Travel log- Cambodia pt 3

Not everyone I met in Cambodia was like Lou (from travel log pt 2) of course. A number of them are just plain ordinary. But sometimes it’s the ordinary ones that stay etched in your minds, mainly because they are always around- like the elderly lady that lives across from where you live (the one that you don’t actually know, but seem to be bumping into all the time). But we’ll save the celebration for the ordinary for another day- there are just too many weird people.

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It was in Phnom Penh that I met up with Ms. Starr. We got in touch through some mutual friend, and I wanted to drop by because I found her job rather interesting- a church worker. Now, when I first met her I thought to myself: whoa she’s quite a nut to be out here all alone. She must have an interesting story to tell, maybe a vision from God at the very least. So we had a good chat about life and the circumstances that led her to Cambodia (she’s not local). She told me these golden words: step by step. Then it dawned on me- her decision to head to Cambodia wasn’t based on a whim. It was carefully weighed and all possible outcomes were considered twice over. She counted the cost and decided that the price was right for the prize gained. It takes little to be mad without reason, but she- she wasn’t ignorant, not at all- she was mad, but with plenty reason. And all that madness leaked in the form of passion for the people around her. How does one not feel inspired? Deep inside, I think everyone yearns for a rational madness expressed in passion for something they desire/cherish. At that moment, I was jealous without a doubt. Jealous because I lacked that passionate madness that I wished so much for myself. Courage in the hands of rationality is a formidable weapon, as with a woman who’s given her life to God. Be inspired of course. Here are the words of Elliot who shared that same rational madness:

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. “

And that’s the maddest of the lot- Lou and Starr. Both mad in their own right, for different reasons altogether.

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I bumped into some other interesting characters, like the owner of the Blue Apsara bookstore. I didn’t get his name, but he was from Germany and he was selling some really cheap and good books. Most of his books were bookwrapped and two thoughts crossed my mind: his books weren’t selling and gathering dust, or that he must really love his books. It turns out it was neither. I bought a couple of books for about 5 USD each (which would’ve cost at least RM 50 at home) and headed back to my room. I unwrapped the books because I was really excited to read my newly purchased books and discovered that they were fakes- very well printed replicas of the original. I didn’t think it was lawful to sell cheap fakes, so I returned to the bookstore to take a photo of the bookstore and got myself another book. =)

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Whilst I was at the temples in Siem Reap, I met one of the temple wardens. I tried striking up a conversation just to be friendly. When I told him I was from Malaysia, he became really sad. I wondered why and he told me of his missing daughter who went to Malaysia to work. She’s been gone for two years and should be 19 this year. He fears that she’s been killed or kidnapped or made a sex slave. Her name is pronounced Hoe Nyat. It'll take a miracle, but if you come across her, please leave a message. I think you will make some people really happy.

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The final night in Siem Reap, I spent taking photographs. I was walking around in town when a lady approached me and asked if I was interested in fornication (not verbatim of course). I told her no and walked away and she gave me a playful punch on my arm (I later found out that she was a he from a bystander). I carried on walking in the town and I realized a motorcycle was following me. It was a teenager and he offered to bring me out for the night of my life- full body massages by beautiful Khmer women. I told him I just wanted to take photos and see the town but he was persistent and kept asking me: you don’t like women? How bout men?  You like men? Children? You like children? Sad that intimacy is now made a commodity that we trade around for money. There’s so much to be redeemed in relationships! That night, I gained much appreciation for purity and intimacy in relationships. 

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And that sums up my week in Cambodia. This on the other hand, is what I could listen to till the road leads me home. 

Stuff that I came across recently:

God is waiting for you to despair- "Lord, I cannot love and I give up trying, but I count on thy perfect love. I cannot forgive, but I trust thee to forgive instead of me, and to do so henceforth in me."

When God's will isn't clear- "..conformity to the world or to Jesus is most clearly seen in the pattern of decisions we make over time."

The macho messiah- "Want to see what real masculinity looks like? Look to Christ. Real men pray. Real men weep. Real men love. Real men are bold, but real men are also broken."

And behold! In the morning, it is always Leah.

Preaching Jesus from Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job- "I don’t think the wisdom literature is necessarily more difficult to interpret and preach than, say, 2 Samuel or 2 Peter; it is simply a less familiar genre.

The preeminence of Jesus is for everyday life-..it dawned on me that in the middle of such a mess is where I really live, and that Jesus wants it that way. This is where most everyone lives, and if the supremacy of Jesus doesn’t land on us here, in the mess of the everyday, then we’ll spend our days oblivious to its wonder.

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And here's something fun to watch.

But we don't actually need loudspeakers to say something nice.

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To all booklovers! THE BIG BAD WOLF SALE!! 75-95% off ALL books!! =)

Travel log- Cambodia pt 2

..I shambled after as I’ve been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everyone goes ‘Awww!’. –Kerouac

It’s always the mad ones that catch my eye- it’s the certain state of being of these souls that seems rather divine; not holy, but divine. I happen to chance upon some of them whilst in Cambodia and listen to me when I say that Cambodia filled with em’ maddies. God bless their souls, they sure made my trip a whole lot more interesting.

It was in Siem Reap that I met one of the maddest of em’ all. It was about noon and I just got to my room and there she was, lying in a hammock along the shared corridor listening to some reggae music. I nodded a greet (to which she nodded in reply) and retreated to my room to unpack and to rest. When I was finally done some hours later, she was still there listening to her music in the hammock along the shared corridor. So I said hi and she said hi and told me that her name was Lou. Lou-- sounds like a sweet name and you’d half expect her to be ladylike, prim and proper and meek and mild. But she had a nose piercing across her nostrils and she had short braided brunette hair that was tied up with a rubber band. I was beginning to suspect that she was a hippie (which she was as I found out later) but she lacked the common headband that they usually wear and she wasn’t holding a bong. She told me she was form Germany and she’s been travelling for 3 years through Australia and South East Asia. She looked rather young so I asked her what her parents thought about her travelling like that. She saw right through the question and told me that she was 25. She skipped university after one semester because she felt that she didn’t like the way life was laid out before her. So she gathered her savings and bought a ticket to Australia.

I told her that I was from Malaysia and she told me that she spoke fluent Bahasa Melayu which was rather surprising. Her story was even more surprising: Apparently she decided to go to Malaysia after a friend told her about a mystical guy who lived in the jungles in KKB near the dam. So she and a bunch of other friends, all eleven of them decided to buy tickets to Malaysia and head to KKB. Then, discovering that they had no idea where to find this mystic of theirs, they decided to get some food at a stall by the roadside. At the stall, they asked some locals where to find Antaraz (that’s his name), and as fate would have it, the locals knew exactly where he could be found. So all the eleven of them hopped on to 4-WDs and they head of into the jungle. Antaraz our dear mystic, had no idea who they all were and was totally shocked to find eleven hippies wanting to see him. But he was totally accommodating and they lived with him for 5 months in a rumah panjang.

Now, it could’ve been that her story was a whole load of hogwash, but at that moment in time I was rather awed ‘coz she really could speak the language (perhaps better than some of us city kids do) and that sort of lends her story some credibility. Then we talked about life in general and a whole lot of other stuff. Our conversation was interspersed with her deciding to pick dirt from her toe nails with her fingers and I found that kinda cool ‘coz it seemed to me that she wasn’t the type that tried to impress (and she also didn’t shave her armpits which I couldn’t help noticing because she wore a spaghetti strap top and made huge arm movements. that being said, it’s only cool if you’re a hippie. if you’re not, women, please shave your pits). She was biking to Phnom Penh the next day and I thought it’d be nice to have evidence of my encounter with a hippie. But it was totally uncool to ask a hippie if they have facebook (I think that might almost equal blasphemy in their eyes) and I didn’t dare take her picture so this is all the evidence I have. And that sums up what might’ve been my first encounter with a hippie (not a bum, they’re a different species). Of course, it’s equally possible that she’s just a travelling story teller.

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And what do you do with stories like this?

People ask me why I enjoy traveling and I don’t have one single answer. It’s the enjoyment that comes from a little bit of everything I guess- the sights you see, the people you meet, the food you eat, the sounds you hear, and (sometimes) the lack of it. I’m pretty sure it is closely related to the way God created us humans to be stewards of this earth. But I think stewardship is more than just being a tourist.

I’d love to see the world and I have deep respect for people who are willing to bet their ranch to this end. But don’t be fooled (and I say this mainly as a reminder to myself), living life only for this would be tragic. Real tragic.

A new voice

If you were given an option to change or not to change to world for the better, which would you choose?

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.

An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

And if I put as much thought into speaking as I put into solving math, I’d wield the power to change the world, one word at a time.

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I’ve been tremendously blessed to have friends who are very encouraging and thoughtful- I owe it to them for being the person I am today, God knows it’s true. I thank God for all of them. I, I’ve slept and rose in settlings of silver, ate apples of gold like a king, tasted choice honey from the honeycomb, lavished with words that don’t even cost a thing. Economically absurd. I gotta pass it on.

On Fellowship

Fellowship with em' family is so refreshing- spent the weekend with bros and sis' up in the mountains and it was bare mystical. Not in the zen mystics kinda way, but in the apostolic church kinda way. I thank God for ordaining that his body be encouraged through fellowship with other believers.

My faith, it seems to be a rather personal thing- not something that I share openly with others, even family. It's a pity that although I meet em' churchies every weekend I spend so little time dwelling on the things that mean quite a great deal to me. Uncle Langsir suggests that I be more intentional in having conversations about Christ. And who knows, others too might be just a tad shy. And you too, talk to me about Christ 'coz it takes two to tango.

Camerons

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Just been released and has been doing rounds in facebook- my favorite homeboys Decimal. They'll be opening for Jayesslee when they head up to Malaysia in October. Sure hope they'll make it big someday.