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This will be the final blog for our holiday. The idea was to spend a relaxing day doing whatever we felt. The reality was a game of thrones where Anna and I fought for time on the throne to expel the demons that had consumed us.

Last night we were both up and down like yo yo’s testing the hotel plumbing. Not s pretty sight.

We did feel better as the day went on and Anna disovered you can buy just about any drug without a prescription from the local chemist so that should see us through until we get home.

We both got s final massage. Then I went to the war museum which was an interesting indit into the civil war. Anna headed off for a facial and a pedicure.

We headednout for one final meal at about one fifth the prive ofmehatbit should cost, a few beers on pub steeet and then headed home. Content we’d maximized our timein Cambodia.

Thought for the day: Thanks Cambodia, its been fun.

It’s 4pm and the day is far from over but I’ve decided to write today’s post now because we’re about to go out and get our drink on. I suspect writing it later would only end it either rambling or incoherrance.

Big day today. Upmat 4:30 am to head out to Angkor Wat. Cambodias most famous temple and the image used on their national flag. We arrived in time to see the sunrise but due to cloud cover and the throngs of tourists, it was not quite perfect serenity. Still pretty amazing though to see this giant ancient temple emerge from the darkness. Our tour guide, David, seemed to know all the good spots for photos and avoiding the crowds so it was well worth it.

We stopped for brekky and then headed off to the next temple, and ournfavorite temple, Bayon. Those of us who remember the He-Man cartoons will remember Castle Greyscull. It was like walking into a real life Castle Greyscull. Awesome towers and mazes and at one point we saw a cat turn into a tiger. Not quite but I loved it.

After Bayon we took a boat ride on Tonle Sap lake. Ore of an ocean than a lake. I forget the details but its something like 300 sqaure kilometre’s. You can sit in the middle and not see any of the edges.

Tonle Sap is also home to 2 million people living in floating villages. Houses built on the water floating on Bamboo. A bit like the houseboats on the Murray but done on the budget of the paddle bikes of the Torrens. A little boy came out to meet us mid river and brought us beer though so these are obviously good people.

We returned for lunch and  a nap at the hotel. We’ve just cracked open a couple of beers as we sit on the balcony and watch a storm do it’s work. The hardest thing now is to decide if we get a massage before we go to the pub, or if we go straight there and get a longer hapy hour in. Decisions, decisions.

Thought fornthe day: I dont care how artistic and awesome you think you’re being with yur telescopic lens 30 cm away from a rock. Just hurry up so i can get a happy snap of me pulling a funny face in front of a sacred temple.

Footnote: We’re now comitted to coming back to Cambodia. Our tour guide told me i can stay at his house so himand his family can challenge me to a beer drinking competition. They say they dont drink beer for fun! Only for competition. Last man standing wins. These are certainly my kind of people.

Today started with us being picked up from our hotel for a day of temple touring. Our guide, David (not his real name) was friendly and knowledgeable which we appreciated. More than anything we appreciated his air conditioned 4 wheel drive. We felt like Royalty as we were chauferred around in airconditioned comfort whilst looking down on the peasant tourists in their tuk tuk’s. Ok, not so much but it was good.

The temples were pretty amazing. Words wont really do them justice. I’ll upload some photo’s soon but it wont let me do it on the iPad. We went to four temple sites in all including the one where the movie Tomb Raider was filmed. Its like s labrynth with trees growingout of the rocks and the roots snaking down the walls. Pretty cool.

We got back tothe hotel around 2. Just in time for beer and swim o’clock. Bit of a power nap in the arvo thenoff to see a traditional cambodian dance show. Bit of a tourist trap but it was nice to see.

Early to bed now as we have to be up at 4:30am tomorow. Going to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Should be pretty magic.
Thought for the day: the himidity’s starting to ge to me I think. My stomch is starting to swell with the heat. Can’t think it’s anything to do with the beers.

Rest day. Wandered around the markets, got our drink on about lunch time after a massage. Had a swim. Went to the night markets. In the context of things, a very uneventful day. Tours continue tomorrow.

Thought for the day: despite being more expensive you can’t really beat $2 hotel beers in the pool.

Day 4 started with a tuk tuk ride out to see the killing fields. This is the place where the Khmer Rouge, lead by Pol Pt, had people executed. A lot of people. It was interesting and out of respect I will not make any jokes about it.

You know whenyou go to the gym and… No me either. But you know how you think about going to the gym and you say to yourself, “i would go if only they’d put the exercise bikes in the sauna for maximum fat brurning effect”. Well, now you can do just that by doing a cycle tour in Phnom Penh. Thats what we did yesterday. We joined a group of 3 others including a self centered American woman. Americans hey, can’t travel with them, can’t stop them from travelling.

Cycling throu the city was an experience. Anna nearly died a thousand times. She had some difficulty with the gears and at one point was stuck in the highest gear, peddeling like mad and not going anywhere, just drifting through the onciming traffic. Funny for me at the time, funny for both of us in hindsight.

Immust admit theres a certain amount of trust required to pull out in front of a truck and have faith they will stop.

We got the ferry over Mekong island and cycled around the villages. Said hello to all the children. I mean ALL the children. As you ride past, hello’s fire out of the bushes and houses like sniper bullets of joy. Despite saying hello back to at least a hundred of them you’d feel too mean to not say hello anymore. All fun.

The tour finished with lunch. Then we went back to the hotel for an hour long deep tissue massage. Heaven. The massages ended happily with drinks by the pool.

A sunset cruise capped off an eventful day.

Thought for the day: relaxing by the hotel pool with a book has now been replaced by laying around looking at your mobile device. Ironically, im sitting by the pool as i write this.

Not heaps to report today other an we did another tour. Stopped at two markets! Which was handy because the top of the line Ray Ban sun ies I bought yesterday broke. Turns out that $3 sunglasses purchased at a market in Cambodia dont come with warranty. As luck would have it there were more available at another market. At this ooint i feel like im renting different sunnies each day. All good.

WE got taken to a restaurant for lunch run by friends international which supports street youth. We took a chance and ordered the Tarantula for entree. Yes, the spider. I managed to get down a whole one while Anna managed a leg. In fairness, the legs were still tarantula hairy.

Then it was back to the hotel for $2 beers, a swim, a nap and a snack before heading out for happy hour. In case $2 beers weren’t enough, happy hour gets you 50c beers on a rooftop overlooking the mekong river.

Life’s tough

Thought for the day: Cooked tarantula isnt the strangest food you’ll get here. We just werent game to try the snakes or cockroaches.

Anna and I are keeping a bit of a travel diary while we bust amove all over Cambodia. This is it. It will be short because im typing on an ipad and that’s a pain in the arse. Speaking of which, lets start by talking about the food. Kidding.

We arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday.Went out and saw some temples and stuff. Caught a feery across the Mekong river to Mekong Isalnd. Neither of us were entirely sure whatour “English speaking” guide was saying. There were some buddhist temples there and giant prawns sculptures.

We wnt to a silk making place and I bout a tie I will never wear and Anna bought a table cloth we will never use.

We got back to the city on a sundet cruise and went out for dinner. 1 litre beers are $4. That was a lot of fun. Anna continues to search for her drink and has so far tried about 4 different types of cocktails.

After dinner by the river, we stumbled to the night markets and i bought a genuine Ferrari watch and Ray Ban sunglasses for $3. Anna picked up some Gucci sunnies for $2.50. Prices here seem more than reasonable.

We continued to the rooftop bar where we whittled away the evening before getting a tuk tuk back to the hotel. The driver wanted $3 but i talked him down to $2 because I’m obnoxious westener and not paying full price even when it’s $3 makes me feel tough. In truth, we only had $2 in cash left. Turns out nobody will take our $100 note. I don’t blame them, we look shifty.

Thought for the day: we saw someone receiving a fine for a traffic infringement. In a place with seemingly zero traffic laws you would have to feel lucky the unluckiest person alive.

Allow me to be serious for a minute. There’s been a couple of stories in the news this past week that have got me thinking. Both stories centered around the unprovoked attacks of one man on another.

Last weekend, Sydney teenager Thomas Kelly, on his first visit to Sydney’s Kings Cross district, was king-hit by an unknown man while out with friends. Kelly later died in hospital. His parents forced to make the hardest decision a parent could make and turned off his life support. Police are still searching for the attacker.

In other news, the Country Liberal Party in the Northern Territory announced they will introduce a three-month minimum jail sentence for anyone convicted of assaulting someone who is performing a public service if elected to government next month. The announcement came in the wake of another attack of a Taxi driver in Darwin.

Let me say that I support the proposed new law. I think it’s a great idea. In light of the Thomas Kelly incident, and similar stories of bashings and assaults appearing in the news with alarming regularity, I find myself asking, could the new law not go further? How about, mandatory three-month jail sentence for anyone convicted of assautling another human being?

If they can rule out violence like this in the AFL, why can’t we do it in society.

I can honestly say, I’ve never punched anyone in anger. That’s not to say I’ve never been in a fight. It’s just that the fight was decidedly one directional.

I remember a night out several years ago, coincidentally while I was living in Darwin, that a young man, seemingly perplexed by exactly “what the fuck I was looking at”, decided he would punch me in the face. This split my nose and brought about a stream of blood.

Despite the attack, I didn’t punch him back. I remember being more shocked than anything. After the punch, and upon seeing me grab my nose rather than his neck, my attacker seemed content to just move on down the road. Perhaps he was just being polite and allowing me to finish the hamburger I was half way through. Who knows why he did it. Perhaps he was a staunch vegetarian and upon seeing me tucking my face into some dead cow decided he would punch it to teach it a lesson. I doubt it.

The thing is though, I got the feeling I was not his first or last victim for the night. He struck me, pardon the pun, as the kind of guy who’s idea of a fun night out was to wander the streets looking to start fights. I’ve never understood this mentality. I don’t know where it stems from and without spending four years at university getting a psychology degree, I can only speculate. For now I’ll just assume it was because I had a hamburger and he didn’t.

What troubled me even more than the punch was the events that followed. It just so happened that a police car was driving past at the time and saw the incident. They managed to stop the guy and got his details. I don’t think they arrested him. They came over to talk to me about what had happened and asked if I’d like to press charges. Before I could answer, a fellow punter, who had watched the guy hit me, chimed in. “Ha ha, charges? Come on mate, it was just a little love tap!” he scoffed. I heard this as I reached for another napkin to mop up the blood still streaming from my nose and it made me more angry than getting punched in the face.

Annoyingly, I let this dissuade me from pressing charges. I remember thinking, maybe this guy’s right. Maybe I’m over-reacting by pressing charges. Maybe I should just toughen up. Maybe it was the realisation that my key witness in the whole affair was seemingly in support of people punching people for eating hamburgers. Whatever the reason I didn’t press charges.

The reason this bystanders comments made me so angry is what it said to me about the world we live in. It said to me is that society, particularly young male culture, says that as long as someone only gets a split nose or a black eye, that it’s just part of life and that it’s going to happen every now and then. We should just accept it. This infuriates me.

The guy who punched Thomas Kelly was doing exactly the same thing as the guy who punched me. The consequences however will be much different. I hope they catch the guy and lock him up. There is absolutely no justification for that type of senselss violence. It pleases me to think there’s one less person wandering the streets punching people for the fun. It’s just a tragedy that a young man had to die in order for it to happen.

Sadly, it seems the only time action is taken is when someone is killed or seriously harmed. We all know this type of behavior goes on every Friday and Saturday night around the country and that it’s only a matter of time before it happens again. I’ve no doubt someone will be punched for no reason this weekend and it will go unreported, unnoticed and unpunished.

I applaud the proposal by the CLP to introduced mandatory three month jail terms for people convicted of assault against people performing a public service. These people in particular need protection. Whether they drive a taxi, drive a bus, work in a bar or a bank, people shouldn’t have to face violence at work.

I’d like to see us take it one step further and introduce mandatory sentencing for anyone convicted of assault against another person. Three months may be a bit much, so I’d suggest trialing a one month mandatory sentence. You want to punch someone, you get a one month suspension from society. Hell, if they can do it in the AFL, surely we can get there as a society.

A key thing to remember is that this only applies to people convicted of assault. The key word being convicted. This means that if someone breaks into your house and starts hurting your family and you punch the guy, you would  likely not be convicted as it would be a case of personal protection / self defence.

What do you think? Is mandatory sentencing going too far? Do you think it’s OK to ‘punch on’ on a night out? Is violence just a fact of life? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

I’m on the hunt to buy a house at the moment. What, with house prices continuing to come down and an interest rate that took another cut today. The time is ripe for house buying. So I’ve spent the last few weeks looking at various properties and there’s a lot of mumbo jumbo and hyperbole that agents use when buying a property.

It’s almost as though they’re speaking a different language. So when it comes to travelling to the world of real estate, I’ve attempted to help you out by giving you a phrase book of common real estate words and phrases translated into their actual meaning.

Location, Location, Location: This is an oldy but a goody. Some say the three most important things in real estate are location, location, location. These people are idiots. It should at the very least be location, location, house. Unless you want to sleep on dirt. For me, it’s location, house, aircon but it varies from person to person. At the end of the day, when they write this phrase, what they’re saying is that the house is such a pile of shit that we’d prefer to use the same word three times in a row rather than mention the run down, rat infested squallor that we’re trying to get rid of.

Huge Potential: Similar to location, location, location, this is another way of saying the house is a pile of shit. Unfortunately, it does not at least come with the location benefits that location, location, location comes with.

A Hidden Gem: Don’t be fooled here. When you see the pictures of your potential new house, you may get excited. “This looks good!” you’ll exclaim as you flick through the pictures. As you reach the end of the photos, you realise you haven’t seen a picture of the yard. That’s because you don’t have one. The reason this is a “hidden” gem, is because you’ll actually be living on somebody elses back lawn out of sight from the road. Think camping in your parents back yard when you were a kid except now it’s a permanent structure and instead of paying $20 for a torch, some soft drinks and pop corn, you’ll pay half a millon dollars.

Generous Bedrooms: This is true. The bedrooms in this house are generous because they didn’t hog all the house space for themselves. Instead they worked out how big the average bed was, and generously offered the rest of the space to the remainder of the house. You’ll get a bed in this room but don’t expect much else. These generous rooms are usually contained within a generous house, on a generous block.

Character: You know how you thought that stinky old pair of shoes you just threw out had character? Yeah. Like that.

Low Maintenance: What would you say if I told you you wouldn’t have to clean as much as you do now. Well you can. It’s easy, just don’t have as much stuff. By stuff I mean wall and floor space, or appliances, or a back yard. As long as you enjoy showering, doing your washing and cooking, all in the same room. You’ll love this easy care house.

Great First Home: Chances are it was somebody’s last home… ever. For some reason deceased estates seem to be popular choices when it comes to using this common phrase. You have to admit, it sounds much better than, “Smells like death”. Great first homes are also sometimes small one bedroom flats. Perhaps they figure that you’ve just come from living with your parents or in a share house and spending all your time in your room or the kitchen and won’t notice there aren’t any other parts to this place.

House number ends in ‘A’ or ‘B’: This is a dead giveaway that you’re buying half a house. Someone had a whole house, they stuck a wall down the middle of it, slapped up an extra doorway and called it two houses. These houses can be good as long as you don’t mind hearing your neighbor brushing his teeth through your shared wall at 3 in the morning. See also ‘Hidden Gem’.

Priced to sell: Well duh! I hope whoever who came up with this little gem didn’t get paid. What’s the alternative, pricing it not to sell? If you’re ever selling your house and your agent suggest pricing your place so that it won’t sell, get a new agent.

Hackham West: This house is in Hackham West and should be avoided.