Scott G Trenorden

To open I must say, I am on the search for a place that makes nice coffee. And so with that out of the way…

Cambodia holds a major charm. I can see why people rave about it and the travel books dote over it.

At first I had severe India-revival wandering around here; the hawkers and touts, Tuk-tuk drivers and market sellers. But unlike India, you reply with a simple “No, thank you!” and they smile and wish you a good day.

There is a constant haze (pollution) that sits over the place, adding a strange charm to the appearance of things, and the ever-present running of traffic. At all hours. Motorbike riders and car drivers use their indicators, as though to warn those ahead of them that they’re about to dart across in front of them. Which they then do.

But they at least have the courtesy to use their indicators first.

There is calmness in the chaos that is the movement of the streets, and everyone seems willing to give way even if not required too.

Pedestrians, though, better watch the path ahead, as vehicles are not too forgiving (ie don’t tend to change direction for you).

One of the fellows I joined for dinner last night commented on seeing a guy get run down by a truck in Phnom Phen, due to a stray step in the wrong direction. He said it was very messy, and that the local people were more concerned with taking camera phone pictures than helping those involved.

During the day, the streets are quite devoid of tourists. I guess most have made their way to the temple complexes and the like to make most of their (usually short) stop over. Restaurants are scattered with imbue’ers and idle conversations, laptop typers and book-reading relaxers.

As the evening approaches, people seem to materialise out of guesthouses. Perhaps a lot have spent most of the day in bed due to what they carried on with the previous night. Of which I will discuss shortly.

And by the time night falls, I pretty much thought I’d walked into China Town in Northbridge… If it existed.

Well that’s not entirely true, as the night’s festivities were fun-filled and jovial, despite the immense amount of alcohol consumed by the Western Front. I didn’t see any angry altercations, let alone fights. Everyone seemed in very high spirits, which would fit with enjoying a wild night in a foreign country.

And it’s not surprising it carries on, what with the 50c (US$) pints and buckets (literally) of Red Bull & Vodka being consumed.

There were plenty of the clichéd ‘Ugly Australian’s around, rolling drunk and jovial, as well as Ugly Yanks, Ugly Brits, Ugly Scots, etc, etc… etc.

But the atmosphere last night was brilliant. I met some great people, enjoyed a lovely meal (I am totally hooked on the ‘Amok’ meals, mild curry dish.. things) and generally had a great time.

Oh yeah, and so much for my self-imposed decision to get to bed early last night, what with me finally breaking away and getting some rest at 2am.

Apparently I ‘piked out’ early…

So, thanks mainly to the company and conversations of two Aussies (from QLD) and a mad Scotswoman, my first night in Siem Reap was a blast! Today, well, I finally had that sleep in, and then wandered around having a look at what’s on offer around town.
Tomorrow? Well I might get to a temple or two and start doing some research on what I want to see, tours etc.

Oh Jules, I met up with Carlo and we had a brief chat (was with people who were moving on), but will be going back to see him tonight or tomorrow. Apparently a National Geographic photographer - as well as a few journo’s - are in town, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to catch up with some of them.

I’ve not done any ‘in your face’ photography yet.. Am building up to that, so I hope you enjoy the ’street scenes’ I’ve posted today.

Oh, and the admittedly crap shot from inside the ‘Angkor What?’ pub, just to show that no matter where you go, Westerners will get sh!tfaced at a drop of a hat. [For the camera nerds, that's the D700 at 6400 ISO].

Anyhoot, time to go get some food and, yes Mum and Dad, have that early night I promised myself yesterday.

Well ok, I can’t promise anything. I am a Westerner in a foreign country after all. I better keep up appearances!

Addition:

I guess I should leave some comments about photography, for my camera nerd friends etc. I have had no problem wandering around with my D700 and 24-70 lens. It’s a big kit, but I hardly get looked at sideways. In fact, more often than not, it’s a great conversation starter.
I’ll start taking more portraits soon, but for now I am just getting into the swing of things here.

The first three photos in this blog post were taken with the 24-70, the bottom two were taken with the 35mm prime.
I’ve not felt the need to use the much more discrete LX3 camera, though I will get some video footage with it as I go.
And tonight… I think I’ll just leave the cameras at home and go watch what’s going on around the place. Well ok… so maybe I’ll go take some of that video footage.