randomness and a little bit on writing

Another week in London and the weather has not been our friend lately here on the Islands. Looks like it’s trying very hard to prove that it IS, in fact, winter, even though the more obvious signs of it, like snow and those lovely layers of frost that should cover the ground in the morning, are nowhere to be seen. I think I got used to gorgeous Asian sun way too much and rain and darkness are starting to get on my nerves.

I confess that I’m very excited about blog camp 3.0 and before I go I want to learn how to be creative and make stuff. Like crotchet, for example, or knit, or make cute little necklaces like those on Etsy. Something that would prove that despite what others think I too have a talent. I’ll give it a go during Christmas, between mince pies and ever so important watching the snow fall (if any).

In the meantime, I have a short story to write for my short story assignment and I’m stuck, I can’t find words. It’s a writer’s block of someone who is not even a writer - and that’s just sad. Lately I’ve been reading stories by some wonderful short story tellers, like Alice Munro and James Joyce and Jhumpa Lahiri and Jose Borges, and it amazes me how words seem come easily to them. I don’t believe they were sweating till 1am trying to finish their stories, instead they seem to be able to put all that suspense and cleverness on paper without much effort. Profound observations of life seem to flow. Vocabulary is much above the 10^th grade level and yet somehow it seems simple.

I tried to read a Dan Brown lately, Digital Fortress to be exact. I wanted to see what the whole fuss is about. I put it down after 100 pages. Sorry, Dan, it was boring.

The photo only seems random. The little Buddha sits comfortably on a bridge staring at a river without a care in the world. I bet he's not worried about writer's block.

one last time, reporting from the FCC

A couple of days ago I was planning to write an inspired post about my stay in french-colonial Phnom Penh. I wanted to write about sun soaking at the roof terrace of the FCC and about drinking passionfruit capriosca while watching longboats go past on Tonle Sap (I hit Phnom Penh just as the water festival started, just in time for longboat races) (oh and also, I love passionfruit capriosca...). I was planning to talk some more about Cambodian sunsets especially those behind the imperial palace. That Foreign Correspondence Club feels very much like Graham Greene has just left through the back door.

Instead life in its usual unexpected way interrupted and I got caught up in the rush. Perhaps that's not so bad because it helped me overcome the terrible post-adventure blues I was experiencing last week. Yesterday, instead of blogging about Cambodia I spent a great afternoon listening to Jo Baker, the author of The Telling talking about her novel, about writing it and about finding inspiration. It's a wonderful experience to meet an author in person and have that insight into their mind. It's also a little frightening listening to those super creative people, their language floating effortlessly and their inspired words painting amazing images.

And now it's ten o'clock on Sunday night and the day that started at six am is thankfully coming to an end. I've translated 27 pages of text from German into English, none of which is my first language. Not bad for a very rainy Sunday. Not bad.

Here is the last bunch of happy-sunny images from Cambodia. From now on it's back to reality. Forget the sun, Christmas is coming up.

longboat races in Phnom Penh

view from the FCC's rooftop

driving through the country - rice paddies dotted with sugar palms

by Tonle Sap lake after the rainy season

in the floating village

in the countryside

and back in Phnom Penh

why Cambo?

I'm slowly getting over the wretched jetlag... getting to grips with reality... opening the door to the blogosphere... they squeak and need oiling but I've not been here for a while so it's understandable... echo in the empty coridors...

A questions has been asked why I went to Cambo. Funny as it sounds, I had to think a little before answering, I wasn't sure why. The first answer that came to my head was "because it's there", which is partly true, it's there and I've not been there yet so I need to go. This is true about most countries in the world though. So the second thought was the temples. The historian in me - long asleep, I'm pretty sure she's been in coma - remembers the first time she saw a photo of one of the temples of Angkor thought "wow, I hope I can be there one day..."

And also, I think it's always been one of the top ten places on Earth to visit as soon as possible. I've still got a few left but am ticking them off slowly.

There is something magical about Cambodia. I went there with an idea of what I'm going to see and where I'm going to be. I read about the temples and the genocide and prepared mentally for the poverty. I booked the passes and buses and hotel rooms and was all set but none of this prepared me for what things would really be like, what people I would meet, what thoughts I would have, what food I would eat and how all of this would affect me. It has been an incredible roller-coaster journey and all of this is taking time to sink in.

I met some wonderful people who invited me to their homes for dinners. I had long conversations with locals on the buses. I tried to learn some local dances but to no avail. I drank countless cocktails sitting at the rooftop of the Foreign Correspondents Club in Phnom Penh. All of this taught me a bit of the ways of the world and about myself.

I'm going to shut up now because I'm not sure if I can tell you anything more than what you can read in guidebooks. So instead here are some photos from the temples. There are other places I went to in Cambo and I'll blog about them shortly. There is so much to see there...

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Apsaras the celestial dancers everywhere

Banteay Srei

faces of the Khmer people who once lived there

at Bayon

faces of Bayon, the king in nirvana

kapok tree slowly swallowing up Ta Prohm (also known as Lara Croft moment)

Ta Prohm, the jungle temple

Cambodia

Hello, I'm back. Only just - I've stepped off the plane yesterday afternoon and straight into autumnal drizzle. Temperature shock was unavoidable. I'm trying to get used to the cold weather, get over the time difference and get back to reality. Difficult. If not impossible - at least today.


In my head I'm still in the beautiful, sunny Cambodia on the rice paddies, among sugar palms and in the temples of Angkor. There is unavoidable magic about Cambodia because it's a realm of gods. For now, in my head, there is a mess of emotions and impressions. In the next few hours I'll be making my way through nearly 2500 photos to find a few (five?) good ones to post. In the meantime here is a little impression - sunrise at Angkor Wat, 5am.

and off she went...

Dear Friends, I'm disappearing from the blogosphere for the next three weeks. I'm going traveling, and access to the internet may be scarce. But I really, really hope that once I'm back in November, you and your wonderful blogs will still be here and that I can join in the blogging as if nothing ever happened. My life would be so much poorer without you so please try not to forget me...

P.S. this image has nothing to do with this post, but isn't Autumnal sky wonderful in London? I saw this purple-blue sky today at 7am from my kitchen window.

on creativity

I've been thinking about how we are surrounded by possibilities to be creative and what we do with them. One of the interesting things about creativity is that it's a messy process, and a very personal one. But also, that there are no tried and true approaches to being creative. Developing creativity is a very personal evolutionary process, full of trials and errors. A process of sorting out messes. It can be an intensely private work. Finding creative sense is rather like a journey into the unknown: there are many wonderful guide books, compasses, and preachers, but the ultimate destination is always elusive and enigmatic.

I’ve been focusing a lot on different things lately and it's been harder to get back into writing this autumn. I think that as we grow older we forget about being creative, we work hard on trying to fit into the world around us instead, which can be a very time consuming. We want to fit in. We want to look, speak and move like the people in the world that surrounds us.

I'm still trying working on how to be creative in different ways. I am thinking about how to look at the world from different angles and to find and follow my own vision of what's right. This means writing most of the time, but lately photography felt like an incredibly creative process – mostly thanks to my blog buddies who showed me how magical the world can be when it’s viewed through the camera lens. I’ve not had time to pick up the camera lately but for the next three weeks I will have it pretty much permanently glued to my hand – while in Asia, there will be plenty of opportunities to practice. A time to be creative will become available at last; there will be opportunities to daydream, to fantasize and to imagine. I look forward to this time away because when I'm not writing or taking photos, I feel that I’m losing the creative part of me that I value. I not only don't experiment with words, but I don't experiment with life.

wordless Monday - green