My friend Estelle send me this... I like, maybe you like too.
in berlin
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at the center of the city i come upon a hill, at the top of which is a very large bird. i see it resembles an eagle. thought it's about 14 stories high, it's as docile as a rabbit. it's foot, i see, is tied to a stout nearby building. the rope used for this purpose is thick, the knot alone having the bulk of a cottage, or a pleasant bungalow. i see also, as night falls, that all over the miraculous bird there are windows from which the residents, framed in the warm yellow light of their domiciles, peer down into the street or out into the star-filled night. i suspect they are kept warm by the heat of its body, suspect also they lead precarious lives, as even the slightest movement, the lifting of a wing, would send their well-stacked dishes spinning into havoc. yet as long as i watch, the bird gives but one indication that it lives. when the wind blows with great force against its feathers, it seems to shift its weight from one leg to the other, and once or twice its enormous eye blinks like an eclipse.
---paul hoover
in berlin
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at the center of the city i come upon a hill, at the top of which is a very large bird. i see it resembles an eagle. thought it's about 14 stories high, it's as docile as a rabbit. it's foot, i see, is tied to a stout nearby building. the rope used for this purpose is thick, the knot alone having the bulk of a cottage, or a pleasant bungalow. i see also, as night falls, that all over the miraculous bird there are windows from which the residents, framed in the warm yellow light of their domiciles, peer down into the street or out into the star-filled night. i suspect they are kept warm by the heat of its body, suspect also they lead precarious lives, as even the slightest movement, the lifting of a wing, would send their well-stacked dishes spinning into havoc. yet as long as i watch, the bird gives but one indication that it lives. when the wind blows with great force against its feathers, it seems to shift its weight from one leg to the other, and once or twice its enormous eye blinks like an eclipse.
---paul hoover
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Today I'm in Siam Reap Cambodia, it's a town which lies on the outskirts of Ankor Wat. Ankor Wat is a collection of the biggest temples from the Khmer Reign. The aura and feeling when inside these temple is intense at the least, the knowledge of the past is almost overwhelming, unlike anything I have ever felt in any church or temple in the Western world. These temples are absolutely stunning, and words nor photos will do them any justice, so I will not try to.
It's the life of Cambodian peoples which strikes me almost as much as these temples.
As I type this I'm listening to Johnny Cash drone out over the potholed dirt street, where on the sidewalk limbless people beg for change. Both legs missing is common. The strife inflicted by the Khumer Rouge tore this country apart, killing most of the older generation. I've been in this town for 2 days and I think that I can count the number of people which I've seen who are over 40 on one hand. With no social security or governmental support of any means life is much different than anything at home. Struggle is often a word which comes to my mind and it makes me feel grateful, that merely by place of birth I have been blessed with so much.
But, at the end of the day, aside from a state of constant struggle and scraping to get by, these people are beautiful. Genuinely kind hearted people who have every right to hold sight and regret inside, but they are ones to live now. When my scarred faced tuk tuk driver (I'm assuming it was from the war) desicribed how he was in the army when he was 13, and how his brother died in the war, but that he is happy because now he has a tuk tuk and has almost paid his loan to the bank for it off; it really hits home, how much we have and what we are blessed with.
I'm off to Phenom Phen, the capital of Cambodia tomorrow!
Sorry if this was preachy... it didn't mean to be... just a little perspective i guess.
It's the life of Cambodian peoples which strikes me almost as much as these temples.
As I type this I'm listening to Johnny Cash drone out over the potholed dirt street, where on the sidewalk limbless people beg for change. Both legs missing is common. The strife inflicted by the Khumer Rouge tore this country apart, killing most of the older generation. I've been in this town for 2 days and I think that I can count the number of people which I've seen who are over 40 on one hand. With no social security or governmental support of any means life is much different than anything at home. Struggle is often a word which comes to my mind and it makes me feel grateful, that merely by place of birth I have been blessed with so much.
But, at the end of the day, aside from a state of constant struggle and scraping to get by, these people are beautiful. Genuinely kind hearted people who have every right to hold sight and regret inside, but they are ones to live now. When my scarred faced tuk tuk driver (I'm assuming it was from the war) desicribed how he was in the army when he was 13, and how his brother died in the war, but that he is happy because now he has a tuk tuk and has almost paid his loan to the bank for it off; it really hits home, how much we have and what we are blessed with.
I'm off to Phenom Phen, the capital of Cambodia tomorrow!
Sorry if this was preachy... it didn't mean to be... just a little perspective i guess.
Ant,
Mate hows things going? I was in siam Reap in December, bloody amazing place! I like reading about you travels and good to see you cought up with Rob and Hampton in Niseko. I dont get up the hills much anymore as i work for a Rugby League Club in Sydney. I do miss those days up on the glacier at Summer camp. Are you planing on heading to Oz again soon? we should try and catch up for wave.
Checkya.
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I just spent the last 20 minutes updating this blog and with one click, it's all gone.
So with this amended version of my update I will cut directly to the chase, no bullshit. No eloquent descriptions or imagery.
I was in an exchange program with my university in Vancouver (SFU). I lived and studied in Bangkok this fall and got credit toward my degree at home. School isn't for me right now... I knew it and spending the last month in NZ confirmed the fact.
So, I snapped and dropped out of school. Why would i come all the way across the world to be stuck in one city, Bangkok isn't nice anyway.
Now I get to go traveling.
Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Tibet, India.
i dont' know how my internet access will be, or my ability to post and upload pictures on the site, but i will be doing some type of documentation of my journies on here. At the least in a text format. So, if you can deal with my stream of conscious garble, then I'm sure, you are in store for some tales, as I'm about to get up to some. And those of you whom only want instant gratification from photo and video, if you read my posts over the next 2 months, I promise they will be interesting even if they're not instantly gratifying. But they might be worth your time, maybe, sometimes...
And give me some room for error, as i'm sure all these posts will be done against a internet cafe computer countdown clock.
Well that's it, one minute left on my internet cafe countdown.. and i'm hitting post...
Take care,
anthony
So with this amended version of my update I will cut directly to the chase, no bullshit. No eloquent descriptions or imagery.
I was in an exchange program with my university in Vancouver (SFU). I lived and studied in Bangkok this fall and got credit toward my degree at home. School isn't for me right now... I knew it and spending the last month in NZ confirmed the fact.
So, I snapped and dropped out of school. Why would i come all the way across the world to be stuck in one city, Bangkok isn't nice anyway.
Now I get to go traveling.
Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Tibet, India.
i dont' know how my internet access will be, or my ability to post and upload pictures on the site, but i will be doing some type of documentation of my journies on here. At the least in a text format. So, if you can deal with my stream of conscious garble, then I'm sure, you are in store for some tales, as I'm about to get up to some. And those of you whom only want instant gratification from photo and video, if you read my posts over the next 2 months, I promise they will be interesting even if they're not instantly gratifying. But they might be worth your time, maybe, sometimes...
And give me some room for error, as i'm sure all these posts will be done against a internet cafe computer countdown clock.
Well that's it, one minute left on my internet cafe countdown.. and i'm hitting post...
Take care,
anthony
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I've posted about Tiffany before but I'll do it again, because she's the best. Beautiful person and beautiful work.
Check out her interview here.
http://www.fecalface.com/SF/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=339&Itemid=92
Wish I could afford something by her...
Check out her interview here.
http://www.fecalface.com/SF/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=339&Itemid=92
Wish I could afford something by her...
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Rob...
You're the man. Thanks for making my day.
anthony
You're the man. Thanks for making my day.
anthony
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