Well, here it goes again.
Today, it is raining on and off all day long; actually, the monsoon is pretty big this year. I have been here since August 1st. and it has been raining quite a bit. The storms at night can sometimes have a high wind and pretty heavy downpour. I no longer sit in my place afraid to go out in the rain; I pick up my umbrella and stick pretty much to my daily routine.
So far, this visit has broken down to staying in 2 places: Victory Hill and Serendipity Beach. I have more friends over at Victory Hill; but the beach here at Serendipity is pretty nice, but I am pretty much on my own. I have a large room that is quite tastefully done so I like it. I liked staying at the Blue Frog until I was attacked by this crazy Rasta guy from Sweden who wanted to party all night long and thought I was a fuddy, duddy old lady that he wanted to run off of the property. Well, he did and I am glad of it. I liked Olof and Dyanne, my Cambodian helper; but could not take it from the Rasta guy.
So, this trip to Cambodia continues to be pretty much still on the same track of running into this hostility that comes out of no where and
I have to stop now.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Saturday, Set. 27th, 2008: Sihanoukville, Cambodia
OK, here goes and I am going to try for a little more.
I have finished The Open Road by Pico Ayer. The beginning and the end were kind of slow and downplayed the future for Tibetans too much for my book. The middle, or the parts about Dharamsal were pretty good at capturing the essences and mood of the place. I have to agree with Pico that this is a special place for Tibetans as well as world travellers from the rest of the world.
Got to go.
I have finished The Open Road by Pico Ayer. The beginning and the end were kind of slow and downplayed the future for Tibetans too much for my book. The middle, or the parts about Dharamsal were pretty good at capturing the essences and mood of the place. I have to agree with Pico that this is a special place for Tibetans as well as world travellers from the rest of the world.
Got to go.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Friday, Sept. 26, 2008: Sihanoukville, Cambodia
Well, I am going to try again.
About Pico Ayer's book on the Dalai Lama, I think it is pretty good the way he talks about Dharamsala, the home of the exile Tibetans. But, this special little place in Himalchal Pradesh, India is also quite powerful in its dealings with me. I had a number of strange things happen there, like having $1000.00 taken out of my State Bank of India account by somebody using my ATM card that was supposedly hidden in my room at the Ketan Lodge. This means that somebody must have been going into my apartment on a regular basis and planned the theft. The police put up a good show but did nothing about getting the money back for me. This is something that I do not like about India at all, the corruption that is made to look like fatalism. At the bank all they could say was if it was done by my ATM card, there was nothing they could do to recoup any of the money.
Then, I get down to Delhi to leave to go to Kathmandu to get the Visa for India only to discover that I had been mislead by the Visa Officer in Pondicherry and had not really completed the foreigner registration on my 1-Y T Visa. The Visa Officer at the Delhi Airport said I was a cheat and a lyer and had not done anything at all the complete the required foreigner registration. I think they had been watching my activities in Dharamsala, especially some of the work that I was doing with traumatized monks and decided to stop it.
Stop for now.
About Pico Ayer's book on the Dalai Lama, I think it is pretty good the way he talks about Dharamsala, the home of the exile Tibetans. But, this special little place in Himalchal Pradesh, India is also quite powerful in its dealings with me. I had a number of strange things happen there, like having $1000.00 taken out of my State Bank of India account by somebody using my ATM card that was supposedly hidden in my room at the Ketan Lodge. This means that somebody must have been going into my apartment on a regular basis and planned the theft. The police put up a good show but did nothing about getting the money back for me. This is something that I do not like about India at all, the corruption that is made to look like fatalism. At the bank all they could say was if it was done by my ATM card, there was nothing they could do to recoup any of the money.
Then, I get down to Delhi to leave to go to Kathmandu to get the Visa for India only to discover that I had been mislead by the Visa Officer in Pondicherry and had not really completed the foreigner registration on my 1-Y T Visa. The Visa Officer at the Delhi Airport said I was a cheat and a lyer and had not done anything at all the complete the required foreigner registration. I think they had been watching my activities in Dharamsala, especially some of the work that I was doing with traumatized monks and decided to stop it.
Stop for now.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Monday, Sept. 22, 2998: Sihanoukville, Cambodia
Well, here goes for another try.
Now I am movedto the Serendipity Beach in Sihanoukville and it is quite a bit different from Victory Hill. For starters, I have an almost flat right on the beach so I can hear the sound of the surf and try to bring it into my meditation. I have been reading The Open Road, Pico Ayer's latest book on the Dalai Lama and guess what?, I have discovered that I most probably am a Tibetan Buddhist. I, myself, would have no difficulty keeping to the rules of the Dalai Lama; and, as a Teacher, I still think he is very good. For example, I am kind of an anxiety prone personnality, so this great and huge debale on Wall Street would have made me into a basket case, especially if I had stayed in Whiskey Creek. But, no, with the help of a spiritual mentor, I have been able to be quite composed and anxiety free. I do experience a certain kind of "centeredness"and this does seem to give some kind of stability and confidence to these traumatic days. Because, this is the very first time in my 66 year life that I have been free of financial trauma and turmoil, I am hoping that my financial security will continue. My own pension is not too small and not too big at the same time, but alot less than most of my friends are getting. Because of this, I feel more secure knowing that I only enough to have this life that I am having today and no more.
About the election, I am certainly for Obama/Biden. He, Obama, has never said a thing about what I asked in my letter to him about Hillary. He could not bring himself to let her be his VP, so he must have some bigger and better job in mind in his Administration. If I knew this for sure, I would vote for him.
Now I am movedto the Serendipity Beach in Sihanoukville and it is quite a bit different from Victory Hill. For starters, I have an almost flat right on the beach so I can hear the sound of the surf and try to bring it into my meditation. I have been reading The Open Road, Pico Ayer's latest book on the Dalai Lama and guess what?, I have discovered that I most probably am a Tibetan Buddhist. I, myself, would have no difficulty keeping to the rules of the Dalai Lama; and, as a Teacher, I still think he is very good. For example, I am kind of an anxiety prone personnality, so this great and huge debale on Wall Street would have made me into a basket case, especially if I had stayed in Whiskey Creek. But, no, with the help of a spiritual mentor, I have been able to be quite composed and anxiety free. I do experience a certain kind of "centeredness"and this does seem to give some kind of stability and confidence to these traumatic days. Because, this is the very first time in my 66 year life that I have been free of financial trauma and turmoil, I am hoping that my financial security will continue. My own pension is not too small and not too big at the same time, but alot less than most of my friends are getting. Because of this, I feel more secure knowing that I only enough to have this life that I am having today and no more.
About the election, I am certainly for Obama/Biden. He, Obama, has never said a thing about what I asked in my letter to him about Hillary. He could not bring himself to let her be his VP, so he must have some bigger and better job in mind in his Administration. If I knew this for sure, I would vote for him.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Monday, Sept. 15, 2008: Sianoukville, Cambodia
Well, I am going to give it another try. I have been in Cambodia since the 5th of August, with most of the time spent here in Sianoukville. This is the beach area but it is also a bar area. I don't know what to think, really, which could explain why I am taking so much time here. My first trip to Cambodia was a real thriller, full of lots of travel and visiting Angkor Wat and Phnom Penth and having a pretty good time. This trip is like the other side of the moon compared to the first one. It is full of negativity, rejection, change in plans and surprises every day. At first, when one comes here, one thinks that the recent and trajic history must be a colossal mistake and the civil war was not really a civil war. This I believe, it was not really a civil war, it was an aberration and a monstrocity that the succeeding days and months are trying to cover up and destroy. So, I don't know what to think. I would never say that all things are deserved because, in my own life, much of what I had to endure was not deserved; it was the result of ignorance and prejudice.
About the election in America, I have watched both of them from here in Cambodia. Two completely different Conventions. Of course, I was kind of taken off guard by Sarah
\
\
About the election in America, I have watched both of them from here in Cambodia. Two completely different Conventions. Of course, I was kind of taken off guard by Sarah
\
\
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
