The Great Dopamine Rush of 2025

Its 10:26 pm And I am in Malaysia. I am not supposed to be in Malaysia. I am supposed to be flying to Bali right now.

What a stupid travel day its been. It started off great with an incredibly long Tuk Tuk ride, to the Siem Reap Airport. Which was very beautiful and showed the drastic differences between wet and dry seasons in Cambodia. It is definitely dry season right now. From this point Everything slipped towards stupidity.

When I arrived at the airport, I checked my bag no problem, got my boarding pass and headed to security. Now did you know that a 60m 9.8mm climbing rope is a dangerous weapon that most definitely could be used to hijack an aircraft? You didn’t know that? me neither. Maybe that’s because it F#@king isn’t. But according to Cambodian airport security it is, even though they could not provide any supporting information about it being listed as a dangerous item. And I read the list and checked online before ever bringing it in my carry-on, also I have gone through 6 airports with it on my backpack without it ever being an issue. So I argued my way up the Cambodian security ladder asking for more and more supervisors until I was just flat out told no. So I tried to get it put in my checked bag which I was then told was not possible anymore. Then I asked if I could check the rope as another bag, to which I was told I would be charged $30 American per Kg. A 60 meter rope weighs around 7kg, so translate that to Cad and your somewhere in the ballpark of $350. Double what the rope is worth. So I left my rope behind. Absolute sad days, as it is the most integral piece of gear I had with me.

Determined to not let it be thrown in the trash, I called my new friend James the climbing guide in Siem Reap, and asked him how long it would take him to get to the airport. He literally said he’d be there within the hour. Now even though it is a loss for me, I am not really that upset about losing the rope. I can buy another one, what really made it sting less is being able to get it to someone who would cherish it and put it to good use. In Cambodia, climbing gear is incredibly hard to bring into the country as everything you import gets hit with a 40% import tax. So for James this happening, its like striking gold. And knowing how pumped he was to get it made me feel good.

Now after coming to terms with the rope debacle, I entered the waiting area and read my book. 10 minutes before the flight was supposed to board Air Asia announced a 1.5 hour delay on my flight. I had enough time to get the rope into my checked bag in the end. Heavy heavy sigh. So I wait out the delay knowing that my 2 hour layover in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, is not now not enough time to get to my next flight. Fast forward a few hours and I’m sitting here at my computer in an airport hotel, burning a very expensive night in a Uluwatu hotel. Yet another Heavy sigh. Tomorrow will be better. It has to be, doesn’t it?.

Till tomorrow.