The Hammock Wormhole - Sihanookville

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Victory Hill, Sihanookville, Cambodia, 1-29-2011
http://www.sihanoukville-cambodia.com/about-sihanoukville/beaches/victory.html

The Hammock Wormhole

Escaping the noisy Oschuteal Beach proved to be a brilliant choice. I landed in a place that time forgot. And I have promptly followed suit. Hammock and grass should be on the local flag. Yes, this is also the local capital of sex tourism [think "mini-Pattaya"], which can be a bit strange at first. The just-over-the-hill greying pasty-white, pot-bellied populus rising up from the daze of noon heat after sunset, and heading to town for a pussy-hunt [Cambodians call a spade a spade - one local bar is actually called "Hunting Season" with a female silhouette at mark]. However, here noone furrows a brow about this game. Just the new-comers like me [at least for the first couple days].

And then I found a piece of heaven to lay my head in - the Bungalow Village guesthouse.
http://www.sihanoukville-cambodia.com/sihanoukville-businesses/new4/bungalow-village.html

Run by an adorable French couple - an uber-charismatic Raphael

and the intense Jesabel, this place is the ultimate backpacker paradise. A few basic hammock-on-the-patio cabanas rising up on stilts from a dense jungle amidst the giant rocks that one can tan on all day while watching the ocean from the hill....and the giant open common area with ample pillows and hammocks....and all that topped with the French-meets-Khmer cuisine [these guys make the absolutely best salad I've had in Asia: "Mixed Salad" - if you are there - do yourself grace and try it]. Oh, yes, all this Robinson Crusoe-style glory is about 200 meters from the beach. Yum.

Even the animals in the Bungallow Village are blissed-out - the dog-cat phylogenetic feud transforming into a same-species play: one of the dogs actually "adopted" the mom-less adorable kitten by the rightful name of Tao! This kitty has been my faithful hammock companion for the whole 2.5 weeks I hung out there [pun intended]. Just me and the Tao ;O) Although, I later found out that "Tao" in Khmer means "Tiger."

The place seems to attract remarkably aware and evolved people. One such being, in whom I found a teacher, was Sasha. A former Russian executive who has surrendered his all [including his family] to follow his heart.

He took to the road a few months ago and is on an indefinite journey, like me. The overlap in our transformational path was remarkable, and, not surprisingly, we both ended up in much the same place - a heart desire to exist in non-dual consciousness. Think Yoga Vashista.
http://www.yogavasistha.com/introduction.htm

Which our conversations touched in many ways. The difference between us was that he already existed in this awareness and universal love most of the time [I'd like to think all of the time, but won't project]. The pure witness consciousness and clear detachment from the identity-generated illusion. I, on the other hand, have had satori of various duration, but haven't lived there fully. He was, of course, just me who was a little further down the path. Now that I saw that way of being "in action" [though the word "action" hardly applies - more like in "inaction"], I knew it was easy for me to just join him there. Taking the gateway of NOW in every moment into that space of peace and non-dual presence. That's niiiiceeeee [ego's comment, since the witness cannot label anything].

I met a japanese world-traveler Mikki who journeyed with her daughter Lulu. A brilliant "itchy-footed" [as she called herself] who told me her tales of India and Japan. Mikki too is living her dream - she has created a perma-culture farm near Mount Fuji and when she is not on the farm, she travels....We conversed of transformation, shamanic journeying, cultures and languages, and the things that light us up. Seeing the reflections that come into my life as people warms me up - something is clearly changing inside. Of course, I shall visit Mikki when I go to the Great Fujiama - I smile to have a friend there. That's the feeling that roots in me - that now so many people I met have invited me to be with them in their land.

I'm feeling the reductionism of words so acutely writing these lines...Like squeezing a camel through a needle eye. A creampuff through a key hole. An 11-D object projection into a 1D space. So much gets lost. Can't wait for mind-melt and telepathy - Sam, let's create it already ;O) [I know you are reading this]!

I found that the best massage in the area is done on the beach - comes free with the sand scrub ;O) and LOTS of oil. The local legend is Linda. This woman - a widow with 5 kids - works every day and gives the bone-crushing massages con gusto with her hands of gold and steel. The way aha-aha I like it!

Although, I found that Linda has growing competition - a young girl named Ammon [no, not Ra].

All this oily, sun-drenched bonanza happens in front of a unique cafe-disco club that is a giant hangar with a real plane inside it [and a bus + a few 1/2 taxis hurrying to the plane through the brick walls - all elegantly assembled and blinking adequately] called, fittingly, The Airport.

The music played at night will rival the Playa - the deep subwoofers and surround sound make it an incredible dance spot [although, few actually use it as that - I was mainly the one dancing before a midnight ocean-dip].

The exotic Airport is a creation of the brilliant Nikolai Doroshenko - the Russian serpentologist who "opened the window" for the Russian community to Sihanookville 12 years ago.
http://www.sea-globe.com/cambodia/96-society/521-russian-revolution?tmpl=component&print=1&page=

Nikolai is an archetypal visionary, and little can be written about him that hasn't already been - he is in the limelight virtually all the time. If it's not for his Crocodile Farm/Restaurant/Guesthouse "Snake House" filled with all kinds of exotic fauna from all over Cambodia
http://www.snakehouse.asia/About-us.html
http://www.sihanoukville-cambodia.com/sihanoukville-businesses/new4/snake-house.html
- from a white caccadoo that loves being scratched to every colour of macaw to the whole spectrum of gorgeous reptiles,

then it is for his cosmically priced private island-hotel Mirax - a true land of luxury.

http://www.sihanoukville-cambodia.com/sihanoukville-businesses/new7/mirax-resort.html
He is a man living his passion con gusto. It is a snake dream taken to some very high degree. In addition to all these ventures, Nikolai has supplemented his serpent-vision with a snake-bite clinic [the only one in Cambodia]. Every creation I have seen of his breathes with style, class and "wide swing" - in a truly Russian manner, the man goes "all the way." If you met him in person, you would hardly guess that he has single-handedly created and rules an empire - not by his low-key attire, not by his light-hearted manner of conversation, nor his ways of enjoying the fruits of his dream. Respect /\

I loved melting into the life of this time-forgotten village. It felt like a turning point in the journey. The point of full surrender to the elements. Here I have found center and balance in a jungle-tree kind of way. A way to stand in my truth and honor my core in every interaction.

It so doesn't matter how many places one sees....for me it's about finding the essence of a place that resonates with mine, and however long that takes - the time is well-spent.

And then one day I woke up and it was time to go. "Go to Angkor - to her ruins and her dreams..."

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