sights

More sky photos at Skywatch Friday. 

Four years ago, I was assigned in Kep for a big rural ICT project. Kep was a sleepy coastal town in the southernmost part of Cambodia. I lived there for 6months and during weekdays, I was busy with work, traveling from village to village spread across three communes in the district of Damnak Chang’eur. Weekends, however, was a different story. With no other means of entertainment, my husband and I took this opportunity to visit nearby communes and explore places that were rarely visited and were off-the-beaten track.

We found the sign (above) on the main road. On the right is a logo of UNDP Seila Project and, on the left, the Ministry of Tourism’s. We were convinced when we saw the logos and followed the trail. Some 45 minutes later, we were still nowhere near Phnom Chhngok cave. It was nearing noon, and hot and humid, and my butt was getting sore from the bumpy motorcycle ride. But we were glad we persisted in going. We stopped by to ask for directions with my sparse spoken-Khmer skills, had a chitchat for a bit, and enjoyed fresh coconut juice bought from a local roadside stall. The sight was a marvelous yellow and verdant green carpet of rice-field as far as our eyes could see. The coconut and palm trees, on the other hand, jutted out into the sky like skyscrapers.  When we finally arrived at the place…  we saw a limestone cave; small, but a beautiful one nonetheless. Inside it was chilly and there were stalactites and stalagmites here and there. But the main attraction there was the shrine (or remnants of what was once a shrine) inside the cave believed to be pre-Angkorian, around 1,500 years old. Some pictures on the way there can be found here at CambodiaMaps.

For more signs around the world, check out the main site by clicking the logo below.

For more Wordless, please click here.

The Sugar Palm tree  (borassus flabellifer), or the Asian Palmyra palm, is one of Cambodia’s national icons. These trees are not hard to miss (from afar they look like cute pompom heads on a stick) as they are found all throughout Cambodia, especially in the countryside.

Just like the Philippines’ very own coconut tree, the sugar palm tree plays a very important role in providing a source of food, income, and not to mention as a source of building materials, to Cambodians.

More photos at That’s My World.

It feels good to come home! Taken in December 2007 after more than two weeks of work-related travel (Malaysia and Nepal). In my case, home for now – and in the last 11 years – is Phnom Penh. 

I was so excited to be home that time, having narrowly avoided the Christmas rush – what a huge relief it was! To keep my excitement at bay, I kept on looking out the plane’s window, and down, to see the landscape. I think I did a pretty good job in capturing the chocolate landscape that looks like a giant jigsaw puzzle. And look, I even captured the shadow of the airplane. This is one of my favourite pictures!

This is my comeback entry (for the  nth time) at Photo Hunt. More Photo Hunters are found at tnchick’s site. Please click the link to go there.

Whoever thought of this is  brilliant. This is a monster hit not only for the locals but also for expats. For only 3000riels (US $1=4000riels), you have three vegetarian viands of your choice and rice. It comes with bottomless hot tea as well. Not bad.

For more signs around the world, check out the main site by clicking the logo below.