Where did you get that t-shirt?

 

Earlier this week, I was running the lake front. I was wearing a t-shirt I bought in Cambodia. It has three elephants on the front and the word, “CAMBODIA” printed on the back in 300 pt font.

I notice most everyone passing me in either direction, and one guy was a brown Asian on a bike. Brown from daily sun, I would guess.

About five or ten minutes later, I look to my left, and there’s the man on the bike riding right next to me. His mouth is moving and he’s smiling. I can’t hear him, because I’ve got earphones in.

I look at him for a long second. What ran through my mind is his asshole was asking for money. I let him sweat it for a moment or two, but he seemed determined.

I pulled out my earphone and left it to dangle.

“How did you find, Cambodia?” the man said.

“Oh, yeah, gosh, it was great,” I said panting. I kept running. It was my 8-mile day. And this guy wasn’t going to change that. “Are you Cambodian?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. The little guy was at a seminar in Indiana, and he took a three-day trip to Chicago.

I asked him how his visit was, and he said, “I don’t know, this is my first day.”

A quick glance around showed that it was a gorgeous day and the city was soaking up beautiful warm sunlight. He obviously didn’t know that visually you can already make a judgement.

We talked for about a quarter of a mile before he finally said, “Okay, thanks for talking to me.” And we parted ways.

Oddly enough, when I wear my Cambodia t-shirt, I often wonder why more people don’t stop me to ask. I mean, who goes to Cambodia?

Not many people, right?

Gosh, I want to travel. Come on guys. Let’s go somewhere where they sell t-shirts with exotic names on the back.

 

 

How about that? I took a picture of you, if you were born somewhere else

Imagine if you were not born where you are now, and you were born as this woman on the island of Bali in Indonesia.

You would not have the same thoughts. You would not have the same wealth.

You should not have the same foundation of understanding about life.

So stop thinking you know everything. And rethink E V E R Y T H I N G.

 

Balinese Children

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Here’s a slideshow of shots I took of kids while in Bali.

I was able to get quite a few, and some of the shots are two frames of the same kid that I took zoomed in or out.

I could be wrong, or paranoid, but I felt that when I squatted down to take photos of kids, nearby adults would callout a warning for them to disband or walk away from me. It wasn’t callouts of panic. It was gentle words and the kids simply slammed the brakes on the cute.

For a few moments after squatting down, kids would attract toward me. But then suddenly, and unexpectedly, they would move quickly away.

I made up stories in my mind as to why. One thought was they didn’t want photographers “profiting” from their kids without giving something in return. “Stealing their souls,” I thought.

Or maybe they were seriously finished with their games.

This is going to sound all, “Did you know how poor kids are in third world countries,” but one group of kids —  that I didn’t get one decent shot of — was playing with a wad of tape. I kid you not. They were having a blast. It looked to be a mix between dodgeball and catch.

One other interesting bit is about the girl with her arm in a sling. I stopped my driver to take a photo, and I wandered onto someone’s yard (where the little puppy barked at me from Wednesdog). The girl with the sling showed up and I took her picture.

In the car, our driver told me some poor kids are made of glass. Which I took to mean that kids with inferior diets have brittle bones.

Before I left the little girl, I gave her a bunch of rupiahs, not knowing my driver would tell me that.

It made me feel a little less guilty for what may have been construed as trespassing.

Humpday Nooner: Gimme a mouth full of Nasi Goreng

If you ever find yourself with a Balinese menu in your hands, or a Balinese section at an Asian restaurant, I strongly recommend ordering Nasi Goreng, which is a Indonesian fried rice. Make sure to order it with an egg or two on the side, too.

The eggs seal the deal.

There’s also a noodle version of the dish, called Mei Goreng, which is equally great.

I had Nasi Goreng three times for breakfast during our nine days in paradise. It was so gee to the dee good.

We found two Balinese restaurants in Chicago that we’re going to try soon.

The above shot was from the most expensive hotel/villa we stayed in, which is why the presentation is about as classy as if my name were Bill Gates or Newt Gingrich or something.

 

Sleepy Balinese man

Moving through some of the images from the trip, I found this little gem of a man sleeping in a little Balinese style cabana.

Thought you’d like to see it.

The below image is an odd one, too. I caught this kid’s eye right as he was coming down with his little coconut machete knife. A little to the left, and the guy would be one thumb short of a pair.

Notice the little, non-sexual-in-any-way spurt that’s squirting from the coconut ball.

Two words why I abstained from blogging here while in Bali: Scaredy Cat

Just before leaving for Bali, I read a post over at Pharyngula that said an Indonesian secularist got into trouble by posting atheist thoughts on a Facebook page.

I reached out to you all and asked for recommendations.

To be fair, part of me wanted to blog while gone, but the other part wanted to take a break. I knew I wanted to blog pictures for my pro website, but possibly not here.

So when some of you recommended staying off, I thought it was validation enough to take a break. Then I asked if any of you wanted the blog while I was gone, and I was excited that George took to the call. He did a great job.

Check’s in the mail, Gee Dub!

Before leaving, my dad sent me a map and a movie about Indonesia. Part of the map is pictured above. Of course I looked over it before I left, but nothing really prepares you for something like experience. And then after experience, these kinds of things make more sense.

Over on the left, there is a line that reads, “State ideology: Pancasila.” I had to look up the word Pancasila, and the wiki link is helpful. It says this:

Pancasila (pronounced [pantʃaˈsila]) is the official philosophical foundation of the Indonesian state. Pancasila consists of two Old Javanese words, “pañca” meaning five, and “sīla” meaning principles. It comprises five principles held to be inseparable and interrelated:

1. Belief in the one and only God, (in Indonesian, Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa).
2. Just and civilized humanity, (in Indonesian, Kemanusiaan Yang Adil dan Beradab).
3. The unity of Indonesia, (in Indonesian, Persatuan Indonesia).
4. Democracy guided by the inner wisdom in the unanimity arising out of deliberations amongst representatives (in Indonesian, Kerakyatan Yang Dipimpin oleh Hikmat Kebijaksanaan, Dalam Permusyawaratan dan Perwakilan)
5. Social justice for all of the people of Indonesia (in Indonesian, Keadilan Sosial bagi seluruh Rakyat Indonesia)

Indonesia is primarily muslim, and in that regard, one and only God refers to Allah, but they also include some Christians and then Bali, which is Hindu. Somehow Indonesia is able to reconcile polytheism with the state credo of monotheism.

It makes no sense to me either. In the article at wiki, it talks about some of the criticism of this statement. But that’s not my point.

When in Rome … 

Basically, what it did for me was double validate that writing on an atheist blog might not be in my best interest while in Indonesia.

You might be scratching your head right now wondering, why am I writing all this?

Well, I’ll tell you.

Look over on the right side of the shot above. It reads, “Historical Highlights: an Ancient Land, a Young Nation.”

Beneath that, it talks about Indonesia reaching its fingers back into history close to a million years with the discovery of the skull, teeth and femur of the Java Man or “Pithecanthropus erectus”.

Yes, yes, yes, we all understand that there is some controversy about this discovery. But let’s look at this from another perspective.

Here is a Muslim nation that has no problem embracing a scientific theory that man evolved from another primate. In a part of the map not pictured, it talks about how humans and apes share 99.9% of their genetic information.

Do you read what I’m writing?

Those poor, third-world, backwards Indonesian idiots accept science.

These ignorant, sex-loving, chest beating, elaborately dressed, culture-loving morons think the world and universe is millions and billions of years old and not 6,000 to 10,000 years old.

These pathetic, ignoramuses understand the concept of evolution better than 63% of smart, brilliant, better-than-thou, pompous, greedy, first-world Americans!

It must be the devil, because there can’t be any other explanation for a country with a saturation of plants and animals that are found nowhere else on earth. Indonesia is a treasure trove of evolutionary brilliance. And, if what I understand to be true really is true, I’m thrilled to see Indonesia embrace history over myth in this instance.

What are continents and how many are there?

And you thought there were seven continents.

That reminds me of incontinence jokes.

Did you hear about the constipated accountant? He couldn’t budget.

Or how about this one:

A teenager is giving an old man a lift. He pulls out into the heavy traffic so fast the tires start smoking. ‘Phew,’ says the young driver. ‘Can you smell that shit?!’ The terrified old man replies, ‘I should think I can. I’m sitting in it!’

Sleeping with the fishes

Maybe that’s not an entirely appropriate headline. No one I know has died.

I’ve been looking through photography from last year’s trip to Thailand and Cambodia. Since we aren’t a culture who doesn’t often leave the head on served food, I wanted to post this shot of an entrée we ate outside of Chiang Mai.

I also recently posted these shots at my pro site. You should check ‘em out!

“Say hello to my little friend”

I couldn’t help it. I had to use that as a headline. The devil made me do it.

Not too long back, a friend asked me if I would do a Flat Stanley (FS) project for his niece. For this FS project, he requested that I photoshop Stanley in some international shots that I took last year in Asia. The usual FS rules are you have to be where Stanley is to submit the shots.

I thought I would share those doctored FS shots with you.

A little girl from the Long Neck Karen Hill Tribe with Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley poses with Thai students at the Royal Temple in Bangkok

Flat Stanley poses with Cambodian students near the Killing Fields outside of Phnom Penh

 

“Dutch painter brings Khmer Rouge victims to life”

Many of you are aware of my trip last July to Asia (Jezzasia!). I went with my dad (regular-reader “The Old Fart”) and a pastor on a missions trip to help find and rescue Montagnards who are hiding in the countries surrounding Vietnam.

And you probably know that I’m a Dutchman. My family name is Witteveen, which just so happens to be Dutch, and my dad is first-generation Hollander. That’s the only reason regular-reader Petursey likes me.

Anyway, pops sent me this article that I wanted to pass on about a Dutch painter who is working with the photos of Cambodian prisoners who were killed under Pol Pot’s regime. I think it’s important to forward this information, because I’m surprised at how many people aren’t aware of this great genocide that happened within that last 30 to 40 years.

Check the article here.

Thanks Old Fart!