Sunset over the great port city

The province capital of Kampong Thom province is a nice stop halfway between Phnom Penh and Siem Reab. Over the years, the city has developed in a rapid tempo, and I find it more and more interesting to visit to check on the progress.
Cradle of the Khmer Empire
The area was an important capital in the pre-Khmer era, when the Funan culture and later the capital of the Chenla Kingdom lay down the basis for the great Angkor Empire.
Today it is a logical place to stay for the surrounding cultural and historic sites, including the UNESCO heritage site Prasat Sambor Prei Kouk. This was the state temples for Chenla Kingdom from 500 to 800 CE.
A hub for communication
The buses running from the capital via National Road 6 to Siem Reap and on to the Thai border often stops here. There are lodgings available from high end to hostels, markets, shops, restaurants and cafés.
Including a couple of really nice breakfast places, traditional or modern.
Notable sites are the city centre roundabout with the Independence monument, and the elephant statues fighting two tigers. On the north side of the river lays a large, see worthy pagoda.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kampong_Thom_city

#cityscape #citylife #indepencemonument #Cambodia #sunset #hub #architecture #boomtown #city #rooftopbar #nightcup #Kampong #Thom #City #2019CE #art #bluesky #boomtown #buddhism #capital #chenla #chenlakingdom #citywalk #countryside #daytrip #history #hub #imperial #indepencemonument #KampongThom #Kampuchea #khmer #Nikkor #Nikon #Pagoda #roadtrip #rooftopbar #southeastasia #statetemple #sunset #temple

“It's meee!”

For the children of the leper colony visitors are few. This small village on the outskirts of the small town of Mbé in North Cameroon is a safe haven for former leper patients.

As a show of support fighting the stigma hitting people treated and cured of leprosy are unclean and 2nd class fellow humans, our travel group visited the isolated small village.

We were warmly welcomed and showed around, and photographs were taken. Modern digital cameras with screens showing the results immediately were a popular novelty.

It was the Norwegian doctor and scientist Gerhard A. Hansen that identified the origin of leprosy and developed the first modern treatment. Modern medicine can effectively eradicate this 4000-year-old curse to humanity, but there are still some regions of the world where it exists in the wild.

This colony got a few new patients from the surrounding region every year. After treatment and cure, many former patients are not welcomed back to their former villages. They stay in this small village, where they get health follow ups and can do some farming and home handicraft for sale.

The children attend school in the village.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Armauer_Hansen
#boy #village #villagelife #lepra #lepracolony #visit #selfie #children #joy #mbe #Mbé #roadtrip #countryside #cameroon #NikonD800 #D800 #Nikon #Nikkor #85mm #f1_4 #africa #centralafrica #westafrica #people #excitement #ExtremeNord #Cameroon

A young lady and her chick

Or a chic chick with a chick, if you like.

The open market in the small town of Gadjiwan, Cameroon, is the largest in the area. It is under 50 kilometres to the Nigerian border. People come from far and wide to trade.

And of course, in the right age, to look for new friends.

Being foreigner in a market like this far off the tourist area means everybody knew we were visiting. The fact that we had a trail of children different ages following us around made it even more difficult to blend in.

This lady had a younger brother in our ad-hoc entourage, and he was obviously very proud of her. So, he took me over to her trading spot, urging me to take a photo. She would not let a photo op get in the way of her trading chicken.
And that suited me fine.
The young brother had all reason to be proud, I would say.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadjiwan

#market #marketday #Gadjiwan #girl #awesomedress #chic #bird #2015CE #cameroon #kamerun #asmiletodiefor #africa #westafrica #portrait #Nikon #NikonD800 #D800 ##Nikkor #85mm #f1_4 #primelens #fav #cameroongirls #borderregion

The Lamidat drummer

During a visit to the Lamido, the regional leader in Ngaoundéré, me and my travel companions were entertained by a group of musicians attached to his court.
The drummer made a lasting impression.

Lamidat Ngaoundéré
Ngaoundéré is the largest city in the north of Cameroon, and it have all the facilities you expect from a regional capital. In addition to the Lamidat, there is a university, a big hospital, malls and markets, several mosques and churches and religious missionary stations run by Norwegian Lutherans, US evangelicals and Catholics.
The main industry in the area is keeping livestock, meaning large amounts of cattle everywhere. And some rather nice street food vendors with fresh meat on the menu.

Good relations cross religions
Norwegian Lutheran missionaries started out their activity here in 1923, building the first hospital in 1925. We spent some nice days as guests in the Norwegian missionary enclosure.
Their good relationship with the local rulers was key to get an audience with the RH Lamido and visit to the government quarters, the Lamidat. The Lamido ranks at the level of Emir, or Governor, in their region.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Ngaoundere

#cameroon #kamerun #citylife #music #drummer #happy #lamidat #lamido #2015CE #Nikon #D800 #Nikkor #85mm #f14 #Ngaoundéré #Haut #Plateau #Ngaoundere #audience #music #musician #drummer

A nearly perfect roll of film.

At least for my standard.

I began my photography hobby shooting on film over two years ago.
It was expensive, it was hard, I was lacking the necessary skill to make anything good, but it was always the most pleasant shooting experience for me.
The manual feeling of the cameras, the fact every mistake I make is my own is what made it feel right.

The day I actually felt confident enough to shoot a project on film, I bought a good film camera with autofocus and paired it with my Nikkormat FT2.
I loaded the Nikkormat with a colour film for portraits and the Canon Eos 30 with black and white film for action and more casual scenes.

I shot a scooter meet, and needed the photos developed ASAP, so I went to finish the roll off within a week.

And so I captured different scenes, feels, colour pallets, and places all within a span of a week, meticulously for my standard composing each scene.

I couldn't be happier with the results

Here are the photos

Nikkormat FT2
Nikkor 1.4 50mm
Kodak 200 colour plus

#filmphotography #film #shootingonfilm #35mmfilm #35mm #nikkormat #nikkormatft2 #photography #streetphotography #scooter #scooterlife #beach #filmphotos #streetphotographer #kodak #kodak200colourplus #colourplus #nikon #nikkor #50mmlens

A panorama to a Win-win-area

This panorama from the front side of the Win-win Memorial shows the scale of the peace and recreation area.

The entire area spans 8 hectares and serves as a place of remembrance, reflection, and motivation. In addition to the central monument, there’s a separate 117-meter-long memorial wall adorned with bas-reliefs that narrate the journey toward a lasting peace after the foreign and civil wars. The site also features eight large and small water pools, a dedicated museum, several sculptures, and freshly planted trees and vegetation to create a greener park-like environment.

On the other end of the main road behind the flags the new big arena/stadium was being built. The new Morodok Techo National Stadium/arena was built to host sports event follow international rules for size and dimensions.
After it was finished, it has hosted various major international sporting event. Including the Asia Games. Additionally, this versatile arena can be used for concerts and exhibitions.

The memorial is located two metric miles north of the capital city Phnom Penh. The Win-Win Memorial, or វិមានឈ្នះឈ្នះ (Vĭméan Chhneăh Chhneăh) in Khmer, marks the end of over 30 years of civil wars and two decades of relatively successful transition to a peaceful society. The memorial was inaugurated in December 2018.

This photo was taken during a visit 8 weeks after the inaugural in 2019.

https://drzinasia.wordpress.com/2025/01/01/a-memorial-over-a-win-win-peace-strategy/

#2019CE #angkor #architecture #art #Asia #ទន្លេសាបពញ-យ-តវិមានឈ្នះឈ្នះ #bluesky #buddhism #Cambodia #CambodiaPeaceDay #capital #capitalcity #citylife #countryside #NikonD850 #daytrip #endofcivilwars #history #moderncapital #Nikkor #Nikon #peaceful #pearlofAsia #PhnomPenh #roadtrip #transport #travel #VĭméanChhneăhChhneăh #win-win #winwinmemorial #WinWin #Memorial #វិមានឈ្នះឈ្នះ #Khmer

Overgrown tools of war in peace park

A notable feature in the Win-Win Memorial is a separate Peace Park south of the main monument.
Military equipment such as fighter jets, armoured vehicles, cannons, and tanks is displayed, surrounded and slowly engulfed by trees and plants that will eventually envelop the war machines.
A simple, yet powerful message.
The Win-Win Memorial or វិមានឈ្នះឈ្នះ (Vĭméan Chhneăh Chhneăh) in Khmer, marks the end of over 30 years of civil wars and two decades of relatively successful transition to a peaceful society. The memorial was inaugurated in December 2018.
This Memorial is located two miles north of the capital city Phnom Penh.
The photos shown here are from my visit with Khmer friends in February 2019, six weeks after the inauguration.
Photos show a MIG- 21 “Fishbed” supersonic fighter, an early Soviet-era T-55 MBT and a 105 mm towed light howitzer field canon.

https://drzinasia.wordpress.com/2025/01/01/a-memorial-over-a-win-win-peace-strategy/

#2019CE #angkor #architecture #art #Asia #ទន្លេសាបពញ-យ-តវិមានឈ្នះឈ្នះ #bluesky #buddhism #Cambodia #CambodiaPeaceDay #capital #capitalcity #citylife #countryside #NikonD850 #daytrip #endofcivilwars #history #moderncapital #Nikkor #Nikon #peaceful #pearlofAsia #PhnomPenh #roadtrip #transport #travel #VĭméanChhneăhChhneăh #win-win #winwinmemorial #WinWin #Memorial #វិមានឈ្នះឈ្នះ #Khmer

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