Angkor Angkor

Siem Reap, Cambodia

We cruise along in the wet heat, doubled over in laughter. No traffic lights, the vehicles govern themselves and we make do. From slideshows to gallery openings to peer reviews to spicy bowls of noodle soup, to long nights of pool and beer, we weave through the dusty streets, navigating potholes and trying not to marvel too much at the scenes floating by and causing an accident. I bring Miss Adrienne Grunwald with me and she falls in love and tries to come up with ways to stay.

I see and hold my far-flung friends and we share stories. The weird, sad, freaky, side-splittingly hilarious, private ones. Not the ones in pictures. This is so precious to me. My favourite time of the year.

Within tolerance

Late night bars | Siem Reap | Cambodia

These are all the words you like to speak out loud
It´s not the meaning, it´s a question of sound
You write them down in a little book
You tear out the pages when the whole night is through

Withdrawn, tangle, cupboard, strangle
I like your name, it sounds like berries

These are all the little pills that make you sleep
but sometimes sleep can be close to death
You wake up again in a white room
and something tells you everything is good

Withdrawn, tangle, cupboard, strangle
I like your name, it sounds like berries

~ Slowblow

When it happens

New people, walking into my life, unfamiliar voices from familiar smiles that I recognise immediately as one of my kind. A saunter through the half light beaded sweat of Siem Reap, arm in arm, bursts of laughter – the kind that explodes.

When it happens, I wonder how I got so lucky.

Kapil, Kosuke and Veejay | Siem Reap, Cambodia

Young folks, submerged

Siem Reap, Cambodia – photo-types, a swimming pool and the encroaching night

 

If i told you things i did before 
told you how i used to be 
would you go along with someone like me 
if you knew my story word for word 
had all of my history 
would you go along with someone like me

 – Peter Bjorn and John

 

 

 

 

A deluge

Siem Reap, Cambodia – in a waterfall… the halcyon days

 

 

 

Read this. Sign here.

 

Siem Reap, Cambodia – At Handicap International and surrounds

 

They told me not to use the word victim. Made me sign forms. Told me that they were trying to move on, look ahead, chart the road to recovery. Showed me that only half the battle is rehabilitation. The other half is getting the rest of society to take them back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty Boys

 

Siem Reap, Cambodia – hanging with my girls, i mean boys, i mean girls…

 

A pretty girl in her underwear
A pretty girl in her underwear
If there’s anything better in this world
who cares
La mort, c’est la mort
mais l’amour, c’est l’amour
La mort, c’est seulement la mort
mais l’amour, c’est l’amour
A pretty boy in his underwear
A pretty boy in his underwear
If there’s a better reason
to jump for joy
who cares….

(Underwear – by The Magnetic Fields)