Without an H

Photography from south-east Asia by Jon Sanwell

Mekong days, Cambodia

After a week in the Mekong Delta in the south of Vietnam, I crossed the border into Cambodia for a slightly different taste of Mekong life, in the riverside towns of Kompong Cham and Kratie, north east of Phnom Penh. One day, I want to travel the length of the Mekong, from southern China all the way down to the delta, with unlimited time and unlimited memory cards. One day. In the meantime, I’ll have to content myself with occasional short trips like this one, in January this year.

Looking at these pictures again today has made me recall some of the other sensations and impressions of the trip that I couldn’t capture on camera: being sunburnt enough to feel a tingle but not so much to hurt; the smell of tobacco plants producing puzzling nostalgic cigarette cravings; long, uncomfortable, oddly enjoyable bus journeys with Khmer pop drowning out the music from my iPod; the pleasant ache in limbs unaccustomed to cycling; happily cancelling out the benefits of said cycling with giant bottles of Angkor beer; confirming my belief that three days in one place is far better than two; unwittingly providing the entertainment by losing my footing in a fishmarket.

14 Responses to “Mekong days, Cambodia”

  1. happypoppeye

    …continually posting great articles containing outstanding shots of SE Asia …love it.
    Keep up the great work
    John

    Reply
    • Jon Sanwell

      Thank you! I’ve really enjoyed looking at your site, especially the Myanmar pictures. Hope to see some new pictures there soon.

      Reply
  2. bluelyon

    Every time you post your photos I am just blown away by the humanity and the vibrance of your work. Thank you.

    Reply
  3. lrntn

    so true that there are so many sensations that we can’t capture on film (or pixels)… but we can only try a bit and nice that you’re able to share some of those sensations through photos

    Reply
    • Jon Sanwell

      Yes, I guess there are limits to what the camera can do, but the challenge is in finding out where those limits are.

      Reply
  4. Polly

    I love how you capture the feelings and emotions of the people (and fish) in their everyday lives!! Thank you for sharing.

    Reply

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