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Home Random Shots in Cambodia
2013/14

 



Riding my bike, I pulled up behind this collection of wares



and I thought...




...isn't this asking a lot of a bicycle?
 




Another, similar "market on a bike"

this one includes fresh fish

she goes right into the neighborhoods
 






and yet another


No time to shop?
The shop comes to you
 



I took great delight in visiting this orphanage, singing for the kids and teaching them an English song
 



Riding my bike along the river, I was hailed by an old woman.

I pulled over, greeted her, and she led me out back to a shack where this boy lay--unable to speak or walk or feed himself

I caressed his arms, and evoked this delighted smile





Here's his granny


Aint' that a face?
 





Walking another poor neighborhood I found them grilling small fish outdoors


 




Pub Street is the main tourist drag in Siem Reap

lined with restaurants

cleared of the motorbikes in the evening, it becomes a pedestrian walkway
 




I often offer to man the camera for groups I see

this time they insisted I join them
 





Vendors and beggars ply Pub Street

one of my favorites is Teng Dara



he hand pedals this wagon





 
Another fixture of Pub Street is the Land Mine Orchestra, all survivors of land mines

I've become friends of all of them, and one evening they told me one of their members had died (far left in this photo)

the bald man in the center came and sobbed on my shoulder, really shaken
 



I get a free breakfast at my guest house, but often visit a food stall in the Old Market for this $1 meal

Fried noodles with lots of rich veggies and an egg




Or this for 50 cents


two rice pastries filled with kale or similar veg, topped with sprouts
 



I'm always fascinated with how people figure out their livelihood

Here a dirt-poor woman mixes sausage






fills the casings
 





and hangs them out



I was at the same guest house for 4 months

$280/mo with free breakfast, free laundry, free bicycle

saunter out back
 




and you'll see where I did 3 or 4 swim sessions a day

my favorite exercise




The name is "My Home Tropical Garden Villa"


aptly named
 




I love to walk poor neighborhoods


one day I walked by this structure

What holds it up is not exactly clear
 





but it has a breezy, open feeling
 
 




a little too open and breezy for when it rains and blows




The lady of the house, Phoon



Riding my bike I heard someone call Hello


Op waved me into her ramshackle coffee shop

She's a delight-- so alive, so vibrant
 





Shopping in the meat section of the markets can be disorienting for us Westerners

Graphic? Yes

Refrigerated? Nope
In 2012 I befriended a family of 9

Sam Po, Wan Polly, and their kids

(See "Family on the Edge" in "Cambodia 2012")

Sam Po repairs motorbikes, has only stub legs, and scoots around on his ass
I remembered that, so this year I included four large swivel casters in my luggage, found some sturday wood, and we built him this dolly

He was delighted


Also from my past visits to Siem Reap is Sampors

She was part of the project that searches rural Cambodia areas for girls with leadership potential

brings them to Siem Reap, houses them in a dorm, and assists their education

this year she was a waitress in my favorite restaurant




Walking neighborhoods I encounter Sela




and Srey Pov





splendid young girls



In 2011 I met two tuk tuk (taxi) drivers

here's Bonthong, with Sohn, a poor woman who begs in the Old Market




Sombarn, the other brother

taken when they took me on a village visit





Here the brothers are doing a little faith healing routine


they're both avid Christians





and Sombarn tries to bring this Buddhist lady to Jesus







we paddled around the shores of a huge lake and collected a few dozen snails




Along with swimming, my self-improvement regimen consisted of a twice-weekly stretching class




So I've stretched a lot



but alas,

I'm no taller


in July 2013 I did a 5-day training in how to build biosand water filters

Later I connected with Water for Cambodia,  in Siem Reap

here's their production site

Their filters are constructed from poured concrete, and they sell them for $50


they're amazingly effective, require almost no maintenance, and last for 30 years or more

I helped them with documenting their production process, much in the manner I use for my travel reports
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