Motorbikes ruin photography here. You get a great shot lined up just in time to photograph the handlebars of a moped, or a chain of blurred bodies moving across the scene you’d intended which saunters out of sight before you can re-focus your lens. Some dedicated photography sessions will be needed to get a few … More Riverside Ramblings
The evenings in Kampong Cham come alive with young people on motorbikes. Three riding abreast equals at least six teenagers socialising as they cruise through the streets. Five is the most bodies I’ve sighted on a single moped to date. Helmets are an optional rarity. Another regular sight is these wooden wheelbarrows which have many … More How Many Cambodians Does It Take to Ride a Motorbike?
This morning our Ugandan housemate and I walked to the bus station through the Central Market (aka “the wild west”), giving way about as often as we were given way to by the hustling traffic. A throng of waiting passengers were already at the bus station. As we arrived our bedraggled looking bus pulled up … More Potholes to Phnom Penh
It’s not really mine, but belongs to a neighbour/friend. In just over a month I am moving to Cambodia to live and work for nine months. I would love to be going back to East Timor, but at this stage, for employment and experience purposes, Timor doesn’t offer the same opportunities. For starters, Medecins sans … More My First Cambodian Story
Our social media has gone crazy with “funnies” about Tony Abbott’s election win on Saturday. He’s a very conservative man, and many of us are not happy with various aspects of his politics. But he won in a landslide victory, and so we’re going to have to “wear it”. The only thing I want to … More Australia has a new Prime Minister
Two mornings ago my telephone rang at 0630am. Alice was on the other end of the line, calling me from Darwin. Two months after she stood in my front yard shouting at me. Down the phone line I was woken by “Alan! My sister! I’m sorry my sister… for doing that thing, you know, shouting … More A third stab of pathos
When I was 14 years old we traveled across the Tasman Sea from New Zealand to Australia on a family holiday. It was 1983 and one of the first international news items to enter my consciousness had been playing out on our tv screens. Footage of starving children in the throes of death had entered … More Third World Thoughts
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