oNe PhOtO a DaY MaRcH 2023:

 

MARCH 1st LOOK UP: Over drinks at the Crab Market last night we were all completely awed by the view and had to look up time and time again to observe the ever-changing palette displayed in the sky

 

MARCH 2nd ROUND: Today we dropped by a friend’s recently sold home and I noticed this cool round architectural feature in the bungalow. It's an open breeze space between indoor and outdoor spaces

 

MARCH 3rd SOMETHING GREEN: Gorgeous green garden setting in the courtyard restaurant we discovered yesterday and the green, traditional shutters are a nice touch too

 

MARCH 4th A BUNCH OF SOMETHING: This is an ever-evolving display on the coffee table in the living room. It is a bunch of seed pods, and shells discovered on our wanderings in various places all over the Kingdom of Wonder. I have always loved pods, and nature’s creations and can’t resist having them in the house. This morning after returning from Kep with more I had to add some to a vase as well as the tray was getting too over crowded. The Aussie collection hasn’t even been assembled yet either. The simple things……

MARCH 5th RANDOM: We had the opportunity to stop by the pagoda and see the little monks of Kep not once but twice in this last week and we haven’t been there for two months so they were joyous occasions. No matter what random time it is when we turn up the boys are always happy to see us and we love the connection. One of these two is Gam, who is the only remaining monk who has been with the project from its inception. We love them all dearly and look forward to every random visit

 

MARCH 6th SOMETHING I DREAD: As much as I love this apartment, since Ian’s accident last year, I dread the possibility of another accident on these stairs or the day coming when we can no longer manage them. With the assistance of two foreign neighbours we are trying our best to get all four flights repaired, but the wheels of bureaucracy move slowly here even when the benefit to the whole community is necessary and obvious. Patience is key

 

MARCH 7th IN THE DARK: Despite the plethora of comments on yesterday’s post I’m going with another shot of the entrance to our apartment. This alleyway leads to the street from several of the buildings in our community. It has always worried me that pedestrians some of whom are toddlers, vendors, cyclists and motor scooters come barrelling up and down and it is almost always in the dark except at night. Oh, the irony. Today is a red-letter day as the motion lights we have paid for will be installed at heights that ensure even the children activate them during the day. Please don’t worry we love living in this caring and kind community and contributing even a little to the comfort and safety of all brings us great joy. It’s going to be in the light from this morning on. Photo taken before 9am BTW

 

MARCH 8th SUPPLIES: Given that the temperature is now consistently in the mid-thirties and that the past several days have been alcohol free, we got in chilled supplies to celebrate International Women’s Day, this afternoon

MARCH 9th SOMETHING THAT SMELLS WONDERFUL: these gorgeous Oriental Lilies are certainly something that smells wonderful. Not only that, the fans which are almost always on, spread their heavenly scent throughout the living room. When I bought them a few days ago they were all tightly closed but now they are blooming into perfection

 

MARCH 10th A CAFE: A back alley cafe just like thousands of others all over Phnom Penh, serving up simple noodle or rice dishes and soup. They are almost never empty

MARCH 11th CONTENTS OF YOUR JUNK DRAWER: Well this is as close as it gets for me. It’s not really junk since in there I have my sewing kit, jewellery, spare glasses, perfume etc but I don’t actually have a junk drawer. In fact, in this apartment we have more drawers than any other kind of storage and at least half of them are empty! Trying to live a minimalist existence

MARCH 12th REPEAT: Not only does the making of these hybrid American-Aussie, granola- muesli, cookies-biscuits require a repeat process but they are on repeat as a major part of the breakfast menu in our place. Today’s vegan version has mashed banana instead of eggs and no chocolate chips but cranberries, dates, raisins, dried pineapple, dried mango, toasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds, peanuts and palm sugar. How can the laneway kids not think they are sweet enough? Refined sugar overload is the norm for them I guess

 

MARCH 13th YOUR FAVOURITE MUG: This is it! The quintessential Cambodian pagoda scene on my favourite mug is what initially attracted me and the coffee stains it now wears are testament to its daily use. I never drink from any other mug when I am home. Although there are many stunning designs in this range, and we have a few of them this is the one for me. Cambodia to a tee

 

MARCH 14th SOMETHING YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND: I first saw this in Thailand and it’s a regular feature of fresh markets here in Cambodia too. I don’t understand why other cultures don’t do it and eliminate the need to buy excessive quantities of fresh ingredients when only a small amount is required. It’s a small bundle of basic ingredients for a single meal. This one contained two spring onions, two chillies, two sticks of lemongrass, two stems of Thai basil, two garlic chives and two pieces of knife blade coriander all for the princely sum of 25 cents. It’s the perfect combination of flavours for many traditional Khmer dishes and it’s the only one I have ever bought

 

MARCH 15th A FLEETING MOMENT: This little one is bright as a button and always very excited to see us. Today he was wandering in the lane with a cardboard box over his head as you do when you are just four years old. Then just as we were about to start climbing the stairs he recognized my feet and whipped the box off, hugged my legs and told me he loves me. I managed to capture that fleeting moment just as he waved goodbye and the box went back on and imaginative play recommenced

 

MARCH 16th A TREASURE YOU FOUND: When we were home in Adelaide I had a list of all the treasures we had bought and been gifted over the years.  I wanted to find them in our storage and bring them back to Cambodia to hang in our apartment but I had completely forgotten this and was delighted when I found it. This beautiful scroll was written by an elderly Japanese woman who we had both taught and she gifted it to us, when we left Japan. It even has our names and the date 1995 on it!

*this pic was selected for the fab four on Instagram

 

MATCH 17th A COUNTRY ROAD OR CITY STREET: Not just any city street but the actual street where we live: Street 118 Phnom Penh and that’s our little slice of the action in the middle on the top floor with tiny green flashes of the terrace garden visible; hence our name for it - the Aerie

 

MARCH 18th YOUR MOST COMFORTABLE SHOES: Being a bit pedantic I cannot include boots, sandals or flip flops so that leaves me with just three choices and these win hands down. They are very old and that may well be exactly what makes them so very comfortable. I’m extremely grateful to have them back on the play list - another rescue from the storage unit in Adelaide

 

MARCH 19th A SLICE OF _ _ _ _ _: organic brown rice cake. It’s not really cake so much as a cracker to me, but I do love them and that was even our dinner last night after returning from the epic day trip to Kampot

                                                                 dinner

MARCH 20th A USEFUL OBJECT: In our household I’d say possibly the most useful object is the humble “bangchu”. A pair of Bhutanese handwoven baskets, which come in various sizes and lock together. They are traditionally used to carry a hot lunch without spillage. However, we use them to cover dishes once they are prepared, to serve bread, and snacks and store fruit, vegetables, and a variety of other things, even jewellery in the case of the tiny one pictured. As you can see some of ours are very old and faded but still working perfectly. I’m hoping this might be the year we can acquire a few replacements too

 

MARCH 21st THINGS YOU COLLECT: This is the little collection of treasures from nature that I picked up in various locations across South Australia when we were home. I still haven’t found a permanent home for them but I’m working on it. I already posted the Cambodian collection earlier this month, so I was searching for something else but finally decided to go with this one as it actually proves I really do collect these things

   *This one was chosen in the Instagram Fab Four much to my delight

MARCH 22nd A LUCKY OBJECT: Ladybugs are lucky in many cultures and this little Italian one was a gift from a friend and has been the guardian of my keys for almost a decade

 

MARCH 23rd YOUR DESK FROM ABOVE: Like almost everything that’s built-in in this apartment the desk is concrete and more of a nook in the bedroom but it is the desk we have and it is occasionally used for more than just dumping things that I need to get back to on it or don’t know where else to put. The typical array of urgent, important and necessary are visible in this photo and I am ashamed to say I made no attempt to make it look anything other than what it really is

 

MARCH 25th A MOTEL SIGN: Well there might be one amongst all those neons somewhere in Phnom Penh but I've never seen one and google maps couldn’t show me a single motel so that’s all I've got

MARCH 26th SOMETHING TIMELESS: In the sense that it is something never affected by the passage of time or fashion, I’ve gone with this handheld prayer wheel. It is another of the little treasures that I removed from storage to bring back to PP. I love that so many people who see it feel instantly attracted to it and pick it up and try to spin it

 

MARCH 27th AN OLD HOME: I discovered this on our morning walk today. When so many of these gorgeous old colonial places are being allowed to fall into ruin or being knocked down I was delighted to see how an old home like this has been lovingly restored and renovated and is now available for rent

 

MARCH 28th A MODERN BUILDING: This is probably the most recognisable, landmark, modern building in Phnom Penh. For obvious reasons it is locally known as ‘the penguin’ and that’s the monthly selfie, albeit a sweaty one, taken at 8:30am when it was already 32°

 

MARCH 29th TWO FLAVOURS YOU ENJOY: Mango and passion fruit for me, especially blended together and turned into a yoghurt smoothie or even better and just a little decadent, a topping a double baked cheesecake like I still have leftovers of in the fridge

 

The cheesecake in question  

 

MARCH 30th A SOUVENIR: We spent a good hour this morning searching for a Buddha with this exact mudra and just when I thought I had exhausted all the possibilities of finding the right size and correct hand position, I remembered a new souvenir shop we saw for the first time last Sunday. Voila the perfect serene faced Buddha and the final touch to our new spirit house

*this pic was selected for the fab four on Facebook

 

MARCH 31st YOUR BEST FRIEND: my partner in crime, my inspiration, the love of my life, my life-long travel companion, my shoulder to cry on, the person who most often makes me laugh, my confidante, my biggest fan and my best friend forever

 

 

THE PROMPTS

 

 

 

 

“Endarkenment”- Environmental Complacency

Rice in polystyrene being kept warm on the pot of cooked rice 

For quite some time I've struggled with the idea that apart from a dedicated few the amount of individual effort that so many people put into taking affirmative action for the environment is actually diminishing. That’s how it seems to me. Yes, the younger generation are more proactive but still many well-educated individuals, who must have been bombarded with evidence to suggest that the time-bomb is ticking on our planet, are complacent if not complicit.

 

Even in a sit down cafe meals are often served in polystyrene

Whenever I mention the overuse of polystyrene, plastic straws, single use plastic bags and disposable containers and utensils eye rolling, sighing or even outright contempt are normal responses from those who are informed enough to know better. Many others in our local community are barely aware of the impact of their actions. However, people who articulate the same values and standards as I see as essential, still fail to walk the talk and this I find unforgivable.

 

containers standing by waiting for orders to fill them

We live in a developing country where the cost of a take away meal can be as low as $1.25 and that cost often includes the polystyrene container, several plastic bags, rubber bands and maybe even disposable chopsticks or a plastic spoon. Takeaway drinks, which are so cheaply available that several purchases in a day by any one individual are not uncommon, are similarly afflicted with cups, lids, straws and carry bags or slings. To change all of those items to compostable alternatives would simply escalate the cost to the extent that the packaging would be more costly than the contents. For these reasons I find it impossible to see a quick fix here for local vendors and customers struggling to survive on a daily basis.

Drinks to go

Though education campaigns and modelling better disposal practices could do much to improve the worsening street, countryside and coastal garbage issues, that means it will be at least another generation before change is evident and neither we nor the planet have the luxury of that much time.

 

polystyrene everywhere

I advocate for taking cloth bags and reusable containers into markets and always do myself. While this simple measure is often a source of amusement to vendors and some simply will not put their produce in anything but a single use plastic bag, others have embraced this behaviour so there is reason to believe change is indeed possible. Some have in fact reverted to using Lotus leaves or banana leaves and those items are actually available for purchase in the markets along with the fresh produce. 

Just home from the market with lotus leaves, silicon reseal bags and plastic reusable boxes 

For those vendors who insist on using plastic bags, we respond by washing them and taking them back to those in question to use for our next purchase. Some other customers do attempt refuse, reuse, and recycle practices but most simply take every bag offered and reuse the bag only once more for rubbish disposal at best.

 

She's got it down pretty well - reused pet bottles, tiffin tins and only one plastic bag

The common place practice of simply tossing anything at all on the ground in whatever place you ceased to need it absolutely disgusts me and I see the adverse reactions of foreign tourists regularly.

 

a vendor with bags, bags, and more bags and even the pre-bagged sliced loaf will go in a bag to make it easier to carry home on the moto!

NB the single slice of bread some people buy -that's how tight the budget really is.

In a society where confrontation is avoided at all cost how can we overcome such lack of resources and responsibility except through education? I see no simple, short, or long term fixes and it worries me enormously.

 

rice packed and awaiting customers

I was also dismayed to observe how much polystyrene is still in use in Australia on our recent trip home. However, I was truly heartened to see the incredible progress made with respect to plastic and disposable utensils. Yes, we are better placed to bear the increased costs of environmentally friendly alternatives and legislation has been the driving force behind many of the positive changes in both attitudes and actions. There is nonetheless a complacency and inaction when it comes to sorting and appropriate disposal of waste and a cynical disbelief that the system is actually achieving the results that we are led to believe it is, in my view. More individuals are making more of an effort but will any of it be enough to rectify the imbalance after years of neglect and denial? I don't think so.

standard plastic bag of drink with straw - in this case the rehydration much needed by a cyclo rider

I’m no saint but I just don't get how you cannot feel the necessity to act now and do the little you can.

 

Happy chap but ......Oh no! That load!polystyrene and paper napkins being delivered to local establishments

I was inspired to write this piece after reading and re-reading the following quote. It saddens me to think this is the bleak scenario we are creating for future generations.

 

“It’s grief for the regions we deadlanded, the ice caps we melted, the Gulf Stream we redirected, the rivers we drained, the coasts we flooded, the lakes we choked with crap, the seas we killed, the species we drove to extinction, the pollinators we wiped out, the oil we squandered, the drugs we rendered impotent, the comforting liars we voted into office—all so we didn’t have change our cosy lifestyles. People talk about the Endarkenment like our ancestors talked about the Black Death, as if it’s an act of God. But we summoned it, with every tank of oil we burned our way through. My generation were diners stuffing ourselves senseless at the Restaurant of the Earth’s Riches knowing—while denying—that we’d be doing a runner and leaving our grandchildren a tab that can never be paid”

 Excerpt From: Mitchell, David. “The Bone Clocks: A Novel.” Random House Publishing Group,

 

“ENDARKENMENT” it’s certainly a fine made-up word that I hope doesn’t become part of the lexicon in the not too distant future.

At least four plastic bags on one early morning market outing and like many others the chances are she does it everyday as refrigeration is often via ice and iceboxes

“If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem”

 

Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998)

A writer, political activist and early leader of the Black Panther Party