kiwibopha in phnom penh

2010-02-11T10:45:00.000+07:00

The grandchildren athered at Mum and Dad's for their 40th anniversary celebrations, April 2009

2009-08-21T09:14:00.001+07:00

please chack out this awesom photo taken by a young emerging photographer

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abbyfleur/3841641828/in/photostream/

2008-11-11T01:07:00.001+07:00

I really love nigel brown's paintings... if u google u will see

2008-11-11T00:53:00.001+07:00

I thought these pictures would be great as background to a horror movie.. which is what the traffice feels like here these days altho we dont need to focus on that here....

anyway I may be crazy but I like these pics...

2008-11-11T00:41:00.001+07:00

this wedding has to be the most joyous and the most poignant of the sahasawath

did you ever see two happier people???

did you ever see a prouder mom?

and whoops this doesnt belong here but i was very excited to see the watercube with my very own eyes on the year of the Olympics

2008-11-11T00:26:00.002+07:00

oh my pics have loaded out of order (... kate- help!).. anyway these gas pipes are at the 798 art area in beijing. people who know feel it has become a very commercialised area and say the artists have moved on...

a door at the Imperial Palace... lots of doorknobs!!!

yes you are right.. that is a chinese thingy cover and \i am in beijing.. my first time in china despite living in asia almost ten years!

the imperial palace.. at least there were images of flowers but it didnt make up for the lack of gardens throughout, for me anyways... there was a chinese garden at the end which was intereresting...

my fav piece of art in the 798 area was this.. I think becasue it reminds me so much of the man in the \nigel brown/ paintings

2008-11-11T00:16:00.001+07:00

we went recently to visit my bro in bangkok, and the lovely fangdamily. and we went to the beach.. this guy did a fire show at night on the beach

we played with puppies

we played with our new camera

played again with puppies

and took beautiful photos of the s k y

it was nice

2008-11-10T23:50:00.002+07:00

this was the police building on street 51.
It was sooo gorgeous
(both pics are from there)

the steel is carefully removed from the buildings which are destroyed. Around the edges of town you can find piles of twisted steel with people sitting all day all day all day striaghtening it all out .. presumably to go into the next building...

2008-11-10T23:32:00.002+07:00

sometimes, when the mekong and tonle sap rivers hit their zenith, you really do feel like just driving off the road, across the verge, down the stinky stairs to the river and just all the way down to Vietnam... well I do anyways.,.. every year I feel like driving down the vast beautiful warm brown road to Vietnam.. especially when...

... yeah I really feel like going off the rails and down the Brown river Road...especially when I go past this space...behind me is the Cambodiana Hotel, and in front of me is a space where there really ought not to be a space. not if we love our buildings as we oughta, not if we value the collective sense of space and place we have among our older buildings. It went down almost overnight and the only thing which distinguishes it now is these vans for rent.. I will drag out the picture of the old building for you

and yep that is the kite mueum.. being covered in that building-making stuff which they peel plastic offa, rendeirng the original sort of wrapped.... in plastic.. something in that.

.. ooh a door.. a bit like finding a bottle titled Drink Me...
what oh what is thru the magic door?

...replete with graffiti...

oh jeez yes another space. It used to be the Bassac Theatre. Those sort of humpy bits used to be the oldest most gorgeous frangipani trees... I am so sad.. it just went so quickly.. Who got the trees and where did they go????? I dont know where I live anymore...

Oh yeah let's go for a drive...

2008-11-10T23:23:00.001+07:00

it is amazing what you can buy at my fav market....... there are even supplies for people who like to *cook*!!!!!

2008-11-10T23:19:00.001+07:00

on a recent visit to Siem Reap for work we went to eat food at night close to Angkor, which you can do without buying a ticket, as you are not going into any of the temples.. anyway looking back from the entrance to the grand and awesome causeway to the Angor Wat, this was the sky we had to feast on, as well as bbq chicken and rice, and bread ... YUMMO

2008-11-10T23:04:00.001+07:00

Sras Srang... in Siem Reap... gorgeous.

woodworking tools
palm leaves left out to dry before being dyed and woven into all sorts of things

the corner of the moat around angkor wat... i think it is the NE corner...

2008-11-10T22:52:00.002+07:00

aw so pwuddy
I really LOVE this building

designed by the legendary Van Molyvann
who is a god
really

and I have always threatened to fall down and kiss his shoes should I ever find myself in the same room.. so moved was I by 60s architecture, of which he is the only living remnant... (that i know of).. I did find myself in the same room twice rfecently and did manage to hold myself back.

thankfully

every year they put these curtains for Water Festival

gorgeous
(and yeah I get that the pics are average.. in my defense I was driivng alone at the time... surrounded by the motoing millions)

2008-11-10T22:42:00.001+07:00

this building is round the corner from our house. First I saw this other photo like this but from Japan on a photoblog and I LOVED it, and always imagined doing it to this restaurant. then they upgraded the restaurant. So it is definitely not as cool a photo as it woulda been if I had just taken the shot instead of thinking about it for 3yrs each time I drove past it....

2008-11-10T22:35:00.002+07:00

yeah.. um.. aliens appeared in the kitchen tonight
wearing these superb fashion statements handbags made by The Rubbish Project on their
h e a d s !!!

determined not to submit totally and absolutely to the vagaries of funding games, these bags are now on the scene, in season and out they are to be seen on the arms of the rich, famous and ordinary in the stresst of Phnom Penh.. and on the heads of some aliens.

btw who is that manchild???

2008-11-10T22:26:00.001+07:00

The Independence monument was all dressed up today and yesterday for Independence Day .. 55 Years since independence from the French Protectorate. She looked so booootifulllll

2008-10-24T11:40:00.001+07:00

sucky

sitting in sovvanna
at cafe sentiment

and feeling sentiment-al
or perhaps feeling senti-mental

anyway

Lit Review blooze
blow me away
every day

and it's preety sucky
sitting at sovanna

mun so sock-day

kiwibopha in phnom penh

2008-09-11T12:15:00.004+07:00

and oh how we do

2008-04-27T22:20:00.001+07:00

2008-04-18T20:27:00.002+07:00

Oh my gosh look at this cutie in Paturoa Rd I forgot who she is.. Peter Pan I think

When java used to have their "Open Walls" chicky made a painitng. Dana, in true class form put it in full view of everyone.

Oh yeah we are so cute

2008-04-18T20:04:00.004+07:00

sitting at Java
a Phnom Penh institution... where art and coffee and everyone you know meet

very sore back.. another story.

Thinking about how if Liz were still living here my thesis would be done already! Liz you are very organised and motivating! I in reality have to stop waiting for the perfect idea and just get going, trusting the process and my brain!

I read in the paper today that rice has tripled in price in Thailand since Jan 2007.. unbelievable. Gas here has doubled

more tomorrow from this bear of little brain

2008-04-13T22:52:00.004+07:00

And here we are at Nukulau Island.. just off of Suva in Laucala Bay... mmm I lived in Suva from 1974-1978 and we used to go very often to this wee Island... such sweet memories of the beach, the sea, the journey there on boats, sleeping in one of those buildings...picnics tides, easters and reefs and most of all beautiful weather...

2008-04-13T22:42:00.003+07:00

I can do dark and moody - pwomise i didnt photoshop.... I have two very old manual minoltas (an srt202 and a 7s) The 7s my parents had when I was a kid living in Fiji and then they kindly gave it to me.. and that one takes great pics still. And the SRT I bought from Russ Bowers when he left Cambodia and we are definitely making friends. i do love the old manual minoltas I have. they see things I dont. Pwomise I will upload again soon

2008-04-13T22:25:00.002+07:00

well this picture has me.. I love it I love it I love it and you can see more of this gorgeousness too... I too wanted to take a shot in b and w on monivong just north of Caltex Bokor... there was a fab lightshow above a Chinese Restaurant but I waited too many years and abruptly the building was upgraded... anyway i am trying to drown in photoblogs while it is still the weekend....

2008-04-13T21:53:00.003+07:00

I am loving this new radio thingy.. go unlimited internet on the weekend!!!

We went to the airport today to farewell the Burgesses and we hope they will return to Cambodge. This is the first day of Khmer New Year - we are welcoming the Year of the Rat. Every year we enjoy the quietness of the city.. it is a time to spend time with others in town, relaaaax and eat. This year there seems to be more traffic - I guess more people are hanging in the Penh.

Josh went to a new net cafe called Modern today which is very exciting cos it is 2000r an hour but it is waaay over the other side of the universe, which is called Kampuchea Krom Blvd.

Our naga came down this past week. I felt very sad I couldn't go to relax by the river and enjoy before she was packed away in Darryl's garage. darrrryl- you have been so wonderful to us - *thanks* again so much. I dont know even one other person who would have welcomed us for those two and a half crazy weeks... not only us but all our hangers-on, and they were considerable in number!.. and then to offer to put the naga up in your room too... LOVELY!

So, we're all about the refocussing now... have to try to write for the blimmin ethics thingy for the thesis... reading about environmental justice movements, ETC (dont get me started)

2008-04-06T16:07:00.002+07:00

I am Back!

Back from naga-land which almost buried me. Such an exciting time but now two weeks later I am still a vewwy tiwed girwl. And I find myself reflective. And wanting to artist-ise my life. And photo-blog. And most of all I need to develop my b and w films..... HELP!

more soon....

2008-01-11T18:09:00.001+07:00

ok so now we are all chilled out, we found out shellfish have secret arms.. hey who needs Discovery channel???!!! so now... back to fighting over the computer (refer to top pics cos i dont know how to do pics on a blog...) and out for pizza soon

2008-01-11T17:58:00.000+07:00

JETSKIS

yes we have fallen for the trappings of fame and fortune altho we actually thankfully have neither... but we hired a jetski today (not eating for a month) and here is some footage for grandparents or any interested peeps.....

here is dad and son zooming... dad fell off due to son's skilful swerving... funny!

here is dad zooming daughter.. she did get to drive him but later

2008-01-11T17:46:00.000+07:00

a

yes folks more shellfish action thats how chilled out we are after a few days at the beach... we are remembering we are related to each other and we *like* each other.....

I am remembering how I have grown up on beaches... first Ohope and Makarori Beaches, and Napier. then beaches around Suva and Fijian islands.. then the beautiful Hauraki Gulf and further north of Auckland and never forgetting the mighty Manukau harbour....

2008-01-11T10:28:00.001+07:00

he smiles

he resumes normal cool pose

2008-01-11T10:23:00.001+07:00

we ate at the reef resort last night... could not believe the chrysanths were real...

2008-01-11T10:19:00.000+07:00

amazingly our key fit the limo, and so we took it out for a spin....

2008-01-10T17:55:00.000+07:00

just a lean mean footy machine

2008-01-10T17:49:00.000+07:00

push here to see what seashells can do... it's all action here at Kiwibopha!!

2008-01-10T17:06:00.000+07:00

and then there were seashells

why the giggling? cos them shells be burying themselves.. into her hands!!! so tickly makes you giggly

yeah thats hair not sand grass....

2008-01-10T16:58:00.000+07:00

The man-child, the mummy, the seasheller and the Football Star

so.. this is what happens after a few days at a beach, with nobody else we know..... we start to PLAY together!!! the kids remember they are KIDS/ i remember I am the mommy.. todd remembers he is the football star... seriously!!!

2008-01-07T13:52:00.001+07:00

aaaaaaaahhhhh we love that concreeeeeet! and this is on Trasak Paem, across the road from soriya...

2008-01-07T13:43:00.001+07:00

k, so who doesnt love this old theatre on street 19? talk about funk and concrete...

2008-01-07T13:36:00.001+07:00

really gorgeous, honestly inspired, truly GONE ...

2008-01-07T13:29:00.000+07:00

old building versus $2000 per square metre..... guess who lost? all of us....

2008-01-07T13:25:00.000+07:00

The one where the manchild turns 16...

2008-01-07T13:08:00.000+07:00

recent pictures i love, and I took

2008-01-07T12:49:00.001+07:00

CHRISTMAS WAS FABULOUS, gorgeous, hopeful, delicious.. all those christmassy things

2008-01-07T12:34:00.000+07:00

we are in the land of naga skies, beautiful kids, and questionmarks xxx

2007-10-10T10:58:00.001+07:00

2007-09-13T11:45:00.001+07:00

oh goodness how did i just lose a whole post, and my first in 5 months?

So to sum up whats goin down in the bodge

* the PP post are reporting it is hard to get across the border to Thailand by road... makes a long hot Capitol Bus trip to Poipet look good.. not.

so we shall flyyyyyyyy

* the clogging conference was a big hit here late last month. Inspiring, so here I am!

* we are selling the love bus! Yeah the alternator and the battery were in a war for the past few years. Several times I have called the Emerald Garage guys and been so grateful to them. So we will now travel in a ... newer van!~ Gliding around the streets of PP like we all do, in blissville states of relaxation, cool breezes in our hair, necessitates travelling by something located a foot or so above everyone else. A van is GREAT for this. so...

later (post lost and not to be recovered this is the best this little blogette can do

~kiwibopha

2007-04-28T18:19:00.000+07:00

I'm taking back my blog

and

resuming blogher-ing today

* kiwibopha, Phnom Penh

2006-06-26T09:20:00.000+07:00

Tonight is the opening of Mutrak Gallery. It all looks very beautiful. Also the launch of The Rubbish Project. Trash here we come! will post some photos after tonight.. off to organise 200 spring rolls now!

2006-05-22T09:56:00.000+07:00

well I have been thinking a lot about life

and about what I am doing with it.

do you like this photo?

Taken from Sopheap's house, on the day of his Paint Around The Dog exhibition opening.

over the lake, eveningtime, on my old minolta slr (older than me)

pls do notice the lack of art school, the problems with processing film in PP (do they just chuck it around the shop?!), and with whatever I did with the camera, which i have now forgotten.

if all those very fine criticisms were in yr head already you may not feel how beautiful that evening was, how fabulous a feeling we had sitting on the back of his house watching the sun slip away, how pissed off I was that I only had black and white 100 film in my camera,

how magically the lights and shadows changed.

cheers kiwibopha

2006-05-17T16:30:00.000+07:00

well it has been a while since i wrote.

life is good. i just bussed back today from Siem Reap where I was for two nights for work. it is always so lovely to be in Siem Reap. The first night we went as a group and ate in front of Angkor Wat as the sun went down behind us.

the structure in this the photo is, I am happy to announce, still in Siem Reap. That old pink funky 50s or 60s theatre a block back from it is NOT! oh how to cope with the destruction of the Reastr Niyum period buildings. so sad.

On the way up we saw an accident where a bus had hit a moto - moto driver died. It had just happened as passengers were just disembarking. Made me glad to be on Capitol - they may take longer, their aircon may be crap, but the drivers by and large are careful!

And The Blue Pumpkin is my absolute favourite place to destress. www.tbpumpkin.com/ I managed an afternoon sleep there yesterday .. aaah!

Popped into the Linga Bar www.lingabar.com and caught up with Martin and had a drink.

He showed us his new one room boutique hotel, which is just across the lane and upstairs.. oh my gosh it is so beautiful. www.theonehotelangkor.com/

To get to The One Hotel Angkor, you go across the lane from the Linga Bar, thru his beautiful new cafe, which has a lovely gallery space being finished in the back, and upstairs to a gorgeous room, with just everything you would never think you would find hidden in Siem Reap near the Old Market.

There's a lovely lamp by Pich Sopheap, and the rest you can see on the really nice website as above Upstairs one more level is a breezy rooftop balcony.

Lovely job, Martin, and I am sure pretty soon it will be hard to get a night at the One Room Hotel. As Joseph (8yrs old) exclaimed, "This is the best thing I have ever seen in my LIFE!"

2006-04-06T16:25:00.000+07:00

well I forgot to say chi cha will arrive in 5 minutes
with a Beef Set and 8 extra chapatis (thats FOUR dollars!)

and tomrorow at 6 the karate teacher/god will come.
so it is bound to be a better day starting it off with that!

I'll let you know
kiwibopha

2006-04-06T15:44:00.001+07:00

hello again beautiful world

well, hope you are all fine
I'm missing half of my family, daughter away on school camp, husband away on youth camp which happens every year. and I cannot get on with my work! argh! just had the best focussed half hour of the week reading in the waiting room of SOS.

so, apparently foucault is limiting as a way to see the world cos he acknowledges and looks for breaks in history, but geographical differences are not given as much space. critiquers of poststructralism speak now! Difference within is privileged over difference between, and poststructralism acts hegemonically.
I often wonder how I grew up to be such a non-objective thinker. it really frustrates me no end to be swayed to each side of an argument, following the ideas of others. How to have an original thought? Read Graham Fordhams article from the Critique of Anthropology journal which totally rocks - about the social construction of AIDS in Thailand with wave theory and discrete risk groups.

Do you ever feel like life is a fight of ideas? you have to take your idea, put it out there and fight for it all the way. so... I happen to have fallen into the critical end of the school of psychology in my university - and loving arms they are too. I find it fits well with my intuited regurgitated 7 yrs' experiencing this wonderful country. but i do keep picking the wrong people to open my big mouth to.

let me know if you like a good debate just for the joy of spouting off ideas!

Hey I enjoyed the sunset from Sopheaps house and exhibition opening the other night. beautiful view. great spring rolls. nice that I had black and white film in my camera! still it has a mind and an eye of its own- yeah we love those manual minoltas.

a bientot friends
spread the love.
kiwibopha XX

2006-04-04T07:52:00.001+07:00

this morning I had Karate lesson at 6

yes. 6 felt very early today. but now i feel *alive*.

so.. no more procrastinating. off to The Shop to study, then to parent-teacher-child interviews.
I'll let you know how it goes

kiwibopha

2006-04-03T22:34:00.001+07:00

I just dont know if I will be a very good blogger. But I do like that photo.

OK so what happened today.

coffe at K West
went to K West for coffee... complaining all the way. But actually it was very pleasant - the coffee tasted okay, and the croissant was delicious and it was cool in there and ok. But I dont know why they dont invest in cambodian art for in their restaurant? Or is it? I dont know where they got it from but it's kind of weird. It's kind of not-anything. anyway it got me gazing today so that's something. the other funny thing is staff in evening wear but in the morning - hmm. it just aint The Shop.

today I spent really avoiding my work. how to get onto it? I am supposedly a desperate extrovert, but I seem to need to be alone -ish (alone in a cafe is alright), and the worst thing is the need to have a huge tract of time spreading out int front of me thru the day. tomorrow is the day. all morning. then I have to face parent-teacher-child interviews. how is one sposed to talk about the child in front of the child? will be an interesting exercise. am supposed to be sending off great tracks of reading journal to NZ but i didnt even start that yet.

tomorrow night off to sopheap's opening by the lake. sure to be a nice sunset, if it's not raining and cloudy - yeah, in April - very strange.

me and my 14 yr old had chee cha for dinner. they are the ultimate

$2 for a meat curry, a veg curry, a dahl, a bag of rice and then a bag of tasty stuff like tomatoes, cucmber and chilli sauce and limes. AND 4 chapatis - AND free delivery
they are so amazing. they are near Psah Cha.. we are near Psar Boeung Keng Kang but they come every time. Don't usually just buy $2 worth but there are four of us usually so... extra chapatis are only 4 for a dollar

so, get the chee cha (023 366 065), then put it in your toasted sandwich maker with cheese, or cream cheese, then when it's cooked ladle yoghurt over the top (real tangy yoghurt made here, from Thai Huot or Pencil - Lucky hasnt caught on yet and caltex are just way off). so I had chee cha for lunch and dinner - YUMMO.

word was a few yrs back that they made their money through some other enterprise other than curry, but we dont care cos their curry is too good and too cheap.

another great phnom penh moment
kiwibopha

2006-04-02T18:56:00.001+07:00

hello lovely world

so, what did I do today? (I love sundays, the house to ourselves, it's been a lazy one)

my cuzzy bro came over with two other men, a Korean Reverend who has just come to work here, and his (cuzzy's) adopted Dad, from Kien Svay, who sells water. Funny. I had just fallen asleep on the couch when they arrived. bleary eyed, i found my way to giving water then coffee then banana cake (Edmonds cook book recipe, usual wedding gift in New Zealand we got this book... surprise surprise... for our wedding!). It's always nice to meet some new people, and fun to find someone else in PP excited about the Edmonds Cookbook! Hubby made great connections with korean pastor by producing printoff of the world cup draw, complete with his predictions of each group - some things cross every cultural barrier!

My hubby and son headed out to pochentong field to watch the finals of some highschool rugby tourny. i and daughter moto-d to russian market to get supplies for school camp - clothes! there is a new moto driver on our corner and I think he's just here to get some money before new year cos he didnt know the russian market, his moto is falling apart and it was the scariest ride I'd had in ages - with my kid in tow too.. oh yeah we love that vibe. not. i never know whether to help from the backseat or whether this will distract the driver - usually i sit doing nothing with adrenaline levels raging.

in pp the arts scene has exploded recently, well feels like that to me, and at the mo the pp arts festival is in full swing this weekend. it's fun to see lacoun in the park - in front of the museum was a lovely place to have it - change of venue from Bassac theatre, I heard...although is it true that Kit Meng (sorry for spelling) has bought the bassac theatre and land - and does he plan to destroy it? this tuesday Sopheap has an opening with jack someone but I havent worked out yet if it is at Java or elsewhere. these days you can find people running back and forth between events trying not to miss anything cos it is all so fabulous

cheers
kiwibopha
ps this week I have to study. being a bear of little brain, AND a desperate extrovert works against this concept of distance study. once again it is the season where I can be found sitting stressed out at the Shop or Java hunched over a folder from Uni trying to get my head around hyfalooootions (rhymes with abloootions)
anyway more about that next time, perhaps..