As you sow so shall you Siem Reap
mea culpa of a tourist
I think of myself more as a traveler and less as a tourist, but still, I carry with me unavoidable post-colonial bagage.
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I think of myself more as a traveler and less as a tourist, but still, I carry with me unavoidable post-colonial bagage.
ABOUT
READ
WATCH
ABOUT
READ
WATCH
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I stayed at Ponhery Ly's guesthouse and sat a week on the back of Kong Soeun's scooter as he was guiding me around the Angkor site. They both have their own foundation to promote education.
Ponheary Ly
Kong Soeun
KONG SOEUN
During the dark years of Pol Pot, he was enrolled as a teenage soldier and barely survived a booby trap. He, as with many Cambodians, lost family and friends but walked out of the jungle determined to play a positive part in his country’s emancipation.
He studied by candlelight to become a teacher, kept studying and earned his Bachelor of Law. Tourism Cambodia appointed him their deputy director-general in Siem Reap where, in addition to his other duties, he trained guides in the history of the temples.
Soeun has kept up the fight for democracy by working for the UN in its free and fair election campaign. He is a passionate advocate for education. He is a living example of the intelligence and generous human nature that is moving Cambodia from its dark history.
PONHEARY LY
After surviving the Khmer Rouge regime, Ponheary Ly returned to Siem Reap with what was left of her family. Her family was thrown into a post-genocidal poverty that lasted a decade. During the time of the Vietnamese installed regime, Ponheary became a teacher and in secret learned how to speak French and English.
She was sent to Moscow to learn Russian during the occupation.
In 1998 when Cambodia once again opened up to Westerners, Ponheary, became a much sought-after tour guide. As tourism grew, she began seeing more and more children, working instead of going to school.
She began leveraging her relationship with those who toured with her and founded the PONHEARY LI FOUNDATION to support the return of rural children back to school and help them stay there.
INTERVIEW IN FRENCH
THIS IS A TEST
Yes it is, of a tool called racontr. But as I am video creator I included some content while experimenting. Freeing my inner geek, I am transitioning into more creative interactive design roles, without losing my human perspective.
After 6 months of traveling and shooting for an international documentary series, I treated myself on a 3 week holiday, visiting Yogjakarta (Indonesia) and Siem Reap (Cambodia).
Siem Reap is the gateway to the templex complex of Angkor, an UNESCO protected archaeological site containing the remains of the Khmer empires from the 9th until the 15th Century. The site is a touristic world hit with 2 million visitors per year. Needless to say mass tourism brings it's own set of problems, in a country plagued by corruption and limited ecological resources.
Cambodia is also notorious for the genocide by the Khmer Rouge, killing 3 million, and as a battleground of Cold War geopolitics.
The images on this website are shot with a simple dslr camera, without any decent sound equipment. The professional gear was sent home before. So keep that in mind when watching.
Karen Vanderborght
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