Scott G Trenorden

I am considering trying to locate Mark Roy - http://electricnerve.blogspot.com/ - whilst twice thinking that may not be such a good idea…

Today I shall give a proper blog a try. Having dedicated today as a ‘day off’, I am now sitting in Cinderella’s typing this. The photos are uploading veeery slowly, so I don’t know how successful this will be.

It’s a lot cooler temperature-wise in this town than Siem Reap which is a very nice change. It’s still humid and a touch oppressive, but not as bad I as I got used to in the North West.

My apologies if I repeat myself. I will write up the blog post I intended to do last night before all enthusiasm escaped me. There’s something about sitting on a beach, eating barbeque, drinking local beer, chatting to people for all corners of the globe and generally wasting away a night doing nothing that grants one a sort of malaise. I think I shall refer to it as the ‘Sihanouk Ville Malaise’.

A lady sorts coal into bags: Phnom Penh.

Laurie talks of coming here for a couple of days, only to still be here over a week later. Indeed, there are bar personnel who have been here for months. But then maybe that was their intention.

This place is pretty mellow and groovy (maaaan), but I can’t really say I like it. I know it would be all too easy to have a Mark Roy Coddington inspired pinball-machine’esque experience in a place like this. I am thinking the sooner I leave the better to be honest.

On the note of leaving, however, I had a very interesting conversation today. As chance would have it, I happened across the Holy Cow Restaurant and had a lovely chicken, cheese and tomato toasted sandwich.

Mid-lunch I got talking to the two fellows on the table next to mine (once again a conversation started through a comment about my big camera) who it turns out work (voluntarily) at the public hospital here.
A doctor, Xavier, and another doctor (I am presuming) named Martin, who is dealing with the problem of snakebite deaths in Cambodia. Martin says the main issue is getting the locals to think about the need to move away when they see a snake, rather than thinking about eating it…

Of even greater concern is the fact Cambodians feed snakes by the wheelbarrow full to crocodiles in crocodile farms, thus putting the natural animal environment in very grave danger due to the infestation of rodents as a result of the lake of snakes.

So, Martin comments on the fact he is yet to get a great photo of a snake rearing up, ready to attack, to use on his awareness posters. We talk about the need for a deep depth of field, of good light and of a nice background.

This coincides with the first time I have regretted not bringing the 70-200mm lens since I have been here. Getting such a photo with a 24-70mm lens is a rather scary proposition indeed.

Though I love snakes, I don’t wish to be one foot from an attacking cobra.

The conversation moves on to me telling Martin of my strong desire to do work within the animal welfare and conservation field, of which there is - unsurprisingly - a lot of work needed doing here in Cambodia.
We have exchanged mobile numbers and I shall contact him later today. I had planned to get a bus back to Phnom Penh tomorrow, en route to Laos, but I may stay another day so that I can sit down with him to have a chat about options.

He was taken with my photography, and was naturally happy that someone was interested in his field of work.

Possibilities via chance encounters.

The bus drive out from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville was mostly uninspiring and vaguely interesting; the main interest coming via an occasional mountain or hill, roadside village or shrine.

It did inspire philosophical thought, however, when having glancing encounters with the day-to-day lives of villagers living along the roadside.
A man lazes sleepily in his hammock; a young girl leans against her rusted bicycle, watching us pass; a shop keeper sits on the boards of his stall, staring straight past us.

A small hut sits in the middle of nowhere. I cannot help but ponder the day to day existence of the inhabitants: en route to Sihanoukville.

What must life be like for a person in this sort of existence? When we get bored, we go see a movie, we go have a coffee with friends, we jump on the Internet, we read a book, we watch a DVD.
The man in the shop has no TV, no money to get to the nearest town to watch a movie, he very probably cannot read, he sure as hell has no Internet.

“What an existence…” I think to myself as we thunder past. Waking each day to sit and stare, to wait for nothing in particular, hour upon hour, day upon day, year after year.
Indeed most of the locals I have chatted to have only ever been to a surrounding province or two during their lifetime, with some lucky enough to have travelled half way across the country.

This will possibly change as industry rapidly encroaches on the people and their homes.

A factory chugs away in the foreground of a beautiful mountain range: outside Phnom Penh.

Most likely they will have no choice in the matter. Their homes will be bulldozed and factories erected.

A barren and scarred hillside: en route to Sihanoukville.

Deforestation and illegal logging is a very real and very severe issue. Barren hills dot the horizons and roadsides. The current advancement of this country is, in many ways, unsustainable, due to a widespread lack of common sense and future thinking.
Martin described his viewing of the construction of a new building to which he thought “Great! Someone is finally building a Supermarket,” only to see it turn into yet another wedding hall.
Soon after his bewilderment is even more confounded upon seeing them building the parking lot on a slope towards the building, so that when the wet season comes rain will flow straight into the hall…

A severe lack of forward thinking.

A series of shrines sit along the roadside, conveniently positioned next to a series of stalls, feeding on the Cambodian peoples’ superstitions: en route to Sihanoukville.

And so I find myself thinking more about trekking through Laos and less and less about a desire to stay in this country.
I harbour strong intentions of returning in some volunteer or welfare role but for now am craving a place that is cleaner, smarter, more beautiful (this country would be stunning if it wasn’t literally covered in rubbish), more efficient. The one big thing going for this country is the friendliness (though I found none of that in Phnom Penh) and I hope this doesn’t change.
I just hope the people here begin to get more sensible about how things are done and who does them; and not sell out every great resource they have to private investors, as is being explored by Mark Roy Coddington.