On Cambodia

It’s been about three and half weeks since I first arrived to Phnom Penh to write and shoot photographs for the Cambodia Daily. While my time in Cambodia is coming to a close this weekend, I have met so many people enjoyed new experiences through both work and play. My reporting has taken me from a conference where I met a group of indigenous women facing problems because of deforestation and illegal logging, to a community under threat of losing it’s livelihood, to urban poor villages on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, to World Bank protests in a mere three weeks.

My internship has been O.K. I have learned that nothing is ever what it seems, especially with international work. I pushed hard in my first week and managed to get a photo and story featured on the homepage of the cambodiadaily.com and in the print edition. Coming from New York, the pace of life and work here feels unbelievably slow. More importantly, I am learning, for the first time about both the ups and downs of expat life, and why it is important to just take it all in, despite the challenges. It is not my first time doing work internationally. I have lived in Bhutan for several weeks at a time, on two different occasions, but I am learning how different Bhutan is from the rest of Asia and feeling more and more grateful for the work I have done there, and what I will continue to do.

Phnom Penh is truly chaotic. More dense than New York City, where I have always felt so crowded. There’s really no traffic pattern here. People drive where they want and there are very few traffic lights. Crossing the street is like taking your life in your hands, but you just have to go, and somehow it works. There’s virtually no room on the sidewalks to walk. They are overcrowded with motorbikes parked everywhere. I step outside and am constantly caroled by tuk-tuk and motorbike drivers who yell ‘Lady! Tuk-tuk, Lady!” They presume, you need a ride, even if you are only walking a few blocks away. Imagine if taxis in New York did this.

I have learned to ignore it, stay focused and keep walking, narrowly escaping the mirage of vehicles zipping by me, while constantly looking over my shoulder and watching my back. Bag snatchings are on the rise all over South East Asia. Many of the westerners working here that I have met, at one point or another were mugged or threatened. While there are certainly more dangerous places to be working in the world, I feel I am constantly anxious and hyper aware of this possibility.

In the beginning it was very hard to adjust to the chaotic nature of this city, but now, I am seeing it’s beauty come through the hustle and bustle. Even as a native New Yorker, this took some time to get used to. I value the greenspace in New York now, as there is virtually none here. In spite of all it’s craziness, I have learned to stay open-minded while also watching my gear and valuables at all times.

Hot Pot!

My first day at the Daily I pitched a number of stories. The next day I was sent out to cover a conference on indigenous women’s issues.

My first impressions of Phnom Penh is that its quite hot and crowded. Even as a New Yorker this place feels so dense and chaotic. It takes some getting used to as Tuk Tuk drivers constantly harass you on the street.

Welcome to Stories From Asia

Hi Friends. This is my blog from my summer in Asia. I’ll be interning this summer at the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh in June, then heading to Beijing to work for the video unit at the New York Times Beijing Bureau. After that I am going back to Bhutan for the third time to work with the Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy leading workshops on photojournalism and multimedia storytelling. This is a personal blog of images and text from where my reporting is taking me along the way. Feel free to reach out  here with any questions, kayle@kaylehope.com