Cambodia
BREAKFAST
We pulled over one morning just as the local monks filed across the road for their breakfast, courtesy of equally generous and humbled locals. I watched them patiently queue for rice, all the while picturing my own typical morning, wolfing down cereal, toast and coffee to radio talkback. They were beautiful those brightly robed monks, but felt so strangely alien to a westerner like myself.
FACE THE FACE (GOT TO FACE THE FACE)...
Remember that Pete Townshend song? It pestered me the morning my trusty guide and I climbed a rarely traversed hill for this unique 'gateway' view. I sat for half an hour, locking eyes with this centuries-old beauty, marvelling at where I was and how incredibly alive I felt. If only I could have expelled that annoying 80s tune from my head...
FISHERMAN, WISHING BOY
Not until I processed this shot did I see the young boy (top left), fixated as we both were on the ice cool chap smoking while he fished. There’s a hint of hero worship to the moment: an impressionable young lad’s hopeful glimpse of the future. Here’s to an equally poised and confident adulthood, minus the ciggies.
THE BIG CLEAN
Even in the wet season, dust is a drag is Cambodia. Committed women (mostly) sweep seemingly endless streets, only to repeat the process the following morning. For a brief moment here, done with the dust, I wondered if this determined lady was going to put all those strewn boulders and columns in order. I wouldn’t have put it past her...
TIME TO REFLECT
While most around it crumbled, Angkor Wat has stood bold and beautiful for 900 years. Abandoned for centuries, its dawns were once solitary affairs. Today, the morning sun casts light on thousands of tourists, craning necks and snapping Nikons. This was taken in the afternoon, when the morning’s thick crowds thankfully thin.