A WONDERFUL RELAXING DAY IN SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA

Most visitors to Siem Reap are here to see the magnificent archeological ruins, Angkor Wat and hundreds of other hindu-buddhist temples dating back to 9th to 11th centuries.
I am a repeat visitor to Siem Reap, and in 2019 this is my third visit. Temples are not in my mind, but I had come here to rest and relax after a hectic travel schedule since November 2018.
In medicine we use a term called postictal period, after a patient has had a fit or an epileptic seizure.
I had just spent few days in Yangon, the most wonderful country when it comes to experiences with people in South East Asia. I was glowing inside after the days there. I had wonderful stays at the two different hotels there, and I would always consider staying at the Sule Shangri La ..
The trip from Yangon to Siem Reap while it was short, it was tedious. Bangkok is not the friendliest of airports and the security officials and the airport personnel work with a chip on their shoulders, who can blame them, it is one of the busiest airports in the region, with connections to all over the world, including the central asian regions and europe and russia... 
My Burmese brother picked me up at the airport, the arrival had been made easier with the abolishment of much of the paperwork. 
I always stay at BEYOND YANGON a boutique hotel run by my burmese brother, Maung Maung.Burma cements our friendship,

Ko Maung Maung had blocked off this room for my stay and it felt very welcoming as i had stayed in the same room in each of the visits i . 2019

 The breakfast was the usual conglomeration of omelette, a noodle dish, fruits and juice and tea or coffee. very filling. 
after the breakfast i went up to my room, and indulged in absolute no pressure morning of not having to make plans.
after 1500 hours, walked about 200 metres to MOLLOP DAMNAK an organic, vegetarian restaurant . The new manager is from France, he said south of France. He had a maghrebian look to him and we had a pleasant chat.

My microbiota would be very grateful and dancing for joy with green leafy vegetables as well as fruits and in this case an aubergine dish..

 This little girl lives across the street, her mother owns a laundry and i usually bring my laundry here during my travels to Cambodia 

This young girl works at a juice stall from 3 pm until 8 pm. I wanted to talk to her but the language was a problem. Like most khmers she was friendly and promised to make me a nice fruit salad.

Stef is a French artist who has been here ever since I have been a regular visitor and it is a pleasure to drop in and have a chat with him. He has an unusual style of painting and we enjoy our existentialist talk. Quality of my life is better here than in France, he confessed. He is one of the many expatriates Cambodia has attracted.  

The next destination as usual was GEKKO massage and my masseuse ANYA was absent and this lady was a pleasant substitute. Poverty drives these young people into such service professions and unable to complete an education which could be expensive by Cambodian standards.

Once again the language was a problem so we couldnt communicate well but I enjoyed my leg, neck and back massage. Will be back for my daily massage during my stay here.

Siem Reap has grown into a larger town now and the ubiquitous transportation congestion arrived here many years ago, but still it retains the small town atmosphere at least in the tourist heavy downtown area.

Every time this fruit seller sees me, she greets me with such great joy and loads me up with fruits. The generosity of the poor people that I have seen all over the world is a hallmark of our human nature.
On a day like this you begin to question the value system of Europe and USA and Australia, where people seem to be bent on a very selfish agenda, striving with stress to get ahead and in general the genuine characters lost or hidden. In all of France I cannot think of a single person as genuine as this illiterate fruit seller of Siem Reap. She made a large container full of Avocado shake and after that I couldn't think of having dinner 
Yoga, Meditation, Massage, Fruit juices, Plant food and this comfortable room at Beyond Yangon.. a perfect place to think about my life and work in various parts of the world... 
feel very grateful for the many people who make my life pleasant (convenient as well) in 
Miami (J and J and MGW)
Havana (BQ as well as many many friends there)
Quiberon
Bruselas
Kuala Lumpur 
Fort Cochin
Doha
Leticia
Thank you thank you all of you ..

Sitting at the sidewalk concrete chair while the Juice Lady of Siem Reap was busy preparing Avocado Shake, I felt so surrealistic. I looked at the fading French colonial architecture and just to think that one week ago I was standing in front of an audience of medical doctors from Latin America talking about Diabetes as a Social Illness. Felt such an euphoria..

At this junction on my way back to the hotel, I pondered about the eating habits of the tourists (and their asian counterparts who are eager to play their european credentials). There is a greasy spoon restaurant serving barbecued food, burgers, spaghetti on the right hand side and an organic, farm to table fresh local food restaurant on the left hand side (Mollop Damnak).. Where do you think the Lonely Planet clutching crowd now fortified with Tripadvisor reviews go .. to the greasy spoon, so diametrically opposite to the good food being provided just across the street. 

I enjoy my meals at Mollop Damnak and hopefully more wistful tourists to Siem Reap would also understand that it is necessary to be eating well, in an ecologically responsible fashion.

In the late evening as the stores were closing, I was happy to see a very young man (actually a boy) flipping some dough , malaysian murtabak style, but you could have a Pancake for a dollar avec les accoutrements.. banana, condensed milk, egg etc. I watched him and the nearby tuk tuk drivers waiting impatiently for ever for a tourist, chatted .. I said it is a crepe, as he had the round heated plate in front of him. The tuk tuk driver said, may be in your language, in my language we call it a Roti.

I asked for a banana plus peanut butter (he had nothing much left) and the taste was that of our humble PARATTA of Kerala origin.. ( actually of Moroccan origin of antiquity)

I have had such a lovely relaxing day here in Siem Reap. I did Isha meditation of Sadhguru for 18 minutes, wrote a lot, kept in touch with friends in Vietnam, Austria, USA, Malaysia, Cochin, France,Cuba and not to mention my native american friends..many medical enquiries, the most interesting of them was asking about the relationship between anti-psychotic medications and dupuytren's contracture (my diagnosis over internet from symptoms given)..
There was even a question from a doctor in Santa Fe in Buenos Aires, she asked: without much resources and the general lack of goods and commodities and food, how come Cubans are so healthy and full of joy of living? 
I will formulate an anthropological answer to that question. It is to do with the Solidarity among the people, the tremendous unselfish sense of friendship and sense of relationships among Cubans (I am talking about the Cubans who live in Cubans and not the Cubans who live elsewhere, especially in Miami , who have dubious reputations, once again explicable with an anthropological lens)
When I enjoy a day such as this, I want others also to have wonderful days like these. I think of them, especially some special people in Bruselas, Miami and Havana..

At the night market just across the river where the tourists congregate, there are multiple stores selling the same sort of souvenir stuff the tourists are after. A good friend of mine of year, Syty by name, a Cham Muslim, has a store which is very profitable. I made a detour to say hello to her, she had just broken the fast at the mosque and so, was suitably attired, with her husband sporting a malaysian style cap. The end of the fasting month would be here soon, and I wish all of them good through this period. In Malaysia this week is a special occasion and a joyous one. 

It was nice to get back to the hotel, to read a little bit of George Orwell and then say good night to friends abroad ( I adore this possibility of instant communication)..

More to come, this week in Siem Reap and le us see what unexpected pleasures are in store..

SOME IMPORTANT STREET CORNERS IN YANGON/RANGOON FOR ME

In the 1920s, my favourite poet, the Chilean Nobel Prize winner, Pablo Neruda was posted as his country's counsel in Rangoon..
There are lots of poems from this period and my favourite ones are certainly about JOSIE BLISS, the local woman who became intertwined with his life..
It had become a metaphor for me.. Josie Bliss and Pablo Neruda..

Así como me aflige pensar en el claro día de tus piernas

recostadas como detenidas y duras aguas solares,

y la golondrina que durmiendo y volando vive en tus ojos,

y el perro de furia que asilas en el corazòn,

así también veo las muertes que están entre nosotros desde ahora,

y respiro en el aire la ceniza y lo destruido,

el largo, solitario espacio que me rodea para siempre.

It just pains me to think of your legs in the clear of day

lying down like motionless and firm solar waters,

and the swallow that lives in your eyes sleeping and flying,

and the dog of fury that you give refuge to in your heart,

I also see the deaths that are between us from now on,

and I breathe the ash in the air and what's been destroyed,

the long, lonely space that surrounds me forever.

I have a special affection for Rangoon and Burma, and Pablo is certainly part of it.

and Josie Bliss, hiding in those lines some of my own dark history of AMORES..

I was at Old Bagan and staring at the River Ayerrawaddy, while brother Eliyahu and I waited for our lunches and I remember I had the book by Pablo Neruda in my hands

I opened the pages to the poem AMORES  JOSIE BLISS

and read it aloud, as if someone or no one was listening and as the poem ended thus, I could not stop a tear slowly rolling down my cheeks

Now, maybe,
she rests restlessly
in the great cemetery in Rangoon,
or maybe on the banks 
of the Irrawaddy they burned her body
all afternoon, while
the river murmured
things that I might have said to her in tears.

The apartment where Pablo Neruda lived in Rangoon..

Yes I look occasionally for the whisper of Pablo in places where he had lived ..

La Chascona, and the house in Valparaiso and of course Isla Negra 

in Rangoon 

in Wellawatta I stared often at the water near the house where he used to live

to the Josie Bliss' of this world 

How poor we would be, without your presences in our lives..

THE BEST CULTURAL EXPERIENCE IN YANGON, BURMA/MYANMAR 
Burma as it is now in 2019, convulsed through democratic change whilst the military is in tight control, inviting the world condemnation with the Rohingya affair (a complex affair the end of which is not in sight), is trying its best to join the brotherhood of south eastern asian nations.
I was there two months ago after an absence of five years and most of my vision was taken up by the rapid changes some of which were dramatic had taken place . 
I left Yangon today after my second visit in two months and this time I could devote time to observe people and interact with them. I have the advantage very few other tourists or visitors have, in that I am mistaken for a Burmese, especially on those days when I am dressed like one.
Conclusion: Burmese people continue to be the best people of all of South East Asia, an impression imprinted on my brain ever since that first visit in 2001 with my brother Eliyahu..
One of the best cultural experience one could have in Yangon, an anthropologist's dream is the circle train (unfortunately it does not circle any more, but goes from Yangon to Insein, of the prison fame)..

CHAUK HTAT GYI RECLINING BUDDHA TO PRAY FOR BQ MY SISTER IN HAVANA

My little island of Cuba is blessed with wonderful people and I can count many good friends there.
BQ is so unselfish and goes out of the way to help other people and I am one of the many recipients of her generosity. With me she has gone the extra by adopting me as her brother, she calls me hermanito, so has other members of her family. I am very grateful to have found such a good friend in Cuba. She is also my landlady. 
I prayed for her health physical and emotional. Cubans can sometimes be cruel with their jealousy especially when a person is so good as BQ with possibilities of helping others.
I decided to pray for her at Chauk Htat Gyi pagoda.

It is a custom that when you pray and see whether the spirits have granted your wish. After the prayer you lift the round stone and if it has been granted it would feel lighter.

from MINGALAPAR

Myanmar sacred stones believed to predict future can usually be seen in religious places such as temples, pagodas, stupas and monasteries. The shape of the stone is as common as round or oval. Generally, its size is not too large, approximately 20 -30 cm in diameter. What is interesting is its surface, which is totally smooth, maybe due to the natural process or the frictions from the prayers’ touches over time. The stone is placed on a flat slab which resembles a platter. You can also find the wishing stone at the base of Lord Buddha image or sometimes it lies right at a certain corner of a pagoda. Some stones are plain, some are painted with gold color or silver.

Praying and asking from the stone is a form of self-invocation. Be careful not to take it as a joke. As the saying goes ‘believe makes everything’, you may get what you believe in. Most of Burmese people also believe that guardian spirits live in the religious places where sacred stones are kept and that they can help support life in different ways.

Ready to make a wish or ask the stone? First, just sit down near the stone in a comfortable manner and think of what you want to ask. The question should be a close ended (yes-no) question. For instance, after asking in mind “Will I pass my exam?” then try to lift up the stone with both hands. If your wish is to become true, you will feel that the stone is unusually light but, if it is not to come true, it will be unshakably heavy.

Burmese people usually make a wish to their spirits before they try to seek for the answer from the stone. You can also try by saying “Dear Lord, if what I have wished now is to be true, may this stone be as light as feather as I lift it, if not, may it be unshakable.”

Despite wishes and prays that people make to the so-called sacred stone, let me quote one famous Buddha sayings: “Believe nothing no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I (Buddha) have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense”. I think such saying is a good reminder as to what extend you can let you faith lead how to make a decision in life. At the end of the day, it’s you who decide to make something happen or stop it from happening when you put best effort in it.

NOW TO BOTATAUNG PAGODA TO PRAY FOR LBGS AUSTRALIA FRANCE CUBA

The next person to pray for at various corners and shrines of Botataung Pagoda  was LBGS

 Nats are pre buddhist spirits which are revered in Burma.

 BO BO GYI is a guardian spirit and very popular among Buddhists from all over the world 

As I had come to Botataung to pray for the protection of LBGS, my desire to explain these things to my friends and acquaintances all over the world. American Indians love this concept.

 It was time for Milk Tea Myanmar style and we found a nice local cafe nearby.

I watched this betel seller while sitting at the burmese local cafe drinking tea. During that time no one approached him and he was viewing something on his cellphone. At least he did not look bored. 

on to the Chauk Htat Gyi reclining Buddha pagoda to pray for BQ of La Habana

A DAY OF CAREFUL THINKING OF OTHER PEOPLE .. IN THE LAND OF THE PAGODAS

I had decided to dedicate this day completely praying and thinking of various people in my life. Like Yogic philosophers say, their names would come up to your mind, just pray for them and say thanks for them being in your life.
First stop was Botataung Pagoda. Before entering the pagoda there is a place to worship a nat and here I said prayers and well wishes for the health of MM in Bruselas.

May the Spirits listen to my plea and offere MM good health and recovery.