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Home	Random Shots in Cambodia 2013/14
Riding my bike, I pulled up behind this collection of wares and I thought...
...isn't this asking a lot of a bicycle?
Another, similar "market on a bike" this one includes fresh fish she goes right into the neighborhoods
and yet another No time to shop? The shop comes to you
I took great delight in visiting this orphanage, singing for the kids and teaching them an English song
Riding my bike along the river, I was hailed by an old woman. I pulled over, greeted her, and she led me out back to a shack where this boy lay--unable to speak or walk or feed himself I caressed his arms, and evoked this delighted smile
Here's his granny Aint' that a face?
Walking another poor neighborhood I found them grilling small fish outdoors
Pub Street is the main tourist drag in Siem Reap lined with restaurants cleared of the motorbikes in the evening, it becomes a pedestrian walkway
I often offer to man the camera for groups I see this time they insisted I join them
Vendors and beggars ply Pub Street one of my favorites is Teng Dara he hand pedals this wagon
Another fixture of Pub Street is the Land Mine Orchestra, all survivors of land mines I've become friends of all of them, and one evening they told me one of their members had died (far left in this photo) the bald man in the center came and sobbed on my shoulder, really shaken
I get a free breakfast at my guest house, but often visit a food stall in the Old Market for this $1 meal Fried noodles with lots of rich veggies and an egg
Or this for 50 cents two rice pastries filled with kale or similar veg, topped with sprouts
I'm always fascinated with how people figure out their livelihood Here a dirt-poor woman mixes sausage
fills the casings
and hangs them out
I was at the same guest house for 4 months $280/mo with free breakfast, free laundry, free bicycle saunter out back
and you'll see where I did 3 or 4 swim sessions a day my favorite exercise
The name is "My Home Tropical Garden Villa" aptly named
I love to walk poor neighborhoods one day I walked by this structure What holds it up is not exactly clear
but it has a breezy, open feeling
a little too open and breezy for when it rains and blows
The lady of the house, Phoon
Riding my bike I heard someone call Hello Op waved me into her ramshackle coffee shop She's a delight-- so alive, so vibrant
Shopping in the meat section of the markets can be disorienting for us Westerners Graphic? Yes Refrigerated? Nope
In 2012 I befriended a family of 9 Sam Po, Wan Polly, and their kids (See "Family on the Edge" in "Cambodia 2012") Sam Po repairs motorbikes, has only stub legs, and scoots around on his ass
	I remembered that, so this year I included four large swivel casters in my luggage, found some sturday wood, and we built him this dolly He was delighted
Also from my past visits to Siem Reap is Sampors She was part of the project that searches rural Cambodia areas for girls with leadership potential brings them to Siem Reap, houses them in a dorm, and assists their education this year she was a waitress in my favorite restaurant
Walking neighborhoods I encounter Sela
and Srey Pov splendid young girls
In 2011 I met two tuk tuk (taxi) drivers here's Bonthong, with Sohn, a poor woman who begs in the Old Market
Sombarn, the other brother taken when they took me on a village visit
Here the brothers are doing a little faith healing routine they're both avid Christians
and Sombarn tries to bring this Buddhist lady to Jesus
we paddled around the shores of a huge lake and collected a few dozen snails
Along with swimming, my self-improvement regimen consisted of a twice-weekly stretching class
So I've stretched a lot but alas, I'm no taller
in July 2013 I did a 5-day training in how to build biosand water filters Later I connected with Water for Cambodia,  in Siem Reap here's their production site Their filters are constructed from poured concrete, and they sell them for $50
they're amazingly effective, require almost no maintenance, and last for 30 years or more I helped them with documenting their production process, much in the manner I use for my travel reports
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