OmniNaut

@gettoefl The last time I was in Cambodia it was March 2022, so some information could be outdated. I did not spent much time in Phnom Penh. I almost got robbed once, luckily a local stepped in to get my bag back. Be careful. Touristy places attract a lot of scammers and robbers. Use PassApp app (Uber) to book TukTuks, if you don't use the app, negotiate a price before you get in a TukTuk or taxi. Siem Reap: Almost all of the time I spent was in Siem Reap,I liked the vibe of this town, it's basically the (tourist) outpost for the Angkor Wat temples. I'm not a big city guy, Siem Reap is more laidback without being to quiet. If you want something in between crazy busy city life and rural province this is a nice place. But for each their own ofcourse, maybe you're more into city life. But Siem Reap is a tourist place, so you will meet a lot of different kind of people there. If you stay long enough there you will meet more the long stay expats there, there can be some out of there people in these kind of places that attract expats. I met a few weird ones mainly in Siem Reap. The longer you look around the more homeless white guys you will see there. They lost money because of scamming girlfriend or a addicted to drugs and alcohol. Have some crazy stories from the homeless white guys I met there. Also heard stories of pedos refuging in Cambodia because it's easy to get in to the country. That's the downside of an easy visa process you also attract that kind of people. Angkor Wat temples: If you are into this kind of thing it's amazing, it's a blend of Hindu and Buddhist influence because it was build and expanded in different eras. Rent some bicycles, because it's BIG. The largest temple complex in the world. If you stay close for a longer time or visit there often go for a day pass each time. I was there two times and had a three day pass each time. After two days you are temple tired. So if you have the option spread it out. Archeologic restoration volunteering: not sure if it's still there but, there are still restoration projects going on there, I heard there are volunteering options. If I ever go back to Siem Reap for a longer time I will definitely look into that. Floating villages: There are a couple of them around, well worth the visit. Go one time during dry season and one time during wet season, makes a major difference. There are a couple of floating villages which are fake uphold for tourists, and try to get the most money out of you by trying to get you to donate to the local schools. Do some research before you go which ones are legit. Night sleeper bus: Cheap way to travel around between provinces, most comfortable for me, but that's just because I can't sleep while in a sitting position, the night buses are bunk beds. Mind you the size is limited. I, with my 172cm just barely fit stretched out. If you are taller then that maybe not that comfortable. Kamppot: heard it should be nice, more of a spot for the locals for relaxing during the weekend. Sihanoukville: stay away from that place, it's a casino town, built by and run by the Chinese Mafia. Lots of shady shit going on there, including human trafficking. Koh Rong: part of an cluster of Islands in the south nice tropical beaches and some diving there. Sex tourism: be mindful of the bigger implications this industry has. Sex tourism is accepted within poorer family circles as a means of survival. Sometimes even encouraged. But as an Actualizing individual see the bigger implications this has. Dating a local: Be careful there is a lot of using and abusing going in between westerners and locals. from both sides. Locals using Westerners for a meal ticket, Westerners (usually with mental problems) using local women as cheap housemaids they can fuck. Think with your brain not your dick. There will be a big difference in mindset, intelligence between the women from the province without a proper education or someone with an education living and working in PP. Same Same But Different common phrase said in SE Asia. Within Expat circles this is a popular movie about a German guy who had encounters with a local girl. Language: Outside the business and tourist areas you will be hard pressed to find people to speak English. Learning the Khmer language is quite difficult. Maybe you have more talent for languages than I have. Laos - Vietnam route: A lot of tourists (mostly backpackers) do the Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam (bus)route. Never done it but should be quite nice and not to expensive. Although there have been a lot of border skirmishes in that area so I don't know if it's easy to cross borders Saving face: this part of Asian culture is quite unfamiliar to Westerners. If you really want to understand and integrate, try to learn more about saving face and what it entails. The Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge era left a big scar on the country including how the culture developed from there. I did not do to much investigation in the culture side, but it's quite interesting to learn about and observe. Be mindful how you behave in public spaces. It's easy to get into trouble even if you are trying to do a good thing.

Haha, I met this guy in Cebu in January when he was there for the Sinulog festival. He is also a fellow dive professional, nice guy. I think his name is Adam if I remember correctly.

Good on ya mate! Have fun. I can give you some pointers if you like, I have lived in Cambodia for 6 months.

Most of the countries if it's Asia, South America or Africa have their cultures seen invaded by at least in the recent couple of hundred years by European countries. And some of them (at least in Asia have Chinese and Japanese invasion as well) There are only a handful of countries left in the world that have never been colonized. I lived in Nepal for 2 months, they are proud never have been colonized, although they are heavily influenced by their sister country India, but India has the history of the British colonization so if you want a more pure Hindu experience at some point Nepal is a good country. Beautiful as well if you like the Himalayas. If locals have an opportunity to travel to a more advanced country compared where they are coming from they can bump their consciousness level quite fast. The problem in most of these countries is the IF. Most of the people outside of developed areas in SE Asia don't have the money to travel locally, so International travel is totally out of the question. Also you realise how difficult it is for people coming from developing countries it is to get all the paperwork. Not all passport are created equal. If you have a passport from a developed country doors open more easily and quickly. A lot of people are denied entry to developed countries. Yes and that even includes Europe and the Schengen visa. You start to realise how lucky you are to have been born in a developed country, that gives you easy access to a lot of things that other people are denied. For me my journey in SEA Asia: 3 weeks Bali (old school holiday kind of thing) 2 months Nepal (volunteering in an orphanage) 6 months Cambodia (First visiting later spending time there for relationship) 6 years Philippines (working as a Scuba diving instructor) For me I when I came to Malapascua (Philippines) the travel bug disappeared. Instead of outward travelling, I travel inwards now. ATM I'm in my country of birth, but will return there at the end of the year.

Congrats on you mate. Keep us posted on your adventures and findings. I did not visited China or Korea yet, (only airport layovers). Although I lived in SE Asia for in total over 8 years. I uphold my opinion that solo travelling / living in a country outside your culture you grew up in is the biggest boost for self development. This of course in combination with an open mind and introspection. Living abroad will teach you so many things you will not get from YouTube videos. I dated Chinese and Korean women. They have their pros and cons. You will be hard pressed to find SD Green in these countries, although one Korean woman was a yoga teacher, but hovering somewhere between SD Orange and Green. Western media distortion of life in Asia is a real thing, even in Europe. If you really want to know a country and it's culture I would suggest to not look how you are treated but how they treat each other. Family dynamics and government dynamics are a big indicator of the country's development. As a (white) foreigner you will be treated differently. White positive racism is a real thing I observed myself in SE Asia, they think you are more important than their own and will treat you better. That is why look beyond that and how they treat each other. Oh and one more thing. Please stay away from Shark fin soup, it will not give you any benefit and only contributes to the murder of sharks.

Ask the Aboriginals how owning nothing worked out for them when the British settlers came in.

EDM would not have happened without Disco, and Disco would not have happened without the Black and Queer community. This Donna Summer song is why Daft Punk included a full interview song with Giorgio Mororder on their album Random Access Memory. This song is the mainstream breakthrough for the Synthesizer and Electronic music.

Nothing new here, it happened before as well. When I grew up in the 80's/90's it also happened, then they blamed MTV and Madonna for it. The same happened in the 50's with Marilyn Monroe in the 00's with Britney Spears. At least Marilyn and Madonna made a contribution to create positive change, Marilyn with women's rights and Madonna with women's rights and acceptance of the queer community. Same pattern different details. Maybe the make-up applications are getting more sophisticated, so it visually closes the gap between 13 and 18. Maybe it's just you getting older and the age gap between you and a 13 yo is getting bigger. If you're talking about online specifically it could be filters and AI enhancing going on.

Nelson Mandela

Me - interested in creating a better future for humanity. Probably being exposed as a kid to Star Trek TNG created a more optimistic view of the future, although sometimes really hard to hang on to an optimistic outcome of this experiment that we call humanity. --- Leo is doing a good job exposing falsehood of humanity in his blog and the forum, the forum can have a more pessimistic bubble set by the constant negative (although true) contents of Leo's contribution, which feeds the negative sentiment that can linger here sometimes. Exposing falsehood doesn't mean that there is no room of setting a more positive outlook and emphasizing the Truth that is already in this world. Yes, human psychology is more attracted in nature to negativity, but we also need hope. I think it's really important to balance open truthful mindset with hope. Somehow within culture now is the notion that being hopeful is being naïve, that notion has to DIE. You can be hopeful and still see what is going on in this world. ---- One of the things I was attracted to is a new wave towards Solarpunk Not to be surprised this has a SD Green vibe, which comes to no surprise to no one that this is the tone that arises. And because of it's SD Green nature it neglects to be totally inclusive, and does not cater to integrating all SD level (Purple and up) Purple as it comes to family not Tribal. “Solarpunk that only rejects capitalism risks falling into moralism. True Solarpunk transcends capitalism by integrating its strengths while designing systems that correct its failures.” SD Green solutions work fine small scale but lack the realism of upscaling to large scales of cities and countries. So I want to start this topic as a discussion about, what it really takes to create large scale optimistic but realistic new approach to build a human society. Will it be something like Auroville? Also that lacks the realism of large scale integration. Will it be Singapore, with its high integration of advanced Urban Planning. Will it be more (Northern) European countries, with more socialistic-capitalistic approach.

A reflection for Leo and the tone he sets on his blog and in this forum. For quite somewhile now, I feel a growing distain to open the blog and the forum. Although Leo openly points out a big deal of his work is exposing human falsehood which prevents you of reaching the Truth. It becomes apparent that it is the main tone on his blog, which for a long time carried over his more pessimistic tone on the forum as well (although lately it feels a bit more neutral, but he also refrains from replying to much). The logical fallacy that I get from Leo's communication on his mission, is that exposing falsehood does not lead to Truth by itself. I know that Leo is aware of that, but it does not reflect on his blog subjects. He talks about Love and what it takes to reach Love, but rarely provides the good examples that can be found on Love, and yes they are there. Where does the distain come from? Constant exposure to the negative aspect of humanity does not work well to elevate the tone and set a positive outlook for the future of humanity. It also feels the tone of the blog is replicated on the forum as well. As a lot of people here somehow look towards Leo as the tone setter, (consciously or unconsciously) and it's hard to find uplifting examples of the outlook on human existence in his communication on the blog and the forum. Maybe it's more the INTP nature of Leo to focus on the factual nature of his work and thereby neglecting the more emotional nature. Also I think Leo is to limited in his US centered approach. Although he exposes himself to a variety of YouTube media, this media is mostly filtered by the creator itself. This is the nature of human communication ofcourse, the further you get from the source the more noise there is. Especially on international topics on his blog, which often is a video from a Westerner (American or European) looking through their (Western) POV. One of the most difficult tasks for a website is how to weigh your direction when it comes to satisfy the current user base, and from another perspective attracting new users. Probably Leo is not directing to much in these kind of terms. But maybe something to think about. At some point the loyal follower see the mechanism that runs falsehood, by being exposed by so many examples. Which is exactly the goal of his approach, teaching you to see it on your own. At that point the loyal follower has no reason to come back to the blog if the mechanism is exposed because it shows nothing new anymore. So at some point the loyal follower drops out. I wonder if he has enough metrics from his site to see what is going on, how many returning IP addresses compared to new IP addresses over time. So my request is to mix in some positive stuff as well. How humanity is catering to love and truth, maybe not all has to be with a capital T, but it can balance the emotional side of the blog as well. And maybe a more positive mind set on the blog can change the tone on the forum as well. + A more neutral POV and letting go more of the US (Western) centered POV, especially when it comes international subjects. @Leo Gura Not telling you how to run your site, just giving some honest feedback from my perspective and my journey when it comes to how I experience the blog (and forum). Curious to see if I'm the only one.

A communal area where we can share some good news of events happening in the world. I will kick things off.

Cool will check it out

Yup, I agree. So the question is there a way to take the Solarpunk optimism but make it more integrated with real life? Solarpunk 2.0? Or is Solarpunk to flawed already? Can we create a more integrated, optimistic and large scale -Punk model? Dystopia is not our only outcome, although it's quite easy to fall in that trap. If you expose people to a positive future it will be worth fighting for. --- Lets put it like this. If you have children or nephews/nieces. Do you want them to grow up thinking life is going down and humanity is doomed or expose them to a positive outcome?

Trust me I have seen the dark side of humanity in real life. Been to many dark places in person to see what is going on in the world. Not from a desk chair like others. I know about the falsehood, evil and hypocrisy of humans. I understand where in the humans it comes from. I studied it in depth. There is always falsehood to be found and to be exposed till the end of time, it will never end. People one last time. Take off your assumption glasses and see my post as it is. Not a complaint, not trying to change the teacher, not pointing out hypocrisy. Just a perspective, he is free to do whatever he wants with it. It's his blog.

I'm not pointing out some hypocrisy from Leo. I appreciate his work. I did a lot of falsehood exploration myself, even before I read Leo's blog about it. It's not about the exploration of falsehood. It's just lopsided with exposing the negative side of humanity and human existence. There is a good side of humanity and human existence too, but it's barely shown. I can look past hypocrisy, because everyone is a hypocrite in a certain way. I don't want to change the teacher, just giving some feedback and a perspective

People please this is not complaining, it's just a request. My complaint is now that people are seeing this as a complaint. If you only can look at this kind of feedback as a complaint maybe it shows more of your interpretation then mine. Are people here so stuck up that they can't tell the difference to sharing a perspective and feedback and complaining?

I agree, a contender for this will be AI. But it all depends in how truthful it will be implemented, by the tech companies and governments. Can we trust them with this? Also there will be limitations in what AI can do. It's not a miracle but a tool. A tool in the proper hands with a truthful mindset can do wonderful things. 👍🏻

Again it's not a critique towards exposing falsehood, it's a good thing. But the blog feels to much focused only on exposing falsehood. Too much negative inputs will colour the mind of the reader. A more balanced approach and examples of finding Truth in positivity can also have a positive effect on the reader. Not requesting to stop exposing falsehood just a more balanced take on it.

I appreciate your perspective but your response is to simplistic and reductionistic. If you read carefully in my post, it acknowledge Leo's contribution to exposing falsehood. That series is over 3 years old. I'm not reducing his approach just pointing out it's lopsided.

Yes that is a perspective. But providing feedback is also a form of love. All is relative can be answer, but it's not the only answer, which in itself is relativistic. If all is relativistic and all is love then my reply is love as well. If all is relativistic then there is no need for Leo's blog because falsehood is love as well. Love is relativistic in Absolute truth, Love is not relativistic in relative truth. Which is a mind fuck.

Looking back on this show, feels overhyped. I'm not that impressed, but already made a post about that. But besides that. Is it me or are Indian/Hindu women in Hollywood betrayed as bossy and bitchy? I'm talking about Laxmi in this show, but I've seen it multiple times now. Raj sister in Big Bang Theory, and that girl from Office Space, and some others I have seen but can't name from the top of my head. Granted I almost don't watch tv shows anymore. For the Indian readers here. Are Indian/Hindu portrayed the same in Bollywood, the one or two Bollywood movies I have seen I don't recognise this stereotype.