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John van de Ruit- Journal Entry 22nd May

admin — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:23:24 +0000

ADVENTURES IN A MINI-WAN (PART 2)
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I apologise for the fact that i had to break off the story last time due to excessive heat in the internet cafe, a mosquito swarm nesting on my right ankle and a number of long media interviews which have kept me from completing the full sorry tale.
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So to get you up to speed the story paused with Julia andÂ I waiting at a cafe/travel agent for the Ko Lanta miniwan after driving around the town of Krabi for hours in a false minivan with sleepy rastas and morose Swedish nubiles. Let’s go – again.
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15:00 The real Mini-Wan arrives and haltsÂ half way down the street. 2 desperate South African travellers charge after it with their backpacks. The driver slides back the door and 14Â Thai faces stare back at us. There is baggage everywhere. Fuelled with the wisdom of Eckhart Tolle, I let rip with a great “Hello, good afternoon everyone” only to be met with absolute silence.
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“Sawadeeka!” I tried again. Nothing.
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15:01 Driver points to a narrow space on the back seat.
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15:02 I discover too late that the Mini-Wan’s ceiling is only 4ft high and I crash my head into the luggage carrier above, much to the consternation of a hitherto unseen live chicken.
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15:03 Rubbing my head furiously and squeezing myself into the back seat, I soon realise that my only air supply (due to the padlocked window) is a highly dodgy air-con vent
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15:04 Mini-Wan kicks into life and we’re off…finally.
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15:11 “You’ve got to be joking” I shouted to everyone’s surprise, including my own.Â The Mini-Wan veered off the road and into a petrol station, where it tookÂ up its place in the queue behind a lorry and another Mini-Wan.
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15:21 Still waiting in queue, Jules begins to mutter to herself in a foreign language, growing concern all round that Kafka may have taken over the scripting of our holiday…
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15:24 Mini-Wan surges forwardÂ and pulls up to the fuel tank.
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15:27 After a long and animated conversation between Mini-Wan driver and attendant, it’s decided that the fuel point is on the other side of the vehicle. The driver takes a deep drag on his cigarette, and scans the petrol station.
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15:28 After a leisurely U-turn, we take up our place in the new queue behind a lorry and 2 other Mini-Wans.
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15:29 “Balls!” comes a loud shout from the back in a voice that sounds suspiciously like my own. I officially declare myself to be in a panic and pull furiously at the padlocked window. I then sink into a morose stupor as a thin film of sweat spreads itself over the entire perimeter of my skin.
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15:37 At last, refuelling. I become mesmerisedÂ watching the litres versus Baht (Thai currency)
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15:38 Debate why petrol should be cheaper in Thailand than South Africa. I intend to take this up with Trev Manuel next time he’s lurking around the back offices of Absa bank.
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15:43 The Mini-Wan is fuelled. The driver leisurely finishes his ciggie and strolls up to the front of the cab. And we’re off…again.
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17:02 Mini-Wan pulls up to large body of water and positions itself on the ramp awaiting the car ferry. Driver steps out for another ciggarette. We’re told to stay in Mini-Wan.
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17:07 Pretty Thai lady selling sweet mango slices holds up her tray to window. As Homer Simpson would strangle Bart, I would surely take on the window for the last time. With gritted teeth and clenched fists, I heave away in desperation.
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17:08 Thai mango lady smiles and walks away.
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17:18 Car ferry pulls up and the Mini-Wan drives over an extremely rickety and narrow ramp up onto the ferry. Joining us on the ramp are another Mini-Wan, in which all of the occupants seem suspiciously dead, a lorry of anxious nervous looking cows peering over the edge and a smug long haired Nordic traveller on a motorbike.Â He stared into my eyes piercing through the tinted windows and seemed to say the word, “sucker!”
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17:23 Car ferry sets off at a rather sluggish 1 Km/h.
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17:27 Ferry seems to be moving away from the jetty at the far end of the estuary, heading upstream.
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17:49 Still enclosed in the Mini-Wan and weirdly floating. The US Army should look into this, it could be far more effective than water-boarding…
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17:59 Mini-Wan trundles up the ramp and back onto terra firma. At last, the island of Ko Lanta where the mythic promise of coconut palms, turquoise water, soft sand and humble beach bars playing reggae and serving cocktails that play tricks with your mind and seduce you with a brief glimpse of paradise…
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17:47 After dropping off every single other person, the Mini-Wan pulls up to the humble Miami Bungalows.
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17:51 I stagger out of the Mini-Wan like an old man, and bid farewell to the malicious beast that did everything but destroy me. Then with the eyes of a young boy, I stop and stare, and realise that the fantasy isn’t a myth, and paradise is what you feel between your toes.

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A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

admin — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:41:24 +0000

A New Earth
Eckhart Tolle

EAN: 9780141017822
Format: Trade Paperback
Release Date: 1 July 2006

Recommended Retail Price: R200

Eckhart Tolle’s first full length book in eight years will be a cornerstone for personal spirituality and self-improvement for years to come.

Taking off from the introspective work he began with The Power of Now, the number one bestseller that has sold millions of copies worldwide, Tolle provides the spiritual framework for people to move beyond themselves in order to make this world a better, more spiritually evolved place to live.

Shattering modern ideas of ego and entitlement, self and society, Tolle lifts the veil of fear that has hung over humanity during this new millennium, and shines an illuminating light that leads to happiness and health that every reader can follow. Eckhart Tolle is one of the bestselling spiritual teachers of our time.

The simple message in his international bestseller The Power of Now, that of living in the present, of enjoying the journey rather than always looking to the next goal, has spread fast. A wise counsellor in this ever changing, chaotic and often violent world, Tolle draws on essential spiritual teachings of all ages and traditions to reveal a fresh evolutionary model of spiritual life for the 21st Century.

Oneness With All Life by Eckhart Tolle Oneness With All Life Eckhart Tolle EAN: 9780718155414 Format:...
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John van de Ruit – Journal Entry- April 16th

admin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:02:50 +0000

MAD ABOUT KEP!
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I have always suspected that the ways of our modern society, and all of us that exist within it, are clinically insane if not stark raving bonkers. The notion of a mad world that refuses to acknowledge it’s inner lunatic has permeated just about everythingÂ I have ever written. The problem is – people have always assumedÂ I was joking – another one of the perils of being a deranged moth desperately circulating the glimmering light bulb of comic Nirvana. But believe it my friends, we are all insane and living a dire catch 22 existence of madmen in a world disguised as sane. Even Eckhart Tolle says so – and only an insane would dare argue with him.
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My friends, i don’t want you to be alarmed but i have embraced my inner madman in the last week and i am feeling all the better for it. No more of this “‘author in repose making a sage note in his emerald notebook” business. Oh no, not me! From this point onward i am stir-fried crazy until conclusively proven otherwise. I challenge you to do the same – it’s a highly liberating exercise.
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SoÂ I discovered my inner madness on the rooftop garden of our villa (ingeniously called La Villa) overlooking the tranquillity of mountains covered in jungle, and the turquoise waters of the gulf of Thailand below. Dotted before me amongst the jungle were the odd thatch and red -roofed backpacker hang outs and everywhere was the sound of birds, small creatures and hooting lizards. For the same price as a bog variety B&B in South Africa we lived like Lords over all we surveyed. Everything that seemed so precious over the last year, myself, and the new book, no longer seemed in any way important anymore. I was indeed small up there looking down on all that natural grandeur. You feel small being the only non-Cambodian around – perhaps it’s through utter anonymity that we find our true place in the world. Perhaps not?
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It wasn’t all staring at the view and contemplating our naval however. Jules and I also achieved the following:
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â€¢Â Eating a kilogram of crab each at one sitting. (It only worked out to a fork full of meat in the end but the mess and devastation on our table was a joy to behold.
â€¢Â Our Tuk tuk being driven off the road after being rammed by a Toyota Hilux.
â€¢Â Adopting a giant one-foot-long lizard called Kap Ke. In return for his undying love and attention we merely had to switch on the kitchen light.
â€¢Â Julia typically adopted a black cat which also shared our rooftop garden. We named her Nately’s Whore as a mark of respect to Joseph Heller
â€¢Â I nearly died of asphyxiation after sampling green peppers at the Kampot Pepper Plantation. The guide thought my attack was hilarious.
â€¢Â Attempted to cast our vote but were thwarted by the Khymer New Year which runs through the entire week. All government departments are closed until further notice, so i didn’t get a chance to spoil my ballot as a protest against all politicians and how badly they lead us – yes that even means you Mr Obama!
I have just read an email from my publishers to say that Spud Learning To Fly went to print yesterday. It seems strange to contemplate this possibility from across the world – like everything this week, let’s call it surreal. I wish my little lad well as he becomes more than just the mere sum of his parts, and ventures out into the world as another little voice in the wilderness. Just like us.
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I wish you all good spirits as you contemplate your insanity and that of the world you inhabit.
Big Cambodian love as always
Â
Johnny

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Oneness With All Life by Eckhart Tolle

admin — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:01:29 +0000

Oneness With All Life
Eckhart Tolle
EAN: 9780718155414 Format: Hardback Release Date: 1 March 2009

Recommended Retail Price: R190

Your inner purpose is to awaken. It is as simple as that. You share that purpose with every other person on the planet â€“ because it is the purpose of humanity. Your inner purpose is an essential part of the purpose of the whole, the universe and its emerging intelligence.

Your outer purpose can change over time. It varies greatly from person to person. Finding and living in alignment with the inner purpose is the foundation for fulfilling your outer purpose. It is the basis for true success.

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