Edward Teja's Blog
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Feb.16.2012
Seeing something wonderfully done is inspirational. I was fortunate to have parents who were readers. I was given the freedom of the bookshelves and discovered the writing of John OHara. Pearl Buck and Jimmy Jones long before I was old enough to understand the characters and their adult world....
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Feb.07.2012
As a connoisseur of surreal experiences, one of the joys of my life has been playing American country blues in far flung places. I've managed to find receptive audiences for tunes by Blind Blake, Brownie McGhee, Blind Boy Fuller, Howling Wolf and Big Bill Broonzy in venues ranging from...
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Jan.06.2012
Writing in the tropics is a lot like writing just about anywhere. Of course it never gets cold and sometimes gets hot, and the lushness inspires me, but other than that, the writing day goes on quite the same.
Here, however, I do find it easier to wake early and start in working. The mornings are a...
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Dec.31.2011
I've just released a chapbook of poems for free on Smashwords called LIFE IN THE MARGINS (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/118873). You can pop over and download it without even joining anything.
Having never done this before (put out a free book) I am curious to see if it does, as I have been...
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Dec.22.2011
Most homesteads around Cambodia have chickens. Ours has chickens and turkeys and geese. But one fowl creature stands out. We call her EB, short for early bird. Every morning she is the first one to leave the coop and wander down where the handouts are good. Both we and our neighbors spoil them by...
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Dec.03.2011
The other morning we hopped on motorbikes to check out the area we like in. When you travel the roads of Cambodia, it pays to look for fancy arches. They usually lead to a temple (wat) and often as not, the rural ones will have a small market as well. Markets are always a fun introduction to a...
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Dec.01.2011
Sometimes it is too easy to go to work. I work in my house, which is a lovely old wooden house, originally built for officers of the Khmer Rouge. It was found, torn apart, relocated and restored. Fortunately for me, it has a Western bathroom. I am not a fan of squat toilets.
So after breakfast of...
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Dec.01.2011
Sometimes it is too easy to go to work. I work in my house, which is a lovely old wooden house, originally built for officers of the Khmer Rouge. It was found, torn apart, relocated and restored. Fortunately for me, it has a Western bathroom. I am not a fan of squat toilets.
So after breakfast of...
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Nov.06.2011
I hopped on my motorbike and ran into the market in Kampot this morning. I had been by it a lot, and in stores around it, but this was the first venture inside. Markets are the lifeblood of Asia, and I don't think you can understand any Asian culture without spending time in its markets.The market...
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Nov.03.2011
The weather is hot, humid and gorgeous in Kampot, Cambodia. Wednesday we moved from Koh Kong, near the border with Thailand, and managed to get everything here intact, despite some of the worst roads anywhere. I rode in the truck with the driver and his helper and was happily surprised by...
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Oct.23.2011
We took a few days to travel to the town of Kampot, Cambodia and decided to move there. In two weeks we will be settled in for a time. We found an old wooden house, in immaculate condition, on the riverfront. It isn't in the main part of town, which is still a collection of interesting French...
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Oct.12.2011
There isn't much you can do in the rainy season in the tropics. It rains too hard. But Monday we will hit the road, get on down the coast toward Viet Nam to the town of Kampot, Cambodia. We haven't been yet and rumors of an art community of sorts intrigue us. It is worth checking out. So we will...
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Sep.17.2011
We just returned to Cambodia from five days in the overly big city of Bangkok. It is long bus ride from Koh Kong. From the border crossing at Hat Lek it is a one to two hour minibus ride to the lovely town of Trat. Then, in an airconditioned bus, it takes five to six hours to reach Bangkok. There...
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Sep.10.2011
So red room asked for a blog about Italy, which seems strange to a writer sitting in SE Asia working through the rainy season. My most recent memories of Italy date back to the early 70s and were only marginally refreshed by a friend sending me a link to a listing for property he would like to buy...
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Aug.29.2011
It's the rainy season in Cambodia, so I took the opportunity to revisit a novel I had finished years ago, but never felt was quite right. The existential premise, as Milan Kundera calls it, wasn't clear from the text. As I read through the early chapters I realized how fresh the writing still...
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...the traveler, belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly, over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another.
”
—Paul Bowles THE SHELTERING SKY
About Edward
I grew up traveling, and still love a rootless life that changes to adapt to changes in the world and in my own life. My first school experience was in Sasebo, Japan, as the only non Japanese student. Later, I went to grade school in Berlin. A sense of cyclic...
Connections
Causes Edward Teja Supports
Sonja Kill Memorial Hospital for Children (Cambodia)
http://www.skmh.org/en /...
Edward’s Favorite Books
The Sun Also Rises, The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Edward is a fan of
