It never ceases to amaze me how plain daft some people are. You're a stranger in a strange land and you shouldn't expect people to understand everything you say, where even gestures are different. For example, using a finger to beckon someone in Viet

Why, what is It that you see father? 'I see Ships, mighty ships, that come here so very hungry, so full of greed, and they feed upon my flesh, ships full of blackness moored to dark, blood soaked docks. And when they have sucked and fed their fill th

January 30th 2005.This is the date set for the Iraqi 'elections' by the Iraqi 'governments' puppet master, George Bush. You may notice the liberal use of quotation marks and wonder why I am doing this. Well, the answer is that the Allawi's governme

Cobb County, Georgia.A judge last week ruled as unconstitutional a decision by the school board to include a sticker in its biology text books declaring that the theory of evolution is not a fact. The actual wording that rag being objected to was as

We all have our pet hates, and one thing I cannot abide is really bad food. I will admit to being a dab hand in the kitchen and on my travels cooking is something that I really miss. The whole process of thinking about what to eat, what's available

370 miles east of Bali lies the island Flores. It was here that scientists discovered the first evidence of human beings that lived at least until 12,000 years ago. That they eixsted at all until such a recent time is staggering, it means that they m

This week Condoleeeza Rice became secretary of state, and pledged yesterday that the US would work to repair its troubled relations with other world powers. She has a tough task on her hands. Even while she was preparing to make the offer of an olive

Excerpts from Salaman Pax - the famous Baghdad blogger visiting the USAPax attending a dinner given in his honour:'When the conversation turned to the clerical militia chief Moqtada al-Sadr, I was asked how anyone could be fooled by someone that so o

 Another one from the archives, following on from the Phnom Penh small ads:It's always amusing to see the various ways that non-English countries abuse the mother tongue, especially when it comes to the written word. The Americans of course, are no

A price list at a Phnom Penh nightclub:Angkor Beer1 bottle$2.70Singha Beer1 bottle$2.70Coke, Red Bull Soda1 can$1.50555, Malboro1 box$1.20Serving girld1 hour$1.00Massage girld1 hour$3.00Sex1 time$10.00Sex1 night$20.00Sex 2 girls same time1 night$35.0

English speaking newspapers are hardly awash in Cambodia, and the humble Cambodia daily, little more than an A5 folded pamphlet, is hardly Fleet street quality, but it isn't actually all that bad. But as ever when contributors have a loose grasp of

Outside Pattaya's only sex show there were signs of intrigue, purporting to show 'frog in pussy, fish in pussy, woman shoot ping-pong ball from pussy, unspeakable tricks with bananas and so on. It occurred to me then that I'd never actually been to a

Last week: Baghdad governer is killed along with six of his bodyguards. Seven US soldiers are killed in roadside bomb attackMonday: In Baghdad gunmen assassinated the city's deputy police chief, Brig. Amer Nayef, and his son . Two U.S. soldiers in a

I slipped into a sordid yet wonderfully satisfying routine. I would awaken about 11.00 am, later if I had bought a girl home with me, and shower and stroll down the Beach road. On the way I would buy the papers, a magazine or two and settle in the Lo

Just over two weeks after the dreadful calamity in SE Asia, there has been an almost obscene scramble as countries attempt to out-pledge one another in pledges for aid. In a previous article I observed that pledges are rarely honoured, but this time

The response to the appeal for aid  by people and governments the world over has been truly staggering. With anything up to $4 billion dollars pledged. A shame-faced America eventually agreed to cough up $350 million after an astonishingly embara

Ten days after the double disaster in Asia, people are picking up the pieces of their lives and the many stories of grief and woe are interspersed with the occasional tales of miraculous survival.One fisherman man was rescued a week after his boat ov

Dear all,An email from Terry in Tasmania reminded me of this one so I thought in January 2005 I'd resurrect some of my and other's favourites occaisionally. If you do enjoy them, please feel free to pass them on or send a link to others.A small Chi

Dear all,A small Chinese man pushes porter from the vast red-bricked megalith of Market City towards the rat infested destinations of of Chinatowns restaurants. His cargo is wide punnets of purple broccoli, and he sings to himself in a strange, alien

Earthquakes - the toll is seismically ominous. Almost 12 months ago to the day of the horrific Sumatran earthquake and subsequent devastating tsunami, another earthquake claimed tens of thousands of lives in Bam, Iran. The Sumatran quake was caused

In a previous article, I observed with concern the dumbing down of America, in particular focusing on the faith based 'abstinence' lack-of-sex eduaction program. Since I wrote that article, new reports have reached my ears and they do little to obvia