noodle quest 2006

So aside from just generally being sucked into the beach like a helpless jumping silver fish mercilessly throws itself into the waves, there has been some legit stuff going on that justifies not having written in so long.
Because people on the main bootsnall website can search the site and read my blog, I am goingto change the names of the bar and my friend to allow the situationprivacy.
Since the beginning of when we got here (almost 2 weeks ago at this point) we have been hanging out at a bar called “IT bar”, which is pretty near the GST guesthouse where we have been staying. the bar is on the beach and has some hammocks, comfy chairs, tables and chairs, good food and very special people working there. the owner of the bar is a woman named “Ling.” Ling is one of the cooler superhumans i have met. when she was 2 years old, her mother left her unattended while she was hanging out with her father by the port which is near the train tracks. she fell down badly and permanantly damaged her leg which is now smaller than the other one and she walks with a limp. when she tried to get up she reached for the closest thing which was the train track. a train came by as she was reaching and sliced off her right arm. so she has always lived like this. life is difficult- she walks around but it is a struggle and she is extremely competent in doing everything neccesary to run a bar with only one arm. when she was 13 she worked at a bar for 20$ a month. she savedall of her money and she opened a bar of her own when she was 20. she is 22 now. she supports her entire family with this bar- father and mother who are both HIV positive, 4 sisters and three brothers. everyone works very hard. Ling speaks english with an australian accent and has a very cool style. she has dark brown hair with blond tips and loves to party. About a week ago, Ling found out that her parents essentially sold her to a fat american man that has been hanging out at the bar. he bought her parents a new car and a 60,000$ house. he is utterly one of the most disgusting humans and not just because he has purchased my good friend. he is fat and disgusting and stupid and ignorant and utterly satanic. he drinks whiskey every day and is so fucking gross. the wedding was supposed to be the 21st but now it is going to be on the 25th. needless to say she has been freaking out. some days are okay- i mean relatively but other days she drinks way too much. other days she just cries. other days she is okay. the other day she had something close to a panic attack- i prayed it was a panic attackk and not a heart attack. 10 women including myself surrounded her and were massaging her tryingto make sure her circulation was okay. i was very nervous because her hand was clenched in this very spastic way and i kept banging my hand in a fist into her palm to make sure her hand wouldn;tstay that way. it was scary but i do emergency situations very well and i was able to feel calm and helpul throughout the entirety od the 3 hour ordeal although my back was sore from holding her. her sister Nari stayed with her as well throughout the ordeal and her mother who is cold and uncaring to her was very minimally helpful- somecousins and other sisters were pretty helpful although noone was attending to her emotions- only herphysical pain. If you are having a panic attack, how the hell do you calm yourself down when every time you almost catch your breath you think about the fact that you have been sold to a heinous human who you know that at best will rape you everynight you are with him and at worst beat you and keep you prisoner in the house- she has heard storiesof this from cambodian women living in the states. please don’t think of her as this poor passive victim. she is the super spunky unbelievably vivacious survivor who is in a way choosing this because she wants to do for her family. josh, joe, jess and i have been talking to her about making plans- we have endlessly discussed leaving before the wedding and what that would mean vs. going through with it and getting her in march from california after a three month honeymoon in thailand, spain and south africa. i think at the moment this is her preferred plan. Ling has been an amazing, fun, loving and wise friend to us and we want to do anything we can to help her.
Whew. so that’s one situation that has been keeping us her. That is the serious part of the pull to stay. the other parts are much more fun. they include all of the wonderful friends we have met. Lots of kids on the beach, and a bunch of fellow travelers. We hung out with two friench guys Julian and JB for 4 or 5 days who were staying at GST who were super cool. very cool male french counterparts to the marissa-jessie dynamic. we had a great time with them eating good food at new restuarants in town and about town and we went to coolplaces. They had rented motos and so they took us to the national park where we went to a few beaches that were totally desolate and beautiful. themotoride there was totally nuts. it was raining so hard that i thought i could go blind if a drop hit my opened eye. i had a bad stomach ache and had to stop at a bathroom on the way. i walk in and there is this dude in a loin cloth showering next to a hole in the floor and pointing to it saying “okay no problem.” yes. there is a problem actually. no thanks! another day we went with them on a boat trip with just the four of us. we went to a few isalnds, had afish bbq and went snorkeling. while we were snorkeling however the boat was drifting away so i spent about the entire 40minutes swimming to catch the boat! when i got there i was so tired and there was no ladder so i just floated helplessly in the water half laughing half sleeping until the french guys and the two cambodian dudes who were manning the boat pulled me out and dropped me half on and half off the boat from which i still have black and blue marks on my stomach. thanks guys. at night we hung out on the beach a lot with josh and joe and julian and JB and whoever else was around. we went to some beach bars a few nights and hung out at GST one or two nights.
today we closed up shop at GST and moved into the loft on the beach at IT bar. I don’t know how much longer we will stay. I could easily spend a few months here just KICKIN IT!
okay- that is enough for now.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 19th, 2005 at 11:16 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.