Posts by Blake Monkley
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Just learn 'no' or "I'm not interested' in the local language and never look anyone in the eye. or be polite about it. Your, western, not wanting to be rude is what touts and hawkers rely on. And never, ever, discuss, talk to, or say 'maybe later'. It works pretty much anywhere in Asia.
Tidak Mau, got me some street cred from the sharks in Indonesia , thanks to Simon.
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I hear there's a seaside town in South Cambodia where the child prostitution is even more obvious.
You might be talking about Sihanoukville. The place was full of predators and misfits like Gary Glitter.
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Nothing to do with the neighbourly feelings about Israel, then?
I think she was critical of nations and militant groups towards Israel.
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Here is a viewpoint from a Lebanese friend (works for the UN) who explained how she saw the conflict. It certainly given me a lot to ponder about the complexity of the situation in the Middle East.
I believe many people, in the West as in the Arab world, cannot see the forest for the trees. Let's start by a fact: Israel has dispossessed the Palestinians of their land, has engaged and is still engaging in ethnic cleansing, and is a country designed for perpetual wars with its neighbours precisely because of its practices. That is a given. Israel, learning from the lessons of the holocaust, will stop at nothing to defend its citizens from real or perceived dangers. Put a pin on that for a minute. The Arabs know that about Israel, but the new player in the region, the one that is planning to be the regional player by replacing the Arabs and speaking in the name of the Umma of Islam, is threatening Israel with obliteration, and using its proxies and mercenaries in our region to make the case. Iran. The mullah regime of Iran is not only oppressing its own citizens.Iran is also funding militants in the Arab world (Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon) to attack Israel and the US to score political points for Iran. It has one major puppet doing its work in the Arab World which is Syria-low on cash and economy in tatters-currently bankrolled by Iran's petrodollars (which are happily on the decline thanks to the global recession).In 2006, when the pressure on Iran was up due to its nuclear plans, hezbollah crossed the blue line, went inside Israel, kidnapped two soldiers and killed several others, starting the Lebanon invasion by Israel. The same scenario is now unfolding. The French have issued a new report on Iran, based on independent intelligence, estimating nuclear arms capacity to be reached in 2010. Suddenly the truce in Gaza is broken by Hamas, another Iran proxy, and rockets were lobbed into Israel. Remember the pin? We, including Hamas, know Israel will react as usual, so why take Gazans as hostages and use them as fodder for Iran's war machine?
All the players involved are using civilians in Palestine as currency in their war games. Hezbollah, who, along with Amal movement and the Syrian forces in Lebanon were responsible for the siege of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon in the eighties, is now the defender of Palestine. Syria, whose leader, Assad the first, also bombed Palestinian refugee camps to oblivion in the eighties when Arafat decided to extricate himself and the Palestinian cause from Assad's grasp, and again used Palestinian prisoners from Syrian jails to start a camp war in Lebanon against the Lebanese army (Nahr el Bared camp fighting two years ago). Yes, Israel is using indiscriminate and ferocious force to kill Hamas militants and civilians who happen to be in the way (Hamas leadership are most likely hiding in tunnels under hospitals as Hezbollah leaders did in Beirut), so why use the citizens of Gaza as human shields to gain legitimacy internationally? Hamas are just mercenaries, paid and armed by Iran.
If we are to place blame for what is happening, Israel has never changed in its disregard for Palestinian human life, so it is always guilty of breaking every Geneva convention that was ever written, but we should not forget Iran and its proxies in terrorist activities that are happening in the Middle East (remember bombing Iraq's civilians in hospitals, schools, mosques, and markets? Where did the militants cross from and who armed them? Any recollection of the US strike in Syria's AbuKamal region recently? Syria and Iran have been arming foreign militants and sending them to Iraq to fight the US with Iraqi civilians torn to bits. The World should not forget the Iran and Syrian regimes' part in this sad slaying of the Palestinian people. They, along with Israel, are accountable. -
so I could check out Angkor Wat, archeological wet dream of mine
I travelled by 4WD from Aranyapathet / Poipet Border to Siem Reap in 98. I remember being literally awestruck by the magnificence and grandeur of Angkor Wat. The Khmers have certainly influenced all the civilizations that followed in its wake in that region. I hope it lived up to expectations for you.
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Get the calculator out.
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On a related point, it's been very interesting to see the Australian cricketing public really get behind the RSA side.
I think part of that has to do with Warne and Smith playing in the same 20/20 side in India. I remember when Warne side won the Indian tournament , he had a new-found respect for Smith, which was reported in the Australian newspapers
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When a few of us (Blake come in) drove thru Malaysia in June, we saw some beauties, not least of which was an old British one (those are the best..I think it was the repeated viewings of A Hard Days Night when a lad) in Ipoh, which now served a dual purpose as a brothel, which I guess was handy for some.
The railway stations that we visited in Malaysia had that charming old-world feel. To have a brothel at the Ipoh station was a shame.
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I was also relieved to discover a bit later on that wine came in flavours that weren't sweet and fizzy, and that there was life beyond Liebestraum.
So glad as a nation we have moved on from Cold Duck, Blenheimer, Mateus, Liebestraum and Chasseur etc. Although I have to thank the orange cask for getting me laid for the first time.