... <br />
this evening is like none other, in the history of millions of millions of years.... and will never come again. <br />
This moment, this evening, is unique, and will never come again like it is now.... <br />
and his little pea brain thinks he understands the why and wherefore's of it all. <br />
This little creature with his money and credit cards and and computer
skills thinks he's a shit hot dude .... (and he is in a manner of
speaking) <br />
But what does this Heiko really know ? <br />
He is a part of all that is, and all that is is a part of him. <br />
A grain of sand, on huge beach.... and one of billions upon billions of grains... <br />
and that thought no longer bothers him... he's fine with it. <br />
<br />
Every person he meets, he will never meet them again, each moment is unique, precious.... something about it.... <br />
<br />
when I travel and pass through a place like this... these thoughts come to me.... <br />
when i stay in one place... it leaves me.... <br />
I'd like to have that awareness 24/7 .... thats my urban monk's dream <br />
<br />
Abba sings "SOS....." next door as I write this, <br />
there is life and people and atmosphere all around,<br />
The Unintterruptable power supply beeps every few minutes... <br />
Gmail saves my drafts.... <br />
the planet spins around the nuclear fission gas ball, <br />
Heiko types an email.... <br />
life<br />
existence...<br />
being.... <br />
<br />
<br />
friends told me my morroccan writings were really good. <br />
http://heikorudolph.com/travel/morocco10.htm<br />
they wanted more like that. <br />
hm...there's a challenge. <br />
<br />
</span></span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #bf00bf;"><span style="font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><br /><br />.</span></span>m</span>y first born book of short stories #1 </span></span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/68368" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tengra Ngiam </a></span><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #bf00bf; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #bf00bf; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">He operates on conscious patients, asks them to sing, walks the hills of Burma </span>- </span><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/ambulatorysurgerymyanmar/" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;" target="_blank">Dr Naga, walking surgeon of the hilltribes.</a></span> <br /><br />'dance me to the children who are asking to be born....' <span style="color: #bf5f00; font-size: xx-small;"> - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pA5UhNaYw0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Leonard </a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pA5UhNaYw0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cohen</a></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: xx-small;"> <a href="">.</a> </span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: xx-small;">When I get too serious I remind myself of </span><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbvKrH-GC4&feature=related" target="_blank">Music , life - & 'getting there' </a></span> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">cool <a href="http://youtu.be/FY50vvMjX_o" target="_blank">career advice http://youtu.be/FY50vvMjX_o</a></span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-71044581774115944562011-07-06T22:36:00.000+10:002011-07-06T22:36:42.164+10:0012 months leave without pay: week 1<div style="color: #351c75;">I've turned 50+. If I don't do stuff NOW, I never will. </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Doing things "one day" is not going to work. One day == never. </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">So I've taken a year off. Leave without pay for 12 months. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LgdIOgtaR1Y/TINLDRW-YVI/AAAAAAAADXE/XjisUU2YcSE/s1600/IMG_6891.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LgdIOgtaR1Y/TINLDRW-YVI/AAAAAAAADXE/XjisUU2YcSE/s640/IMG_6891.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Week1: 4Jul11 to 10Jul11</div><ul style="color: #351c75;"><li>visit colleagues at former workplace, - very nice, we had the most fun and relaxing time in 8 years, drinking coffee together and just hanging out. Took me leaving to get us all together. </li>
<li>Write, copy Hard drive data, make backups of everything I have so far, in preparation for travelling.... . </li>
<li>Visit my sister and brother in law in Tasmania, Hobart. :-) 7Jul11.</li>
<li>write, sort out my crap, </li>
<li>love this <a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/group_read.html?gid=412&post=9339133">rant about Myanmar :-) http://www.couchsurfing.org/group_read.html?gid=412&post=9339133</a> </li>
</ul><div style="color: #351c75;">Week 2.... wait n see. </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-75345198195631883572011-06-01T19:32:00.002+10:002011-06-01T19:38:00.261+10:00language of the country - what to learn<table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FMFxEfp4HN0/TeYFalaCLlI/AAAAAAAADmk/dD1sD6BNPzU/s1600/IMG_4263.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FMFxEfp4HN0/TeYFalaCLlI/AAAAAAAADmk/dD1sD6BNPzU/s640/IMG_4263.JPG" width="480" border="0" height="640" /></a></td></tr><tr style="color: #999999;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saigon2011</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">Uncle haiko's method of learning a new language:<br /><br /><b>Before you go: </b><br /></span></span></span><br /><ul><li><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">learn the numbers,<br /></span></span></span></li><li><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">hello,<br /></span></span></span></li><li><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">goodbye,<br /></span></span></span></li><li><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">thank you,<br /></span></span></span></li><li><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">how much is.... ,<br /></span></span></span></li><li><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">please,<br /></span></span></span></li><li><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">where is the toilet,<br /></span></span></span></li><li><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">Where is.... </span></span></span></li><li><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">How to say this in <<i>insert language of country</i>> ?<br /></span></span></span></li></ul><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;"><br /><b>In the new country:<br /><br /></b>1) spend 3 days: make a list of all the things you would like to say but can't</span></span></span><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;"><br />things I found I had to learn:<br /></span></span></span><br /><ul><li><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">"the bill please"</span></span></span></li><li><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">"the menu please"</span></span></span></li><li><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">"No ice. no sugar.... "<br /></span></span></span></li></ul><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">2) ask/pay a native speaker to teach you.<br />3) carry summary in pocket, - one A4 sheet of paper. </span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">have fun. Enjoy, laugh, practice, ask for help... </span></span></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;"><b>The principle is: </b>you only remember and learn what you need and use. </span></span></span><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;"><br /></span></span></span><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">Lonely planet phrasebook, or any small phrasebook is useful. </span></span></span><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;"></span></span></span><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;"></span></span></span><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;">I don't go for formal courses or lots of phrases.<br /><br /></span></span></span><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:courier new,monospace;"></span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-22298001058013339492011-05-31T01:50:00.011+10:002011-05-31T19:06:21.690+10:00Hey we are humans first.... human warmth of Vietnam - continued....<div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="color:red;">30May2011 </span>This evening I stood in the edge of the park next to the biggest roundabout in the center of Saigon, waiting for a Vietnamese friend. Motorbikes, cars, busses, traffic, people, noise, lights, a gentle drizzling rainy season rain.</span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">I stand up on the ledge of the flower bed so as to be clearly visible. </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">On the other side of the flower bed a young University age Vietnamese lady walked past, smiling brighly. </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">I smiled back and she wandered over to talk. </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">"Where are you from ?" </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">"Australia" </span><br /><span style="font-size:small;">Practicing her English I assume.</span><span style="font-size:small;"> </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">"Melbourne or Sydney...?" she really tried hard to remember the names of those two big cities. </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">Going through the "<i>where are you from....? What do you do.... ?</i>" routine usually makes me cringe. But the happy enthusiasm with which she spoke was disarming. Genuine and friendly. </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">"What do you ...." </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">"I teach Electronic Engineering....blah blah blah..." </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">"What are you doing ? </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">"Just playing" she says. I assume this to mean just wandering around to practice her English. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEissoLnviEy1Xq3GEWpSz7GaILqN1srXBIZANW8exrMMqKvIBNFPDtIw2z_rFX7a2uhjj5gwT90UONY3gVcPRWAFm9TPIzaaCU4_eXWnYql-TF4fPtS9CTJdKqRGAsqIN1nHS27/s1600/IMG_5860.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEissoLnviEy1Xq3GEWpSz7GaILqN1srXBIZANW8exrMMqKvIBNFPDtIw2z_rFX7a2uhjj5gwT90UONY3gVcPRWAFm9TPIzaaCU4_eXWnYql-TF4fPtS9CTJdKqRGAsqIN1nHS27/s400/IMG_5860.JPG" width="400" border="0" height="300" /></a></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br />People who practice English sometimes use it as a front to sell tours or gems or whatever schemes. </span><br /><span style="font-size:small;">That's not the case right now. </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">What strikes me most about her is that is she is genuine. </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">I'm actually shocked that a complete stanger, would simply smile and talk to another complete stranger just like that. It's me who has to overcome my cultural inhibitions.</span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">She tells me in all earnestness about her dream, that she wants to learn Italian but has trouble finding people to practice with. </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;"> My friend now arrives. On a piece of paper, I write the name of a site where Vietnamese and foreigners meet in a safe, monitored space (</span><span style="font-size:small;"> <a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/group.html?gid=5558">Couchsurfing.org</a></span><span style="font-size:small;"> Saigon group ). It is for people to stay with others on their floor or couches and it has a nice informal social group in Saigon - and most major cities of the world. </span></div><div face="Verdana,sans-serif" color="#351c75" style=" ;"><span style="font-size:small;">She might find italian or other other language exhange there. </span></div><div face="Verdana,sans-serif" color="#351c75" style=" ;"><br /></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">What surprised me most was the simple human trust, not stupid naivety, but trust in herself, to judge who to talk to. The guts to talk to a total stranger. </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><br /></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;"> </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">I don't think it has much to do with me, - though then again I have noticed that even in a long line of people, beggars will often magnetically gravitate to me. Why ? Who knows.</span><br /></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">As we talked all the Western warnings about strangers whizzed through my mind. I simply couldn't imagine his happening in my home town. I'm used to a guarded scowl on the face of strangers and someone asking me the time, makes me suspicious. </span><br /></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;"> </span></div><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><span style="font-size:small;">I remember something I read on <a href="http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/2011/05/love-work-day-life/">Alastair Humphreys</a> blog:</span></div><blockquote style=" Courier New",Courier,monospace;font-family:";color:#351c75;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-size:16px;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; text-align: left;font-size:15px;" >...<span style="font-size:100%;">.I rode right across Europe and into the Middle East. Far from being the dangerous place I had always seen on the TV News, people waved to me as I passed, families invited me to stay the night in their homes or join them for a meal. I learned a crucial lesson about the world during those hot, dusty weeks: whatever governments are shouting angrily about, whatever extreme sections of society may be doing, the vast majority of people on Earth are good, ordinary people just like you and I. I rode through 60 countries on my circumnavigation, and in each country this held true. The world is, by and large, a good place. Traveling opened my eyes to that. <span style="font-size:180%;">....</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> from: <a href="http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/2011/05/adventure-change-life/">Alastair Humphreys writing about adventure</a></span></blockquote><div style=" ;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:#351c75;"><br /></div><div face="Verdana,sans-serif" color="#351c75" style=" "><span style="font-size:small;">After writing the earlier blog "<a href="http://heikorudolph.blogspot.com/2011/05/human-warmth-of-vietnam.html">Hey we are humans first.... human warmth of Vietnam</a>" this is another one of 'those confirmations'.</span></div><div style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Vietnam has had a horrific history of war, children are still being born deformed from the effects of the war. And yet, I can walk around this city and experience such things. </span><br /><span style="font-size:small;">Amazing.</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"></span><br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/help.html">About Couchsurfing</a></li><li>Haiko's <a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/cinnamon/">Profile</a> on CS </li><li><a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/group.html?gid=5558">Saigon group on CS </a> </li></ul><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">31May2011</span>... update: the lady I wrote about above joined Couchsurfing and was pleased to see THIS blog here, about our meeting.<br />Small world.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:small;"></span><span style="font-size:small;"><a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/cinnamon/"><br /></a> </span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-56114759015189113092011-05-29T23:32:00.049+10:002011-05-31T01:33:47.501+10:00Hey we are humans first.... human warmth of Vietnam<div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">in some places ....<br />
in some place people still feel more REAL. <br />
<br />
how are they more real ? </span><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
example: </span><span style="font-size: small;">Saigon, Vietnam: <br />
taxi to airport. <br />
I offer the driver some of my favourite, chocolate bisquits. <br />
"Oh, no thanks" <br />
Ok I expected that. <br />
He drives too fast, too dangerous, I don't like to see poeple hurt. </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ZZjjUc-6zJs1FLzHKEGwJ0YoNBv6PGroi-qau7mLf2sZo4KZEMlruJk7JyD2leM5Eish0-C5r-cmfjXP-Ejra7M68cQErEq3crrS7n_rl-PR2W8-s3S5DUKajwnS9UiTN7qU/s1600/IMG_5474.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ZZjjUc-6zJs1FLzHKEGwJ0YoNBv6PGroi-qau7mLf2sZo4KZEMlruJk7JyD2leM5Eish0-C5r-cmfjXP-Ejra7M68cQErEq3crrS7n_rl-PR2W8-s3S5DUKajwnS9UiTN7qU/s400/IMG_5474.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
I put my hand on his shoulder, make soft sounds, "sloooooowwwww"<br />
He gets the idea. <br />
His driving is calm, nice now. I don't fear that we will injure someone. <br />
At the airport he fills in the taxi voucher for my Taxi card from work. <br />
"Can I have a bisquit. I'm so hungry, can't drive anymore." <br />
Sure, I give him the rest of the packet. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">There was no guile in him. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">He was being real. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">How do I know ? I felt it. It's real but not quantyfiable<br />
<br />
At the four star Hotel in Hanoi: </span><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
"What do you do ?" (it's obvious I live in Vietnam)<br />
"I teach Engineering." <br />
"Where do you teach ?" </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">etc....<br />
genuine interest in me from the staff serving the buffet breakfast. <br />
They have real smiles. <br />
They talk like real people, <br />
asking questions because they want to know. Not for some policy, or shut up because of some moronic corporate policy. <br />
I find out that the tall one is a student, <br />
has no boyfriend, but will marry one day. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">They got up at 5am to serve breakfast at 6am. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">But not everyday, sometimes it's an afternoon shift ... . </span></b> </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Lots of other stuff, - casual fun talk over breakfast to make the time more pleasant. <br />
Yes, I'm the customer, and they are the staff, but, Hey! We are people, humans first. <br />
Forgive me if I have a chip on shoulder, but I have the impressing in the developed rich 'civilized' world, I'd be dealing with professional employees toeing the corporate line first and a human being second. <br />
<br />
Back in the developed world: I was stopped at airport security.</span></b></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">"What's that in your breast pocket ?" </span></b></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Metal detector had not gone off and it looked like a passport, in fact it WAS a passport.</span></b></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">I went into my antipathy to authority attitude, meaning: sullen silence. </span></b></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Handed over passport with the inner attitude of "here we go again, more moronic regulations just to let some wanker feel important"<br />
“Hallo!” the guard said to me, - meaning, lets be human first, and say ‘Hi’, ok ? <br />
“Hallo” I said, and I realized I’d been grumpy. I'd gone into "I'm in an anal retentive society" defensive attitude again. <br />
That's probably not fair. <br />
I admit this may be an overeaction on my part. <br />
When in civilized countries, I tend to play my part in the dance of the 'moronic bureaucrats' very well.</span></b></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">As my friend said: you can't have one hand clapping. </span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">30May2011 This evening I stood in the edge of the park next to the biggest roundabout in the center of Saigon, waiting for a Vietnamese friend. Motorbikes, cars, busses, traffic, people, noise, lights, a gentle drizzling rainy season rain.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">I stand up on the ledge of the flower bed so as to be clearly visible. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">On the other side of the flower bed a young University age Vietnamese lady walked past, smiling brighly. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">I smiled back and she wandered over to talk. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">Practice her English I assumed. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">"Where are you from ?" </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">"Australia" </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">"Melbourne or Sydney...?" she really tried hard to remember the names of those two big cities. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">Going through the "where are you from....?" routine usually makes me cringe. But the happy enthusiasm with which she spoke was disarming. Genuine and friendly. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">"What do you ...." </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">"I teach Electronic Engineering....blah blah blah..." </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">"What are you doing ? </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">"Just playing" she says. I assume this to mean just wandering around to practice her English. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
People who claim to practice English sometimes use it a front to sell tours or gems or whatever schemes. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">What strikes me most about her is that is she is genuine. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">I'm actually shocked that complete stanger, would simply talk to another complete stranger just like that. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">She tells me in all earnestness that she wants to learn Italian but has trouble finding people to practice with. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">My friend now arrives. On a piece of paper, I write the name the <a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/group.html?gid=5558">Couchsurfing</a> site where Vietnamese and foreigners meet in a safe, monitored space. It is for people to stay with others on their floor or couches and it has a nice informal social group in most major cities. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">She might find italian or other other language exhange there. </span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">What surprised me most was the simple human trust, not stupid naivety, but trust in herself, to judge who to talk to. The guts to talk to a total stranger. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">I don't think it has much to do with me, - thogh then again I have noticed that even in a long line of people, beggars will often magnetically gravitate to me. Why ? Who knows.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">As we talked all the Western warnings about strangers whizzed through my mind. I simply couldn't imagine his happening in my home town. I'm used to a guarded scowl on the face of strangers and someone asking me the time, makes me suspicious. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">I'm reminded of the stuff others like <a href="http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/2011/05/love-work-day-life/">Alastair Humphreys</a> said </span></b><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;">I rode right across Europe and into the Middle East. Far from being the dangerous place I had always seen on the TV News, people waved to me as I passed, families invited me to stay the night in their homes or join them for a meal. I learned a crucial lesson about the world during those hot, dusty weeks: whatever governments are shouting angrily about, whatever extreme sections of society may be doing, the vast majority of people on Earth are good, ordinary people just like you and I. I rode through 60 countries on my circumnavigation, and in each country this held true. The world is, by and large, a good place. Traveling opened my eyes to that.</span></span><b><span style="font-size: small;"> from: <a href="http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/2011/05/adventure-change-life/">Alastair Humphreys writing about adventure</a></span></b></blockquote><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">After writing the above blog "<a href="http://heikorudolph.blogspot.com/2011/05/human-warmth-of-vietnam.html">Hey we are humans first.... human warmth of Vietnam</a>" this is another one of 'those confirmations'.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></b></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-65344609335932960832011-05-24T23:47:00.000+10:002011-05-24T23:47:46.198+10:00the secret is: adults don't exist<div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: center;"></div><div style="color: #351c75; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kF2qNPAik1s/Tdu1lYdHvtI/AAAAAAAADk0/WhOdQOZ20js/s1600/IMG_5975.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kF2qNPAik1s/Tdu1lYdHvtI/AAAAAAAADk0/WhOdQOZ20js/s200/IMG_5975.JPG" width="200" /></a></span><span style="font-size: large;">Today I went for dinner with a colleague, her little 8 year old daughter and her grandmother. </span></div><div style="color: #351c75; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">She told me something her daughter discovered. </span></div><div style="color: #351c75; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">"There are no adults. They don't exist. They are really all children."</span></div><div style="color: #351c75; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">Out of the mouth of babes..... </span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; font-size: large;"></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; font-size: large;">I'm totally with her on that. </span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-70169641453265084412011-04-30T18:38:00.006+10:002011-04-30T18:53:30.485+10:0033 years later<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A2bB0DZHFfU/TbvJyGptnlI/AAAAAAAADkU/ZyhRJCZawfA/s1600/IMG_5427.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" id=":current_picnik_image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikpSOyvpjFIt8xM9gHWqmxkienwUQUlLVXhc3G9yX_tPcw593YYkAXrHjfZ7Qd1bnQf1zsp6qeXsE5W4k0gWG-JT0TKSCel9HUvOjBp9mc_yku1bYzN6aPs2fbIFKIXixAWJGe/s400/13769709194_PZTRS.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="color: #999999; text-align: center;">30Apr11 Saigon</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmeMHC5DafAulKZ5MR7m6zNiwdPrrtVTo8gUIdqdgG_Gyaw7DLpc2pKqYzwNd30zCjwKJ_PYLVnZ52u-V8u6OFq_JSAPUFY_F6fHpiy9-35npmLEtAy1z1-r0zr46AOtNyeIMH/s1600/IMG_5432+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: courier new,monospace;">Went for a '<i>get me outtahere</i>' drive today - <br />
just took the motorbike and drove out East, following my gut instinct and curiosity, <br />
over bridges and rivers, and down into almost empty land <br />
lots of nature, trees, palms, and everywhere rubble and houses that had been bulldozed and demolished. <br />
<br />
driving further I ended up directly opposite the fancy main street of Saigon, on the other side of of ther river. There was the Majestic Hotel. <br />
</span></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmeMHC5DafAulKZ5MR7m6zNiwdPrrtVTo8gUIdqdgG_Gyaw7DLpc2pKqYzwNd30zCjwKJ_PYLVnZ52u-V8u6OFq_JSAPUFY_F6fHpiy9-35npmLEtAy1z1-r0zr46AOtNyeIMH/s1600/IMG_5432+-+Copy.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmeMHC5DafAulKZ5MR7m6zNiwdPrrtVTo8gUIdqdgG_Gyaw7DLpc2pKqYzwNd30zCjwKJ_PYLVnZ52u-V8u6OFq_JSAPUFY_F6fHpiy9-35npmLEtAy1z1-r0zr46AOtNyeIMH/s400/IMG_5432+-+Copy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: courier new,monospace;"> On this side it was a slow , forgotten village, barbed wire for land that would be developed. <br />
old men on motorbikes, <br />
sleepy town, <br />
dogs in the sun<br />
<br />
women in the market looking at the foreigner on his motorbike. <br />
Driving along the riverside, now on the other side are container ships, wharfs, and on my kids swim, 90% of the houses are knocked down, <br />
ready for mega development. <br />
<br />
There is something about this place, <br />
the freedom, the motorbike, the space, and the slow pace of life here, and just across the river, the hi tech, super intense Saigon. <br />
the line from Hotel CAlifornia come into my mind. <br />
</span></span></span><span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: courier new,monospace;"><br />
</span></span></span>On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair<br />
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air<br />
Up ahead in the distance, I saw shimmering light<br />
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim<br />
I had to stop for the night<br />
There she stood in the doorway;<br />
I heard the mission bell<br />
<span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: courier new,monospace;"><br />
but it is more than that, <br />
the atmophere the sunlight,and the knowledge that I'm free, <br />
I feel like I used to feel at eighteen, travelling in SE Asia, the world to explore, <br />
full of possibilities, <br />
the invisible bars of fear had not hemmed me in quite as much. <br />
<br />
And now at age fifety one, </span></span></span><span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: courier new,monospace;">, I remember this time and that same feeling comes back to me</span></span></span><span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: courier new,monospace;">. It feels like a HUGE circle has closed. <br />
33 years later, still trecking through Asia, exploring life, <br />
nothing much has changed. <br />
Full of questions <br />
almost the same questions, <br />
lots more experience. <br />
but most of all an excitement about life and love of the adventure of it. <br />
I've stepped out of the Hive, out of the organized implicity, asssumed, fears of what 'one should do' what 'one should worry about' and 'what is peer acceptable behaviour'. <a href="http://thefuckitway.com/">Fuckit</a> all. <br />
<br />
then it's back to central Saigon, cool airconditioned cafe with Yoghurt fruit salad and wireless internet, to send this by email. <br />
Heiko </span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-15682440262935610932011-04-29T16:21:00.000+10:002011-04-29T16:21:23.713+10:00bootstrapping your education: do it yourself English in Vietnam<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #330099;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: courier new,monospace;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">I went to the Tango juice bar & cafe the other day. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">I was greeted by a young university student working as a waitress. Her English was good and different. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">She spoke fluently, colloquial natural English. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">It was too natural to come from an "institution". She either spent time overseas, had a foreign boyfriend or something else...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">I was curious. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">"where did you learn English ?" - I like to ask this. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6C2BeCoiCvM/TbpYrV_-cXI/AAAAAAAADkQ/7HJ1TCXLICg/s1600/IMG_5077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6C2BeCoiCvM/TbpYrV_-cXI/AAAAAAAADkQ/7HJ1TCXLICg/s640/IMG_5077.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">"By myself." </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">"You mean you didn't go to an English School ? " </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">"Yes." She looks a little hesitant, as though it was bad to admit this. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">"Wow, your English is great. How did you teach yourself." </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">"Movies. I listen and repeat whatever I hear." </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">We chat some more. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">Turns out she studies </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new', monospace;">in English </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">books like the "The Seven habits of successful people..."</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new', monospace;">. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">She asks customers what the difference between five star and this Cafe is in terms of service. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">Her study area is Hospitality. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">At home she has paper and notes of English words everywhere. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">All this is self discovered. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">She does not have the funds for expensive English Schools. It's not the piece of paper she needs it's the ability. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">So she gets it. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">Herself. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">Movies, books, practicing with foreign customers in the cafe. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">Whatever way she can. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">She is not the only one. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">I've since met others, who do the same. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">There are English conversation clubs all over Saigon. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">Before I leave she asks my name. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">She's called<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new', monospace;">Nhi. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new', monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">I can't imagine this level of informal exchange in a Western context. Maybe that's just me. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">And I haven't seen this kind of self motivation in many other places. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330099; font-family: 'courier new',monospace;">Vietnam impresses me. </span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-8025882221152499902011-03-12T11:13:00.001+11:002011-03-12T11:21:29.436+11:00the humanness of Vietnam: Nutella Baguette<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><b><img border="0" height="300" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-s-TeACqClsI/TWnW3nE0SVI/AAAAAAAADc4/HRvDJThVGQo/s400/IMG_4288.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></b></td></tr>
<tr style="color: orange;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Saigon District 1, Feb 2011</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="background-color: #20124d; clear: both; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: center;"></div><div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
There is a place where they have soup and baguettes even at midnight.<br />
I have Nutella at home, all I need is a baguette and the walk will do me good.<br />
I get my baguette at the end of Nguyen Du street for 3000 Dong (15cents AUD) and turn back along Ly Tu Trong Street, opposite Norfolk Mansion. It's 10:30pm. </div><div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">No one walks on my side of the street, just a lady dressed like a housewife walks in front of me.<br />
"Hello"<br />
"Hello"<br />
"I come with you."<br />
"I don't think so"<br />
"why not?"<br />
"--------no answer---------"<br />
"I'm hungry."<br />
blah blah blah etc...</div><div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
"Stomach small"<br />
"I'll buy you a meal, but no money"<br />
"Ok"<br />
we walk some more.<br />
"I come with you"</div><div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">"No I don't think so"She is mid 30's nice looking, normal lady. I'm surprised she acts like this. </div><div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">"why"<br />
"--------no answer---------"</div><div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">"why"</div><div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">"--------no answer---------"<br />
"why"</div><div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">"--------no answer---------"<br />
"why you don't want me"</div><div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">"--------no answer---------"<br />
"I'm hungry."</div><div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
Fine, let's see if she is really hungry. I pull out my baguette, give it to her. </div><div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">She takes it. No inhibition.<br />
"Hang on", I take the baguette back and break off a bit for myself. "I'm hungry too"<br />
She takes back the rest.<br />
Well there goes my Nutella baguette, oh well....</div><div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">We kind of go the same direction.<br />
She holds up her bit of baguette, "very good"<br />
I give her a thumbs up...<br />
<div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">She walks along on the other side of the road and eats the baguette, we are heading in the same direction.</div><span style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">I duck into a convenience store. <br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">we part ways...</div></div><div style="background-color: #20124d; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">21Feb11, Saigon<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes you who must leave everything that you cannot control.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> It begins with your family, but soon it comes around to your soul.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Well I've been where you're hanging, I think I can see how you're pinned:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> When you're not feeling holy, your loneliness says that you've sinned.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">---- Leonard Cohen, - Sisters of Mercy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div></blockquote><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br />
</b></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-62842957399774726382011-03-04T12:53:00.002+11:002011-03-05T02:08:33.089+11:00success stinks VS sour grapes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkXciAANS2bgtvpd2muyFTs_HB9S6OtL6BCrYEPP1gIt1OPCd9mFF7x_p7GANBl3-s5NcS3aAdoRfJpvWkCNumCSbqDNP1a4FCHsjo5YGqjqO7WLbHK8fsxxuejDUSUuiRf_fo/s1600/09Sep09+serviette+drawing__2+-+Copy.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkXciAANS2bgtvpd2muyFTs_HB9S6OtL6BCrYEPP1gIt1OPCd9mFF7x_p7GANBl3-s5NcS3aAdoRfJpvWkCNumCSbqDNP1a4FCHsjo5YGqjqO7WLbHK8fsxxuejDUSUuiRf_fo/s640/09Sep09+serviette+drawing__2+-+Copy.bmp" width="504" /></a></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>I'm a small time blogger, <b>"and ah'm jes' doin' ma thang dude..."</b></i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>And like all bloggers "I wanna get bigger, yea ....!!! "</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>I want lotsa people to read my shit ! </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>I wanna see ma name up in lights ! Yea!!!</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>I looked around the blogosphere and I saw those successful bloggers, </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>with their HUGE traffic ratings on Google analytics. </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i> I'm jealous. </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>I looked a little closer then</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>what was this glitz and ritz ? </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>what about those ads that clutter up the space ? </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>free ipod giveaways ? </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>what's going on here ? </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>Is this a shopfront or a blog ? </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>it's corporate tactics, </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>its 'win this, and win that' kinda shit, </i><br />
<i>carefully crafted, cleverly designed, for consumer maximization, </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>that's just commercialization </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>the hippy has sold out to the corporation</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>money talks </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>if successful blogging means </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>- "enter now to win this...and win dat..." </i></div><i>- flashing ads</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>- glitzy and ritzy websites </i></div><br />
<div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>- free this and free that and "hurry and enter now to win some crap...." </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>no, thanks, that's not what I'm aiming at. </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i><br />
</i></div><i style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">I'm not at those heights (yet),</i><br />
<div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>Now I'm a quiet </i><i>little </i><i>blogger </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>Of course I wanna be read by millions... </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>but my way: </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>no pushing </i><i> </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>no ads to suck you into my site</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>no ipod giveaways for you to win, nothin'to enter, nothing to get for free. </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>read my stuff 'cause you like it </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>or don't </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>that's it. </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>if success is </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><b><i>Sea gulls fighting over bread crumbs, </i></b></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><b><i>Monkeys fighting over bananas, </i></b></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>I'll go another way... . </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i> <b>Sour grapes ? </b></i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>ask me in 10 years... when I'm big and famous....doing it my way, </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>with no ads, no give aways, no greed based enticements...just good stuff for what it is.... </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>It might look homely and dorky and a bit messy... </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>and it won't be everyone's cuppa tea... </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>oh well, C'est la vie.. :-) </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>-- wow this has turned into a manifesto of sorts. hm.....</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>### references: some of my thoughts were shaped by the writings below: or more precisely: I found confirmation for my views in the writings of others and then had the courage to say it :-) </i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"></div><i>Recently I found myself at a Hindu temple in Darjeeling (India), surrounded by monkeys who displayed behavior not unlike that of members of my own race. The strong bullied the weak, the old were teased by the young. And mothers cared for and protected their children.</i><br />
<i>Life is thus. So it always has been. So it will probably always be. When it comes down to it, we are but a strange tribe of monkeys fighting over bananas.</i><br />
<i>from http://www.ruby-<a href="http://sapphire.com/buying-gems-at-the-source-dicks-law.htm" rel="nofollow">sapphire.com/buying-gems-at-the-source-dicks-law.htm</a><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></i><br />
<div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i><br />
</i> </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i><br />
</i> </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-6958953147400080262011-03-03T17:32:00.003+11:002011-03-04T21:28:39.346+11:00on the street - Saigon<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GI3nbYdcZy0/TW81kUO6P-I/AAAAAAAADdc/7DxQl6S6sUk/s1600/IMG_2761.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GI3nbYdcZy0/TW81kUO6P-I/AAAAAAAADdc/7DxQl6S6sUk/s1600/IMG_2761.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">---o(<span style="color: red;">O</span>)o---</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">You know how some people leave a SUBJECTIVE impression on you ? </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> ---o(<b style="color: red;">O</b>)o---</div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">By the wall, on the footpath, sits a Vietnamese woman, about 25 years old. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Her hair is all over the place, she has no shoes, her clothes are rags. An old empty bag lies next to her on the ground. The skin colour of her feet and ankles tells me she hasn't had a shower for a long time. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">It's VERY unusual to see this in Saigon. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">I slow down in case she asks for help, but she is in a world of her own. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">"Hm... give her something ? </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Stop being such a bloddy doooooo gooder Haiko !! </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Just keep going, you can't be helping strays and waifs all over the place." </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Looking back I see a Vietnamese man stop and give her some money.</div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">I walk back the way I have just come and order a baguette from the stand on the road. A baguette with pate and meat and all vegies they put inside. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Walking past her for the third time I hold out the baguette to her. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">She stares at it for a few seconds. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">I'm feeling silly, she doesn't want it. Oh well. It's my issue. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Then she looks up at me, and her hand comes out. she takes the bread and very carefully puts it on the ground for later. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Fine. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">I leave. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">End of story ? </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Well sort of.</div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> ---o(<b style="color: red;">O</b>)o---</div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">You know how some poeple leave a SUBJECTIVE impression on you ? </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">They have a personality, </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">A flavour, a colour a taste all their own. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">You walk away and their character lingers inside you. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Well that's what happened with this lady. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">She reached out for the baguette, and her attitude, her energy, her personality was all in that simple action. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">It was not a bad impression, quite light, nice, gentle and fierce, smart and intelligent. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Come to think of it, she reminds me of one of the characters in one of the stories I'm writing. Just a little. </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">How come a meeting of 1O seconds leaves a bigger impression of her personality than people I've met for hours or weeks ? </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Strange....</div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">interesting.... </div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0Asia9.70905706861822 107.22656254.30237956861822 99.7558595 15.115734568618219 114.6972655tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102425.post-58907790364963456142011-03-03T16:36:00.005+11:002011-03-03T17:28:27.361+11:00Saigon bus<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="background-color: #cccccc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqr0AwckkI4pPBFzxx4841nGukCi8_dIKgqrzXj8VISSrV94wav5Ls4TgxzeXyIlxlWCMIWD5bcBDTxolsjYLGlmNh-0SiWzFEnFBPnFdNM0MJ28X50VNTeT_yjDl1xoQ-B5l7/s1600/IMG_4487.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqr0AwckkI4pPBFzxx4841nGukCi8_dIKgqrzXj8VISSrV94wav5Ls4TgxzeXyIlxlWCMIWD5bcBDTxolsjYLGlmNh-0SiWzFEnFBPnFdNM0MJ28X50VNTeT_yjDl1xoQ-B5l7/s400/IMG_4487.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking over the big roundabout near Ben Thank Market Feb2011</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">When your ride a motorbike there is the danger that your right hand pulls too hard on the throttle. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Your hand is still on the handlebar throttle as the bike jumps forward. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">That makes the throttle go on harder,</div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">the bike jumps more, </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">the throttle opens up more etc... and we get the jumping bike effect. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Like a bucking horse. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">On a 50cc bike that is not such a problem. On bigger bikes it can be. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Because of the jumping bike effect I have a personal rule to always always keep my right foot ready for braking on the foot brake. To never ever drive without the foot ready to brake. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Today I broke my rule. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">There are petrol stations on the HUGE roundabout in Saigon, south of the Ben Thanh market. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">I filled up with petrol and pulled out with my little bike. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">I eased out of the petrol station, with just one hand on the throttle and feet hanging loose. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The bike did the bucking horse thing. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Right close to an oncoming bus. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The bus slowed down, I veered away and all was fine.</div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">I scared myself a bit.<br />
I felt like an idiot, I felt small and stupid.<br />
I expected a tirade of abuse. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Now in Australia I'd definitely get honking and abuse and shouting and head shaking and dark looks from the bus drivers. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
In Vietnam I got a laughing bus driver, open smile, no anger. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Wow.<br />
Anything, anytime, are the rules of the road here. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">How the hell do you thank someone high up in bus, with traffic noise and in a foreign language ? </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">I folded my hands in a prayer gesture and bowed to the driver. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">It is what people in Thailand would do. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">And everyone can get the meaning of it, no matter what language. </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">We look at each other again laugh and drive off.<br />
<br />
A Vietnamese friend wrote:<br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Because you are a foreigner. If it was me, he would have yelled the hell at me - Ph</span> <br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Why do we worry about things that are totally unlikely and yet we all brave the much more dangerous daily traffic in the cities ? </span> </div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"></div><div style="background-color: #cccccc; color: red; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02204197806412303869noreply@blogger.com0