In Absentia

And my Masters Graduation was on the 27th, yeah me. They wouldn't go for the whole satelite link up thing so there just going to post it out to my mums house.

Anniversary

Forgot to mention this but my one year travel anniversary passed on the 16th. Since I left Sligo. No regrets.

256th, what a record

So little fact of the day

Cambodia is the 256th most corrupt country in the world. It sounds pretty bad considering there are only 280 countries on the list.

We did see a construction company burn down dozens of squats on the sea front the day before yesterday to make way for a new tourist resort, Its like an episode of Captain Planet over here and Mr Luthan Blundar is reigning supreme. I tried to let our powers combine, but unfortunately I wasn't blessed with super powers, so I had to let this one slide. Next time Luthan Blundar, next time.....

Buffalo theory

So I'm still in Serendipity, its a hard place to leave basicly because theres to much weed and its got far to much nothing to do. It rained pretty bad yesterday so I went for a bit of musical retail therapy, I came away very happy with my purchases, so happy I'm going to tell ye what I got.

Jose Gonzalez - Veneer
Xavier Rudd - Food in the Belly
Radiohead - Live at Glastonbury (2003)
Kanye West - Late Registration
Fabric.Live.26 - The Herbaliser
Goldfrapp - Supernature
Cat Empire - Two Shoes
Thievery Corporation - The cosmic game
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Boatmans Call
Bjork - Debut
Bjork - Post
Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
Cake - Pressure Chief
Cat Empire - Cat Empire
Charlatans - Wonderland
Dave Matthews Band - Crash
Postal Service - Give up
Ian Brown - Greatest
Lamb - Best kept secrets
Mars Volta - Francis the mute
Sasha - AirDrawnDagger
Ulrich Schnauss - Far away trains passing by
Stevie Wonder - Songs in the key of life #1
Fabric.Live.09 - Slam
Royskopp - The understanding
Blackalicious - Blazing arrow
DJ Premier - Crooklyn Cuts
Bill Hicks - Shock & awe

So that should be enough to keep me happy for the next couple weeks. I'm definitely going to leave here tomorrow for kampot and before I go I gotta say "Oii" to all the guys from the Bayon. Its like an episode of Cheers down there everynight, all the regulars sittin in the same seats we've been sitting in every night for the past 3, 4 or 5 nights, whatever it is. A wee beer and happy pizza, if only woody could be there.

Serendipity

I've given up on letting ye see any more photo's. This lovely (shithole) of a country hasn't exactly got fully wired yet. So no more photos of temples and all that, it just takes to much of my precious time. After Siem Reap I went to Phnom Penh and took some lovely photos of torture chambers, mass graves, land mine victims and just some general poverty. But I think its best to focus on the positive here, and not but up any photos of that stuff. I also went to a shooting range but wasn't able to do it. Probably because I just been to a mass grave where people where bludgened (what a word) to death to save on bullets, I didn't think it would be fair to start farting around with an AK47. So as the shepard said to the sheep, I left Phnom Penh to hit the beaches again.
Right now I'm staying at a beach called Serendipity. The name of this beach obviously was not invented by a Cambodian. But its a pretty fricking cool place, kinda a cross between Nimbin and Koh Phanang (see previous blogs for where the hell these places are). The cops are the drug dealers around here, or at least they supply the locals, and every local is a drug dealer. So much like Nimbin its cool as fuck to light up anywhere and at anytime. Its also like Koh Phanang where there are a few beach bars. Except its a Thailand time warp, like Koh Phanang 15 years ago, not overly developed just yet. Just nice food, a few beers and a spliff under a palm tree for about €6. Can't complain to much, the problem is I could get stuck here cause I want to get stuck here. And my room is ensuite with full cable €3. I gotta stop rubbing it in, its pretty sweet.
Downside..... its rainy season. So probably won't be coming home with much of a tan, I was hoping to come home half Drewed, but ain't going to happen.

Angor Wat

I've got over a hundred photos of this place. It really is a fantastic place but I'm going to have to find a decent internet cafe before I can but them up. I didn't get laid or anything there i just had a good ol vertical time.

So went to the temple for 2 days, the first day I went with Lee & Brenda for sunset. But I'll start with sunrise the next day. It pissed rain until 5a.m after this I cycled through the water logged streets just for the oppurtunity to see this...

I feel it was worth it, you only get to do these type of things once so I decided to do it right. As you can see there is no-one else in the photo. There was pretty much no-one else there when i got there. So I climbed to the top of central pyramid of Angor Wat to get a good seat for sunrise. I sat hear for an hour taking it all in. Its quite the nice place really. Such an impressive piece of history in such a shit hole of a country. It but's Glendaloch to shame really.

Made it out of Thailand

Heres my first glimpse of a new country, the Cambodian border.


and here is the first scam Artist I met in Cambodia, it wasn't a bad scam, our bus conviently broke down on our way to Siam Reap, which meant we ended up arriving tired and late at night. We drove right through town and convieniently ended up at his mates questhouse. Only a small scam, nothing serious but I still went back to the place I asked him to drop me off at. The funny thing this scam is given in lonely planet so we were all ripping the piss out him on the way knowing exactly what was going to happen. The americans thought it was all absolutley disgraceful, I just laughed it off, just glad I didn't take it all that seriously. Thai people rip you off with a frown on there face, Cambodians do it with a smile on thier face. So far I like Cambodia more than Thailand, I think I'm all thailanded out. And heres a photo of one of the local kids that kept pestering the americans, they couldn't handle it and got really pissed off. Seeing them get pissed off made me more and more comfortable with the kids. They were only kids for fuck sake. Oh yeah server keeps failing so I'll but up photos tomorrow. 3 days later heres the photos

Freaky ehh!!!!

Buddist philosophy

For those of you who follow buddhism and believe in re-incarnation this here is John Lennon

Spot the ladyboy

Heres the lads that lived beside me, Alan and Matt on the right, I think one of them might be a ladyboy. You don't meet that many ladyboys from Tipperary or Sheffield. The guy in grey is moving to Melbourne at the end of this month so if theres any room left in 28 grey let him in. He's from sheffield and I've party tested the guy and he passed with flyin colours. The chick on the left is Anna who I done my Thai massage course with, whos a lucky boy then. This just your standard night in Koh Phanang drinking buckets on the beach, its endless, every night, I had to run away by the end.

That there is one of the barmen from the Island showing off his magic trick that he can swallow a whole lime. After my experience with a steak sandwhich I wouldn't risk it. That island changes people, there are some fucked up people working the bars. One of the guys from Drop Inn bar told me he had 5 self done peircings through his cock. But he took three of them out because it hurt to much during sex. Of course it hurt, fucking lunatic. he wanted to so me but I declined the offer. I think he was the first genuine masochist I've ever met. He spent a year in prison because he told me he likes pain. Thats the only reason he gave me.
And this is me fire twirling, I wish, someday I will be as good as this, not by burning man but hopefully by then I'll be able to do enough not to look like a complete retard.

Full moon

This everyone is a the full moon, not to impressive on my camera but Koh Pang nang is all about the party. I didn't bring my camera out because I knew I just get to fucked and lose it. And I did get really fucked and I would have lost it, so I'm glad I didn't it out. A few photos might help me remember what happened that night, cause I still don't have a clue.

Adios Thailand

Finally leaving Thailand tomorrow morning. My bus to Cambodia leaves at 8.30. Sometimes I really like it here and sometimes I just feel desperate to be anywhere else. I miss home, but most especially I miss my friends. I've only really been travelling on my own for 3 or 4 weeks now, but sometimes its been really tough. Sometimes just depressing, But I will get through this shitty time. I think I'm averaging at getting robbed once a week now. I've lost pretty much all my fate in the Thai people, some where great, such as Yan. Tim turned out to be a wack job. And everybody else treats me like a walking wallet. Its just not nice to feel uncomfortable in these surroundings, I'm getting paranoid of the places I stay. I fairness last night I stayed in a $3 dive in Bangkok. But I slept on my two most important possessions, my passport and my MP3 player. This morning I thought of going home but instead I just booked my flight form LA to Dublin for 9th of september. Here's a list of the people I look forward to seeing most.

Dave and Ian, hope you know I love you to bits
Dara my best friend for geographical reasons only.
Sally the best friend I made in Oz
Doug I'd love to share another Singha with ya
Phil, Eoin, Amazing and Basha. loved living with ye.
Bean and Cathy, there is nothing I would like more than to stick my finger up your arse and give you a bear hug, respectively.
Bob, Fearon, Stevey, Drew, paul, piko, dixie, bambini, phelo, carly, T-man etc. etc.
And of course my family, who do not know this website exists, and bro if you tell mum, I'll try my best to kick your 6'2" arse.


This feels like an Oscar acceptance speech, anyone I left out I love ye too, sorry about that. But I don't even think anyone looks at this website so what the fucks it matter. Sorry for putting up a depressing post, we all have our ups and downs. Think I need a week long detox in Angor Wot, maybe its the fucking pills making me all emotional again. Once again, never again. We've all said it at some point. This one will last at least until september.

Qualified massuese

So I finished my course in Thai massage and I've got the cert to prove it. Learned in Chakra Massage school, some of the shit that goes on there you could call eastern medicine but you wouldn't believe some of the shit I've seen. Anyway heres me massaging Yan's foot with my elbow, this is they guy who tried to cure my mums artheritis when she called me during a class. And yes she is still in Sligo, but he gave it a shot anyway, cause thats the kinda stuff he's world famous for. Anyway I still need some practice so if anybody is feeling a little stiff out there (dirty minded bastards), just give me a bell and I'll sort you out for the price of a banana and half a litre of milk. Only kidding thats way to expensive, I'll do it for free.

I also learned another little trick that I'm saving for when I get back. Queue evil laugh, wha wha wha.

Ger

You know you just cant run away from your past, at some point it'll bite you in the ass. Before I left home I worked with Ian in Alphyra, made up a bullshit story about going to work for Rolls Royce and lied to everyones faces for two weeks. Biggest lie I ever told. Anyway Ger the little lunatic that I used to sit beside in work walks past me as I'm sitting outside chakra massage. He's a funny little fucker, so ger being ger and me being me, we hit the mushie shakes. I would of taken loads of photos but the camera got the better of me and I couldn't work it. You couldn't capture what I was seing anyway. Here my attempt at taking a photo of a world cup game, trying to watch it was just ridiculous and taking a photo of it was even stupider. Actual I tried to load the photo but by the time it would have loaded on this piece of shit computer I'd be back in sligo. So maybe I'll throw it up another time. No wait here it comes now.

Now a little about Ger, he likes his drugs, a lot of people do. But Ger more than others, this has caused Ger to develop certain obsessive compulsive disorders. For example he cannot stand in his room without standing on a mat so he can wipe his feet. He will walk from one mat to the other continuously wiping his feet. He cannot wear a creased T-shirt. He has a one hour routine to go through before going out. And best of all he has a fear of sand. We took mushies on the beach, I'm not sure if you can understand how hilarious this was. Ger I fucking love ya and your crazy ways. I managed to get a shit photo up of Ger wiping his feet, these computers a f-ing shi&^%$^%(*

Me, Ger and Simon partied pretty hard on full moon night. Simon fucked off with two stuck up snobs from Perth and had sex with both of them. Pat on the back for Simon, while me and ger continued to substance abuse ourselves to the point that I don't have a clue what happened after 4 a.m. But Ger told me I was with him at 9a.m saying getting a bamboo tattoo is a great idea. So Ger off his tits, the tattoo artist pissed as a pissed goat on full moon, sat ger down for two hours and gave him his first tattoo. And it came out pretty fucking well. I'll be getting my next tattoo done in bamboo as well I think. But I have no recollection of this night and its pissing me off because it sounds like I had a great night.

It didn't hurt

Love is a burning thing
and it makes a firery ring
bound by wild desire
I fell in to a ring of fire...

I fell in to a burning ring of fire
I went down,down,down
and the flames went higher.
And it burns,burns,burns
the ring of fire
the ring of fire.

The taste of love is sweet
when hearts like our's meet
I fell for you like a child
oh, but the fire went wild..

I fell in to a burning ring of fire.....[etc]

Black moon party

Lucky Winner

On the way back into the Land of Thai's I got to sit beside this young Buddist monk named Ching Choo or something like that, apparently it means lucky winner. He asked me what my name meant and I didn't have a clue, eekk. I asked him what he got up to in Kuala Lumper, he said he didn't like it "much pressure, I like temple, I like mountain". What a legend, just sitting around his temple chillin out.
I was going to ask him if was going to go to the full moon party, but I think that was going to be a no. But I came up with a plan to head to a temple with some liquid MDMA and slip it in his tea. Fuck enlightenment, these monks need to get fucked up. Next year they'd be in Ibiza giving it socks.

The PC word for Chineese is "Chinks"

So after too much beer, drugs and general madness with the Lapino Heat I went to Kuala Lumper, think I said this already. Home of the worlds second tallest building. What bullshit, the second tallest building, some of those sneaky chinks in Shagha-gofuckyourself decided to build one bigger. So I was left to be impressed by #2.

In fairness it is quite amazing, its the most un-natural, out of this world, George Orwell thing I've ever seen. Bottom line is that we've come a long way as a human race to be able to build something like this, deep ehh, to deep? No, this thing is impressive.

New phone too, bling bling yo

My aul mam, bless her soul, was worried about me. So out of the kindess of her heart she put a few euro's in my account so I could by a phone. And true to my word I bought that phone, (no photo of it though). The number is

+66 ehh wait a minute til I get the box, oh yeah here it is
+6695887167

So feel free to throw me a texty, my other phone got stolen in Oz and O2 shut down my online account because a year of not giving the bastards any money, thats understandable I suppose. So I don't have anybodies number any more. I'm also travelling solo and missing having a few buddies around so a wee text will be more than well appreciated.

4 is my lucky number

There a lot of bullshit going around about 3 being a lucky number, well its not my lucky number. I just had camera number 3 stolen off me during a night of general tomfoolery in Koh Samui. So I've now got camera number 4, a good solid number, some might even say 2 squared. 3 is no good, for one it sounds silly when Irish people say it, there are 3 charmed sisters and there where 3 superman movies. So 4 is my new lucky number.

Here is the very first photo I've taken with it,