Rus - Page 11 of 25 - Opinions on building highly available software businesses

Artifacts Of The Cambodian Civil War

Siem Reap has a number of tourist attractions related to the war that ravaged Cambodia during the end of the 20th Century and the Tuktuk drivers will want to take you to all of them, ideally on the same day!

Cambodian War Museum

The Cambodian War Museum was built by Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defense and contains artifacts salvaged when the civil war ended in 1998. It is $5 to walk around it and a free guide is available.

Most of the vehicles and ordnance had a Russian origin and a lot of it was also used in WW2.

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Siem Ream Shooting Range

For $50 you can visit the Siem Reap Shooting Range and fire a clip full of ammo from an Ak-47. For close to $500 you can fire an RPG. This was the first time I fired a gun and it felt less safe than the pyrotechnics I’ve worked with!

Landmine Museum

The Cambodian Landmine Museum in Siem Reap is more than a museum, it is also an orphanage providing a home, an education and support for dozens of landmine affected children. The museum tells the story of why there are landmines in Cambodia and how they are have impacted the country’s past, present and how they will continue to impact it’s future. It also tells the story of the museum’s founder, Aki Ra, who was forced to be a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge and has since devoted his life to removing landmines from Cambodia and helping those effected by them.

Wat Thmey Siem Reap Killing Fields

Wat Thmey is a small memorial to the Cambodians that died during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. A reminder of what can happen when the power and control of government falls into the wrong hands. It is free to visit and features a pagoda containing the skulls and bones of some of those that died along with stories of people that went missing during that time.

Snuff

by rus

Hot on the heels of Unseen Academicals is another Discworld novel covering the themes of racism and also slavery. Whilst not my favourite Discworld novel any story featuring Sam Vimmes and the rest of the Night Watch is always entertaining, even when covering such serious topics.

PADI Rescue Diver in Phuket

by rus

After passing my PADI Open Water and Open Water Advanced, this weekend I also passed my PADI Rescue Diver course, taught by Dan from Phuket Dive Tours. The course covered the following:

Self-rescue and diver stress
Rescue Diver first aid
Swimming and non-swimming rescue techniques
Emergency management and equipment
Panicked diver response
Underwater problems
Rescue Missing diver procedures
Surfacing the unconscious diver
In-water rescue breathing protocols
Exiting unconscious diver
First aid procedures for pressure related accidents
Two final open water scenarios

The PADI rescue diver course is a two day course, with the first day involved swimming pool work. In the pool we drilled different rescue scenarios as well as went over different skill requirements, such as switching between snorkel and respirator under water. It was fairly simple and only lasted a couple of hours!

The second day involved actually going out in a boat. We went to Bungalow Bay for 3 dives as the sea was incredibly rough, 2 dives for the Rescue Diver skills and one fun dive!

The first open water scenario was surfacing an unresponsive diver, which involved confirming with Dan was OK or not and after identifying that he was unresponsive, bringing him to the surface in a safe, controlled manner. The second open water scenario involved rescuing an unresponsive diver on the surface, using a pocket face mask, delivering rescue breaths and towing the diver to the boat.

After the skill dives we got to fun dive and take photos! This time we saw sea snakes, sting rays, mantis shrimp and all manner of other fish! No sharks though!

There was of course some classroom work involved too, a knowledge review of the 5 chapters in the book, preparation of an accident response chart and a multiple choice exam in the end! All in all, a fun week end and it’s reassuring to know I am now more prepared in case an emergency does occur.

Notes from My Travels: Visits with Refugees in Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan and Ecuador

by rus

I found this whilst searching for a book about the Cambodian temples and bought it to learn more about all the land mine victims I keep seeing in Siem Reap, busking.

The book is as described, a collection of notes Angelina made whilst visiting refugees in Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Ecuador, visiting the refugees themselves, talking with them, learning about them and asking them what they want and need and how they can be helped.

It’s an easy read, but a dark one, as she interviews people that have lost their families to war and limbs to land mines whilst travelling with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and actually helping out where she can, despite the dangers.

The book is over 10 years old now, but definitely recommend it to give you a glimpse of what we don’t see on the news. Hopefully the refugees Angelina met have been helped but I imagine there are now even more that have taken their place.

Exploring Angkor Wat

by rus

Whilst Angkor Wat is the largest temple around Siem Reap, there are many others some of which in my opinion are better. So you want to take some time and see as many as possible else you’re doing yourself a great disservice.

Angkor Wat Temple Pass

No matter how you decide to view the temples, you’ll need to buy a temple pass to let you in the area. These passes get checked on the road as you enter the temple complex and additionally by a guard before you enter each temple, do not lose it!

The Angkor Wat temple pass prices are:

1 day – $20
3 day – $40
7 day – $60

Travelling Around Angkor Wat

There are 3 main methods of getting around the Angkor Archeological Park and seeing all the temples

Bicycle

Most hotels will rent you a bicycle for around $1 a day so you can cycle around the temples yourself. This is by far the cheapest option but I would only advise it if you are seriously budget constrained. Cambodia is hot and you will have a lot of miles to cover. Most temples do have stalls outside selling water but I’m sure several didn’t so to be certain you’ll have to carry some. This is by far the least comfortable way to see the temples, and I imagine after all the water you’ve bought and drank, to combat dehydration, you’re probably paying a similar price to the next option …

Angkor Wat By Tuktuk

You can hire a tuktuk driver for an entire day for around $12-$15 depending on who you choose. These guys know the area well and can take you where you want to go, there are even established tour circuits you can travel with them. Tuktuk drivers are not tour guides though, they are just drivers, so if you want to learn anything about the temples you’ll need a guide book. The driver will drop you off at one end of the temple and shoot round to meet you at the other end though making the experience easy for you. The roads in the area are reasonable and the ride quite comfortable.

Angkor Wat Package Tour

A package tour of Angkor Wat and all the temples can vary in cost depending if it involves a hotel, food, etc. But you travel in a bus with many other people and one or more tour guides. One problem with this method is you will always be with a crowd of people, who will be in your photos.

Angkor Wat Tour Guide

This is the option I took, I hired an awesome Angkor Wat tour guide called Mr. Chhen Kol for $30 a day and then paid an additional $30 for his 4×4, air conditioned car to take us around in. Expensive compared to all the other options but I love this kind of stuff and wanted to understand it as best possible. Chhen’s English was great and he took me through the history of the temples, the Kings that built them, why they were built and explained the stories carved along the walls. Personally if you can afford it I recommend this option. Even if you can’t afford it, do it anyway!

One of the main benefits of having my own personal tour guide was that I got to escape the crowds. Despite their being no people in my photos the temples were heaving with hundreds of people all over the place. Being independent meant I could wait for a better shot and run about if need be!

For an additional $15 Mr. Chhen will meet you at 5am to get to Angkor Wat for the sunrise. This did leave me exhausted for the rest of the day but it was impressive watching the darkness turn in to a silhouette of the temple before it finally revealed itself. Be warned, several hundred other people will have the exact same idea as you though.

Another way Mr. Chhen shined was the cool box full of ice cold water in the back of the car, I think I drank about 5 liters of water each day which would have cost $5 anyway.

What To Wear At Angkor Wat

Take lots of sunscreen as you could be out doors for a good 5+ hours under Cambodia’s hot sun. I was quite comfortable walking around in flip flops but more appropriate, grippy, shoes, sandals or even Vibram Five Fingers might have been better as some of the steps had sand on them which made them slippy.

The temples are ‘working temples’ and should be respected as such. I got away with a t-shirt and shorts that covered my knees, but saw a myriad of people wearing clothes that ranged from trousers and long summer dresses to hot pants. I’ve heard rumours that some temples will give you sarongs to cover yourself if necessary but never saw anything like that.

The Omega Rx Zone: The Miracle of the New High-dose Fish Oil

by rus

Since I started weight lifting, 12 or so years ago, fish oil was always recommended as a supplement. Even now at Tiger Muay Thai as part of their supplement plan you get some fish oil and are recommended to take it 3 times a day. I’ve supplemented with it for a long time and I’ve always noticed that I perform better and am happier when I’m on it, then when I run out things get noticeably worse!

One of my friend’s recommended me this book more for my mental well being than anything else and it’s been an insightful read.

Essentially in 500 pages Dr. Sears hypothesises that one of the reasons for our evolutionary success was our ancestors started to eat shellfish containing essential Omega fats which allowed our brains to develop. And that the ratio of the types of fat we eat effects the production of good and bad eicosanoids in our bodies, molecules involved in growth, inflammation and immunity.

Backed by scientific studies, Dr. Sears presents pages of data showing how Western diets have been hampered by eating too many carbohydrates, mismanaging our insulin levels and causing chronic disease and the obesity epidemic. He also shows that cutting out refined carbohydrates and eating correctly, combined with large doses of pharmaceutical grade fish oil can more than just help you lose weight, but also help prevent and manage chronic disease such as Alzheimer’s, depression, heart disease and also increase performance in athletes.

I recommend this book to anyone honestly interested in their health and will soon be running a trial on myself to see how large doses of fish oil effect my brain, mood and performance!

3 Months In Thailand

by rus

I’ve now spent 3 months in Thailand and am visiting Siem Reap in Cambodia for a week, so it’s time for a bit of accountability!

Weightloss

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here we go:

I’ve lost 10 kg in the last 3 months, training at Tiger Muay Thai and Crossfit Phuket, eating properly, supplementing properly and not really drinking! Clothes that were previously too small, that I bought with me, now fit and I have a good routine going now. In another 6 months I should have easily met my goal.

Reading

I’ve read 6 books in the 3 months, which is about 6 more than in the last year. My reading list is growing faster than I can keep up though.

Business

I’ve abandoned all my previous drop shipping sites as the margins were either super low or the cost of buying traffic was super high. Not good. I’ve also abandoned the drop ship ride along I started as I am making good money selling on Amazon and didn’t want to spread myself too thinly.

I’ve grown sales considerably since I’ve left the UK but they have started taking a dip before Christmas, a little because my niche is slightly seasonal but a lot because Amazon have started to enforce a number of their advertising policies which have started to effect my sales technique. I now have 4 products available on Amazon instead of 1 and have put in a lot of work on a 5th which should launch in a few weeks. I think the Amazon profit alone is enough to cover all my expenses so far.

The other sites I started several years ago also have done very well, also by themselves enough to cover all my costs so far, but I would like to grow the Amazon side of the business to the point where I can sell my old sites. 80/20 rule for life yo!

I’m also developing my own SaaS application, all be it slowly, which should generate some good passive income when it launches.

Education

I’ve gained my PADI Open Water Advanced certification, but not done much else. I haven’t done much work towards the Matador travel writing and travel photography modules, I completely failed to complete a 4 week course about underwater archaeology but I have just enrolled in an online TEFL Masters course as it was only £29 on Amazon (instead of £399).

I think I need some better time management skills!

Blood Pressure

This is a late edit as I’ve forgotten to monitor my blood pressure over the past few months until a friend asked about it earlier today!

My blood pressure today was 137/93 which is tons better from 151/103, which I originally started with 3 months ago, but still counts as Stage 1 Hypertension. Hopefully my new life style will continue to improve my health and overall quality of life and I will get to the Normal range shortly!

The Sedona Method

by rus

I took Sedona Method classes with Maya Zack in Brighton a couple of years ago to see how the process would work on some of the stresses I was under at the time and found the experience really rewarding and the techniques I learned helpful for all manner of things, so decided to give the book a read.

In essence the Sedona Method simply involves asking yourself a series of questions about your feelings or whatever the situation is that you want to release along the lines of the following:

Could I let this go?
Would I let it go?
When?

Really simple stuff, but powerful, as repeatedly asking yourself these questions unwraps layers of beliefs that we have about ourselves, and our issues, like an onion, to get to the core of the situation, which according to the Sedona Method is one of either a need for control, security or approval.

There are some wishy washy “open yourself up to the Universe and it shall provide” anecdotes in the book, such as the story about a struggling nail technician who upon releasing on their monetary issues, the Universe opened up and suddenly the work coming in, and the money they were making doubled! Reading her story, to me it looked more like the Sedona Method helped her remove a blockage she was carrying about moving forwards, which let her actually advertise her business and then the advert then bought in new clients. This shouldn’t put you off, regardless of your belief system though as it is still evidence the Sedona Method works.

The book covered the process to a good depth and covered more aspects and ways of using the method than I found in the classes I took but ultimately was a good refresher. I recommend it to anyone who’s having issues letting go of something or is struggling to move forwards or just want to clear out the cupboards of the mind from all the cobwebs that have gathered in it over the years! I hope to continue releasing through my day to day and would love to attend one of their 7 day seminars if I’m ever in the right place!

Scuba Diving In Phuket

by rus

There’s not much to do on Soi Ta Aed, the road Tiger Muay Thai is on, other than train, eat and get massages so I’ve been escaping out to sea with the help of Phuket Dive Tours and its awesome owner Dave.

Phuket Dive Tours
https://www.phuketdivetours.com

10/10 Soi Ta Aed, Chalong, Phuket, 83130

Phone: +66 87 022 5356

I’d previously booked a snorkling tour of Koh Phi Phi through Phuket Dive Tours which was absolutely fantastic and before I came to Thailand I knew I wanted to get some scuba diving in and I knew what gear I wanted to try after reading some of the top snorkeling product reviews. So, it was a no brainer to do my PADI Open Water and PADI Open Water Advanced with Phuket Dive Tours too!The PADI Open Water was a 3 day course, day 1 in a swimming pool then 2 days out on the boat, the Open Water advanced was another 2 days out on the boat. It’s a great way to spend a weekend and take a break from training!

One of the reasons Dave and Phuket Dive Tours stands out is the customer service. Next year I’ve arranged a week of spear fishing with some friends and Dave spent 2 days driving me around Phuket helping me get together all the equipment I need for it. He also personally gives lifts to and from his shop to the pier!

It’s hard not to give Phuket Dive Tours 5/5! – Rus!

Over the 10 dives I’ve done so far, we’ve dived a wreck, seen sharks, turtles, sea snakes, eels, seahorses, mantis shrimp and hundreds of huge shoals of fish!.

We’ve also visited beautiful coral reefs and dived along side natural sea walls lined with sponges and sea anemones

One of Phuket Dive Tour’s fantastic diving instructor, and a rather blurry seahorse! Underwater photography is pretty difficult with everything moving all the time!

The dive boats are pretty cool, typically the bottom deck has an outdoor area where all the tanks and equipment lives and then a small, dry indoor compartment, and then there’s another open compartment on top where people can relax. Breakfast and lunch is also included with a seemingly endless supply of coffee! They also have warm showers and beer!

Places To Eat Near Tiger Muay Thai

by rus

There are a lot of places to eat around Tiger Muay Thai, all selling healthy things to eat. There are a quite a few cheap, small restaurants and shacks selling traditional Thai food and I think every hotel probably has it’s own restaurant too. The hotels are more expensive though.

Most places sell some variety of steak or chicken breast with vegetables and brown rice, which is the healthy go to food in the area. I enjoy mixing it up with some traditional Thai dishes though, like Pad Ka-Prao (minced chicken with chilis and Thai holy basil). You must remember to say no sugar please when you order else all your healthy eating and hard work will be for nowt!

Below are a selection of the places I’ve eaten at, around Tiger Muay Thai, as well as photos of the various dishes I’ve had.

Tony’s

Tony’s is currently my favourite restaurant on the street. It’s one of the cheapest, with each dish costing 60 – 80 Baht (£1.20 – £1.60) and it also has the most variety of food available, from healthy grilled or steamed chicken or steak (seriously, they do a steamed chicken breast salad!) to traditional Thai dishes.

For breakfast I’ve been having museli with fruit and yogurt, a small bottle of water and a black coffee, all for 100 Baht (£2). For lunch and dinner I usually get the BBQ chicken with vegetables and rice for 80 Baht (£1.60) and then a Thai dish on the side, such as Pad Ka-Prao or the delicious chicken and pineapple curry. Along with a large bottle of water my lunch or dinner comes around to 160 Baht (£3). Eating 3 times a day at Tony’s can cost you under £8 which is pretty good. Tony’s also has free WiFi with several access ponts.

Signature Phuket

I’m staying in the Signature Hotel and I’ve eaten a lot of food here 😉 It’s probably one of the more expensive restaurants on the street because it’s attached to a hotel and it’s also one of the more expensive hotels. If I’m eating here it’s probably because I’m ill so my food choices are more for comfort.

The Signature VIP burger comes with chips and costs 100 Baht (£2). A plate of fruit here costs about 90 Baht (£1.80) the same dish at Tony’s costs around 30 Baht. When I was having breakfast here the price was hovering around 200-240 Baht (£4-£5) so now I’ve got my barings I try not to eat in the hotel.

Muscle Bar

Probably the most expensive place on the street is the Muscle Bar, but it’s for a reason. It’s also probably the healthiest place on the street and does a few things no one else does.

As well as being a cafe the Muscle Bar offers a service that measures your body fat percentage and overall body composition, they then offer a meal plan, with the calorific content depending on your base metabolic rate, goals and calorific need. The meal plan costs depend on how many calories you eat a day, and offers 3 meals and several snacks a day, but nothing on Sunday. The person I spoke to suggested I’d be paying around £400 a month for their meal plan, which for me is too much at the moment.

They are also opening a gym up opposite, with a goal of offering a combined personal training and meal plan, which I am quite interested in.

2Home

The other hotel I’ve stayed in, 2Home, does fantastic food as the chef used to work in 5* hotels in Bangkok. My favourite dish is undoubtedly Nasi Goreng, but they are all great. Cheaper than Signature but more expensive than Tonys, I’ll definitely eat here when I stay there again, despite it being across the street from Tonys, simply because the food is probably the tastiest on the street!

Tiger Muay Thai

Most people that come to Tiger Muay Thai for the first time get the meal time and personally I think that’s a great idea. It works out to about £250 a month for 2 meals a day, which errs on the expensive side for the area, but not by much. Whilst they don’t mention calories or macros, the food at Tiger Muay Thai is delicious, it’s filling and I am testament to how easy it is to lose weight eating it! Free WiFi is also available!

Normally I opt for some form of steak or chicken breast and brown rice, but they also do burgers and pizzas using a wholewheat dough.

Ali’s BBQ

I LOVE ALI’S BBQ. Ali’s Persian BBQ is amazing. They have all kinds of grilled meat and steaks and lots of healthy fruits and salads. It’s also the furthest restaurant away from Tiger Muay Thai (which isn’t saying much ..) and quite expensive unless you can control yourself. I always end up paying around 600 Baht (£12) because I eat so damn much when I go!

Koko Hut

The pizza at Koko Hut is like crack, which is just as well as they were finalists in a national pizza competition recently! Their Pad Ka-Prao is also delicious. The first time I ate it here I had to pick out all the chilis but now it’s not a problem!

Bamboo Hut

The Bamboo Hut (I don’t think it has an actual name..) is one of the cheapest places on the street. Most dishes are 50 Baht (£1) each, and then rice is an additional 10 Baht (20p). I usually don’t get the rice and have 2 main dishes instead so it’s easy to come away full, having eaten 2 plates of meat, for about £2!

Anchan

The restaurant attached to the Anchan Hotel is even more expensive than Signature. They have a larger range but with all the other options on the street I see no reason to go there. Not even for their 20% off Steak Night on Fridays. Even with 20% off it’s still more expensive than everywhere else!

The Rich House

The Rich House is a mid priced restaurant that serves mostly Thai food. It stands out because it doesn’t really focus on healthy, so you can order Pad Thai with crispy pork, or just a huge plate of crispy pork if you’re so inclined. They also have free WiFi!