Bokor Hill Station, Cambodia. Travel Photo #103.

Bokor Hill Station is a strange French Colonial relic, from a bygone era. The French wanted to escape the heat and humidity of Phnom Penh so they built a resort for themselves at the top of a mountain complete with a casino and hotel, shops and a post office. They all now sit abandoned, the French long since giving up on holding this area through multiple wars and political instabilities. The Khmer Rouge held this area until the 1990s, making it one of the last strongholds for Pol Pot’s army many years after they were officially ousted.

This building sits at the end of one of the roads at the very top of the mountain, and was a battlement for the Khmer Rouge for many years. We explored at and admired the wonderful artwork people had contributed to it.

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Vince

1,2,3… and 4 Kids On A Bike, In Kampot. Travel Photo #102.

(c) all rights reserved. click to enlarge.

Some of the funniest and most endearing images from this trip revolve around transport. A pig on the back of a scooter, 5 people on a motorbike, and piles of kids on bicycles. This photo is indicative of what is classified as normal in Southeast Asia. There aren’t any road rules to speak of, but traffic doesn’t move very fast, so everyone is safe.

 

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Vince

Handmade Noodles In A Kampot Cinema, Travel Photo #96.

(c) all rights reserved. click to enlarge.

(c) all rights reserved. click to enlarge.

(c) all rights reserved. click to enlarge.

(c) all rights reserved. click to enlarge.

(c) all rights reserved. click to enlarge.

(c) all rights reserved. click to enlarge.

The unofficial Kampot Cinema is a funny place. It doubles as a great little restaurant out front, and in the back you can rent a private room for a few dollars and watch the movie of your choice in surround sound and air conditioning. The guy who runs it also makes amazing handmade noodles, and offered to download any movie we wanted to see. So we ate some noodle soup, got a room and some icecreams and watched Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Thanks for reading 🙂 I’m actually currently in New Zealand at the World Buskers Festival, so I’ll post some current travel pics in the next few days. Like, Subscribe and share!

Vince

Child Beggar In Kampot, Travel Photo #94.

In Kampot, Cambodia, things are relatively calm. The pace of life is a slow trot at best. This fellow came up to us at lunch while we were eating, and had a really nice energy about him. My partner Rose actually saw people chase him in the street to give him some money. Later on that evening I saw him sitting on the riverbank and with his permission, I took this photo.

(c) all rights reserved. click to enlarge.

He had lesions on his body, down his arm and on his hands. One can only speculate what they were caused by. We saw him a few days later on the outskirts of town as we were leaving for Phnom Penh, on the back of a ute crammed with other children and workers.

What happens to someone like this in Cambodia without medical care, schooling or a home? The same thing that happens all over the world to people like this, most likely. Destined to be a beggar for the rest of his life, locked into the poverty cycle and institutionalised by immediate necessity. Or maybe there’s a slim chance, a glimmer of hope, that this boy might get out and do something important with his life, have a family and make it out of the trap of impoverished existence.

Does this kid even know he can make something of himself, or is it just arrogant and naive of me to even assume anything I’ve just written has any relevance to him? Moral relativity messes with my judgement constantly, but it goes into overdrive when thinking about this type of thing.

I just hope he’s doing okay.

 

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Vince.

Kids With Kites In Cambodia, Travel Photo #92.

click to enlarge

This scenery is the most common type in southern Cambodia. Small tin or thatched roof huts and dwellings, palm trees dotting the flat farmland, and kids finding ways to amuse themselves. With only 30% of the population of Cambodia having access to electricity, many of the traditional ways of life remain strong. These kids are participating in a well-proven method of entertainment, as the sun falls behind the mountains and a storm approaches near Kampot, near the Vietnamese border.

I’m updating daily with content from my travels and it would be great to get this blog really cracking. I’m not going to write crap like “7 Ways To Get A Cheap Flight To Vladavostok” or “14 Signs You’re Doing The Middle East All Wrong” but what I pride myself on is good photos from my adventures and job as a circus performer, a little anecdote here and there, and something personal from time to time. That’s my angle and I hope you enjoy the content.

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Vince.

 

 

 

 

Cambodian Cow. Travel Photo #88.

I flew back into Melbourne yesterday, from a month in Southeast Asia. I have about 1500 shots from the trip, way too many to immediately sort through or process. Of course, probably 200-300 of these will be used for something, or have any artistic or cultural merit. The rest are basically travel documentation. Both are equally valuable though, it’s just a big job to sort through them all. In the meantime, however, here’s a cow. She was tethered to a stump on a patch of grass in a place called Kampot, a quiet river town in Cambodia near the Vietnamese border. It has a French feel to it, and is most famous for it’s production of black pepper which can be found in it’s fresh form in many dishes in local restaurants. It’s also famous for durian. Coming from Australia we have a big prawn, a big pineapple, a big banana… and Kampot has, in the centre of the central roundabout in town, a Big Durian. Anyway, it’s new years eve. I’ll tell you more about the trip and get through all these shots as I get time. In the meantime, here’s a cow.

Happy New Year everyone!