One PhOtO a DaY MaY 2025

 MAY 1st MY FAVOURITE MUG: is this well-used, stained, crazed one that depicts a typical scene at a wat exactly as it often looks here in Cambodia. And starting each day with coffee in bed is just one of the benefits of retirement. I need morning coffee before I can function

MAY 2nd SOMETHING SOFT: Right now it’s mangosteen season here and the markets are currently flooded with them. They have a very hard outer skin but the fruit itself is very soft and delicious

MAY 3rd WEEKEND VIBE: Raspberry Mojito to celebrate the political victory and the end of ‘Voldemort’

MAY 4th FROM WHERE I STAND: this vibrant new wall mural is a welcome addition to the local neigbourhood

MAY 5th A SNACK: This local snack of dried fruit and vegetables has minimum salt and no sugar and packs a flavourful punch. It’s my most recent obsession and yesterday’s purchase has guava, sweet corn and yam added to the usual okra, carrot, pumpkin, jackfruit, banana, purple and orange sweet potato and melon. Eat a rainbow. It’s healthy and delicious 

MAY 6th SKY: We are now seeing the dramatic skies of the approach of the monsoon, but not much rain yet  

MAY 7th SOMETHING HANDMADE: This key ring was handmade by a Masai woman and happened to be one of the few things I bought during our brief stint working in Tanzania 

MAY 8th FRESH: We get mangos all year round here but at the moment there is a real glut of fresh local mangos and we have been given so many we can’t consume them all. This week I gifted some to neighbours but most of them have also been given plenty, so I have made a mango cake and muffins. This morning I diced two huge ones to put in the freezer and still we have three huge mangos in the fruit basket. Chutney might be next

MAY 9th BOOK: This is the book that was at the top of my wish list when we arrived in Australia. I resisted starting it until a few days ago and now it’s almost over but thanks to my new library app I have downloaded another of hers. I am currently alternating between physical and digital library books and ploughing my way through some long longed for titles

 MAY 10th IN BLOOM: Sweet bay magnolia is in bloom right now and the scent is divine

MAY 11th A MOMENT OF JOY: was visiting Wat Phnom for Visak Bochea Day, which is today. It celebrates the birth, enlightenment, and nirvana of Buddha. This temple has exquisite, muted, original wall murals depicting Buddha’s life 

MAY 12th FAVOURITE COLOUR: Feeling a bit poorly today and haven’t ventured outdoors so I had to dive into the crockery cupboard for a sunburst of orange

MAY 13th REFECTION: of the building, plants, trees and statues in the pond of a hotel lobby with fabulous ambience

MAY 14th WHAT’S IN MY BAG: everything I need for a session at the Sports Centre and an after swim lunch with time to write some snail mail

 

MAY 15th WATER: Our riverside walk was cut short today because when the thunder began to rumble, the rain seemed to be imminent. Our regular walking for wellbeing along the waterfront route

MAY 16th ON THE GROUND: An archive shot from our time in Adelaide, when I noticed this on the ground walking in the city. That library book is a bit overdue

MAY 17th MORNING LIGHT: This season of intense heat and sunshine with late afternoon high winds means first thing most mornings all these tiny flowers lie on the terrace. One of my morning rituals is to collect the fallen flowers and place them in front of the Buddha in the spirit house

MAY 18th ON THE TABLE: homemade Japanese fusion meal on the table on the terrace- my dinner contribution a couple of nights ago

MAY 19th MY SHOES TODAY: My all terrain sandals recently purchased in Adelaide have become my go to shoes. I no longer have to wear sports shoes all the time and can still cover the kilometres we usually walk on a regular basis. They don’t even look too bad either- well not yet. Win win win 

MAY 20th SOMETHING LOUD: Vehicles like these still ply the streets of our neighbour advertising, campaigning and making public announcements; not that I saw one today. This one is decommissioned and an artist installation in a courtyard near home

May 21st YELLOW: a collection of the local, fresh, yellow offerings at the market this morning; mangoes, corn, yellow passionfruit, bamboo shoots, yellow capsicums, egg noodles and in the middle some tiny yellow flowers from a plant resembling peas and it attracts thousands of tiny local yellow and black striped bees- not sure what it’s called but it’s an essential in the local soup dishes

MAY 22nd SOMETHING TINY: This tiny charm comes from Daibutsu - the Giant Buddha in Kamakura, Japan. I always buy one of these little charms with a bell when we visit Japanese temples and I rediscovered this one recently. Unfortunately the string to attach it wore through but today’s simple craft project was to make another so I can return it to my handbag. I would never have remembered where it came from but the elevated platform of the geta has the name stamped into it in both Japanese and English despite the whole thing being only the size of the first joint in my little finger. Japanese attention to detail always amazes me 

*the finished project

MAY 23rd STARTS WITH T: A takeaway - homemade with love but about to be taken away! Right now it’s on the kitchen bench but its going to a gathering of neighbours, in my hands in just a few minutes

MAY 24th DOORWAY: The former Levi factory has a huge variety of spaces and facilities including recreational, creative, workspace share, display, gallery, studio, retail, cinema and eatery offerings but it always seems no more than a handful are occupied or even open at any time. Today I was glad that this one seems about to open up

MAY 25th CALM: I’m prone to anxiety and worry and always trying to combat it. Our choices of uncluttered decor and minimalism aims to create a calm, tranquil, relaxing space

MAY 26th IN MY HAND: I’ve got the whole world in my hand

*this one was selected for the Fab Four on Instagram. Yay yay yay

MAY 27th SOMETHING SQUARE: This coaster with indigenous artist Barbara Weir’s “sunrise of my mother’s country” design was my gift to me in Australia. It matches my water bottle and is used daily. Made in Australia by Uptopia with royalties paid to the artist, it ticks all the boxes and yes I bought several mostly as gifts and all different designs

MAY 28th MY HAPPY PLACE: At the pool - any pool will do so long as it’s possible to do laps  

MAY 29th MESSY: I am not a clean freak but I am a tidy up person. I’ve been accused of being too organized and OCD before but I choose to see it as being mindful. This is the breakfast “messy”. I love yoghurt and fruit for breakfast but it creates more volume in waste than the edible portion often, especially when it all has to be cut up just as small to go in the city composter that lives on our balcony! Messy but worth it

MAY 30th FROM THE CAR: I hope a railcar will do as it’s as close as we will get today. I would usually say train carriage but given the prompt it didn’t sound right. We have walked, ridden our bikes, taken a tuk tuk and been in the train today and there won’t be any more vehicles required now so a view from the car (train) window just before reaching our destination -Kep

MAY 31st SOMETHING BLUE: my favourite kind of blue is a swimming pool and this one is the best - full of memories and connection to place and people

PROMPTS

WHAT A WASTE

 Since returning from Australia I’ve thought a lot about recycling and garbage disposal. 

In Australia I was reminded again of the overwhelming number of huge garbage receptacles each house hold is issued with, by local councils. Why do they have to be so huge? It seems to encourage large volumes of waste. I kept thinking and not for the first time, “Why can’t there be community spaces that house them for several households to share especially in the city precincts and why are people not more aware of the huge quantities of packaging products are sold in?” 

For rural or isolated areas the issue is different. I concede that. 

It also struck me that people become complacent. I recycle and I sort so I’m not the problem. But how well do we sort? How many recyclable or compostable bin loads are contaminated with wrongly placed items and as a consequence none of it can be efficiently or effectively dealt with and therefore it all ends up in landfill? When you aren’t sure, do you put it in the recycling bin? That’s the instinct. 

There were huge positives don’t get me wrong. I was delighted to see a shared bin area for residents of one small street being installed, just before we left. I was part  of the huge WOMADelaide crowd and there was an abundance of clearly labeled and well used bins for various types of rubbish and completely compostable serving plates and cutlery too. They were emptied and replaced constantly and I never saw them overflowing. There is also a greater awareness of the need to reduce packaging and people thanked us for not taking it. The long standing deposit system on glass and PET bottles and cans ensures fewer of them make their way to landfill. However the gaps and breakdowns in the system still exist. 

That’s when I began to think about developing countries and the role we travellers play in contributing to their massive waste issues. We do live in Cambodia but we have witnessed and commented upon litter issues in many countries over the years. It’s too easy to assume it’s not our problem beyond perhaps modeling better practices. 

 

It occurred to me while we were home that the litter situation in developing countries is in part exacerbated by the complacency of  travellers. We all too readily buy bottled water sometimes for want of better options but also through ignorance. Recently we have discovered that there are eco ratings on hotels which tell you if refill water is available. We are opting for these as much as possible now and always travel with refillable bottles. Refill not landfill is worth keeping in mind. 

Travellers and expats alike also think nothing of buying iced drinks from drink vendors, just as locals do. These come in plastic cups, with plastic lids and plastic straws and often plastic bags or slings to carry them. All one use plastic. Maybe because we live here we never do and won’t drink in stores that use them either. I completely understand that the compostable alternatives are just not viable for small street-side stalls and mobile vendors. The additional cost would price them out of the market. These shoestring operations have little choice. We have asked vendors to fill our own reusable bottles and they do and are often very amused. We are lucky to know the alternatives that do exist. When you are just passing through you simply may not.

On a brief stay in a foreign country, it’s easy to let standards you can easily adhere to at home slip and the same systematic solutions simply don’t exist. I guess people indulge in behaviors they wouldn’t in their own country because they don’t know what other choices exist. 

We too are forced to buy bottled water when we are travelling and resort to buying the greatest volume available as the best option. One large bottle has to be better than five small ones, right? Leave those token gifts of tiny water bottles in hotel rooms unopened, unless it really is an emergency. 

This is not to say that locals are guilt free but many behave responsibly. More bins and sorting stations are appearing and are being used and we witness this often. The habit of discarding packaging in public places is common place and was perhaps born in the days when everything was wrapped in banana leaves or similar and therefore presented no threat to the environment. On that note many things here still are. 

There is also the habit of burning off all types of garbage, polystyrene included when collection services are unavailable, erratic or inconvenient which is exceedingly worrying.

The further away from the big cities you go the less likely it is that sorting stations and segregated bins have been rolled out. However resources and funding are scarce and there certainly are plenty of other pressing medical, social and economic issues to address.    

This is not meant to condemn or judge. It is just the observations and ponderings of someone with a deep concern for the ongoing environmental disaster unfolding on our planet.