This blog is just to share some interesting stuff.
South East Asian history is all the more fascinating because of the flamboyant and extraordinary characters that crop up at regular intervals, kings and queens, traders, heroes, scholars and adventurers. Some of my favourite stories are those of the Westerners who came to seek their fortunes and lkie Kipling's The Man Who Would be King, which in turn was based on the story of James Brooke and yet another adventurer I had not heard of until I put in the link, Josiah Harlan.
In the current edition of Inside Indonesia is the story of the White Rajas of the Cocos Islands and an amazing story it is, so click the link.
I bet you did not know that there was a population of ethnic Indonesian speaking Malays ( In case the more pedantic among you pick me up on that, I use the term Malay in its broadest sense meaning of Austronesian descent and speak Bahasa Melayu/Indonesia.) who are Australians and who live on the Cocos Islands.
If they are happy to be Australian I don't know, but so many Indonesians try to emigrate to Oz that I guess most of them are.
Sinetron, by the way, are Indonesian soap operas.
I write this as my rabbit stew bubbles away in the oven. The rabbit came from the egg man in the market, the one who supplied me with so many pheasants last Autumn.
He is very proud of his chickens and other birds and offers a variety of chicken eggs plus guinea fowl, duck, and turkey. I also bought some guinea fowl eggs and they are delicious. For those of you who prefer eggs to have more yolk than white, I recommend them. I try only to eat free range if I can so wild rabbit is very acceptable and cheap, £3 for a large rabbit that will feed me for most of the week.
Since you ask, I'm cooking it in cider, with carrots and potatoes and a sprinkling of herbs. Later on I will add some herb dumplings and cook them until they crisp on top.
Enak sekali!
South East Asian history is all the more fascinating because of the flamboyant and extraordinary characters that crop up at regular intervals, kings and queens, traders, heroes, scholars and adventurers. Some of my favourite stories are those of the Westerners who came to seek their fortunes and lkie Kipling's The Man Who Would be King, which in turn was based on the story of James Brooke and yet another adventurer I had not heard of until I put in the link, Josiah Harlan.
In the current edition of Inside Indonesia is the story of the White Rajas of the Cocos Islands and an amazing story it is, so click the link.
I bet you did not know that there was a population of ethnic Indonesian speaking Malays ( In case the more pedantic among you pick me up on that, I use the term Malay in its broadest sense meaning of Austronesian descent and speak Bahasa Melayu/Indonesia.) who are Australians and who live on the Cocos Islands.
If they are happy to be Australian I don't know, but so many Indonesians try to emigrate to Oz that I guess most of them are.
Sinetron, by the way, are Indonesian soap operas.
I write this as my rabbit stew bubbles away in the oven. The rabbit came from the egg man in the market, the one who supplied me with so many pheasants last Autumn.
He is very proud of his chickens and other birds and offers a variety of chicken eggs plus guinea fowl, duck, and turkey. I also bought some guinea fowl eggs and they are delicious. For those of you who prefer eggs to have more yolk than white, I recommend them. I try only to eat free range if I can so wild rabbit is very acceptable and cheap, £3 for a large rabbit that will feed me for most of the week.
Since you ask, I'm cooking it in cider, with carrots and potatoes and a sprinkling of herbs. Later on I will add some herb dumplings and cook them until they crisp on top.
Enak sekali!
Kokichi Sugihara has come up with another brilliant illusion that I can't resist sharing with you.
I'm preoccupied with the thought of going off to Cambodia and perhaps never returning. Who knows? Several people I know have been taken ill this year and a young friend, of a friend of Madison's drowned.
Morbid thoughts maybe but I can't keep them from surfacing.
On the other hand there is the excitement of going back to SEA, making new friends, having old friends visit and exploring Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and Indonesia, too if I can. I might also find more opportunities to work there, or get involved with a charity or other NGO.
Anyway, as I was lying in bed the other day going over these pros and cons once again and I was having trouble know which were sensible and which just foolishness the following nonsense came into my head, So I wrote it down.
I wish,
I wish the world was round
like a grapefruit or a ball
and I could turn and face the East and walk
and walk, until I had walked around it all
and come back to this place again.
I wish,
I wish the sky was blue
above this dull oppressive sky
and as bright and clear as the sea.
and that there was some way I could fly
into the ocean of the day
I wish,
I wish that this small earth
was not drifting alone in space
and that among the countless stars
somewhere life had found a better place
some drowsy, boozy paradise
But mostly
I just wish the world was round,
hanging like a child's ball
stuck in a tree, and I could walk and walk
until I had walked around it all
to here, and then set off again.
Morbid thoughts maybe but I can't keep them from surfacing.
On the other hand there is the excitement of going back to SEA, making new friends, having old friends visit and exploring Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and Indonesia, too if I can. I might also find more opportunities to work there, or get involved with a charity or other NGO.
Anyway, as I was lying in bed the other day going over these pros and cons once again and I was having trouble know which were sensible and which just foolishness the following nonsense came into my head, So I wrote it down.
I wish,
I wish the world was round
like a grapefruit or a ball
and I could turn and face the East and walk
and walk, until I had walked around it all
and come back to this place again.
I wish,
I wish the sky was blue
above this dull oppressive sky
and as bright and clear as the sea.
and that there was some way I could fly
into the ocean of the day
I wish,
I wish that this small earth
was not drifting alone in space
and that among the countless stars
somewhere life had found a better place
some drowsy, boozy paradise
But mostly
I just wish the world was round,
hanging like a child's ball
stuck in a tree, and I could walk and walk
until I had walked around it all
to here, and then set off again.