I was browsing through my files a month ago and sifted through photos taken from my trip to Cambodia in 2011. Funny, but it seems like I find the photos (more) interesting after five years of taking them. Did I get bored looking at them after the trip? Probably. Or is it the ‘throwback’ effect? Maybe. Let’s just say that it is better to keep photos away from one’s sight and look at them after some time, so one can appreciate them better (minus the ‘fatigue’ from looking at them, plus the reminiscing factor). That’s my hypothesis.
The Cambodia trip was the first leg of my three-country Southeast Asian trip. I arrived in Siem Reap one wet morning (it was monsoon season). When the pilot announced that we were landing, I was wondering how we were going to touchdown where, while looking through the window, I was not seeing any land form. It was muddy water all over and landing on water was forming in my imagination until I felt the plane touch ground.
I spent three days in Siem Reap, where I took a tuktuk to see the flooded downtown, hired the same tuktuk driver to drive me around the Angkor Wat complex, rented a bicycle and got my shorts slowly rip every time I hop on, and walked around the city to discover more of the people, the place, and the food.
On my birthday, I took an executive bus to the capital city of Pnom Penh. It was more than seven hours ride on a road that showcased flooded rice fields on either side, houses on stilts, and smiling people going about their daily activities despite the aftermath of the monsoon rains. A stop at a roadside restaurant for lunch was the most relaxing part of the ride.
Pnom Penh had a different vibe. I was welcomed by a very kind tuktuk driver who brought me to my hotel. whose neighboring salon and restaurant turn to a “bang-bang” (the Cambodians’ slang for sex) trade at night.
The city offered interesting places such as the Royal Palace, National Museum, monuments commemorating important events in Khmer history, and the Russian market. I found good food and met some friends from an exchange program for some drinks at Le Moon Rooftop Bar overlooking the Mekong River.
The photos here are some of the shots I took from my six-day trip to Cambodia which I also posted on my Instagram account. I think these are some of the photos that I find (more) interesting after half a decade.
thegreenerspot.wordpress.com 
Still looks the same a decade after we visited. Except the pictures are definitely crispier than ours!
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