Howl Cambodia

Category: Libri & Verbis

  • Duet Between a Widow and Her Husband, Post-2020

    Duet Between a Widow and Her Husband, Post-2020


    A beautiful and powerful ‘lockdown’ poem from Saarah Choudhury (Siem Reap)

    They say it’s dead now, this ghost town,
    Milkshake and coffee shop shut down.
    Only police on foot patrol.
    Webs of wyrdness in control,
    But what to do? 
    But what to do? 

    Oh there are flowers in my lungs 
    Waiting to greet you when you come, 
    Hypnotic heavens set ablaze 
    The day angels upon you gaze,
    And I’m still into you. 
    I’m still into you.

    This world is bruised and bitter-sweet
    Like dancing flowers on the beach,
    Where we used to laugh and run.
    Life outdoors was so much fun. 
    We’d watch each sunrise anew, 
    We’d watch each sunrise anew. 

    Oh there are flowers in my lungs
    Waiting to greet you when you come, 
    Hypnotic heavens set ablaze 
    The day angels upon you gaze,
    And I’m still into you. 
    I’m still into you.

    There is no time like the past, 
    Who thought good things would never last,
    Remember when the pink moon rising
    We watched without moralising?
    Now my world is blue. 
    Now my world is blue. 

    Oh there are flowers in my lungs 
    Waiting to greet you when you come, 
    Hypnotic heavens set ablaze 
    The day angels upon you gaze,
    And I’m still into you. 
    I’m still into you.

    Birds under my window sing. 
    We like to think nature’s breathing.
    In this isolated madness,
    They only add to all the sadness.
    Each day’s so hard to get through,
    So hard to get through.

    Oh there are flowers in my lungs 
    Waiting to greet you when you come, 
    Hypnotic heavens set ablaze 
    The day angels upon you gaze,
    And I’m still into you. 
    I’m still into you.

    Now we’re all afraid to fly, 
    Afraid to go on late night drives.
    The streets are quiet anyway. 
    Mantle of fear’s the mainstay 
    Yet I cling to thoughts of you.
    I cling to thoughts of you.

    Oh there are flowers in my lungs 
    Waiting to greet you when you come, 
    Hypnotic heavens set ablaze 
    The day angels upon you gaze,
    And I wait for you.
    And I wait for you.

    Saarah Choudhury

    Published poet

    Freedom, safety, joy, service, all the good things in life

  • Evening Memories and Future Days.

    Evening Memories and Future Days.

    In the spirit of Defoe (A Journal of a Plague Year) and Pepys (serial London diarist of the 1600s ‘great plague’) HOWL offers you the Lockdown Dairies, vignettes from around the planet, where members of the HOWL family share their ‘Covid’ thoughts and experiences.

    Cambodia, Siem Reap: A ‘lockdown’ entry from Dr. Howl

    The last night of December 2019: it seems an age ago now, a different time, another world, not a moment barely five months past. That night, with a friend, we found ourselves at Ms. Wong—as much of a hospitality institution as you can get in this town—with me enjoying a cool mojito as the festive sounds of Siem Reap buzzed around us. 

    Had I heard of the virus back then? A strange sickness in a distant Chinese city that I had barely heard of and that I struggled to pronounce? Maybe, a rumour or a brief news piece, but with Australia aflame and football scores to consider its repercussions—what it would mean for me and the rest of the planet— barely registered on this, the eve of new years.  

    Ms. Wong is closed now – a victim of the economic disarray that follows the virus like an evil twin. The friend from that evening is in lockdown, somewhere in Bangkok, unable to work, unable to travel. Today, on the last day of another new year—Khmer—Siem Reap should be buzzing. It’s not. After twilight one expects to see tumbleweeds spiralling down the dark alleys of ‘Pub Street’, with rats and lost souls the remaining vestige of the quarter’s wandering night-life.

    Still, during the day, life seems cosmopolitan here compared with images from back home, the kingdom manufacturing a distinct take on Covid control. Currently we are in a holiday-centred lockdown, although the notion of where to place the ‘lock’ stretches to the boundaries of your province and not your back door. On the streets and out on the rural roads social distancing translates to three in a tuk tuk (chickens an optional extra) and ‘flattening the curve’ is something that a drunken reveller does in a speeding SUV.

    In mood we seem to be on-hold, waiting for something to happen, spectators to an unofficial race – will we succumb to the virus first or will its economic consequences overtake us before? The local media provide us with scant details. While in Europe, the USA, back home, we read that the world is on fire, the ‘bug’ burning through people’s lives, the economy, friends and family. 

    Last week, returning from work, I drove through the trees and ruins of Angkor. There were still people about—all Khmer, hardly a ‘barang’ to be seen—and they seemed happy, picnicking on the sides of the park’s wide barays, taking selfies, juggling babies and soda cans in overfull hands. And if one closed out everything else, if one concentrated only on this moment, you could forget what was happening beyond, you could almost imagine that you were back on a mild evening in late December.

    . . . that the world was ‘normal’.

    How will this all play out? I have little idea. But each day of good health seems like a miracle and, for now, that is enough. 

    Stay safe, stay healthy . . . and keep on howling.  

  • The Lockdown Diaries

    The Lockdown Diaries

    In the spirit of Defoe (A Journal of a Plague Year) and Pepys (serial London diarist of the 1600s ‘great plague’) HOWL offers you the Lockdown Dairies, vignettes from around the planet, in which members of the HOWL family share their ‘corona’ thoughts and experiences.

    First up is Greg McCann, rainforest memoirist and eco-wunderkind, who offers his thoughts from Buffalo, USA.

    Only one thing matters: will my flight still depart on July 8th, taking me from New York—the pandemic epicenter in the USA—to Taiwan? That’s it, that’s all. This consumes me. There are other things, of course, like my son, and the fact that I’m putting on weight—and that really irks me because I have a gym membership and, considering how unhealthy the food is in Buffalo, NY, I was doing pretty good as far as staying in shape over the past two years. I can feel the bulge now, and jumping jacks in the basement don’t seem to do that much; neither do push-ups or sit-ups. Maybe I need to do more. Anyway, I scan the news looking for glimmers of hope that things will turn semi-normal by July, and I still think they will. Anything else is inconceivable.

    My friend just sent me a photo of my favorite Taipei sauna, captioning it with “It won’t be long now, Greg!” I hope he’s right. He has to be. The bars and restaurants are still open in Taiwan. You can eat stinky tofu and wash it down with a Taiwan beer on the sidewalks of the city. Sounds like another planet, but that was my life for 14 years, and it will be my life again if I can get the hell out of here. I called the airline because my boss said I had better budget in 2 weeks for quarantine if I want to be able to report for duty on July 31st, plus a few days for a physical exam at the hospital. Airline changed my dates, but for a fee—thought they weren’t supposed to charge for that in these worrying times, but they did. Oh, and I have an ARC (alien resident card) for Taiwan, so even if foreigners are banned, I can still enter. The latest news says overall deaths might not be nearly as bad as earlier models predicted. Looking good.

    And it’s not just Taiwan, but Cambodia and Thailand too. Because after I report for duty I’m supposed to be on another flight for my beloved Phnom Penh, and then up into the north of the Kingdom where I travel for wildlife surveying, and after that, back down to PP for R&R, and then a bus or plane to Bangkok, and then more jungle adventures in that fine kingdom.

    Cambodia and Thailand should be OK by August, no? Is there anything else I should do besides some sit-ups? My son is on his third hour of Fortnite, or, actually, his first hour of that after two hours of some other game. But at least he gets to “hang out” with his classmates online while he plays. I hear them talking. Time to put on some coffee. It’s 12:40 PM, Thursday, April 9th.

  • The Great Temple Town Book Swap: The corona edition.

    The Great Temple Town Book Swap: The corona edition.

    Please follow the Corona Code – Ensure books are washed and cleaned with a suitable swap, follow social distancing norms when exchanging (masks, distance etc.). Happy reading.

    Current swap stock

    The Devil in the White City – Erik Larson – Non-fiction –
    Contact: [email protected] or whatsapp +855 77 777 498

    Overstory – Richard Power – Fiction –
    Contact: [email protected] or whatsapp +855 77 777 498

    A request for Brother Enemy from Dennis Gray . . . anybody up for a swap?

  • Howl’s No. 1: American Carnage

    Howl’s No. 1: American Carnage

    The end of 2019 fines Donald J. Trump in the Oval Office, the Republican Party beholden to its ex-reality star host, with the very real prospect of his re-election in November 2020.

    So how, exactly, did we get here?

    Tim Alberta’s 680-page tome offers some answers, situating President Trump’s rise within a wider ‘conflict of ideals’ within his own Republican Party. A confrontation that, ironically, has seen the GoP become the party of the populist blue collar worker, while giving generous tax cuts to the rich and cutting welfare to the poor.

    Detailed, thought provoking and perceptive, American Carnage is the book you need to read if you wish to understand the deeper ideological forces at play in the forthcoming US primaries and presidential election.

    You can read the full HOWL review, which appeared in August, by clicking on this link .

  • Howl’s No. 2 ‘Rays’ & ‘Cats’

    Howl’s No. 2 ‘Rays’ & ‘Cats’

    Howl’s No. 2: Fitting that at #2 we have two works of fiction that shone in the Howl reading universe of 2019. Delayed Rays of Light (Au. Koe): A chance encounter, a photograph, three cinematic legends captured forever at a party in the thrilling world of 1920’s Berlin. This is the real-life starting point for this interwoven fictional tale of three of the more enigmatic figures of mid-twentieth century cinema. Two oceans and decades apart If Cats Disappeared from the World? (Au. Kawamuri) starts with an illness and a Faustian bargain, which ultimately takes us to the question posed on the cover of this short wonderful book. 

    Writing of Koe’s debut novel Howl trumped: “ . . . a work of overarching genius destined for a permanent place amongst 2019’s ‘best fiction’ lists.” While the International Examiner had this to say of Kawamuri’s million seller: “The story will have readers re-evaluating the possessions they have and what they might gain from losing them…and are sure to come away from the story seeing the world and the people around them a little differently.” 

  • Howl’s No. 3: Before the Coffee Gets Cold

    Howl’s No. 3: Before the Coffee Gets Cold

    Toshikazu Kawaguchi

    A small shining gem of a book that captured Howl’s eye at the wonderful Eslite store in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay. Translated from Japanese, at the centre of the story is a café where, if you sit in a certain seat and are served coffee from a special silver kettle, you can travel back in time. There are rules though, the foremost being that you must return before the coffee ‘gets cold’. 

    Kawaguchi’s book is inhabited by a cast of characters—a gruff proprietor, intriguing customers and playful staff—who ensure that there is an ongoing connection across the four sub-plots contained between its covers, each story offering a unique take on the time travel experience, while leaving us wondering what the next tale may hold. 

    From despair to hope, from uncertainty to understanding, each journey leaves you almost as emotionally spent, yet also fulfilled, as those taking the trip to the past.

    It is hard to leave these stories without having a tear in your eye – just make sure that its gone before the coffee gets cold 😉 .

  • Howl’s No. 4: The Mekong Review

    Howl’s No. 4: The Mekong Review

    Okay, not a book, but still one of the finest sources of writing of and about the greater Mekong region in this or any other year (with the occasional foray into Japan and surrounds).

    Cambodia and the region is very fortunate indeed to have the MR which, every three months ensures that fortune shines upon us, with the alighting of a new edition onto the shelves of the more discerning outlets of Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

    Launched in November 2015, at the very first Kampot Writers and Readers Festival (Howl was there 🙂 ), then and in the years since Minh Bui Jones and his team have moved mountains and type-face to get the latest issue to us.

    In 2019 its reviews and articles were augmented by some of the best reportage and analysis of the crisis engulfing Hong Kong. Perceptive, detailed and heart-felt, the Mekong Review and its sister website ‘Mekong Teahouse’, reigned supreme as sources of information and clarity on the events occurring to our north.

    ‘Five demands, not one less / Four editions, not one less’

    Thank you Mekong Review

  • Howl’s No. 5: Battle for Skyline Ridge: The CIA Secret War in Laos

    Howl’s No. 5: Battle for Skyline Ridge: The CIA Secret War in Laos

    James E. Parker

    In late 1971 the People’s Army of Vietnam (NVA) launched Campaign “Z” into northern Laos, escalating the war in this country with the aim of defeating the last Royal Lao Army troops and the Hmong irregulars supported by the CIA. General Giap’s orders included the destruction of the CIA-sponsored Hmong army, under command of the indigenous warlord Vang Pao, and the occupation of his headquarters in the Long Tieng valley of northeast Laos (once known as the ‘most secret place on earth’). To accomplish this the NVA would need to take the strategic Skyline Ridge.

    Despite the odds being overwhelmingly in favour of the NVA, the battle did not go to plan, and although it raged for more than 100 days—the longest of any battle in the second Indo-Chinese War—the North Vietnamese failed to take the ridge, the pivotal objective that would have assured them victory. 

    Authored by James Parker, who served in Laos with the CIA and who, unfortunately, died three months prior to publication, the book reflects his values and biases, but in bringing the battle to light he succeeds in drawing attention to an engagement, its combatants and history, that would have otherwise remained largely unknown.

  • Howl’s No. 6: Mindf*ck.

    Howl’s No. 6: Mindf*ck.

     Mindf*ck.
    Inside Cambridge Analytica’s Plot to Break the World

    Author: Christopher Wylie

    The perfect partner to our No. 7 book of the year, Mindf*ck unpacks the story of Cambridge Analytica and its role in the 2016 US-presidential election and the UK Brexit vote. In 250 tight and entertaining pages Wylie, who was at the centre of events, explains how data accessed from facebook was ‘weaponised’ to swing an election and reshape the European Union forever. 

    “Mindf*ck demonstrates how digital influence operations, when they converged with the nasty business of politics, managed to hollow out democracies. . . . [Wylie’s] personal story, woven into the book’s narrative, illustrates the confusion of our current political era … [while making] clear how important the virtual world is to personal identity for his generation and those that follow.”—The Washington Post