Cambodia Photos: Day 4

Okay! Day 4. I know this is definitely a bit out of date, but then photos are timeless, so you haven't really missed anything. Anyway, this is a photo of the children playing at break...they use the lines on the ground for some kind of game, but I didn't stick around long enough to figure out how it was played.


My primary 3 class students! They love the camera...one of them kept saying, "Teacher! Teacher!" then, "Maine! Maine! Photo." And making the action of taking photos. They're so cute...they couldn't really pronounce my whole name so they shortened it to "Maine".

Another photo of the game at break...This particular one has my primary 3 students in it, the previous one were just some random kids...


A rather smudgy picture of clear skies...a worm's eye view from the courtyard. I don't have Adobe Photoshop at the moment so I can't get rid of the smudge...Pity.


Shot of part of the Centre...it was hot and sunny, ideal for taking such photos.


Left: Chomran, right: Veasna, both from the primary 3 class. Veasna happens to be from the orphanage as well.

At the orphanage again...this is during snack time when they take out some food and have a break.More photos of the children...


Light falling on one of the toddlers...I don't know his name, but he looks sad, and worried.

Baby Lisa! The littlest one of them all...(ok so there WAS a baby, but it makes her sound cuter so there.)

I think this next boy's name is Meng. He drew me a flower...these children really love drawing. Anyway, here he is doing quite an impressive handstand against the wall.


YM and his new little friend...

Steph and her hidden masseuse...a primary one boy who refused to have his photo taken.

Baby Lisa and another girl whose name I don't know...happy little pair, very sweet. It's sad to think that they have no parents...

And of course! A group photo...

That's all for now, I know I haven't been updating much lately but well there's work, and work. There's SO much to upload! Grahh...

Bits, Bobs and Buildings

Been lazy with submitting photos yet again, but I lead a pretty twisted life. Oho. More random shots and whatnots for your enjoyment, please.

Firsties...shot of a lamp at my church, lovely old thing. I mean, the church and the lamp. Both. Yeah. Proud member of St George's Church Singapore, 16 years and still going strong.

Some random shot of pretty morning glory in the neighbourhood near school...

The dwarf looks so happy! It's cute, especially in the sunshine.
Sun shining through this pathway at school...it's back near the back entrance to the General Office...
Stacked yellow canteen chairs...
Shadow on school stairs leading to hall...
And our lovely cross under a beautiful blue sky...

Seven's a number of completion in the bible, so I'll end here for the moment! There's PLENTY more, so be patient!

Cambodia Photos: Day 3

Alrighty. Looking through I don't think there's much photos for Day 3, primarily because we spent so much time playing with the children at the orphanage. In the morning we would have teaching responsibilities; pity there are so few teaching photos! Oh well. This is Savuth (pronounced Sah-voot) busy at work, so I just got a shot. At that time I still didn't know his name, but now I'm pleased to say that I now know most of their names. Go me! Haha.

Righty-o. This is the front of the Centre, looks really spiffy even though it's not very big. Hooray for minimalism!

This is a candid (fluke) shot I took just before we visited Cornerstone orphanage. That there is one of the primary one boys peeking at these visitors from Singapore. I love how it turned out, especially since I'd taken it blindly. It would be nicer if it was bigger and clearer though, but blogger shrinks it, darn, and well if you take photos from inside a moving bus you can't expect much.

Two sweet little Cambodian orphans! I want to go back and visit them one day...

This is Ruth, the Japanese woman who runs the orphanage. The children call her mummy, so cute! The little girl there is Liza (Lisa? Anyway.) and she's so adorable! Very quiet at first, but she can be quite social if she gets to know you.

And our star, little Naomi! She's a very active child, and quite boisterous too. She loves to dance and sing...Cute right?

That's all I've got for Day 3. We were all so tired out from playing with the kids (getting on in years, we are) that we didn't do very much for the rest of the day. At least, I didn't take that many photos. Well there are plenty more of those to come, so just sit tight!

Cambodia Photos: Day 2

Okay, after that long period I have finally gotten down to uploading photos...apologies, I'm just lazy. Anyway, this first photo is of Buddhist monks at the killing fields we visited. Let's see, it's the Cheung Ek Genocidal Centre. It sounds grammatically incorrect (it's not a centre for genocide! More like a centre to exhibit the cruelty of genocide...but I suppose that's too long so...) Some American tourists (or at least they're western) were taking photos with them. Mr B said, rather incredulously, "Who wants to take photos with monks?" Ask them, I suppose.


A photojournalism-type photo of this...vehicle (no idea what it's called, but it looks like a tuk tuk). Caption would be: Driver taking a water break on a hot day. Yes. Sounds just right. I just liked how this shows a natural action taking place, along with something of cultural interest. He's in it for the money, like most of us are...

This was taken with emphasis to the reds and blues that showed up really well in the hot, sunny light. This is a coffee shop outside the Russian market, but it has NOTHING to do with Russians. Stephen (you'll get to see him later) said that one of the explanations he's heard is that it's derived from "rush in" when people rush into the market. ...Feasible, I suppose. (By the way, it's TERRIBLY hot and stuffy in there. Fit for shopaholics and locals only.)

See the laughing guy on the left? Yes, that's Stephen. He was a great guide to us while we were there. The table in the background was where (L-R) Joel (with what was perhaps his third ice cream), Denise, Daniel and Steph were enjoying ice cream. And on the extreme right? Who else but our Mr B? I love the entire candidness of this shot.

This is how they sell rugs! All around the place you see colourful woven rugs made of strips of what could be scrap cloth. All this, plus the girl on top, was piled onto a motorcycle and driven through the semi-crowded streets. It's amazing what Cambodians can put on a motorcycle.

Ah. And here's a common sight along the banks of the Mekong river...locals hawking their wares such as lotus seeds, carrying them on their heads. A novelty for a city dweller like me. And for them, a norm. Interesting are the ways of man.



Little girl in blue shorts ran down the steep concrete-lined banks to a waiting boat...I just thought this was an interesting shot.


Another decent shot of the river...

Homage to madness, this one. I did actually purchase this girl's wares: less than US$1 worth of fried cockroaches, crickets and black beetles. Yummy. They smelled of old, soggy fries that have been refried in old oil.

I didn't touch any of it.

Seems like I have a lot more photojournalism-type photos up here today...Anyway. This is another shot of locals...a general store. The little boy was running around in his birthday suit, but was thankfully censored by a crate of water bottles.

Ah. We finally come to the last photo of the day. A scenery one, thank goodness! Nothing much to say here, just enjoy.

Righto...there's PLENTY of photo fodder left, loads more stuff to upload here. The rest of the Cambodia shots, for one, and for another the New Zealand shots. Did I mention I took 1000+ photos there, mostly scenery? I'm going to drive myself crazy updating this blog. Not to mention stray shots I take everyday...and the stories behind them. Whew!