stayed in a nice hotel - the stylish lobby showcases some very interesting artwork
nothing like a nice room to make a traveler feel at home in a new land
one of the pleasures of traveling - morning coffee on the rooftop restaurant and lounge
one of the many friendly restaurant staff members posing for a picture
some of this land is incredibly lush and covered in vegetation
a small wooden boat beached on the shore of a small lake - motionless except for the occasional ripple made by a water skipper
raindrops on lily pads catching the sunlight on a hot morning
an idle cow hanging out along a dirt country road
wonderful architectures abound in the capital city
in all colors
many of the old colonial french buildings, monuments, roads, parks have fallen into disrepair
artwork at the national museum garden grounds
a view from the hotel rooftop looking to the east
view from the same spot - looking to the west
laundry drying on a middle-class apartment rooftop
as dusk falls, a nearby market begins to come to life
fruit vendors setting up for the evening commerce
a food vendor anxious to sell meals to the hungry evening rush
street vendor with a temporarily flooded scooter drive-through
the streets get flooded after each and every tropical downpour
a cobra artwork, quiet and seemingly motionless, stalks an unsuspecting passerby
somewhere downtown, a child follows after his mother
monks making the morning rounds giving blessings and accepting offerings from shopkeepers
two monks wisely exercising caution while walking for long periods under the hot sun
in the countryside, clothes are left to dry on wooden fences
nearby, a cow is butchered and every part of it is offered for sale by a woman whom i imagine may have helped raise the cow
in this part of the world, gasoline is sometimes sold in used pepsi bottles
a hand-cranked gasoline dispenser at a countryside general store
a tidy amount of vegetables offered for sale on the roadside
a kitchen staff at a high-end riverside seafood restaurant enjoying their lunchtime break as one fishes for his dinner
a tugboat pulling along four rescued fishing boats up the mekong river
a tour boat happily chugging along into an approaching storm front
most children everywhere seem to share a universal happiness
and a shared sense of curiosity
even if it means running naked into a dirty pond in pursuit of a small frog to satisfy his curiosity while bringing him happiness
elsewhere near the center of a large city, children playing far above the ground in an active building construction site
a little known fact - chasing pigeons creates a huge amount of happiness for everyone involved
a young girl in the country enjoying swimming in the river and riding her bicycle on her summer vacation
a cute little girl studying the commotion of village children running around
in stark contrast to the preceding pictures - gruesome remains exhibited to the world at the monument to the multitudes who perished in the killing fields
sometimes there just are not enough words
a heartfelt memorial to journalists who were killed near this spot during the vietnam war
an old villager stops to describe the events that he witnessed as a young lad on the night the journalists were executed
at the same spot - a small Bodhi tree stands with the engraved stone - now looked after by the grandfather of the young girl in the foreground
eerily peaceful here now
morning street scene near the riverside
from the comfort of a tuk-tuk, saw a lady passenger on a motorcycle holding up her own intravenous feed
a family outing
royal palace guard getting their instructions under a hot mid day sun
country market alongside a highway south of the capital city
another meat vendor in the village market amused at the picture-taking traveler
wat po under active renovation
two monks taking a break along the river
i must assume that small crabs are in season for much of the season
village children running to greet visitors to a country temple