learned last night from aziz a French proverb? "l'amour a ses raisons que la raison ignore" tough call!

The Legend that is Angkor...

The Legend that is Angkor (Siam Reap) ... and yes also Phnom Penh


(1) Cambodia countryside with that particular Khmer roof style.

(2) Tuol Sleng... thousand faces of suffering – no exceptions, men, women, children and even new-born babies. Quoting a British friend, “if everybody was made to go to a place like that to see what happened (during wars and genocides) at least once in their life the world would be a better place.”

(3)Feeling royal... in Phnom Penh

(4) Throne Hall on the grounds of The Royal Palace.

(5) Motos and beautiful Khmer girls...

(6) Angkor Wat without the sunrise.


Then our group moved to Siam Reap by bus lulled by some Cambodian music videos (for 6 hours!). We stayed in a Western run inn called Rosy’s Guesthouse. It was nice for 10USD a night (highly recommended).

We spent one a half day at the temples. Short by most standards, but we did a good job generally. We were able to see most of the well-known temples such as of course the Angkor Wat, Phnom Bakheng, Angkor Thom (where you find the Leper King and the Elephant Terraces, Prasats, the Baphuon and the Bayon). We also went to Neak Pean, Preah Khan, Pre Rup, Bantay Srei and the Ta Prohm temples. Whew! So many temples and the names can be really confusing. It was good that I brought my flatmate’s Ancient Angkor Guidebook. One would be amazed at the details of the reliefs and the number of temples that the Khmer civilization was able to build – hundreds of them!

Our trip was made special by our encounters with the beautiful children of Cambodia, the tasteful Khmer food, the Tuk-Tuk rides, the stairs and slopes we had to climb to be on top of the temples and see the universe of jungle and temples all over Siam Reap. As I said on my album description of the Siam Reap trip, when you are there in front of the Angkor Gates with the Buddha faces, you can’t help but feel surreal. Like you are overwhelmed to be there, but you can’t believe you are there at the same time!


(7) Bantay Srei

(8) Gate to Angkor Thom

(9) Ta Prohm

(10) Preah Khan


http://www.spp.nus.edu.sg/newsletter/2008/august/student2.html

A Declaration of Self-Esteem

In all the world there is no one else exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine.

Because I alone chose it, I own everything about me. My body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, whether they be to others or to myself.

I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own all my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes. Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me - by so doing I can love me and be friendly with me in all my parts.

I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me and other aspects that I do not know, but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and for ways to find out more about me.

However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me.

If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting and keep the rest, and invent something new for that which I discarded.

I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me. I own me, and therefore I can engineer me. I am me and I have choice.



- VIRGINIA SATIR -

Jihad vs McWorld

Jihad vs. McWorld is the title of a 1995 book by political scientist Benjamin R. Barber, in which he puts forth a theory that describes the struggle between "McWorld" (globalization and the corporate control of the political process) and "Jihad" (tradition and traditional values, often in the form of extreme nationalism or religious orthodoxy and theocracy).

The book was based on a March 1992 article first published in the Atlantic Monthly.[1] The book employs the basic critique of neoliberalism seen in Barber's earlier, seminal work Strong Democracy. As economic liberalism — not to be confused with political liberalism as it is defined in the United States — is the force behind globalization, this critique is relevant on a much larger scale. Unregulated market forces encounter parochial (tribal) forces. These tribal forces come in many varieties: religious, cultural, ethnic, regional, local, etc. As globalization imposes a culture of its own on a population, the tribal forces feel threatened and react. More than just economic, the crises that arise from these confrontations often take on a sacred quality to the tribal elements; thus Barber's use of the term "Jihad" (although in the 2nd edition, he expresses regret at having used this term).

Barber's prognosis in his 1995 book, Jihad vs McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World, is generally negative — he concludes that neither global corporations nor traditional cultures are supportive of democracy. He further posits that "McWorld" could ultimately win the "struggle." He also proposes a model for small, local democratic institutions and civic engagement as the hope for an alternative to these two forces.
The term "McWorld" is a neologism related to George Ritzer's analysis of corporate culture in The McDonaldization of Society.

- just mentioned by Kenneth in class in relation to Singapore Society in between globalization and traditional heartlanders

I like your quote and it's very true. Like I believe in many things moments are what make up your life so make the moments as positive as you can. Love yourself and others will as well. Positive attracts the like and so does negative. Like fireflies those that emit light attracts others that do as well.

-from bubbamichael