Some common themes

Us in a big doorway in a Thai palace

While in Singapore, the BF and I have traveled around a fair bit. We've seen a few other countries, a few times: 2 visits to Malaysia, 3 visits to Indonesia, 2 trips to Thailand, a week in Cambodia....and on every trip, the BF takes his camera and takes a lot of pictures. Sometimes he takes pictures of things I wouldnt take pictures of (like the electrical wires in Bangkok or oddly not-that-close close-ups of plants) but I'm glad he takes lots of pictures because I usually forget to take pictures....if I even remember to bring my camera. So I'm very grateful that's he's taking pictures for us.

But in all the photos, in all the different lands, a few themes have emerged:

The BF likes taking pictures of infrastructure. Power lines, buildings, public transportation, construction sites, posted signs, etc. Upon arriving in a hotel room, he immediately documents the room from every angle, taking photos of the bed, the desk, the balcony, the bathroom, the TV, everything.

Picture BF took: hotel bathtub
in Bangkok

Picture BF took:
 the bus we took to Malaysia

Picture BF took: large shopping
center near his apt in Singapore

I like taking pictures of mundane, everyday things. Food, salt shakers, beer, my feet, stuff we bought, us in front of signs for things, Asian versions of "normal" things, etc. I especially loved taking pics of shiny, shiny, tropical Christmas trees.

Picture I took:
Christmas tree in Bali

Picture I took:
delicious oxtail banh mi

Picture I took: my feet on the
beach in Phuket

But one of the more emerging themes is the type of things I like posing with/near. For some reason, I am really into having my picture taken in doorways. 

Me in a gateway.
It's kinda like a doorway.

Me in the doorway of an old
Indonesian snack trolley.

Cambodian temples had
 LOTS of doorways.

  
    

 Also, with fake animals. By "fake" I mean animal sculptures or statues. But sometimes the sculpture/statue is, in fact a replica of a non-existent creature, like a dragon or a merlion. In which case, I'm posing with a fake, fake animal.

And merlions.

Elephants are cool.

So are lions.

I'm riding the dragon.

Just chilling with the
water buffalo.

Me with a dragon.

Hugging the water buffalo

I'm not sure what this fascination means. But I'm not planning to change my ways any time soon. So all my family and friends can look forward to seeing more pics of me posing in doorways and taking pictures with fake animals. Get excited.

Cambodia: floating village

Us on the boat

There's a place on the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia where there's a floating village. The whole village is built on stilts above the lake, with lower levels that are tethered to the stilts, to adjust to rising water levels. In the rainy season, the water is much higher than during the dry season, so the lake levels change drastically.

The whole village uses boats as the form of transportation. There are houses, temples, a sheriff's office, restaurants, hotels....a full village. And all of these places are accessible only by boat. Some of them back up to a road, but during the rainy season, the roads are mainly washed out, so they're not a primary form of transportation.

The washed out road and bridge.

We hired a little shallow-bottomed 8-seater motor boat to take us on a tour of the village and the lake. We saw houses and villagers and fishermen. We also saw pigs living in wooden crates a few feet above the water. And houses you access by ladder from a boat that have a HUGE flat screen TV and television antenna on the roof.

While touring around the lake, we saw underwater forests, floating restaurants and a couple of fishermen selling fish from their boats. The boat had big coolers of ice and interested buyers would paddle/motor up to the fisherboat and pick out their fish. The fisherman would pack up the fish and some ice into a plastic bag and off you would go with your fish. 

The boat

Once we got in the boat, out on the lake, we had a lovely time. But the getting to the boat was another (slightly traumatizing) adventure.



After our impromptu "very strenuous" hike, we ate lunch (delicious, of course) and then got in the car to travel to the lake. I was wet, cold and a little tired, watching the rain hit the windshield and watching people work the rice paddies on either side of the roads we were traveling. By this point, we were at least an hour outside of the city of Siem Reap and in truly rural, agricultural Cambodia. As we traveled along, I kept my eyes out for wildlife: I saw stray cats, chickens, cows and WATER BUFFALOES. If you have never seen a water buffalo, go do it. They are such cool animals. They're shaped like cows, but bigger, thicker and with WAY cooler horns. 

The boats

 As we're passing fields of water buffaloes, the road is getting narrower and narrower. Until it's one lane, unpaved, rutted, muddy clay. And there is a river on one side. And it does NOT look like we are getting close to a lake. Or a boat dock. We continue on this road for a good 20 minutes until we pull up next to some (not gonna lie: rickety-looking) water craft. We get out and board a craft. Which proceeds to have engine failure. So we get out and board another craft. And enjoy our tour of the lake.