a long winter's nap

winter is coming - the bush is going brown and the temperatures are dropping... we've pulled the down comforter back out and have started scouting soup recipes. shiraz is starting to sound good again. i'm even slower to get ready in the morning. and bob has put on his cold-weather fluff. he spends his days napping in sunny spots around the house.

i can't believe this marks the end of my fourth season in australia. it'll be a year in mid-may.

canberra, the nation's capital

this year canberra is celebrating its 100th birthday as a city. 100 years. we celebrated by going to the balloon launch.

brother #3

tuol sleng: the most infamous of the khmer rouge interrogation centers

 this is building 3, i think - the only that hasn't been updated since 1980, 

when it became the genocide museum

 outside the prison walls

 the ghosts of tuol sleng. inspired by these shots.

the memorial at choeung ek

ieng sary, known as brother # 3 in the khmer rouge circle, died on march 14, taking with him any hopes of justice for his crimes. despite some clever political maneuvering, a small fortune, and a pardon in the late 90s from king norodom sihanouk (himself essentially a prisoner of the khmer rouge), ieng sary had been on trial with the extraordinary chambers in the courts of cambodia for 2 years at the time of his death. he'd been under arrest since 2007.

during the khmer rouge, ieng sary was the foreign affairs minster, and is said to have been responsible for luring hundreds of exiled intellectuals back to cambodia in the 70s, where they were then packed ff to re-education camps or executed.

ieng sary refused to participate in his own trial, claiming innocence in, and ignorance of, the cambodian genocide. of the four top leaders who've actually been put on trial - over 30 years later - only one has been convicted.

it's no wonder the cambodians themselves have little investment in this tribunal. it's no wonder they will tell you justice is an empty word.

holiday road

in february, l&c made the trip down under and spent a week touring nsw and victoria with us. we even brought them to see the nation's great capital... and our place, of course (it was very important to kp that they have a proper aussie cookout experience - he made lamb chops). 

the koalas and kangas were being coy, and the sun was MIA for the first few days of their trip (so much for aussie summer!), but it was a lovely vacation.

sydney, bronte beach

the sydney aquarium, aka, a shocking rip-off

look kids, parliament!

melbourne

torquay beach

l&c, daydreaming about fish and chips for lunch...

there's fish in there somewhere!

bells beach

view from our front porch at the johanna cottages in victoria

sunset over the same field

johanna beach

kp enjoying a well-earned pot at the bistro in laver's hill

the 12 apostles

tree top walk 

le building

i don't think i realized it when i booked my flight, but i decided to go to cambodia because of this building. known as "the white building," or sometimes simply, "le building," this is one of phnom penh's most iconic structures. designed by vann molyvann, it's among the few remaining examples of "new khmer architecture," an architectural movement supported by the recently deceased norodom sihanouk in the 50s and 60s. the movement flourished until sihanouk was overthrown in 1970, and many of the structures were destroyed during the khmer rouge. there are a couple of other great buildings around town, however, including the library and the institute of foreign languages at the royal university of phnom penh (i only caught a glimpse of these on my way out of town, but if i ever make it back to pp for a longer period of time, i may try to get some work there... and i'll definitely go by to get some shots of my own. in the meantime, there are some beautiful pics here.)

le building combines khmer modernism and traditional khmer design (commons spaces, outdoor/shaded couloirs, aeration, inner courtyards, etc). it is home to around 3,000 people (they live in every possible inhabitable space offered in and around the mildew-covered building): families, businessmen, drug dealers, prostitutes... and it is a privileged site in more than one of rithy panh's films. i first discovered it watching his 2007 documentary i've been working on, paper cannot wrap ember. i was struck by how isolated and liminal the space felt in rp's film, how removed the prostitutes he filmed were from the rest of society, and i imagined that this building was somewhere on the outskirts of town, the lone building in a sea of mekong mud and tin shacks. turns out, it was a 5-min walk from my hotel, just down the street from the independence monument. i snapped a few shots on my last afternoon in town, the sun fading fast. it felt like a pilgrimage of sorts. 

strategic advertising, i guess

all good things...

the independence monument

this is my last night in phnom penh. i'm leaving just one day before the week-long mourning period for king norodom sihanouk, who was responsible for both cambodian independence from the french in the 50s... and the khmer rouge in the late 60s/early 70s. i just bought david chandler's book on cambodian history from 1945-1970, so next time we meet i'll be able to fill you in on all the details. just ask.

a tiny part of me is sad to miss this event, most likely the last of its kind in cambodia, and for one of their most iconic and beloved figures, but the rest of me is SO RELIEVED that i'm slipping out before the estimated 3,000,000 folks from the provinces descend on the capital. after what happened here in 2010 during the water festival, i'm sure the city is ready... but i'm quite happy to confirm that from australian news sources. no need to be on the ground.

it was a good trip, despite my initial reticence. i managed to learn a few things and meet a few people, i made a tiny bit of progress on an article. i discovered khmer cuisine and confirmed my love for cambodian music. i had a thai massage and a yogurt scrub. all good things, indeed. but next time, i'm bringing kp with me. you know what they say: phnom penh is for lovers.