Kanas City Shuffle - The Nairobi Mall

While the whole world is watching Kenya, and the tragedy that is playing out inside the Nairobi mall siege, am i the only one whose wondering ‘What is America getting away with this time?’

It seems that every time a global incident occurs or it becomes ‘necessary to intervene’ in another country America somehow has an agenda that serves some benefit. 

Vietnam, Iraq and more recently the Syria conflict Serve as examples of the ‘Worlds police’ using little disguise to muscle they’re way onto more resources.

Although Russia seems to have stepped in and saved Syria’s backsides, (and their brand new oil pipeline (completed in 2010) at the last moment). But its really all over the chemical weapons, isn’t it?

Resources are essential for growth but wealth is essential for stability. Plundering, Pillaging and Raping the world has provided an abundance of both it seems. However, this tact will inevitably make you a few enemies. 

Can a country really find a way to dis-credit their foes, earn money AND create reason to ‘intervene’ in another countries assets? Case-in-point 9/11. 

The largest bombing campaign on Afghanistan happened on the morning of september 11th 2001. We were all glued to the controlled demolition taking place in New York at the time.

The largest insurance policy for skyscrapers was taken out for the Twin towers. weeks before, in July 2001.

The so-called ‘War on terrorism’ that followed 9/11 ultimately led to public/congressional support prior to the Iraq war.

Kenyan civilians are the latest victims of needless violence. Thats a fact. They, along with countless more innocent people before them, serve as puppets in a global political game of ‘swapsies’ Your gold for our guns. My skyscrapers for his money. Their oil for our morals. Something like that.

Whether its billion dollar Insurance fraud or Brain washing populations or fear mongering propaganda or a kansas city shuffle. When i see a big news story unfolding I can’t help but wonder ‘What is America getting away with this time?’

Vietnam's Tourism Industry - Should it be left to the kids?

Here is an article I wrote for a website. heres a sneak peak...


The full un-diluted version of Vietnam blog is on it's way too!





Vietnam.

“Start in Hanoi, then work your way to Saigon. You’ll see a difference in the south” - A simple piece of advice given to me before becoming a tourist of this country. 

Hanoi Airport - August 2013 - My first time in Vietnam. Like most travellers my first priority was getting to the hotel. ‘This taxi drivers great!’ I thought - we’d been exchanging stories, it was a 40 minutes ride into town - so a little conversation goes a long way! Then conversation turned sour…

“Pay - You pay!” Insisting the toll booth we went through cost over ten times more than it did. He became visibly angry - raised his voice. The English he’d been chatting to me with had all been ‘forgotten’ and he became more animated in his demand.  

Now, I’m aware he must see hundreds of tourists a week - and, sadly, I have no doubt he thought by shouting i’d give in and pay. What took me by surprise was - this tact became a frequent occurrence - when dealing with anyone in trave

Employee’s of the tourism industry seem to have been given this handbook on dealing with us tourists.

• When ‘pointing’ and ‘one-syllable-directions’ fail - try raising your voice.

• If the offender still isn't doing what you expect - become more aggressive with your gestures. 

• Be as defensive as possible when challenged on any of your demands and Remember - when in doubt, just refuse to speak English.

In total, i rode five 12 hour ‘sleeper’ buses, and what i noticed was rather shocking. No matter when you got on, or where, it was a case of western people are at the back - natives are at the front. When sitting in a seat deemed ‘wrong’ (i.e too far forward) a staff member would repeat the steps from the guidebook i mentioned above. 

Once and only once did i attempt a Rosa-Parks-esque stand off. Refusing to move to the back of the bus. He became furious and told me to get off.

Im sure there are many reasons why in these particular cases - its just-so-happened - to be this way. But surely better people-skills are required. Surely better training could be given. Surely no-one deserves a verbal onslaught from a angry bus driver.

Funny, i thought, that in every other aspect Vietnam had proven to be exceptional. Hotel workers were some of the best i’d encountered. Street sellers were polite and easy-going. Restaurant staff were as good as the food (which in vietnam is very good indeed!).

Why then had the travel trade been left so far behind? Are us tourists really that bad? I needed to know, and strangely an answer came to me from an unlikely source.

Saigon's Parks are a breath of fresh air. You can see people learning to dance, outdoor martial artists giving lessons, dozens of children skating and students. Students of english - this generation of academics gave me hope for Vietnam’s tourism industry. What seems like the whole school - are out in the parks simply going up and talking to people. they are practising english.

My most enjoyable night was spent talking in the park. We talked about everything. We debated politics. We chatted about english traditions. We discussed patriotism. When i asked them how long they’d been doing this one lad they said that every night for over a year he’d been coming to talk to foreigners. when i asked why he did it he said… 

“If i learn English it means i can get a better job, i can go to university or even get a scholarship somewhere. i practise everyday because i want to get better, because i  learn new things and because i make new friends everyday.”

The advice i got about ‘people changing’ as i travel through vietnam - was true. I saw an attitude change. I saw a generation change but mostly I saw a thirst for knowledge - and a spark of passion in young people that i fail to see back in England. So if you ask me ‘what do you think of tourism in Vietnam?’ I’d say go, dive in and get to know the people behind the job description.

But be wary of Airport taxis!

Cambodia's Lies - through the eyes of a skeptic

Cambodia's Lies



Shocking isn’t it. Before you ever set foot in Cambodia - You have been lied to. True maybe for the whole world now-a-days. But this country is like a novel. One which the author got 300 hours in - realised the HUGE plot holes - and gave up.

I will ease you in. Start where I started. England (noteably not Cambodia) where I planned a trip around Asia…

Thailand - Cliché traveler destination. Might as well have a big ‘Start here’ printed on it.

Loas - Often mis-pronounced. Its between me and Vietnam.

Vietnam - There was a war here once. Lets see what the fuss is about.

Cambodia - Cheap. Buy things here before India.

That was (more or less) my itinarary. Based on both research and references. Somehow all failing to mention the corruption, the lies and the propoganda. I hope to amend this. Read this article and be fair warned!

The first lie. Go to Cambodia, it’s cheap. No, it’s not.

Don’t get me wrong - compare house prices, a weekly shop or a moped to those in the UK - Asia wins hands down. But of the four countries I mentioned - Cambodia was the most expensive.

Street food was double that in Thailand. The hotels matched prices of Saigon. Even the kids-with-a-million-sunglasses were extortionate. Why then was this - noticably - one of the poorest countries i have seen?

Who is all the money going to? - We’ll come to that.

The Second Lie. Go to Cambodia, the people are amazing.

Amazing is a strong adjective to use. You get the idea though. I was led to believe the citizens of Cambodia were what make this country great. 

Tourism is the countries biggest income. This is reflected in people. 

I imagined what the kids think. All they’ve seen is - western people must have a money tree! - I have little money… - these people need to give me their money!  

Its  tough, some 80% of all cambodians are under 30. Its hard to find an ‘old’ cambodian at all. Which suggests a free-rule for teenagers becoming impolite, deceitful and otherwise disengaged from visitors of Cambodia.

Of course this doesn't ring true for everyone. But when you visit you will see for yourself, and why wouldn't they be like that?! Poverty meets tourism - thats not a good film idea. There was actually a poster in a tourist guide that read 

“Children aren't the attraction. Think before visiting an orphanage”

This says it all about us tourists. The mentality of ‘wow, look - the third world. lets go see the children quick’ - Actually thats not too far off the truth. when you see a 60+ western man with a young cambodian girl on his arm. Gold around her neck and a distinct look of depression in her eye.   

A far cry from the youngsters of vietnam - thrilled to talk to a native englishman to improve their second language. 

The third lie. The worst lie. Cambodia’s history.

This one got to me. The representation of horrific events. I chose my words carefully.

Two out of the three highest grossing tourist attractions in the country are - ‘S-21 prison’ and ‘the killing fields’. In short - a brutal prison where genocidal khmer rouge tortured innocent people - and the fields they were taken to to be executed.

I found ‘the killing fields’ an ‘interesting’ place. It certainly does have a lot of human remains on display. you can pay to buy a flower, walk 5ft and place it down at the steps. (after you’ve paid to get there, get in and get the audio tour)

I found things here didn't quite add up though. Little things. Little inconsistencies here and there. Facts and figures changing. The awful propaganda film they play three times a day. The Kids selling bracelets.

More so i have to say about S-21 prison.

Once a school. Turned into a prison. Now a museum - asserting that most of what you see is exactly how it was found in 1979.

Here’s a list of discrepancies I found at s-21 -  

1. Block A is the first building you enter. Photos of the rooms ‘as they were found’ show the last 7 bodies in the prison tortured to death. The bodies now buried just outside the door in large memorials. 

Each of the photos are on display - in the room they were taken in. Set aside the awful quality of the photos and Windows appear to have moved. Something wasn't right.

2. Gallows stand tall in the Courtyard. A plaque states prisoners were hung by there wrists. Dunked in a vat of feces, then interrogated immediately.

S-21 is stated to be the most secret of the khmer rouge’s prisons. -Public gallows and feces dunking. In the capitol city. Not the most effective way to keep your secret prison secret.

3. Block B is now a memorial to the prisoners. Thousands of photos. Each one a prisoner of S-21. All murdered. All cataloged with names and numbers. - well this building puzzles me. 

The story goes (stated on the walls of block B) that the detainees arrived in a truck. Were measured. Then Photographed. Then Beat. Women were raped. Then Put in mass detention rooms. Later moved to individual cells. Tortured. Taken to the killing field. Killed. (Not necessarily in that order). 

Why then do the photographs show smiles on the faces of these inmates? who is happy to be led - handcuffed - into a prison complex - riddled in barbed wire - with gallows and huge buckets of poo - hearing screams of torture - seeing those in front of you beat and the women dragged off for rape. 

Smiling yet?

Some of the photos are poor quality, most are clear(all better then the ones taken after the prison was discovered - abandoned) 

For the displays some were blown up to around 8 times bigger then the original ‘little’ photos. Then, oddly, had been edited to look older. Tea stained and ripped. Yet the thousands of ‘little’ photos were fine? thats strange.

4. Block B also housed the Torture equiptment. Complete with Illustrations of how it was used. What confused me here was a water torture device. A large wooden box - similar to a coffin - only three times as wide. It would be filled with water and the poor man inside would be handcuffed to the metal bar inside. Forcibly ‘half-drowned’. 

10 years of use. 30 years later. Zero water damage. A wooden box, with iron shackles - constantly filled with water. 40 years on and it was as if never used.

5. The building that looked most visually interesting. Block C. Wrapped head-to-toe in barbed wire. Not just any barbed wire though - Barbed wire that was clearly not 40 years old.

Inside - shoddily constructed cells. Uneven and leaning over. maybe 200 3ft x 6ft cells.

The bricks were exactly the same as you see everywhere in cambodia. The concrete between the bricks - looked as new - as the concrete holding up the metal supports (Put in place by the museum to stop the cells falling like dominos).

6. Maybe this one goes down as the straw that broke my ‘skeptical’ back.

The Khmer rouge abandoned this facility. They were loosing a war and left S-21 behind them. Why then did they choose to leave… 

-Photographs and measurements of every murdered person.
-Photographs of Dead and tortured inmates.
-The names of every Khmer rouge that worked there.
-Documents, detailing interrogations (and torture) of every single inmate - Thousands of files - Signed by the wardens.  

All of that evidence was just ‘left behind’. The khmer rouge were, no-doubt a brutal force, but Stupid - they were not. 

I am therefor - of the opinion - that S-21 prison was indeed a prison at one point. However was probably not housing a grand total of 12,000 - 15,000 innocent inmates over its years (depending on which book you read)

I believe it is more likely that the whole thing was politically fabricated. Made up to serve a different purpose. Used as a propaganda tool.

Strangely, I later found out, this is also to belief of the oppositions leader in cambodia. However the last time he publicly said his opinion he was heavily and publicly berrated.  

The final lie of cambodia. One which isn't at all well hidden. The Government.


The corruption of a prime-minister (former Khmer rouge to-boot) and the trickling down ooze of corruption throughout every government owned entity. 

Hell - even the Cambodian anti-corruption agency is owned and run by the political party. Which makes me wonder what exactly they do all day in that office?

It is well know throughout the world as one of the most underhanded, unethical and unscrupulous regimes.

…But hey, Cambodia has got no natural resources the ‘worlds police-of america’ need to steal. There not threatening any one except there own population. There resisting, but following (in a shade of grey and 7 years late) the UN’s demands for equality. 



So lets let them be for now and all focus on Syria.     

World trip - Day One

   You join me at the best possible time. Boarding a plane. Looking down the gap between the door and the jetway. Makes you feel strange going into, what is essentially, a large metal tube. Soon to be a large metal tube 35,000 feet in the air. A large metal tube that seems to have the same ant infestation as your kitchen cupboards.

   Breathe a sigh of relief, you've taken off and you're not dead. I tend to do that at least. Theres something deep within us all that can't help but imagine "What if we started to nose-dive - or the tail brakes off - or this tilt turns into a barrel-roll".

   I feel silly confessing this, I have willingly jumped out of an aeroplane - twice! Both times attached to a man i'd met 15 minutes before. The second time in no more then shorts and a t-shirt. So for me to be planning the last few seconds of my life every time we hit the slightest turbulence seems absurd... I guess thats human nature - stubbornly ignorant.



   Twelve relatively comfortable hours later - watching 3 star movies. Documentaries on Planets & the universe. Pee'ing twice. Wondering why on earth only aeroplanes have headphones with two mini-jacks (rendering my new Dr. Dre beats useless) - We land.

   The familiarity of stepping off a jet in a new country makes me feel like James Bond. I clutch Mary's hand all the way through the airpot. She's been here before and knows the score. We fly through customs and lift our packs off the conveyor. Its time for the bit i've been waiting for since we landed. The one step after the air-conditioned airport.

   Heat hits you like every english summer you've ever had all at once. This is where you pause. Turn to Mary (unless you happen to be with someone else) and beam a smile of relief. A smile of excitement. A smile of an adventure starting.



   The inevitable happens after this brief moment of joy. A truly evil force in the world. One of gut wrenching slime and soul shattering filth. The airport taxi service. For the pleasure of bad driving, bad manners and bad smells - you seem to be paying the cretin roughly three times more then you should. My advice - either walk the 14 miles to your hotel or buy a used car on craigslist the day before (it'll probably be cheaper!).

   The next part of the agenda is echoed around the world after a twelve hour flight - sleep. Grunt at the hotel staff. Lug your belongings to the lift. Decipher the room keys unique method of access. Sleep. Don't worry - the world will be out there when you wake up. Kiss Mary (that parts just for me) and sleep.



Sleep.


sleep


sle-

For Writers (and those with opinions of any calibre)

If you don't know what you want to write, my suggestion is, don't become a writer.

    Those who choose to write for a living are generally the type of people who are quiet when out for the monthly 'we must invite so-and-so round for dinner darling, i hear she has a new man and we simple must meet him'. Quiet only due to the fact that 'so-and-so' casually slips into dinner conversation that she met Mr. Blah-Blah because Sagittarius happened to be in her favour that week of her menstral cycle. Or that they're meant to be together because they both went to the same church as children and the Bible that she dropped on her way home from sunday school happened to be the same colour as his t-shirt the day he bought a new copy of the old testament. Upon hearing such utter nieavities your better half more the suggests with a unmistaken look that 'quiet' is exactly how you should remain (At least that is until Mr. Blah-Blah and whats-her-face have left earshot). In short, in my opinion, a writer must have an opinion.

   Furthermore - said opinion should be of the calibre to warrant it being committed to  text. Every jolly-do-gooder has an opinion on the world but when such gems as '"fucking who talkin shit bout me so just dont alright??" plague my Facebook feed everyday i wonder if the term 'limited' truly gives justice to these peoples capabilities. Maybe i'm just a stickler for good old fashioned diplomacy. Don't make the mistake of thinking I don't have outbursts of emotion from time to time (especially confronted with aforementioned theologist) but I like to exhibit a slight more tact then my keyboard thumping Facebook friend.

    I have been distracted from my point, like in the film Tron where you cruise along at insane speeds and then fly off on a tangent equally as fast, I have 'tron'ed' from my subject - writers.

    I am currently reading a book entitled 'C.E.O of the sofa' by P. J. O'Rourke. His background is journalism and he brings across through his past papers a truly remarkable sense of humour in the most unlikely situations. A full review of the book will be penned as soon as I finish but until then I would like to mis-quote his text if I may (I mis-quote only due to the fact that his book is currently in the jumbled accumulation of all my belongings, sitting on the hotel room floor. I, however, am trying to escape the blisteringly cold chill of an AC unit which knows two settings - arctic and off)

P. J. O'Rourke on the subject of Women hiding all the secrets of success in the business world in 'how to manage with a toddler' books-

    "I suppose women thought men would never read these books. Or women thought these books would be read by the kind of man who bikes to his job at the organic food co-op--not a threat to promotion. Anyway, women didn't work very hard at putting their percipience into code. Even a bored chairman could crack it. Examine the following passage, allegedly about biting..."

    He then takes a passage from the children's book and replaces characters with 'executive assistants' and 'account supervisors' and the passage plays out in a completely new light. Seemingly confirming his theory of a secret sisterhood of business-women who pass on vital information through '123... the toddler years'.

    Thats what I love about writers. They can take any mundanity and put their opinion on it, Transforming not only the way they look at the world, but, with a little ingenuity and the right linguistics, the way the reader looks at the world. So, back to my point. If you don't know what you want to write, my suggestion is, don't become a writer. Maybe that should read 'If you lack an opinion worth writing'