Cambodia life

An Apsara, in Khmer folklore, is a celestial being. Together with the devatas, they are “assigned” here on earth to fulfill their respective duties. The apsaras are celestial entertainers/dancers and they are always depicted as dancing (above) or poised ready to dance while the devatas are always standing still and facing forward in their role as temple guardians or watchers.

New apsaras and devatas come down to earth once a year, every Khmer New Year, to replace the ones that are already here. Images of these celestial beings are prominently found in Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, and Ta Prohm temples and most of them are of the apsaras. Archaeologists are still trying to uncover one of the mysteries surrounding Angkor Wat – why do women  dominate the largest religious structure on earth and who were these ancient Khmer women depicted in the temples?

I was at my younger brother’s apartment a week ago in Boeungkengkang district for a chitchat and snacks. I used to live in this area back in the mid-2000s and I kinda missed the neighbourhood – it was once touted as the NGO (non-governmental organisation) area. When I looked outside from his window – he lives on the 3rd floor unit – this view welcomed me. Amazing how the landscape has changed in that span of time. Before only the tall trees dominated the landscape and you can see rooftops and triangles as far as your eyes can see. But now, the trees had been cut and the old apartment buildings were torn down and replaced by these tall, ugly  (serviced) apartments that cater to mostly expats.

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More sky photos at Skywatch Friday. 

I was in Kratie long ago, stopping there to spend the night, on my way to Laos. The above sign caught my attention as it stands out prominently in the town’s main street. I learned it was put up by the local commune office in Kratie town to call the whole community’s attention and action to clean their surroundings, especially the river.

The main illustration in the signboard shows people cleaning up. On the upper right side  box of the signboard, it shows a person throwing a (plastic) bagful of garbage into the river. Underneath that is another person throwing plastic from the window of a moving bus. Such is the practice here and the government, beginning at the lower level, is making efforts to curb this behaviour and practice nationwide.

Clean environment. Good health. Family has happiness.

Together we clean our village.

Kratie town has a small, charming centre with a very pleasant riverside scenery. Most tourists, especially backpackers, arrive here after a gruelling 8-9hours of bus ride, as the last leg of their Cambodia tour and see the Irrawaddy dolphins, or the Mekong River dolphins,  before crossing the border to Laos the following day.  Behind the sign is the mighty Mekong River that provides a stunning view of the sunset. No wonder this town wanted to protect its beautiful river.

Night shots have frustrated me for some time now  especially that I’m only using a point-and-shoot digicam. My mistake always lie on my use and/or improper use of flash. The ISO setting doesn’t really do much to improve my shots either. They tend to be grainy and artificial looking. Bu then, one night last week, I got lucky. 

I was snapping like crazy while we drove long Sisowath Quay and out of the dozen photos, this one, taken just before we passed in front of the Royal Palace, isn’t really bad.I love how this picture turned out. What do you think?

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Moving to a new location? No problem. Call Pu, the remorque driver! A remorque (photo above) is a French word meaning “to tow”. In Cambodia, a remorque is a local motorcycle transport with something resembling a trailer behind it. 

For local transport there is the ‘remorque’ : a motorcycle with a big trailer behind. Remorque is French for to tow. This type of vehicle must be very Cambodian, there is definitely no Wiki page available on this. What’s more, if the draft version of the traffic law is accepted the remorque will probably cease to exist. The towed trailer is a bit deep and loose planks are laid from side to side which are meant as the seats. Often these are over loaded, 20-30 passengers is no problem. A major safety issue is that the trailer can easily cause the motorcycle front wheel to make a wheelie and thus steeringless. Lucky thing is that these motorcycles can’t drive fast.  (Source)

In the above photo, the seats were taken off to accommodate the cargo. Although the remorques are banned in the city proper, they are everywhere outside of Phnom Penh, carrying passengers and their produce from the market to the villages. They are the local version of movers.

More photos at That’s My World.