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Archives: February 2011One (1) photo a day Cambodia, Kelly Anthony Rae Photography, Day 18
Day 18 photo: A young teenager working to sort and recycle rubbish According to the World Bank, approximately 2% of the third world’s population sustain themselves from collecting and recycling rubbish. This 15 year old boy carries a load of plastic bottles to be loaded onto a truck. The bottles are often collected by young children carrying large sacks or pulling carts. They walk around the city, collecting these bottles and then trade them in for money. The rubbish is then sorted and placed in these large bags, to be transported to recycling companies. Across Cambodia an estimated 1.5 million children under 14 are forced to work, child advocacy groups say. They say that while most labor on family farms, up to 250,000 work in hazardous conditions while begging, scavenging waste, working in factories or mining. (source)
The rest of the one photo a day series can be found here: http://www.kellyanthony.com/blog/category/a-photo-a-day/ One (1) photo a day Cambodia, Kelly Anthony Rae Photography, Day 16
Day 16 photo: Coconut seller polishing his coconuts Coconuts are more dangerous than sharks. Falling coconuts kill 150 people every year which is 10 times the number of people killed by sharks. There are more than 20 billion coconuts produced each year. This means that only 1 in every 133.33 million coconuts are lethal.
The rest of the one photo a day series can be found here: http://www.kellyanthony.com/blog/category/a-photo-a-day/ One (1) photo a day Cambodia, Kelly Anthony Rae Photography, Day 11
Day 11: Apartment building near Phsar Thmey (Central Market). Taken in the late afternoon. Many apartment buildings in Phnom Penh were built in the 1960′s and look similar to this. They have a similar layout with a living area, kitchen at the back and bathroom with one or two bedrooms in the middle. There is one long walkway along the side of the apartment to access the rooms and there are generally only windows at the front and back. Often, three, four or five stories tall with a balcony, these apartments with variation on exterior style are very common around central Phnom Penh.
The rest of the one photo a day series can be found here: http://www.kellyanthony.com/blog/category/a-photo-a-day/ One (1) photo a day Cambodia, Kelly and Anthony Rae Photography, Day 7
Day 7 photo: Sleeping cyclo driver. “Cambodia’s iconic cyclos are dwindling with decreased demand from residents in the capital, Phnom Penh, but drivers are hoping an increased tourist trade will help them survive. The three-wheeled cyclo, with its bucket seat between the two front wheels for the passengers, and the driver perched high up behind them above the rear wheel, pedalling away, was brought to Cambodia by the French 70 years ago. Ten years ago, 9,000 drivers made their livings pedalling cyclos around the capital – today there are just 1,300.” (source)
The rest of the one photo a day series can be found here: http://www.kellyanthony.com/blog/category/a-photo-a-day/ One (1) photo a day, Cambodia, Kelly and Anthony Rae Photography, Day 6
Day 6 photo: Market store selling (fresh?) meat in 35 degrees weather – this is where your meat comes from in Phnom Penh.
The rest of the one photo a day series can be found here: http://www.kellyanthony.com/blog/category/a-photo-a-day/ Orussei Market in Black and White, Travel Photography, Cambodia
Eight images from around the Orussei Market in Black and White. All shot with a Nikon D700 & 50mm f1.4 lens combo:
Oudong, Phnom Penh Cambodia – Travel Photography
40kms north of Phnom Penh is a town called Oudong. During 1618 to 1866, Oudong was the capital of Cambodia until it was abandoned by King Norodom who moved the capital to Phnom Penh. It was heavily bombed by Americans during the Vietnam War and a site of intense fighting in 1977 between Khmer Rouge forces and Lon Nol forces. It’s a good day trip out of Phnom Penh and takes about 1.5 hours in a tuk tuk.
Water Festival, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 2010
The Cambodia Water Festival or ‘Bon Om Tuk’ in Khmer is the largest festival in the Cambodian calendar. The 3-day Water Festival in Phnom Penh celebrates the end of the rainy season and coincides with the flow of the Tonle Sap river changing direction. The highlight of the Water Festival are the boat races, where highly decorated boats from each village race over the three days. Thousand of Khmers descend on Phnom Penh to watch the races from the shore and cheer on their villages boat, which can have up to 80 oarsmen/women as they race down the Tonle Sap. During this time Phnom Penh takes on a carnival atmosphere, and as well as the river banks being lined with exuberant spectators there are also live concerts, hundreds of food stands, games of chance, fair rides, and at night fireworks light up the sky and people dance in the street. This year however, the Water Festival ended with tragedy when a stampede on the Koh Pich bridge left approximately 350 people dead and a similar number injured. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/23/cambodia-water-festival-phnom-penh). Our prayers and concern are with those who lost friends and family during this awful event.
Monks, Motos and Meat
Since I have returned back to Cambodia with a my new camera I’ve been mainly using the 50mm and it’s great. The ability to shoot at high ISO’s (3200 – 6400) for situations where there is not much light has opened up a whole new area. The image quality is also a step up using a different sensor from my previous camera. The dynamic range is also very impressive, being able to to recover images that are over exposed or bring up shadow detail in areas which are dark. It’s one other big difference I have noticed and makes a huge difference, in particular the high contrast images. On the whole, I’m very please with the new camera and the quality of images it has been producing. Here are some photos from in and around Phnom Penh as it’s been a while since the last update. Image 1 – Monks looking at an aerial photograph at the National Museum in Phnom Penh
Playing at the Olympic Stadium
The White Building
Just around the corner from Naga World, stands the White building. It was an architectural project carried out by the Cambodian architect Vann Molyvan but was halted in 1975 during the Khmer Rouge rule. Vann was the most talented of a large group of architects who contributed to the unique and authentic style of architecture that emerged during this era and that has been coined New Khmer Architecture. Although the construction was only half completed the building was nevertheless occupied. At the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, the inhabitants remained in the White Building. With more than 3000 inhabitants, many of which are involved in the sex industry, they make this place their home, surrounded by the decaying walls and rubbish of the White building. (reference: http://carpediemilia.over-blog.com/article-20914544.html
The Market (Part 2)
I posted part 1 here http://www.kellyanthony.com/blog/2010/08/the-market-part-1/ and this is a follow up post. The following images were taken at the Russian Market. Two additional food images plus some other common items that you can find in the Russian Market, mainly in the souvenir section. Interesting Fact – The Russian Market was featured on Amazing Race (Season 15) when they had to find a person in a stall with a matching scarf.
The Market (part 1)
There are many markets in Phnom Penh (and in Cambodia). They all sell a variety of goods ranging from clothes and shoes, through to electronics, souvenirs and food. The main two markets are the Russian Market (Psah Toul Tom Poung in Khmer) which is popular with tourists and also Central Market (Psah Thmei) which is in a big yellow domed building. The Russian Market became the foreigner’s market during the 1980’s when most of the foreigners in Cambodia were Russians, hence the name ‘Russian Market.’ Here are three images of some food products you can find in the market.
Phnom Penh Portrait
This is a portrait of a construction worker, working on building a new bathroom for the NGO I’m volunteering with.
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum / Security Prison S21
Residing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This museum is located on a former high school which the Khmer Rouge transformed into “Security Prison 21″ (S-21) from 1975 to 1979. Tuol Sleng means “Hill of the Poisonous Trees” or “Strychnine Hill”. It’s estimated that 17,000 people were imprisoned at Tuol Sleng and at any one time, the prison held between 1,000-1,500 prisoners. Of the 17,000 people imprisoned at Toul Sleng, there were only twelve known survivors. It was a place of imprisonment, torture and death. Today it’s a museum with prison cells, barbed wire, bars and chains. The buildings have been left as they were when the Khmer Rouge fled and some prison cells contain photographs depicting dead prisoners, showing the room as it was found. There are rooms with hundreds of photographs of the faces of prisoners. It is all quite somber and depressing. Other rooms contain exhibitions, stories and photographs about genocide, the prison guards and the survivors. It is a quiet place as each person wanders from cell to cell and looks into the terrified faces of the men, women and children who died at S21. Whilst it is a place that is hard to visit, I recommend that you go if you get the chance. The museum provides some insight into the atrocities and horrors that the Cambodian people experienced only 40 years ago at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. More images can be view in our Landscape and Travel Portfolio. For more information, visit wikipedia: Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
What’s in my boot ?
Just for fun…
Raining and flooding in Phnom Penh
So the rainy season has been a bit late this year, but last Friday Phnom Penh experienced several hours of heavy rain which caused many parts of the city to be flooded. In some spots, the depth of the water on the roads was between 30cm and 60cm. The rainy season in Cambodia is generally from May to October and they remainder of the year is the dry season. Generally the rain hits between 2pm and 3pm and lasts for an hour or so but it can rain for up to a week at a time. The rains flood the streets of Phnom Penh mainly due to the drainage system in Phnom Penh not being able to cope with such large amounts of water. Although in recent years, there has been much speculation that the filling in of Beoung Kak Lake with sand to make way for new developments, has added to the cause of flooding as the water has no where to drain. (see article in Phnom Penh Post) Travelling out in the provinces can be a bit of a struggle during the rainy season as dirt roads are often flooded and inaccessible but the main highways should not be a problem. It can be a great time to see Cambodia is it is the low season for tourists and the rains create a lush, green and beautiful countryside. Some tips for when it’s raining and the streets flood.
Here are a couple of photo’s from the other day near the Royal Palace and Street 178.
Rainbow
I was riding home from work this week and saw a beautiful rainbow in the sky …
Eating / Restaurants in Phnom Penh
This is an update to the first post relating to eating out in Phnom Penh which can be found here. Brown Coffee and Bakery – 5/5 Fantastic modern coffee shop with excellent coffee and pastries at reasonable prices. Set in a very elegant and stylish setting, you’ll be able to relax with freshly baked pastries, cakes and great coffee. http://thebrowncoffee.com/ Khmer Kitchen – 3.5/5 Popular Khmer restaurant with very reasonable prices. Wide selection of dishes and set in a nice cool garden setting. There is also an upstairs eating area where you dine by sitting on the floor at low tables. The food we have experience has been a bit hit and miss, but on the whole a great restaurant. Magnolia – 5/5 Vietnamese restaurant with a huge variety (Fish, squid, eel, frog, chicken, beef, and pork) of delicious dishes and drinks. Set in an old school building where you can dine in a spacious outdoor garden setting or on the balcony, it’s tastefully (pun intended) decorated and the food is great value for money. Magnolia has top class service and food at Khmer prices. Our favourite are the Vietnamese pancakes for $3. Le Rit’s – 4.5/5 Run by an NGO called Nyemo, this is a great shop/guesthouse/restaurant all in one. Offers Asian and European dishes set in a beautiful old colonial house with a peaceful garden. A great dining experience and supporting the work of the NGO. http://www.business.nyemo.com/ Wrinkles and Krama
This old Camodian woman is wearing a Krama, which is a traditional Cambodian garment with many uses, including as a scarf, bandanna, to carry children, to cover the face, and for decorative purposes. It is worn by men, women and children, and can be fairly ornate, though most typical kramas contain a gingham pattern of some sort, and traditionally come in either red or blue. – source: wikipedia.
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