the occasional luxury that's worth the money

Once in a while you just have to splurge on a multi-sensory dining experience: attentive service, innovative chef, great setting.
I've only had excellent culinary and service experiences at Sirocco (euro- fusion) and Breeze (asian fusion). For sunset drinks splash out at SKY bar and Distil. These are just a few of the establishments at Lebua at the State Tower in Bangkok.

how tourists should not treat the natives

D and I were sitting in a restaurant nowhere near the tourist track when some kids were dropped off by a tuk tuk outside. As they wandered a few feet, gawking about with lonely planets and maps in their hands-- very comically lost-- a rude blog post title popped to mind: "You too can look .....". We stepped out to snag some quick shots, when these guys turned the tables on us. They waved and smiled really big, the kind you save for retarded people, probably thinking we were natives taking photos of foreigners. We took off before they could start talking really loud English at us.

I have never been looked at by a white person like this. My immersion in Cambodia is complete.
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Preah Vihear UNESCO World Heritage Site

Since D was here, we thought we'd take that trip to the border temple that Keith and I have wanted to see. Thailand tends to have dispute with UNESCO over the World Heritage status of the temple and award of the grounds to Cambodia (it's a disputed land area on the border) whenever they are having domestic political turmoil. It is pre-Angkorian, so it predates Angkor Wat. Because it's a conflict area restoration has been on hold and there are very few foreigners who come to this mountaintop ruin. You essentially put yourself between the Cambodian troops and the Thais when you visit this place.
Preah Vihear is 4hrs from Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), which is 5hrs from Phnom Penh. About an hour out of Siem Reap the paved road ends. If it's raining, your driver better be damn good! Even SUVs are useless when you can't maneuver the car. It is almost like driving in deep snow.
Thankfully there wasn't any rain when we arrived at Preah Vihear. It's a steep climb up a now-paved road on this mountain, so you need a four-wheel drive. Needless to say, it isn't smooth. I still have some bruises. At one point there were about nine of us crammed into the bed of the pickup truck. D and I held on for dear life smack in the middle of the bed while seasoned soldiers sat on the edge casually hanging on, laughing at us.
At the top, you're hard-pressed to find signs of conflict. The ruins are overrun by soldiers- surreal. There are Khmer tourists wandering about like the place hadn't been pelted with shells only recently. No foreigners (namely, no busloads of package tourists from Japan, Korea, China, and Europe), so that was VERY nice!
Hmm.. Look at that concentrated gray coming out of the side of my head over the parietal lobe. Maybe I did too much math in grad school [scratches head].
That is Preah Vihear town below. Follow that road right (southeast?) and it leads to Ang Long Veng, a very historic city where Pol Pot also is buried. There's nothing out in these parts, so accommodations are slim and very bare / basic.

Some of the soldiers look like little kids. They aren't allowed off the mountain. When we came back down they searched our vehicle for stowaways.

See this guy's grenade? I pointed at it, was thinking that pin looks could get popped easily off. But it is ok, I was told it is secure. There is a rubber band holding it in, and he handed it to me. Heavy. The rubber band? You know when those things get old and start to dry up brittle? I thought we'd best leave soon..

Long day, but a great time. :-) If you can make it out here while the troops are still around it's a great time. They're awesome hosts. They even let you hold their weapons. Strange to be handling these loaded guns, rockets, grenades etc. At the end you give the soldiers some small cash so they can buy cigarettes.

around the 'hood with a visiting friend

Here's my street, we live a block off the Royal Palace. It's everyday scenes like this that you never bother to take photos of until a friend comes along and captures everything you don't blink twice over anymore. To the left is a tuk-tuk, riding the line to his left and back is what they call here a cyclo, and practically most people travel by some form of motorbike here.
Every day monks walk around the neighborhood collecting alms (this is one of the stores downstairs). Since the Khmer Rouge decimated the elder ranks, the religion's influence has not gained its previous legitimacy and credibility. Respect for monks and the solidarity they fostered before the conflict era have been largely eroded.
Time for some tours around the city! This is what I get when a journalist friend is visiting. LOTS of photos of me. And yes, I know these huge sunglasses are horrible fashion bombs, but they're great for tuk-tuk riding cuz short of goggles they keep everything out of your eyes!
The Independence Monument Plaza, view from Sothearos Blvd. See the cranes in the background? Phnom Penh is under constant construction. sigh.
D was an inspiration to me long ago with her wanderlust. Everyone back then thought she was a nut (me too, secretly!). Of course now we both envy our friends the stability of life and family and community when our lives are anything but. But connecting in different parts of the globe once in a while brings us back to what matters and what brought us out on these paths in the first place.
In a city growing up so fast, these bicycle vendors selling kids' toys brings memories of olden days. They're still numerous on the city streets, particularly where people like to gather at night in the new plazas.
Those of you who saw City of Ghosts (2002) with Matt Dillon might recognize this guy. Ian 'Snowy' Woodford is an old fixture in the Phnom Penh 'hoods from the UNTAC days. He's now running a bar / gallery across the Tonle River from the city.
The Phnom Penh skyline! Naturally you must have a healthy imagination to see it ;-) D and I rented a boat ($16/2hrs) and cruised the Tonle River. Brought a bottle of wine and some desserts. I always forget to look up at the night sky whenever I'm in cities. PP is sufficiently small that you can get a glimpse of some stars. But out on the river- wow.

Spirit houses in Asia

Spirits-- can't live with them, can't live without appeasing them. In Asia, nature or 'supernatural' forces are very much a part of one's being and not disconnected as it is in the modern west.

When people move into a new home they create a disturbance in the natural world. In a gesture of deference and to re-balance the natural surroundings, it is tradition to appease the displaced spirits. Bribes of various sorts ranging from incense, fruits, vegetables, water and rice etc are regularly placed in these houses, sort of like an eviction compensation. It isn't that the spirits will actually eat them, and in fact some of these houses can be left in such a state as to seem that the spirits are expected to clean their little abodes. They will not. These are symbolic acts of respect towards the earth and to divine beings who live alongside us.

See the bananas and bottles of water in the first photo? On the road down to Koh Kong there are a few spirit houses placed along the sides of the road. Sometimes people will stop, leave a lagniappe and ask the spirits in that area to look over them in their travels and keep mischief and danger away. If many accidents have occurred on a specific road a spirit house will be placed there, to allow travelers to pacify the tormented spirits.

It's interesting to note that I have never seen birds nesting in these houses, nor eating the plentiful fruits left at them. I hadn't had a drop of clue or curiosity yet to ask my Khmer colleagues and friends why this is so. I guess it satisfies my sensibilities that it really does have to do with an otherwordly presence.
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Irrawady dolphins in the Mekong

Only four (five?) groups of freshwater dolphins are left in the world, mainly due to habitat loss and hunting-- two in S. America and three in Asia. Here in Kratie, Cambodia, there are between 20 to less than 100 of the Irrawady dolphins. With such low numbers they are functionally extinct. They come to the Kratie area of the Mekong during the dry season (practically the only attraction there) and head up to Myanmar for the rest of the year.
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Faces

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Dyed chicks in Jakarta

Can you believe this?? I think my shock was a little disabling. We rounded the corner on a tuk tuk and came upon this scene only enough to capture a single shot before the traffic converged to block the view and we were whisked off. Inside the cage on the different levels are chicks dipped in various colored dye. I mean, as a child in Manila I think I found this sort of atrocity cute since I myself was party to the doom of several baby animals I made my mom purchase for me at the market. I guess it is a luxury to have this mentality of animal harassment (cruelty?)...

Day Trip from Phnom Penh to Phnom Oudong

This trip was a 50minute motorbike ride to the outskirts of Phnom Penh on a very hot Sunday. This is a typical panoramic view of Cambodia in the North-South region Siem Reap - Sihanoukville: flat as a pancake dry and dotted with palm and coconut trees, etc. Elevations are revered spots and wats (pagodas) are usually constructed on top of them.

These images of Buddha in various interpretations are not for idolising, such as Christians worship the images of the God. These images aim to inspire the appropriate mode of behaviour towards the personal achievement of enlightenment. It is an admired philosophy, especially during these modern fast-paced times, but its lack of appreciation for personal gains contributes to the detriment of Asian society (values?) in an age of materialism and the pursuit of wealth.

I have no idea what kind of turtles these are, but a lot of them are classified 'threatened' in Cambodia. We were taken once to a restaurant in Kampot Province, where the walls were lined with WWF and conservancy posters. Obviously it's illegal to hunt those animals on the posters, but enforcement capacity is low. They were the menu offerings, but only hush hush. If officials came through the door the establishment is upholding the law.
No shortage of cutesy shots in the third world. Sadly this is exploited and children are sometimes harmed in order to garner more sympathy and thus more money from foreigners.

At wats around the country there are soothsayers who will read palms, feet, sticks, and tea leaves. Philosophies about fate and destiny are major factors why the region has not lived to its full capacity in the past several centuries compared to the West.
This woman makes 3 baskets in one day. Then sells each basket for 1000 Riel (25 cents) for a small one, or 3000 Riel (75 cents) for a big one the size of a cantaloupe. I can never look at the handicrafts in a Pier1 store ever again, since coming out to Asia.
The prize part of a crab is the fat inside the shell. Here they are sold by a vendor at the market. These are river crabs, small enough to fit nicely in a child's hand. The shell / fat is sold for 600 Riel (~24 cents) and the whole crab for 1000 Riel (25 cents).


There were probably five mosques on the way to Oudong from Phnom Penh, which surprised us. Muslims make up 10% of Cambodia's population, the largest group after Buddhists, but they're largely concentrated in Kampot and Kampong Cham (Cham is the Khmer word for Muslim). Saudi Arabia finances the building of mosques here. Their presence has been slowly increasing, since the finding of oil off Cambodia's coasts.

All photos from Keith A Kelly's photostream.