Banteay Meanchey | Inside Cambodia

APAD 241: Where to go?

Posted by The Insider on May 1, 2014 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cambodia life, Cycle 2, Expat Life, That's My World, What's On in Cambodia, work | 2 comments

Miss Igorota in front of the big sign located less than 10kms from the immigration office in the Cambodian border town of Poipet.

APAD 200: Inked

Posted by The Insider on Nov 5, 2013 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cambodia life, Cycle 2, sights, That's My World, What's On in Cambodia, work | 4 comments

Two months ago, while on a medical mission in Poipet in northwest of Cambodia, I met a monk in his early 20s. It was Operation Smile Cambodia’s surgical mission there and he was one of the many who patiently queued and waited for their turn to be screened by our international team of doctors.

I was surprised to see him with several tattoos which he consciously tried to hide and scars from previous piercings on his body. He told our volunteer doctor that, in his past life – meaning before he entered the monastery, he used to be a punk and had these “decorations” on his body. But he got tired of that kind of life and sought forgiveness and renewal. He laid down his secular clothes and exchanged them for saffron-coloured robes, as he decided to enter a monk’s life to pay for his past misdeeds, start anew and earn merits.

Inked.

He is quite a character but nice enough to talk freely about his past. All this he told us as he was being screened. At the end of the day, he received a free injection for his keloid scars.

APAD 195: Save Cambodia’s National Treasures

Posted by The Insider on Oct 17, 2013 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cambodia life, Cycle 2, Signs of Times, That's My World, What's On in Cambodia, work | 3 comments

Please Protect Cambodia’s National Treasures: The Children

Sighted at the national road that leads to Poipet, an important border crossing between Cambodia and Thailand and the busiest of all borders, too. Sadly, this place is infamous for being a hotspot for gambling, scams, and trafficking (labourers, drugs, women and children).