20th March (2020)

 

20th March

This morning I was due to fly out from Cambodia at 8.30 am. The situation in Malaysia, right now, with a Movement Control Order and ‘foreigners’ banned from entry, prohibits this from happening. Therefore the airline I was booked to fly back on (AirAsia) has cancelled my flight, and has given me a future flight for free. It was to be expected. Once Malaysia went on this partial lockdown to prevent Malaysians travelling and banning foreigners entry from the 18th to the 31st of March my fate was sealed. Hmmmm.

8am, and before we leave for breakfast, Phanin gives offerings of youtiao (Chinese deep fried dough which in Malaysia are called Char Kway) to the various spirits (Buddha and other ‘god’ statues included) here in the Colors of Cambodia gallery. These offerings are a custom found in various Asian cultures, including Cambodian and Thailand. Phany explains that this is part of her family tradition. A family whose members, over decades, has comprised of Thai, Chinese and Khmer backgrounds. These offerings to spirits and related beings occur on a much larger scale during the 15-day Pchum Ben religious festival, but many families, like that of my temporary guardian angels Phany and Phanin, observe this as a daily practice.

A touch of ennui wafts over me, post-breakfast. While outside, in the new virus dominated world, newly awoken dragons and blind bald eagles tussle for world domination. Today I am tired. Psychological or physiological I’m not too sure, maybe both. It is a day of rest. Is this why I bristle a little when some random white chap, sitting outside a cafe where I am walking, looks me up and down and, as I pass, looks at me with a smirk on his lips and says ’Shalom’. I give him the death-ray eye. and say nothing. Even if my black hat, round glasses and raggedy beard did give that individual the merest of impressions that I might possibly be Jewish, which I am not (not as though that matters), he could have just registered that fact, and kept schtum.

Having tucked my two evening music albums of Quicksilver Messenger Service away. My problem is that I have to forage for food three times a day. Lunch was the usual at The Hideout, the special whatever it is. The yearn for an evening meal has dragged me, once more, to Jungle Burger. This time for a Mac & Cheese for a change. The man who really doesn’t drink beer is having his second beer in four days. And then ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’, by Yes, comes on and brings a small smile to my warm, previously pensive, face. That, and a conversation crammed with nostalgia that I had with Clayton..........shhhhhhhh. Private.