A first impression of Phnom Penh for any newcomer will likely relate to the traffic. Sitting at intersections beside trailers piled disproportionately high, their loads towering ludicrously into the sky, you may have fleeting images of death-by-crushing. Ladders stand tall on seats of motos between the back of the driver and the front of the … More Making Sense of Another World
It’s a five hour bus ride from Kampong Cham to Siem Reap. I was the only Barang on the bus which is a reasonably unusual experience, especially on a route to the very touristic town of Siem Reap. Seat 29 was my allocation but someone had already taken it. One of the many young men … More The Frangipanis Above Me: Part 2
In 2013 Angelina Jolie won a humanitarian award at the Governor’s Awards, which celebrate lifetime achievement in film, and form a part of the Academy Awards in Hollywood. Her heartfelt, at times tearful, utterly inspiring speech, started out acknowledging various people including friends and family. She then went on to honour her mother, who had … More The Definition of Success
Darwin mentioned the word love 95 times in the Descent of Man. He mentioned survival of the fittest twice. Five months ago, days after Paula’s major corrective surgery, Samantha and I left Seattle, bound for Phnom Penh. A week later I returned home to Australia. The last time Samantha or I saw her, Paula was … More Our Fields of Gold
Amazing hugs at Seattle airport from one mom to another who both had sick children. We come from different parts of the world. I am atheist and she is Muslim but the feelings are the same. Take that Donald! These words of elation captioned a very happy photograph the other night just after Karen touched … More Happiness Is….
Paula was discharged from hospital late last week. She remains in the US to be near the care she needs and because the surgeons don’t want to send her home to a place without running water until her wound, which may need further surgical intervention, is healed. But she is healing and becoming stronger by … More Keeping Up With The Chamericans
Most evenings I sit in a particular spot beside the Mekong River watching the evening cruisers go by on their variously populated motorbikes as I sip a glass of white wine. That’s a $2 luxury I can afford to spend on myself among the billions of other luxuries I take for granted in this lucky … More Dilemma of Departure
If you wait until you can do everything for everybody, instead of something for somebody, you’ll end up doing nothing for nobody. These words appear at the end of a short video currently doing the rounds on Facebook. In it, a young homeless man in a ripped t-shirt stands on a cold Manhattan street, holding … More “Just Stop”
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