Cambodia

Hobo TRAVEL TIPS - Commission Dinner City Cambodia - Tip on Stop Signs
152   July 5, 2004
TIP: Stop Signs
LOCATION: Commission Dinner City Cambodia
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      NO NAME CITY IN CAMBODIA
      (Commission Dinner)
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       Cambodia
~ TODAYï¿½S TRAVEL TIP
      STOP SIGNS
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Cambodia
Cambodia Hotel
Cambodia Tour
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NO NAME CITY IN CAMBODIA
(Commission Dinner)
Pink Sheets, Heart Shaped Mirrors, and Music in the morning.

I woke up this morning with the fan waving at me first to the
left and than to the right, then to the left and then to right, all
night long the fan massaged my body with a gentle eye-drying
monotony that was my only defense from overheating, but I
was in paradise at last.

I was outside the tourist loop and could feel a country and
smell the people both literally and figuratively.

80 Baht for this room is a great deal. This is one of the
best values I have had in a couple of weeks. They place has
over 10 nails on the wall to hang clothes, shirts, bags, or
miscellaneous things I wish to keep away from critters that
work the floor action. I am not going to unpack as I must hit
the road, just a shower, coffee, some amusing conversations
with the owners family.

2 Dollars U.S. I paid for this room with Thai Baht in Cambodia,
I was told multiple times that I must exchange my Thai Baht for
Cambodia money at the border by the helpful but full of crap (sï¿½)
bus drivers and band of crooks that made my yesterday miserable,
but funny.

I am sure a lot of the travelers would call it an adventure, sort of I
was tough enough to sit on a bus for 18 hour and be abused.
This is adventure to most of the world, it has nothing to do with
doing something special, but more about what we can tolerate, I laughed
because we had not choice. There was nowhere to go and you had to
tolerate the trip, so there was not choice but to enjoy the adventure as I am
sure most of the Tourist pretending to be world Travelers or
Backpackers will tell their friend when they are back in
Tourist Paradise.

I am perfect. I am here in my cheap hotel drinking my first cup of coffee,
I made with my little cooking spoon or glass water heater, sitting on pure
tourist fake silk sheets made of 100 percent man-made fibers with the fan still
giving me a massage and I have been able to reach into the top
of my backpack and quickly retrieve my minimal daily needs
of life requirements to start my day. Coffee, Shower and Toothbrush.

This room is great, I am not being ironic or cynical, the room is
full of family, friends, and home, although I may be living in a home
in the deep south of the USA in a trailer it is still a home and feels
like a home. I was greeted with arms wide open, not that any
Buddhist would ever give you a hug, they just do not hug, but they
opened their house last night, ask me the,
ï¿½Where are you from?ï¿½
ï¿½How old are you?ï¿½
That happened after I said hello to the daughter.
ï¿½Where are you going?ï¿½
This I call the interview.
(Note I carry the correct country passport for daughters.)

It was a normal interview and what happens in a true encounter with the
real people of the country, they are curious and I am curious, nice
to have this after Thailand when the only person that seems
curious about me is the Lady Boys or Rent-a-girl-for-the-night types.
There are some exceptions, but 90 percent true. I do have to say
the Husband and Wife team that manage the Peachey Internet
Cafï¿½ are just wonderful and will talk my ear off in the Thailand
language, I really do wish I could understand more than 20 words
in Thai, it would be interesting to know what she said, and not feel
what she said, but for the most part I am just a Foreigner in Thailand
with a Dollar Sign tattooed on m forehead, and if the tattoo is
missing I am nobody.

I had a long bus ride yesterday, I will not explain because I made
the trip into a tip, and that would spoil my fun, but to say the least
it was a record setting days. Took probably first place in bad bus
trips, and took second place in most time needed to cross a border.
You would think that 100 Baht Bribe we had to paid at the border would speed
up the misery, but it just was just value added.

I woke up to what I think was a Buddhist version of a Islamic call to
prayer chant, and woke happily saying hello to my jailers as they looked
at me as tourist attraction, I think I am the first foreigner that has ever
rented a room in their guesthouse. It is a great place with an outside
shower with tons of pressure and a squat toilet, make me know I am
in Asia and not in a tourist resort, I wondered to myself how many
people visit Asia and totally miss out on the squat toilet experience,
hard for me to say a person has a clue about Asia if they missed
the squat toilet world. That is for sure a sign of a tourist if you have
visited Thailand and not used a squat toilet, but most of us are tourist
and are really just importing western world here so we can live cheap and
avoid the locals.

The pink sheets, and the heart shaped mirror made my day. Nothing better
than going tacky early. The mirror hangs just outside my door and help me
keep a small semblance of vanity as I will get to look at myself in the mirror
for 2 minutes today, that is enough vanity for one day. I just cut my hair
myself the other day and wanting to do a small quality check to see if I can
really cut my hair myself or I am delusional, I have been doing pretty
good for the last year, but the 2 minutes on the Heart Shaped Mirror
saves on big questions in my mind and guaranteed I do no worry about
the haircut.

I had one of the family last night staring at me, she looked hard and
intense, like she thought I was alien. I pulled open my eyelids and gave
her a better look. I said,
ï¿½Blue Eyes.ï¿½

I then pointed at the color blue on the pretty daughters shirt and all started
to laugh as they all had to admit to themselves that they was trying to
inspect my eyes in secret and I had just given them permission to
really look at them, I am in the black hair, brown eye world and I really
do look like an alien.

Well, I hope I can discover the name of this city before I leave, but it
is really not important because I am sure all buses lead to Siem Reap
or down river towards Angkor Wat and a tourist trap at the end of the
muddy red dirt road.

I will probably hang around in Siem Reap for about 5 days then go
down the river to Phnom Penh where Massage Boom Boom is
spoken and stories like Apocalypse now are dreamed up, or lived.

The road between the Thai - Cambodia border and Siem Reap
is really a red dirt road, and makes me think as always about the
Wizard of Oz and following the Yellow Brick Road to some enchanted
land, not what you would think, but then nothing ever really is enchanted.

ï¿½Same Same but different.ï¿½

That statement really explains where I am and what I am doing, but
have you been there and done that?

Andy from No-name city in Cambodia

Pink Sheets, Heart Shaped mirrors and music.

I was very happy nobody got lucky as the walls are made of 1/8 inch
thick fiberboard, and I do not want to share in all the local culture.

Note that I could not find out the name of the city so I am naming it,
ï¿½Commission Dinner.ï¿½

After the normal practice of Buses stopping at places where
the meal is twice the normal price to extract money from us foreigners,
the whole world seems to do this and on this trip we had two of
the commission meals.

Today's Go This Way
Cambodia

Todayï¿½s tip
STOP SIGNS

Just another day in Paradise!
PLAN YOUR ESCAPE...
Be a Hobo, and leave your mark.
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Life is good.
The Hobotraveler.com

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Article written by Andy the Hobotraveler.com
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Laundry Bag

I have been looking at laundry bags for the last few years
with a desire to buy one, or to have one in my possession.
I look at large bags and tried to figure out how to use the bag
for a laundry bag and when necessary an extra bag for the plane.

There are some really nice and cheap mesh bags they sell
in Walmart that would be perfect, but...?

If I take a laundry bag to the laundry.
They weight the laundry bag and I pay 1/4 more for my laundry.
Plus I have to hope I get my bag back from the laundry.

I really am annoyed that the cost of laundry would go higher
as in most extreme tourist places laundry is already set at
modern price levels. The second problem with a laundry
bag is I have no place to store the bag in my backpack.
But I want the bag to separate my clean clothes from my dirty.

My solution is the a shirt. I use a shirt for my laundry bag.
The shirt is dirty so they can wash it also.

Laundry Bag
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Cambodia
Population 14 Million - Religion - 80% Buddhist
The drive on the right side of the road like the French.
Controlled by the French from 1863 to 1953.

Part of the former territory of Indochina that was split off to
form the country of Cambodia. The word Indochina comes
from the joining of India and China and was talking about the
land between China and India although Thailand is not
considered part of Indochina if you look closely at the maps
of these countries you will see that if you wished to travel from
Cambodia or Southern Vietnam and to India by land the natural route
would be through Thailand, but being that Thailand was not ever
totally conquered by any of the Western Colonizers it had
remained out of the mix of definitions for the territory. To understand
this region of the world around the 1800s you should stop
thinking in my opinion about countries and think in terms of large
cities, trade routes, mountains, and the best way to travel from
one place to another. Major transportation routes were set up
between major cities, and in each of these cities there were
specific products that helped to fund the reasons for the
existence of the city such as opium, maybe silk or spices.

MEKONG RIVER
ï¿½A four lane highway from China to Saigon - a.k.a. Ho Chi Minh City
with major stop off in Luang Prabang Laos, Vientiane Laos,
Phnom Penh Cambodia and end in the Mekong delta area of
Saigon and into the ocean or the China Sea.ï¿½

The Mekong river flows from China separating Burma and Laos
down between Thailand and Laos then enter Cambodia through
the city of Phom Penh the capital of Cambodia and on to Ho Chi Minh
city or Saigon in Vietnam and enters the ocean sometimes called
the China Sea.

So Cambodia is in the way or on the path and was one way of
getting large shipments of goods whether it was wood, rice, teas,
spices, silk or opium down the river to be taken to the West or they
would go west to Europe and Western World. A great way to get
things from the East to the west by water, as they did not have
trucks until the last 50-70 years.

So naturally the big powers, China, France, England, Dutch all fought
over this territory and the rights to control the pipeline of shipping.

France ruled this area in a time when they had guns, large
weapons and ships and the locals were more or less in dugout
canoes and walking, so the it was easy to control with the extreme
advantages, but as China and Russia started supplying guns to
the area the ability to control large territories of land easily broke
down and land areas developed into countries controlled by
either the Monks or other forms of Mafia type bosses, maybe
called a King, or whatever was mixed with Religion, Politics,
and the desire to be the biggest boss in the area.

Today it appears that large producers of rice probably controlled
by a partnership of business and government in a quasi-corrupt
union controls most of the country. I believe Cambodia is like
many governments that the way to be rich in Cambodia is to be
part of the Government whether a policeman or local leader which
than give you the ability to control the business ventures. This
like Thailand keeps the big money in the hands of the elite and
guarantees the peasants stay poor. A essential concept of the
communist way of life and why the area is prone to accepting
Communist Doctrines.

The Vietnam War successfully stopped Southeast Asia from
becoming Communist and controlled by China, and has now
allowed free enterprise to help the countries to evolve toward
democracy and the region seems on it way to developing from
an agricultural based society into the industrial world or modern
world with internet, televisions and MTV. (Music TV)

It appears that Rice, Tourism, and the attraction of Cheap Prostitutes
in Phnom Penh is leading the economic development. Tourist
come to see Angkar Wat in the city of Siem Reap which is one
of the largest Archeology sites of note in Southeast Asia then
proceed to take Boats downs the river to Phnom Penh and on
to Vietnam if they wish. So the trip from Bangkok, Thailand to
Angkor Wat to Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam has made Cambodia in the Middle of a great tourist path.

Corruption or economics keeps Cambodia a primitive countries
with horrible roads that make the airlines either thrive plus creates
a perfect environment for rich travelers to have the voyeuristic
pleasure of looking at poor people, then able to stay in 5 Star hotels
in Angkor Wat. This a channel tourist country where they put you in
a channel to guarantees the most amount of money is extracted and
you never now this is an outrageous price. The 5 Star tourist stay in
the 5 Star channel, the backpacker are on the backpacker
channel and the sex tourist are on the sex tourist route and the path.
All are kept separated normally by the form of transportation you choose,
your price range or budget, or accommodation you wish to have.
It will be difficult to escape your channel and move up or across
to see how the other channel functions.

Phnom Penh appears to be a new alternative to the Thailand
Prostitution scene that is quickly becoming too expensive because
of over development and price controls by the Thai quasi-government
partnership with prostitution and tourism so many of the more
experienced sex tourist are leaving Thailand and moving towards
Phnom Penh for an exotic mixture or a change of channel from
Thailand to Cambodia women and imported Vietnam women.

Cambodia is still not organized as Thailand and you can find
really good rooms for a great price and travel back in time to a
more primitive way of life, but still have the luxury of home.
Transportation and corruption are big problems, but if you wish
you can fly from Bangkok to any of the large cities and go directly
to the 5 star hotel and totally insulate yourself from Cambodia,
but still see Angkor Wat and say you was here.
The mass graves of the Khmer Rouge Political party with
Controlled by Dictators Pol Pot killed millions for a big tourist
attraction. The selling of the Vietnam war complete with Land
Mines and liberalist naive propaganda is rampant with plenty of
get rich NGOs exploiting Cambodia or if you are violent the rumor
is you can blow up cows with Bazookas.
I would say that Cambodia is still open range tourism.

NOTE:
I would like to thank the French for bringing the Baguette
to Cambodia as I am tired of the rice this and rice that
of Thailand.
Life is good!
Andy HoboTraveler.com

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Article written by Andy the Hobotraveler.com
On year 7 of Hobo trip around the world.
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STOP SIGNS

I purchase a bus ticket from Bangkok, Thailand to Siem Reab,
Cambodia on an executive bus which is suppose to mean life
is easy and air conditioned. My ticket cost 350 Baht or 8.33 U.S.
Dollars and about the same in Euros. The English Certified Public
Accountant girl that sat next to me paid 650 Baht and I sincerely
think she believed she would get a better deal.

We all got the same deal and she just kept on asking for the
same deal, in fact the whole bus just kept bending over and
asking for more of the same deal.

IGNORING STOP SIGNS

On a tour, on a bus, in a hotel, or wherever or whatever you
do in life there are times when a stop sign will appear, but
people just pretend the sign was not there.

STOP! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH FUN FOR TODAY

This all started with a simple bus trip from Bangkok , Thailand
to Siem Reap, Cambodia home of the archeology site called
ï¿½Angkar Wat.ï¿½ We started out normal, walk a couple of blocks
and all meet at the same bus, loaded up and went to the border
of Thailand and Cambodia.

FIRST STOP SIGN
I have crossed this border in the same manner before and I did
not recognize the border, it did not appear to be the same border.
I was concerned that I did not recognizer the location, but we
appeared to be working our way toward the goal of Siem Reap.

SECOND STOP SIGN
When we entered Cambodia the bus driver or associates
forced us to pay a 100 Baht Bribe, and he even said,
ï¿½Corruption, too much corruption, yes bribe.ï¿½

I did appreciate the fact he admitted it was a bribe, but the last
place I am going to get in an argument is at a border crossing,
so I gave the man my passport with a 100 Baht bill tucked inside.
Cambodia is corrupt, and so is Thailand, but we all know that,
but sometime they need to prove it. I had already crossed this
border before and this had not happened.

THIRD STOP SIGN
They set for me a personal new record for time needed to cross the
border. The first place record is held by the train crossing from
Bolivia to Chile near San Pedro which took 5 hours, and I have no
clue why. This one logged in at around 3 hours and that was 2 hours
more than my prior two crossings of the Thai / Cambodia border.

MINI BUS PROBLEMS
Both buses had problems with their engines, and other miscellaneous
things, but I mark this up to just plain stupidity, and normal.

FOURTH STOP SIGN - MY FINAL
We pulled into my newly name city of ï¿½Commission Dinnerï¿½ for a
commission dinner for the company at our expense, this is a stop
specifically planned to take our money by overcharging us for everything,
really go upset when the lady tried to serve me a bottle of water for
1.50 U.S. Dollars. The other tourist did not even blink at the price
or for that matter, ask the price.

My ticket said I would arrive around 9:00 PM.
Some people thought the trip would take 3 hours.
Some were told 6 hours.
The bottom line is Thai people and Cambodia people lie and
they do a good job of it. This is part of the culture.
In Thailand they call this the "Thai Lie," I do not know the name
or slang for Cambodia yet...

WE ARRIVED AT 11:30 PM at ï¿½Commission Dinner.ï¿½

So we were going to arrive 6-12 hours late to Siem Reap and the
road were pretty much normal as before, very bad. Some would
say the airlines pay the government bribes to keep the roads
bad so people will fly, this happens in Peru between Lima and
Machu Picchu, plus you are guaranteed your primitive voyeurism.
But when we pulled in for a commission dinner my bullshit meter
went berserk and started squawking for all get out, suddenly a little
man appears or maybe a boy pretending to be a man. He give
multiple excuses and explanations in English and just said that he could do
nothing and we still would have another 80 kilometers and it would
take about 3 hour more, so more or less we would arrive around
3 AM in the morning, then still have to pay for a room.

I put on the full court press on the boy-man and put my hand on his
shoulder. This is serious in Asian culture when you touch someone
and I did it with serious intent, with the hope of scaring him to death.
It worked, he started telling some truth and in the end he started to say,
ï¿½I no care.ï¿½

I then made my decision that enough of this fun for me, my goal being to
enjoy life and sitting around on bus in the middle Dinner Commission
city in Cambodia and looking forward to a bunch of stinky. shoeless, shirtless
non-English speaking Cambodia men driving the bus to take us hopefully in a
dodgy country to a hotel that has been chosen to be the winner of all the
passengers as it will be almost impossible to choose a hotel as the hotel is
already arranged. This is the ploy or the scam. Who really wants to go
look for a room at 3 AM in the morning?

Plus a group of Tourist Volunteering to be abused, and thinking I
am the bad guy because I do not like to volunteer.

But for me I obeyed the stop signs.
I went to the boy and said,
ï¿½Find me a room for 200 Baht.ï¿½
He said,
ï¿½I no live here,ï¿½
I said,
ï¿½I donï¿½t care,ï¿½
And proceed to stand close enough to kiss him, and put my hand on
his shoulder again, this made the other ï¿½Touristï¿½ very uncomfortable
and they still wanting to remain bent over, and volunteering still to bend over
started to mutiny toward me, and leave me in packs.
I had lost track of a the pretty Australian girl? Note there was
actually 2 mini-buses and she was on the one ahead of ourst.

So what the boy does is finds a room, then start to tell me I have to
find a taxi, I tell him that he will take me with the bus and make sure
I have a room then he can do as he wishes and leave me. He looks like
he wants to cry and this is typical Thai or Cambodia. Direct confrontation
is not part of their culture, I remember last year I told one guy at a
reception desk in Thailand that he was a liar and he literally fell down
on the ground, I started laugh so hard it was hard to keep up my show
of being angry, but I resumed when he stood up.
Asians will stab you in the back or lie first before they would get in
a direct and productive constructive argument or discussion.
(Hmm North Korea)
The bottom line is the boy took me in the mini-bus to a hotel for 80 Baht,
and the place was great, I sat around for an hour talking with the owner
and his family, drank, ate, and enjoyed life, while the rest of the
lemmings went in a bus that had already broke down twice on the
road after midnight for a three hour ride in corrupt Cambodia, now
if this does not throw up Stop signs nothing should, but they followed
the people in front of them and hopefully them made it safe to
somewhereï¿½?

I had an enjoyable time meeting some Cambodia locals in the city of
ï¿½Commission Dinner,ï¿½ plus had a complete nights sleep.

I got up early, showered, coffeed, ate Frenchie Bread, (Thank you
France for colonizing Cambodia.) and took a small truck with 20 people
in the back and 6 in the front and for 200 hundred Baht or 5 Dollars U.S.
I sat in the shot-gun seat with air conditioning, leg room and resumed the
show in the morning hours, arriving in Siem Reap around noon. I do want
to say that this show was also good as it is a big task to squeeze
26 people onto one of them pint size truck like my dad drives, the ones
that get real good gas mileage but has is not a full-size cowboy boot
truck with the gun in the back size. This show was about the Cambodia
people abusing the Cambodia people and not the Cambodia people
abusing the foreign people and for 5 Dollars in this show I got to be an
observer and not a participant in the abuse. So life was a lot better and
I got to see some horrible roads and funny looking people
living in Cambodia.

This story is about ï¿½Stop Signs,ï¿½ there is a need to keep your eye on the
target in life, and when you make a deal, arrange a trip, or plan you
itinerary for some tourist fun, remember you are doing this for fun, and
there are time when all your great plans turn out terrible, in the
cheap countries. But there is always some stop signs along the way.

Always remember you can get off the bus. It cost me 7 extra dollars
extra to visited the locals, enjoyed my life and then resumed
the crazy race around the world the next day, you do not have to
ignore the stop signs in life and you do have a choice.

There may be a principal about this, but when you are traveling in a
world with no principals you better first make a deal with yourself to
enjoy the day first. I received a amusing lecture from the British girl
when I admitted I was purposefully winding the boy up, as she tried
in a CPA way to tell me how to manage people in foreign countries.
I told her not politely she was not at home.

I really wish I would have said,
ï¿½Dorothy, your not in Kansas any more.ï¿½
I hate when I think of the good lines too late.

There was a Swiss girl that was studying Tourism Management
on the bus, she had told me earlier, a quote about principals and said,
ï¿½how can you worry about principal in a country with no principalï¿½
when the Cambodia Border crossing people were extorting 100 Baht
from us, but she remained on the bus and continued the abuse, no one
came although with me to find a room, but I believe they did not like
me intimidating the boy-man and getting my wayï¿½
(My goal was to be safe first, worry about him second.)

So I was safe in bed in a family run Guesthouse in the city of
ï¿½Commission Dinner,ï¿½ and the rest of the group was driving down a
dusty red dirt road in Cambodia with shirtless men drivers between
the hours of midnight and dawn on July 3, 2004. Sounds like a good
start for some really good headlines in the paper.

Yep, I got my way and remembered the goal. Obey stop signs, stay
safe, do not follow the group mentality and enjoy life.

By the way, the boy-man admitted just before he dropped me off, he said,
ï¿½I have nothing to do with the buses, I just came to meet you so I could
guarantee you all came to my Hotel and I could make money.ï¿½
This is the Scam, and even outlined in ï¿½Lonely Planet.ï¿½
I told him,
ï¿½I knowï¿½.ï¿½

50 percent of the people on the bus have the new Lonely Planet,
I do not have this version, but was told the next day by another man
from Canada and his wife. So much for using the guidebook or using brains.
Be different, step back and see the stop signs.

Or drive around with shirtless Cambodia men between the hours of
midnight and dawn in a mini-bus that has broken down twice on a dirty road
in a country where a dictator killed over one million people and corruption rules.
Stop!
Ooops I forgot to say,
Both shirtless drivers spoke ZERO English and we had to push
the mini-bus twice to pop the clutch start the vehicle.

Just another day in Paradise!
PLAN YOUR ESCAPE...
Be a Hobo, and leave your mark.

X Hobotraveler.com was HERE!

Life is good.
The Hobotraveler.com

As always, these are suggestions. Please realize I am
giving guidance, and there are always other opinions.
ï¿½One mans paradise, is another mans hellï¿½
This way we do not all go to the same place.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Article written by Andy the Hobotraveler.com
On year 7 of Hobo trip around the world.
Budget Travel, Jobs, and Adventure, etc
Subscribe to Free Newsletter at:
http://www.hobotraveler.com
You may publish this article for Free
on the internet If this box stays attached.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
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~ EXTREME HOBO TRAVEL   - Back to top

SCOTTS BIKE TRIP AROUND THE WORLD
Archives of Scotts Story

Note: Send recommendations for next
"Extreme Hobo Traveler" for newsletter to follow.
Write Andy a HoboTraveler.com

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TODAYï¿½S TIP FROM THE
ï¿½Peanut Galleryï¿½     - Back to top
Fun tips - Here's a little tip from me, to you,
as an experienced traveler.

If a person in Asia says to follow...
Engage your brain in first gear and say NO, or
at least say,
"Why?"
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~ HOBO QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS    - Back to top

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COMMENT OR QUESTION:
-------------------------------------------------------------

Subject line: To Andy Hobo FROM Louise

comments: Hi Andy, I saw on your website that you did
the boat trip from Pantoja to Iquitos. How easy was this to
arrange? We are planning on taking a boat from Coca to Nuevo Rocafuerte and
then on from Pantoja to Iquitos. Iï¿½ve heard that the boat leaves Pantoja
around the 24th of each month - does this sound about right? Did you
have to take your own hammock and mosquito net? Can you buy food and
water along the way or is it best to take most of what you need on the
boat? Did you find it a safe way to travel (i.e. was your luggage ok?).
Any other trips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Louise
ANSWER:
Hello,

I went from Coca to Iqutos by various boats.
The trip is easy.

I think the boats leave all the time or at least every
few days. I would think it is best to just go and
wait.

No need for food, they sell food.

You need a Hammock for the Big Boat after the border,
make sure you have the ropes that go with Hammock.
Hammock could be handy, because we slept on porch in
Pantoja. MOSQUITO net is always needed in any Tropical
country. The one time you need it you need it.

I have a map...? hmm where is it... hehehe

Good luck, note I did this trip maybe 3 years ago. I
am in Southeast Asia traveling now, and the route is
probably easier.

Andy HoboTraveler.com

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COMMENT OR QUESTION:
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Hello Andy the Hobotraveler:

Here is a donation for $17 (I think). I am thinking of it as this: If I
met you in person, I would enjoy taking you out to a U.S. dinner on me. As
it is, you are halfway around the globe, so think of the donation as a
substitute.

I am very impressed by what you are doing. I have been following your
doings for a number of months now. In addition to reading your blog and
newsletter, I have explored much of the rest of your site. I am also
trying to "plan my escape" and your site is a great source of information
and jumping off point for other sources. And I like your refreshing take
on things, the obvious effort you make, and that you throw yourself into
your pages.

I have written you once or twice in the past to mention a broken link or
whatnot. I am sure that if we met we would have an interesting discussion
about the details you mention about travelling. Don't stop writing about
them. Your current troubles with your computer have made me think a lot
about how to put what I want to onto the internet while travelling. I
don't think that I have the answers yet but I will come up with something
before I leave.

I wish you all the best in your continued travels. About your request for
donations: I think it's fine to ask. Your argument about providing a
service for free made sense to me, and I finally have sent you a modest
amount. I also see why you may be frustrated with the total amount you
receive and I found it enlightening when you expressed it. Keep pursuing
those other avenues for income and perhaps the sum total will be
satisfactory to you.

Once again, best wishes to you.

Mark

ANSWER:

Hello Mark,

Thank for the 8 dinners here in Cambodia
17 Dollars is a windfall.

I like this quote by you,
" found it enlightening when you expressed it"

I write a lot of stuff and sometimes I am tempted to edit
or delete what I am thinking, but to me this is unfair, if you
wish to follow along with me on my trip it is necessary I say
what I am thinking and feeling whether it is a complaint or
a great person I meet along the way. How I feel and what
I think are the adventure or my journey, so it does make
me very happy when someone says I am accomplishing
one of my goals, to tell you about my life and travels honestly.

My Mother and Father read my writings and sometimes
I wish I could have a way of editing their version, but
they are adults and I am their son so they have or gave
me the courage to travel the world and I thank them, so
I guess they can read the true story. Thanks to you Mark
and of course I always thank my family.

Life is good.
Andy Hobotraveler.com in Cambodia!

-------------------------------------------------------------
COMMENT OR QUESTION:
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Here is an interesting email I received from a newsetter.
Good inspiration for the 4th of July in the USA.
To the Jihad Islamic Fighters...
"We are the United States Marines,
and we will be coming for you."
From a Marine officer on the Iraqi warfront with Jihadistan...

(This is an open letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, "Islamic
Response," and the rest of the so-called al-Qa'ida "insurgents"
in Iraq and elsewhere. We don't have an e-mail address for these
swine -- though we are closing in on their snail-mail address,
but we are forwarding this letter to Federalist Patriots around the
world in the hope you good people will forward it to as many other
Patriots as possible to rally prayer and support for our fellow
Marine, Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun. Should these al-Qa'ida pigs
spill his blood, we want them to rest assured that the contents
of this letter will eventually be nailed to their foreheads. Thank
you for your assistance.)

To al-Qa'ida terrorists in Iraq:

I see that you have captured a U.S. Marine, and that you plan
to cut off his head if your demands are not met. Big mistake.
Before you carry out your threat I suggest you read up on Marine
Corps history. The Japanese tried the same thing on Makin
Island and in a few other places during World War Two, and came
to regret it. Go ahead and read about what then happened to the
mighty Imperial Army on Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. They paid
full price for what they did, and you will too.

You look at America and you see a soft target, and to a large
extent you are right. Our country is filled with a lot of spoiled
children who drive BMWs, sip decaf lattes and watch ridiculous
reality TV shows. They are for the most part decent, hard working
citizens, but they are soft. When you cut off Nick Berg's head
those people gasped, and you got the media coverage you sought,
and then those people went back to their lives. This time it
is different. We also have a warrior culture in this country,
and they are called Marines. It is a brotherhood forged in the
fire of many wars, and the bond between us is stronger than
blood. While it is true that this country has produced nitwits
like John Kerry, Michael Moore, Howard Dean and Jane Fonda who
can be easily manipulated by your gruesome tactics, we have
also produced men like Jason Dunham, Brian Chontosh and Joseph
Perez. If you don't recognize those names you should. They are all
Marines who distinguished themselves fighting to liberate Iraq,
and there will be many more just like them coming for you.

Before the current politically correct climate enveloped our
culture one of the recruiting slogans of our band of brothers was
"The Marine Corps Builds Men." You will soon find out just how
true that is. You, on the other hand, are nothing but a bunch of
women. If you were men you would show your faces, and take us on
in a fair fight. Instead, you are cowards who hide behind masks
and decapitate helpless victims. If you truly represented the
interest of the Iraqi people you would not be ambushing those who
come to your country to repair your power plants, or sabotage the
oil pipelines which fuel the Iraqi economy. Your agenda is hate,
plain and simple.

When you raise that sword over your head I want you to remember
one thing. Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun is not alone as he kneels
before you. Every Marine who has ever worn the uniform is there
with him, and when you strike him you are striking all of us. If
you think the Marines were tough on you when they were cleaning
out Fallujah a few weeks ago you haven't seen anything yet. If you
want to know what it feels like to have the Wrath of God called
down upon you then go ahead and do it. We are not Turkish truck
drivers, or Pakistani laborers, or independent contractors hoping
to find work in your country. We are the United States Marines,
and we will be coming for you.
I received this from newsletter:
http://Federalist.com/subscribe/patriots.asp

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Click on here to ask a question:
http://www.hobotraveler.com/formlettereditor1.php

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~ HOBO GOSSIP and/or Jaded Remarks    - Back to top

Angkor Wat, Mekong River, Pol Pot, Vietnam War Tourism.
A few great excuses for a sex tourist to say why
they went to Cambodia

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HELP ANDY'S TRAVEL!
My wish list of things to help me travel.
I want to buy this travel gear.
http://www.hobotraveler.com/helpandy.shtml

HELP Andy's Grammar
http://www.hobotraveler.com/helpandygrammar.shtml

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"Thank you, Lord, for thinkin'
'bout me. I'm alive and doin' fine."
Iï¿½m alive and doing fine.ï¿½
Song by: Five Man Electrical Band    - Back to top

MY APOLOGY - If I do not reply quickly or
forget. I am sorry. Please write again. I do reply
to all well mannered e-mails. I try my best and
do want to talk.

CONTACTING THE EDITOR a.k.a. Andy - Back to top,

Write HoboTraveler.com or go here:
http://www.hobotraveler.com/formlettereditor1.php

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NOTICE: Letters to Andy are considered public.
Any letter written to Andy is considered
property of Andy and could be published in
entirety to the internet.

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