Expresso Kamuchea

[tan]

Naw, Dai,
the end of the world is definitly ...as PC our indian chef says: three more steps and you just fall of the world...
try a shopping day in pp, like the one i had:
the beginners in cambo are always recognisable by the words: 'well i just go and buy,...',
here you don't just go, here you just start searching, and maybe, just maybe you find something close to what you actually need.
most of the day went ok, only the hope of hospotting was defied by : well i had the card but they would not sell me the program disk to go with it. when i complained, they wanted more money: well in six years of living here , this was the first time i ever, ever yelled at a khmer. but oh, did i let fly. didn't help any of course....and hope this will be the last time i ever do so...
tomorrow i'll have to hit the military market.. alone. hope they have parachutes, they should as our air force is comprised out of only one helicopter left..(the rest fell down) Gloria: depends of how many chutes went down with the heli's...'
well, two more days and i'll be back in my backwater, the big city is definitely not my natural habitat..
after: printer t-shirts, printer fliers, russian market, adapting computerfiles, ordering sunhats, ordering meat and herb supplies, going to the bank (1hr), taking pics of pp for you guys, making deals with other guesthouses and running mine by phone after my phone, (loudspeaker broken) was fixed, trying to get hotspot working, paying suppliers all over town, i'v had it kinda...

[Schmeelkie]

OK - here's a little feedback for you:

Earlier you mentioned putting together a dictionary of 'expatois'. Sounds like a great idea. From someone with little talent with languages, I'm fascinated with the way English is different everywhere you go. As they say about us and the British - two peoples separated by the same language. I love eavesdropping on people with accents (different from my own - NY-ese) - knew a woman from Nigeria once - I could listen to her talk all day... Neither my husband or I have any fluency in any other language (except maybe 'toddler' now), so when we planned to leave the continent for our honeymoon we ended up in Ireland - because they speak English. Well, they do and they don't - but great fun figuring out stuff. One night in particular, we ended up in a pub with the locals liberally mixing in Gaelic with their English - just sounded great, but couldn't tell what they were talking about.

Also, once did a cruise in the Caribbean - each island has it's own patois based on who lived there - some islands went back and forth in ownership between the Brits, French and Dutch more than once - so it's all mixed in. Fun!

[RC]

I have been really preoccupied lately and am taking a few minutes to pop in and tell you that I've been here all along reading and perusing your photo gallery.

TERRIFIC!

Quality entertainment/education and free!!
I feel I've taken advantage.

Thanks Tanja

[tan]

thanks, guys,
pp is a madhouse, or maybe i'm just t

went to the russian market- yet once more:got a beautiful wooden ghanesha- the elephant headed hindu good. of humor and wisdom, allways liked the guy, but will have to reread his story in the hindu mythology...
talking about language, Schmeelkie: did you know that the word pijama comes from the hindi and means something like pant suit, as opposed to sarong or dhobi, that were and are still widely worn...
i have irish friends that have lived in pp for a long time. they have son, turlok, means thunder in gaelic, he was born in 97, during the fighting.
at home they speak english, gaelic, and khmei. Now the really special thing: he goes to chinese school, so he learns everything through chinese. ..
these days pp is an obstacle course: exams in the schools. the schools are watched by armed police, ak 47's very much in evidence:the reason. The khmers have the wholesome habit of cheating in the exams. this is the way it works. dumb bulb takes a rock into classroom. when he does not know an answer, he writes the question on a piece of paper, wraps it around the rock, throws it out of the - glassless- window. outside a lesser dimb bulb will write down the answer, wrap it around the the rock, throw it back into classroom. every year there are a lot of wounded, even dead teachers and students...
so the police triews to stop that well established tradition, it helps some, not much..
see ya

<small>[ 08-11-2005, 04:00 AM: Message edited by: tan ]</small>

[Trumpetmaster]

Tan,
I don't normally chime in on this thread. I do read through it and wanted to let you know I appreciate what you have been sharing with us.
Thanks!
TM

[NateBrei]

I, too, am a faithful reader. I've read & enjoy every post. However, I've never posted on this thread myself because I have nothing to add. Just know that I'm learning alot and finding it all fascinating. Thanks.

Nate

[DavidS]

Originally posted by NateBrei:
I, too, am a faithful reader. Just know that I'm learning alot and finding it all fascinating. Thanks.

Nate

I second that. Even if I've said it before, I'll say it again: The perspectives I gain from Tan make me more tolerant (and probably tolerable ) and compassionate.
Great work!

<small>[ 08-11-2005, 09:30 PM: Message edited by: DavidS ]</small>

[tan]

Thank you so much guys for posting!
this actually gives me the stamina to write on...
the last days have been trying, and the next week will be even more so. for me this is a way to let off steam...( once i tried a shrink, she fired me as i am a survivor anyway,and she 'could not relate to my life')
today last shopping in pp, taxi drive home- nerve wrakking as usual, especially if you drive with rather breakable anitques- and not so antiques...though also breakable...
well the load made it home in one piece!!!
Well, i told you about the ghanesh: we looked it up the khmer story up in the galioke- a kind of legend book, buddhawise: (sometimes rather raunchy...) turns our, my ghanesh actually qualliefies a the house buddha, according to khmei custom. we all love him anyway, as soon as i get more pic allowance i' ll show him to you.
coming home is always great,but there will always also be an accumulation of peole who are looking for you. today it was interpol- none the less
(the reeincarnedted jesus from an earlier post and some ' ladyboy' who i do not even know. sicced them on to me....
and yes i am partial to some info, but wanted to comfirm it first.... hey i am what is called a (expatois ) cambo dino..spell survivor... and yes i
have a few connections.. was gonna check on wednesday.... so i prepared for a wild night of pp boozing; get a few z's. eat a big greasy meal.. take preventive paracetamol...and off you go. one beer an hour no mas. fisrt a few social calls, fcc,hurely, and my very old and dear friend Snow ( aussie, white, born in rhodesia,, hence the name)- the dino crowd... but my end goal is the heart of darkness.. of course i enjoy a visit in snow's bar, more than anything, so i stay a while, sticking to my on beer an hour rule... 5 hrs, 5 beers. normallly it wont' put even a dent into me brains or body... then i figure it is time fot he heart. i get up: my legs fail...(have an appointment at the heart.. but no go. litterally) our night dops are used to balance us on bikes drunk and pour us into our respective guesthouses. my fellow boozers remark: we 've known us for 12 years, we know how youse get drunk,.. whatta goes on...( i do not take drugs)
i go back to my guesthouse... and am not drunk, just i can not walk...
today i had breakfast at the fcc: the cambo dreary headline: shootout at the heart, one dead on dance floor... and i would have been right there, at that time. on the dance floor. bad scene, what, who, protected me.. i do not know. guess me number not yet up... still, strange...



<small>[ 08-12-2005, 10:05 AM: Message edited by: tan ]</small>

[Shapley]

Tan,

Glad to hear you made it home safe. Looks like you've got a guardian angel looking over your shoulder, or at least kicking your legs out from under you. Maybe he was a bouncer in an earlier life.

V/R
Shapley

<small>[ 08-12-2005, 10:27 AM: Message edited by: Shapley ]</small>

[Shapley]

I see you have a new citizen-celebrity in Cambo:

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=198756

Not that I care, I just saw the article and thought I'd post it. I suppose she used the jungles of Cambo for the "Tomb Raider" movies. I saw the first one but couldn't pull myself to go the second.

V/R
Shapley

[tan]

Shap,
we really do not know what or why... the neighbout hood's theories varie:
bob:.. have the good spirtit on heart' shoulder
vibol: you mom
thidA: IS MR. SIMON, WILL YOU BLIEEVE ME NOW...
simon... a story so close to our hearts; a few years ago he came for a few days. he was writing a book at the time, he stayed a year. we all loved him, he was smarter than any of us, helped everybody just the very best. a true true friend. still hard for us to talk about him. in the end he moved to cambo.got a house. helped everybody: made movies for the grass root movements, the only ones that help the people here, taught english and computer- for free- to many khmer kids, became a partner in the corner bar
and then we found him dead in his house...
sorry this still cuts too close to tell all...
guess the srory not ready yet, no more electricity, a cow ran -yet again over our cables... running outta batteries,,,

<small>[ 08-12-2005, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: tan ]</small>

[Shapley]

The more I read, the more I'm convinced there are angels aplenty in Cambo. Devils, too, unfortunately.

[tan]

Shap,
still got somme batteries: tomb raider.. eekis, but it packed the touriste in. am too old for that kinda flic, but, yesterday i made some people pics in pp.will send two tomorrow: matt dillom made amother bad ome om us..( he' s p..off at me because when he bruuhaaa! sat at the bar next to a friend and me at the fcc he : do you know who i am. -no..( admitted we were inna foul mood)- he i'm making a movie about cambo. so i sais : what's it gonna be apocalipse two, ot the killing fields the musical...
in the end it was city of ghosts.prerty bad, but...the characters are based on some people that you will meet tommorrow, my time, evening yours,,
as in download.. have no lights, only computer/ batteries and internet batteries idem...
excuse,even for master of typo like me.. have no lights, wind too strong for candle or oil lamp....

<small>[ 08-12-2005, 11:25 AM: Message edited by: tan ]</small>

[Shapley]

tan,

I take it the drenching rains have abated. I see that your neighbors across the gulf in Malaysia are praying for rain to quench the haze that apparently is coming from forest fires in Indonesia. Are you affected by any of that, or is it all to the south of you?

V/R
Shapley

[BigJon@Work]

I love your stories, but I get confused by the cast of characters sometimes. And some of them sound like real characters. Who or what is fcc? I tried searching on the name in your posts and came up blank.

Also, I don't want to be insensitive, but it was not clear. Was Mr. Simon murdred?

BigJon

[tan]

Shap,
yes, we have one of those respites that allow us to marginally dry out, for a few days,then it will start up again.the rains in malaysia area bit later than ours.luckily we do not get their fire hazes, we have our own in april, when the elephant grass has to be burned down. - to keep down snake population...
no, Simon he was not murdered. probably a heart attack
,- at 39. (sill awfull: imagine packing your best friend in loads of ice, roll him in a tarp,rent a pickup and have big mark and john drive him to pp where the only cool room for bodies is.)
(we have to deal with bodies on a regular base, it is when its friends when gets too us)
David, i'm working on a fotoalbum with all the characters. Alex, my partner in the trekking business (German)
finally arrived. as soon as he recovers from his jet lag and gets properly settled in, we get to work on the photohosts...(free site pirates, we joke)
FCCC: foreiggn corrospondents club cambodia on sisowath quayin PP
The heart (heart of darkness) famous nightspot in PP, where the shooting took place, not the first one, bye the way...
lanzi:our butcher (also german) came as aa medic, is now a butcher also referred to as the sausage king, lives in pp
as does Snow, one of my oldest friends here, met in '92-we think.
Hurley,(american) owns the cantina bar on sisowath quai. Is also a producion manager for just about every film that gets shot in cambo..lives in pp, when not filming in some godforsaken piece of jungle
dec, does security,(pp)
adam: owns and publishes the bayon pearnik, our expat monthly:maybe you can find some of that on the net.
Gloria; our GP and hero
sebastian, also a prodution manager, friend of hurley, great guy, can just about cite any text from richard the third to alice in wonderland to Ginsberg.( very practical in a place of very few books)
Gordon ownes the coffeshop downtown snookyville.
little max, Mad- his wife and emily their little daughter, own Ying yang guesthouse.(in snooky)
the russians; own the snakehouse.(snooky)
bob: my manager
Vibol: his wife
Buon,their 6 month hold son
Bot, vibols sister (works as our chef's assistant)
Pa and ma:bob's parents, who addopted me
Mr jay,my dop
Sam and ritchard, and saric their 2 year old my neighbours
The bayon family, als our neighbours.
Corner bar:big mark's establishment (in snookviille)
Thida, his cassiere
Tim, a kiwi and former pilot: owns Danny's bar a few houses down, from us great neighbour to have
Pim and Wilma: just opened a guesthouse near my home great guys too-(dutch)
as soon as the sun coms up - and i have enough light i will start getting some pics on the net...
almost forgot:
chicago joe, used to work for us, owns a restaurant in kratie now,called red sun falling down- spoke to him two days ago,he promised to write a piece or two for this site...



<small>[ 08-12-2005, 07:14 PM: Message edited by: tan ]</small>

[tan]

oeps, something stupid happened, so just to get this eyesore off the topics...

[tan]

..talking about movies over cambo, there is allways one crew or another filming here: the two brothers
(about two tigers, nice even for kids- but makes tigers look a bit harmless. well they ARE NOT! All these tourists whining 'i wannasee a tiger!'(in the wild..)- believe me you don't. take a good look at the zoo and think again..)
Then there is matt dillon's 'city of ghosts', not a masterpiece, about those days in the wild east, when the untac left the tourists came and the civil war went merrily on for yet a while...
but if you have time, and feel like it, rent it, there are a memorable performance or two, and bokor looks quite good.
This picture shows my friend snow. we met -in '92 i think, when i visited cambo first, - at the old restaurant of the capitol guesthouse-under a table behind a pillar: we had to dive for cover because of a shootout. we' ve been friends ever since. he plays a drunken expat in a brothel. was supposed two beat up the chinese 'papa san' and-did so. after messing up two extras, matt took him aside
de to show him how to' filmhit' somebody. snow saw matt's fist coming and promptly kneed Mr. dillon.(saw the photo, quite funny)


<img src="http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-7/1050924/smow.jpg" alt=" - " />

Next pic is of the 'general'. he does not speak, lost the plot somwhere along the wars...But still fullfills his 'duty'. as you saw before rush hour traffic on sisowath quay is quite spetacular: on cometh the general -to 'direct' it. the results are cecil b.de mille gone bad. fabulous!!! we all love him. Matt got him to play a-not so very bit- part. together with gerard depardieu, who gives a very good performance of a well known bar owner.
the general- to this date never had a clue he is in a movie (how sebastian and hurley coached him is a mystery to us). the sunglasses are a leftover prop from the film, hurley did not have the heart to take them back

<img src="http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-7/1050924/general.jpg" alt=" - " />

here the general is having a coke with us, a wellcome break from 'sorting out' the traffic,especially for the police...

this is another common sight on sisowath, the effects of agent orrange, what else are these poor sods to do but beg. the wheelchair is not for show,they all look that way here. felt ashamed to take pic, and did so on the sly, but it is another aspect of this country....


<img src="http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-7/1050924/agent2.jpg" alt=" - " />

[tan]

HELP LADIES!
that our third wolrd beauty aids aren't exactly state of the art should be obvious by now! in an un-characteristic attack of vanity i bought wax strips in pp...(should have tried them on bikini line first, ok blame me)..followed instructions, ok, moustache gone, great. but now a layer of wax instead,
instructions says: rinse with the water and pat dry.... no go.. any suggestions???
thanks!you may laugh!!! :confused:

[DavidS]

Hey Tan, do I read you properly? Are you of the female persuasion? Otherwise why would you want to depilate your upper lip?
No laugh - just confused :confused: :confused: :confused: