#thatonelostkid x Travel Journal
Phnom Penh, Kampot, and Kep.
vol 01
I went on a little (spontaneous) trip on early February and unexpectedly met people on the way.
I've been living in Siem Reap, Cambodia for a while now but this is my first trip outside of Siem Reap. It all started from a drunken night of chatting until me and some friends ended up planning for a trip ... which because it was so late at night they forgot to get me a ticket and I ended up not going with them.
(I still love you guys, Martin, Aurelia and Ross. lol!)
(I did went the next week, though, and it was amazing.)
Ladies!
PHNOM PENH (16.02.2018)
I went with the morning bus to Phnom Penh, arriving there at midday. It was noisy, traffic jam everywhere; kind of reminding me of my hometown. I never thought how refreshing it could be to see big, tall buildings and hear honkings on the street again.
A couple of fellow photographers that I know from Siem Reap happened to be in town so we went on and had a little photo walk together. We started from the Royal Palace, waving away the birds and snapping pictures, getting very lost that we crossed the Mekong River twice (one time in the back of a truck with three little kids singing Khmer songs) in a day, and ended up having a bbq in the middle of the Diamond Island.
"There are never enough popcorns in this world." - popcorn sellers of Royal Palace.
The Three Monk-eteers.
Riverside children.
The Famous Five - Monks version.
Rushing into land.
"I hear the boat ride is good. Wanna go?"
"Yeah, sure!"
(I didn't think he meant the ferry to go across the Mekong, though...)
Lonely crossings.
Impatiently waiting to disembark.
Across the Mekong River, we wandered off into a tiny riverside village. Apparently a lot of them speaks Vietnamese instead of Khmer, so after a lot of confused looks we just smiled and walked off.
Wandering through the little Vietnamese village.
A lonely bicycle.
Choo choo! On the train down to Kampot.
KAMPOT (17.02.2018)
Taking the train to Kampot is a fun thing to do if you have time. It was supposed to be a four-five hours ride and it took me seven-eight hours trip. It's a tiny thing of only two carriages, with a car, two tuk-tuks and a couple of motorbikes attached on the back.
The city itself is extremely calm and relaxed. The river is almost always still and wide, reflecting the sunset nicely. I went for a walk around town, finding nice little spots. It surprises me how much abandoned chairs there are in the city. I also went for a ride up to the Bokor National Park which was amazingly gorgeous.
Drapes of what's supposed to be uncut rice noodles.
In the little alleyways of Kampot you find life...
...and in the riverside you find a lot of smiles.
My friend Brad in the middle of a wish.
Bokor National Park was more of a fun exploring and long drives and I didnt take as much pictures.
I was with my fellow photographer friend from Siem Reap, Brad, and he took a lot of amazing pictures of me.
(I'm still waiting for it, Brad!)
Photo credit : Brad.
A lady with her phone.
One too many chairs in the middle of Kampot.
In frame : Brad.
KEP (17.02.2018)
Kep was just a quick escapades of beach and seafood. I had half a kilo of squid, cooked with Kampot pepper, and it was amazing. Being an indonesian, though, I was a bit disappointed with the beach. The sunset, however, was amazing.
Ladies of the fish market.
Getting crabs.
Kep marks the end of my trip, having to go back to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap the next day.
"...and so it turned out only a life similar to the life of those around us, merging with it without a ripple, is genuine life, and that an unshared happiness is not happiness"
~ Dr. Zhivago, Boris Pasternak
~ Dr. Zhivago, Boris Pasternak
Thank you for reading.
A photographer's self portrait.
© Lilu Herlambang, 2018.