Kingdom Of Wonder

Ta Prohm, Ang Kor Wat | Cambodia (by Lisa Bettany)

Hidden faces of Siem Reap / Cambodia (by Agustin Rafael Reyes).

From the series SIAM KINGDOMS BETWEEN X AND XVI CENTURY - see more » 2011 / 2015, Photo ©Valerio Bellone - All Rights Reserved

apsara - Siem Reap, Cambodia

By Guillaume Huguet

Angkor Wat | Cambodia

Kep, Cambodia / Rine

“I took this photo at one of the local pagodas in Cambodia. I saw these two young monks sitting together chatting, when I noticed one of them listening to music with headphones in his ears. They seemed to be enjoying each others company and just being ordinary kids, which reminded me that although I’m living in a vastly different culture than my own, there are many similarities between us. Even though it can sometimes be hard to relate to various cultural nuances within my host community, I’ve come to understand that even halfway across the world, I live with individuals who value many of the same things I do.”

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Kingdom of Cambodia, 2012

Ankor Wat - Cambodia (by DavideGorla)

“I took this photo behind my training host family’s house during the last two weeks of my pre-service training in Cambodia. My seventeen-year-old host brother, Ti, was walking into his family’s rice field on a quiet, dewy morning when I snapped this photo. When I saw him walking away from me into the field, it became symbolic of us parting ways since I was to soon depart for my permanent site. I wondered if he knew how important he had been to me during those past two months of pre-service training because in this moment, I realized that he was one of the most important people to me during that time. As I prepared to leave for permanent site, unsure of what lay ahead, I was certain that Ti had been an amazing example of family and friendship during one of the most important times: a time when I was trying to conceptualize my next two years of life in Cambodia.”

In honour of Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime….  40 years ago today.