Retrospective: Cambodia – 05 Sep 2013
Tag: Cambodia
Why The RSL Must Look To The Future
In the past few days there has been a lot of coverage in the news and on social media about the RSL NSW office dictating what will and won’t be allowed during the Sydney ANZAC Day march. To say this has caused a wave of emotion to boil-over various Defence affiliated social media groups is an understatement. The sentiment most being expressed is one of Veterans being fed up with the attitude of the RSL and their efforts to control the very thing that is central to our identity; the ANZAC legend.
I have been critical of the RSL previously and have even participated in some of the online debates about what my opinion is of the current issue surrounding Veterans and marching with their unit banners. As with most discussions regarding the RSL and Veterans opinions and experiences; sadly the negative seems to far out-way the positive. In the midst of a robust discussion about the relevancy of the RSL in these modern times; I posted a rough opinion piece that I have fine tuned and censored for this blog post.
Many of the negative experiences Veterans are facing today aren’t from the club side of the RSL. We are literally being told to “go away” by sub-branches. I don’t give a rats arse about the bar, bistro and pokies side of the RSL; my concern is with the Veterans support side turning away my generation because of perceived differences.
In the past 18 months we have seen more than twenty suicides of Veterans under 40 years of age! While every suicide is both concerning and a tragedy; I’ve now buried more friends to suicide than have been lost in war. We are on the edge of an epidemic spilling over and the sad fact is that Veteran suicide is the new Elephant In The Room for Australia and Australia’s Veteran community. The simple reason for this is because the support isn’t there when it is needed and that support certainly isn’t coming from the RSL anytime soon!
We all wore a uniform and we all served Australia, but to a very small minority in positions of authority in the RSL National, RSL State and RSL sub-branches, this means nothing. In the months after I left the Army I tried to reach out to the RSL, the same sub-branch my Grandfather was President of for 40+ years and was told by the new President “fuck off, we don’t want young blokes with tatts”.
The RSL needs to realise there are other Veterans support groups, social groups and avenues of support available to the Veteran community aside from them. The Vietnam War era soldiers didn’t have the support of the RSL when they needed it but eventually the tide turned and now a lot of Vietnam Veterans are running the sub-branches. The Vietnam Veterans went through decades of lobbying and some still won’t walk inside an RSL. Unfortunately they didn’t have the groups and support networks we have available to us today.
Put simply we have other support and social mechanisms in play that won’t ostracise us and turn us away. Until the RSL at the State and National level fully understands that they are no longer relevant in their current form and start listening to what ALL Veterans want (WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Rwanda, Somalia, East Timor, Solomon Islands, Foreign Aid/Relief, Border Security and Middle East) they are going to see a continuation in the already rapid decline in numbers and attendance.
There are many sub-branches that are doing exceptional things in the Veteran community but their good deeds are being overshadowed by a leadership that won’t look towards the future.
Training Week In Review – Weeks 12, 13 & 14
I imagine opening the door to my garage, I walk past the two parked cars, the boxes of tools and up to my bikes; two hanging on their ceiling stand and the XTC resting against the wall. I look at my three Giant bikes, clean, serviced and facing the automatic door almost as if they are waiting to roll onto the asphalt outside. But the tyres are low and a spider has built a small but intricate web from the cold brick wall to the rear derailleur on the XTC. I look to the bench where my helmet, gloves and shoes sit; they are covered in a fine layer of dust.
My name is Chad and it has been 25 days since I last rode a bike.
It has been a busy three weeks for me. I drove to Melbourne and got married to the beautiful Carly and travelled to Cambodia and Vietnam for our Honeymoon. During that time I haven’t ridden a bike or conducted any sort of training outside of hiking around the countryside.
Before this break in training I was carrying a few niggling injuries including a relapse in my torn pectoral muscle. The time off the bike has been good and has helped me relax and focus on what I want to achieve leading up to the Battle of the Beasts and for the rest of the year.
I have lost some fitness and muscle tone so I won’t be jumping into any huge rides just yet; but with a 3 hour twilight race next weekend I will aim to spend a few hours off-road and doing a recce of the proposed course.
Our Asian Holiday – Day 17 to Kết Thúc
Day 17: We awoke in our hotel room to the sound of the cleaner’s vacuum outside of our door. For our last morning in Vietnam it was almost a fitting way to be roused from slumber; an abrasive yet not out of place sound in incredibly hectic country.
Breakfast soon followed and then came the game of who carries what in which bag. I’m an incredibly light traveller. To put this into perspective my backpack and small travel bag weighed a combined 7.1kg when we left Melbourne 17 days ago. Carly’s suitcase failed early in the trip and she had been lugging around a sizable sports bag ever since.
At 10:00 the hotel reception called and told us our driver had arrived to take us to Han Oi airport for our first leg to Kuala Lumpur. We had an hour to kill before boarding and 200’000 dong to spend in the airport. So we enjoyed a coffee and a few snacks and were soon on our first flight back to home.
The flight to Kuala Lumpur went off without a hitch thanks to Angry Birds Star Wars and The Hungover Part 3. Fun fact: Malaysian Airways heavily censored the film.
With a 4 hour layover I tucked into a Whopper from Burger King while Carly watched on in disgust. But soon I was following her around different Duty Free Shops; awesome! We sat and had a coffee and tea before heading through security to our gate for boarding the plane to home.
I spent the rest of Day 17 watching Iron Man 3, John Carter and listening to music.
Day 18: The remainder of the flight was uneventful until we landed in Melbourne. Thanks to a sick passenger we were quarantined on the tarmac until AQIS cleared us and then we boarded a bus in the rain for the long drive to the terminal. Melbourne airport and I have had a love/hate relationship for a number of years; Fun Fact: EVERY time I have flown to Melbourne for work my baggage has been delayed and had to be delivered to where I was staying.
So after 10 minutes in a smelly bus we stopped next to the rubbish bin area of the international terminal and disembarked to clear immigration and customs. This was relatively pain free and as we pushed our way through the crowd outside the arrivals gate our Asian Holiday came to an end.
We both thoroughly enjoyed our short trip to Cambodia and Vietnam; but with all good things it has come to an end. It is now time for the inevitable trip back to Canberra and to resume the working life again.
Our Asian Holiday – Day 4
Day 4: Our final morning in Cambodia was spent wandering the street markets for a new travel bag for Carly. While packing her well-used suitcase the seam tore apart and with an hour until our driver arrived to take us to the airport, we went on a mission.
Luckily for us she found a bag that would accommodate her increasing number of clothes and soon we were on our way to the airport and on a plane bound for Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
As we descended, the size of HCMC was astounding. It’s a huge city with an even bigger urban sprawl; life looked busy from our vantage point in the sky. Unfortunately for us we were about to spend the next hour and a half sitting at passport control waiting to have our visas issued. The paperwork was completed and submitted; we just had to sit and wait while a single person processed multiple plane loads of passengers wanting to enter Vietnam. Eventually we passed immigration and met our clearly pissed off driver who then proceeded to drive at break neck speed through the ridiculously hectic HCMC traffic.
Within an hour we arrived at our hotel and soon set off for a look around the nearby markets. Luckily for us we were inside the market pavilion when the heavens unleashed an almighty monsoonal storm.
Braving the downpour, we ran across the road and tucked into a fantastic dinner of Phõ followed by a tour of the downtown night markets. All in all our first night in Vietnam was a good one.
Our Asian Holiday – Day 2 to Day 3
Day 2: We woke up to a sunny morning in Phnom Penh and enjoyed a lazy breakfast on the top of our hotel overlooking the Mekong River. Our guide and driver arrived and took us to the airport for our flight to Siem Reap. Our flight was a quick 45min leg where our new guide Con and his driver were waiting.
We checked into our new hotel, The City River Hotel, just a few blocks away from downtown Siem Reap. A quick lunch in the hotel restaurant and we were off for a tour of the famous Angkor Wat temple.
We drove through Siem Reap and to the Angkor Wat tourist centre where our photos were taken and visitor ID’s issued. A quick 10min down the road and some history lessons from Con, we arrived at Angkor Wat with the thousands of other tourists; mostly Chinese and Vietnamese. In the land of Cambodia this whitey is a rare and much taller animal.
It is really a huge temple at Angkor Wat, the scale is only surpassed by the detail that is on every piece of stone and wall.
We left Angkor Wat for another temple at Pnom Bakheng built on top of a large hill overlooking the Siem Reap province. We were allocated an hour to scale the hill and climb the steep stairs to the top of the temple before enjoying the sun setting over the Great Lake. We made the steep climb in little over 15mins with no heavy breathing or excess sweating; unlike the other tourists in their terrible footwear and heavy clothing.
The top of the temple itself was ridiculously hot and after watching dozens of Chinese tourists climb all over an ancient temple and throw up peace sign selfies, we left for our dinner and dance show in Siem Reap.
The dinner was an Asian style buffet with some Western foods thrown in to appease the people not keen on trying something different. During the meal we watched an Asara dance that was pretty impressive and then headed back to our hotel for an early night.
Day 3: We went for a quick stroll around the markets near our hotel after a light Asian breakfast. The markets were bustling with vendors and I picked up a cheap cap for my journeys.
Our guide and driver picked us up and we headed out to Angkor Wat once again. This time we toured the South Gate of Angkor Thom and Preah Khan.
Later we headed off into the jungle to look a few smaller, less preserved temples. These temples were a lot quieter than the main area at Angkor Wat. I can only assume that due to the extra walking required certain groups just cut them from their itinerary. For both Carly and I it was a more enjoyable experience seeing the temples and ruins that the jungle had taken back.
In the afternoon we spent some time in and out of the balcony pool at the hotel drinking beers and enjoying the sun. As a huge storm started to roll in with retired to our room for a siesta before heading out to the night markets, pub street and a nice dinner.
Our Asian Holiday – Day 0 to Day 1
What a whirlwind the past few days has been for Carly and I. The Wedding went off without a hitch and was a huge day and night for not only us but for our family and friends. Carly spent the morning getting ready with her Bridesmaids, family and the Twin flower girls. I spent the morning drinking coffee, wandering around Elwood before finally spending some time with my Groomsmen, Mark and Evan by watching Robocop.
.:Meredith O’Shea is the most amazing photographer ever! Just do what she says!:.
Day 1: We flew out from Melbourne just after midnight on Tuesday morning and flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The flight itself was fairly painless and we both managed to get a few hours sleep before landing in Kuala Lumpur. The next 3 hours were spent wandering the airport checking out the duty free shopping before we spotted a Starbucks and leeched off their free Internet until our next flight.
We arrived in Phnom Penh just after 10am on Tuesday morning, 13 hours after we departed Melbourne. Sweet Baby Jesus it was hot!!! I like the cold, thus why I like Canberra; so needless to say arriving to 37’C with 10’000% humidity was a shock to the system. We paid for our visas, passed quickly through immigration and customs and were soon sitting in an air-conditioned car with our driver and guide for the day.
Our first stop for the day was the Killing Fields of Choenung Ek. In high school I did a fair bit of study on the recent history of Cambodia; in particular the Khmer Rouge regime. Although I have seen a lot of terrible and horrific things first hand over the past decade it is still quite sobering to experience something so huge that it has restructured a nation’s identity. The Cambodian people don’t shy away from discussing the days under Pol Pot’s genocidal rule; they embrace that this terrible chapter in their recent history has changed them forever and they strive to overcome the challenges of the past.
Our next destination was the Ohana Hotel across the road from the Mekong River. We checked in and grabbed a quick lunch before a quick walk through the nearby markets.
Our driver and guide picked us up a couple of hours later and we drove to the Royal Palace for a quick tour of the amazing gardens and buildings. Our guide Sam At was full of knowledge about his country, King and recent history. Sometimes he would even ask questions to see if we were paying attention.
For our final tour of the day we headed to the National Museum for a quick look around at the thousands of statues of Buddhism and Hinduism that Cambodia has amassed over the past several centuries. To be honest we were fairly statued out; but it was still a good opportunity to see how Cambodia has adapted yet kept its national identity after so many years of upheaval.
We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying a quick siesta before heading out for a walk on the banks of the Mekong River, a stroll through the markets and quiet dinner near our hotel.
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