Cambopedia

This is so natural to fall in love with place you visited, where you met people and encountered something amazing.

Will and I made a stop in Cambodia as part of our Asia trip at the urging of our Asian-art-curator friend and, boy, are we glad that we did! We fell in love with Cambodia and its people. Despite the poverty and their heartbreaking history, we found the people to be warm and humble. We spent 5 days in Siem Reap touring the ancient Khmer temples. For movie-buffs or Angelina Jolie fans, that’s where Tomb Raider 2 was shot. Cambodia also gets our vote for best food in Asia thus far.

Making a trip to Banlung, Ratanakiri, is more accessible, at least in recent years. Not really a place where many tourists think of going there as much as Siem Reap, but it is, of course, worthwhile if you are looking for a peaceful places for a retreat.

Where limited few barang (foreigners) are still visible in and around Kratie (usually around the town center and in guesthouse commons), virtually none stay in Ratanakiri. We made it a game to see who would be first to spot another tourist. It was a tie much later in the afternoon.

Not too many paved roads exist in Ban Lung’s backwater main stretch, where red dust kicked up by passing vehicles obscures visibility to a couple of hundred feet.

One of the most interesting things about visiting tourist destinations is that: we all try to compare one place to another. Gael ’s Blog lets us know that wonderful beaches in Sihanouk is the same to the Cote d’Azur in France.

We leave on Saturday afternoon by bus. And I forgot a book in the bus (D’abord ils ont tué mon père, Ung Loung). But I borrow it at Enfant du Mékong and I read it in 3 days :)

Sihanouk is the same as the Cote d’Azur in France with wonderful beaches, an amazing hot water in the Indian Ocean.
For students, it was the first time they saw the ocean. It was a real pleasure to share it with them :) Everybody enjoy it, girls sung … it was awesome!

At Sihanouk, we were hosted by ASPECA, an NGO that also help children. The night we spent there, I have decided to sleep in an hammoc … it was the worse night I spent in Cambodia : Mosquitos, badly install and in the morning, everywhere was wet: so I was a bit sick …

In this post, you will meet filmaker S. Smith Patrick.

At the 2005 Angkor Photography Festival, independent filmaker S. Smith Patrick chronicled Cambodian street kids as their lives were transformed through the festival’s photography and dance workshop. It is a thought-provoking one-hour documentary delving into issues of poverty, global tourism, ancient and modern cultures converging, and art for social change around
the lives of street children in the urban center of Siem Reap.

To view the trailer, please visit:
http://www.cinesmith.net and to see stills, please visit our Flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/
angkorphotographyfestival/sets/72157594266875331/

Stuart Isett
The Angkor Photography Festival
“PHOTOGRAPHY FOR CHANGE”

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/angkorphotographyfestival/
URL: http://www.angkorphotofestival.com
Mailto:angkorphotofestival@yahoo.com

Carnets d’Asie
333 Sivatha Street, Siem Reap

Visited Cambodia for awhile and returned to home country Australia, tourist couple recalled their travel time, meeting with locals, and charity work they involved.

As I leave Cambodia, and return to comfortable, middle class, ordinary Australia, my thoughts are somewhat jumbled. How come I live in such wealth and comfort, and Cambodia has so many who cannot imagine my daily experience of plenty? What is my ongoing responsibility now that I know that there are so many who are so poor? Such a little of what I have could make a huge difference in the homes I have been in.