Feet around Cambodia Summer 2012

Hello Fwends!
I am sorry I have been away for so long. I have been working very hard, moving house, inbetween photo-editing software and generally being busy. I am back now, and for your delight I have a photo project I worked on whilst in Cambodia last summer. Last I spoke to you I was about to jet off to work on community projects and generally learn-it-up about Cambodia. I am lucky enough to be doing this as part of my teaching job, so I get to see the whole thing through the eyes of some often awkward, sometimes ambivalent and frequently hilarious teenagers.

I had the most amazing time, saw and heard and experienced life-altering things so far from the familiar. I am sure I will share some of these things with you in time, but for now...hope you are not offended by feet, if you are back away now!

on the plane:in singapore:arrival at camp beng mealea:beng mealea temple:at the tuk lek primary school:outside my hut:work shorts:work boots: trekking trousers:home of buddhism 1:home of buddhism 2:national museum:jungle resturant:angkor wat:rainy day:national museum:wat pho:s21:phnom penh:on a bus:jungle resting place:ta prohm:phnom kulen temple:phnom kulen trek:elephant pond:my sanctuary:resting weary feet:yaa's house:lush greenery of the rainy season.

I tarted these photos up using Pixlr photo editor, I love it. I hate Photobucket which always makes my laptop freeze. I won't even tell you how long this post took to put together due to awkwardness. I am glad to be back sharing things though. I had a thought a while ago that its pretty self indulgent, all this blogging lark, but looking back at all my posts makes me see it more as a visual journal. It's something lovely to look back at and treasure, and if people find things in it they like that's pretty awesome.

Thanks for reading till the end of this mighty long post...
me x

 

Art Journal - the Cambodia Pages

As promised I am sharing more pages from my completed Art journal with notes on materials used.

Hereforth are the pages created while I was in Cambodia in October 2011. I miss it every day and dream of it every night, These pages remind me of moments sat in bars and restaurants and vans drawing, wondering and getting sozzled in a beautiful and awe inspiring country. I cannot wait to go back in the summer for four whole weeks!

brusho dyes, photocopies, napkins, jam lid, black pen, magazine paper, felt pens, baggage tags

watercolour pencils, stitching, brusho dyes, cocktail brolly, phone book paper, felt pens, manuscript paper, pencil

beer label, baggage labels, napkins, felt pens, pencil, brusho dyes

felt pens, maps, airline tags, receipts, watercolour pencils, pencil, brusho dyes, biro, masking tape

watercolour pencils, black pen, manuscript paper, felt pens, leaflets

baggage labels, watercolours, felt pens, food label, black ink, crayon rubbing

I have one more set to share of this book before I tuck it away and say TTFN. My next project is an exciting on which I will share with you when I get started.

Which methods do you use in your work? Do you Art Journal?

Love. me x

Cambodia - that's all for now (hic!)

This is the final post from my Cambodia trip photographs. I want to move my blog on to Christmas and things I am making for the festive season (feeling ever so slightly Christmassy!) Plus I have a really exciting Christmas blog coming up next week featuring some bloggers you may know, my first guest-post...eep!

I love food. This is a problem for me in some ways, and why I am on the Weight Watchers program (lost two stone so far - let's forget I put on 5 and a half pounds in one week in Cambodia - I blame the beer entirely!) I wish I could just be all virtuous with food and only eat the quality foods I love, but the fact is I will eat practically anything and often too much of it.
I was intrigued by Cambodian food, and wanted to get straight to the nitty gritty of it, so persuaded my group to eat street-food on our first night. We had had a lot of beer before hand, so they were up for it.

Bun Lay was very keen to encourage us to eat as many traditional dishes as possibly, it was ridiculously cheap and we filled the table with food. Best looking food went to my impressive Amok Curry - pictured above in it's coconut container.

Street food that I wasn't brave enough to try looked like this and was plentiful. Some tongues look pretty scarey enough, maybe it's better if you can't see them whole. Who knows what I will try next year?

After a long 'conversation' involving some sort of sign language, I was able to get myself a Diet Coke - amazing! I fully prepared myself to say goodbye to such things.

And ice-cream...like, really yummy ice-cream. Surprised.

Surprise again by the delicious (understatement) breakfast at My Home Inn in Siem Reap. How was I to know (the guidebooks failed to mention it - twits), that Siem Reap still hangs on to some traditions and FOODS from French Colonnial times, such as baguettes for breakfast, with butter. At My Home they served this with super-strength coffee and gorgeous veg-filled omlettes. Even now I am craving that breakfast. When I get my sketchbook scanned in I will post a really nice page based on this photo. Something called 'Morning Glory', a vegetable that tasted everything like Spring Onion was prevelant in lots of dishes. It is delicious. I can see it waving at me in that omlette....soon!

By far one of THE most delicious meals I have ever eaten was this simple veg-filled noodle soup. I have made this at home since, as it really is simple. This is my version: rice noodles, green beans, carrots, mushrooms, spring onions. A coconut milk and curry powder soup made with chicken stick, ginger and lime as well as chilli and soy sauce...mmmm!
The original was eaten at Beng Mealea Camp, cooked by the lovely ladies there.

This might have something too do with the weight gain, beer and chocolate cake in Phnom Penh.

I found these supermarket foods so intriguing. Such care taken with preparation. I wanted to eat it all!

This was the inside of the Old Market in Siem Reap. Again, I want to eat everything!

Except this.
No....even this.

Of course we had plenty of posh food too. The Blue Pumpkin is a chain of resturants and cafe's all over Cambodia. If you fancy a treat for very little dollar, this is my recommendation. Four of us ate like Khmer Kings for $15 U.S each with two bottles of wine too. Bargain is not the word. Well....maybe it is.

So goodbye for now Cambodia and my lovely new friends: Anth, Bun Lay, Kate and Sarah. See you all soon x x