there's just something about markets...

I've always been drawn to markets. Markets are usually in the center of it all. They represent people coming together to buy, to sell, to gossip, to visit, to get advice, to share, to taste, to trade. This is something that has gone on for ages all around the world, and it creates a beautiful energy easily drawn in to. For me, the local market is the best way to get to know an area: you can quickly determine the local produce and foods, the prices usually determine how isolated you are, the locals' reactions determine the frequency of tourists. Ultimately, it’s a no frills way to experience a place and its people. We sought these out in all the cities we visited, getting a taste of the unique flavors of each place.

Here are some iphone snaps from Vietnam and Cambodian markets...

Lumps & bumps & a really hard lesson

Recently I was sent this link called The 3 A's of Awesome, if you haven't seen it, I HIGHLY recommend it. In this inspirational talk, one thing Neil Pasricha touches upon is life as having lumps and bumps along the way. Since watching it,  I have used the phrase quite regularly. Especially so on this last adventure to Vietnam and Cambodia. Let's see... here are just a few of the "lumps and bumps" I experienced along the way...

-getting hit by a motor-bike driven by a Russian tourist when his brakes failed (or so his story goes)

-having a full body heat rash for the first week (at least it wasn't fungus, which was my first fear)

-losing my favorite anklet I got on a trip to Indonesia with my brother

-getting food poisoning (imagine sleeping on the floor of a moldy bathroom getting sick for 2 days- not cool)

-having my battery charger blow up in the electrical socket and couldn't charge my camera batteries for the rest of the trip

-falling on some rocks by the ocean, hurting my knee and wrist and bouncing my head off the rocks

-ruining 2 favorite pairs of sunglasses

And finally... having my laptop stolen with 2 days left on the trip.

Most of them are little things that happen in life (well, sometimes my life feels a bit more troublesome than most, especially when I travel!). Anklets, sunglasses and battery chargers can be replaced, my body will always heal itself (and luckily there were no broken bones), but it's the stolen laptop that's really hard to swallow.

I didn't back up my laptop. There, I said it.

I lost all my travel photos from the trip, but more importantly were the photos taken by the children in the orphanages we visited. I am so angry with myself for not being more responsible... I had every intention of backing up... I even had a portable hard drive with me! The photos were for a project... a foundation I am starting that is centered around supplying cameras to orphanages around the world, giving these children a voice to share their vision, to learn, to be empowered... to have fun! Luckily, the video footage is still intact, and I will share that as soon as I have something put together.

So the point of all of this... there will always be lumps and bumps along the way, but if there are things you have been putting off (like updating your software so you can use icloud) or other precautions you could take so the big lessons will instead just be little bumps... then do it!

The few photos I didn't lose were from my iphone... here are some of the incredible children we had the pleasure of meeting.

Send me your emails please!

My darling clients, friends, family and subscribers. I am sad to say that I have lost all your email addresses. They remain in Vietnam with my stolen laptop. Not to worry, your addresses are protected via multiple passwords, however I can no longer access them.

I apologize if you were expecting an email I haven't returned.

Please send me a message so I can add your email to my new, fully backed up, address book.

melissa@melissagidneyphoto.com

Thank you! xoxo

Here's an iphone snap from Vietnam to brighten this rainy day...

The Horrors of the Khmer Rouge

I am embarrassed to say that before coming to Cambodia, I didn’t know much about the Khmer Rouge. I watched ‘The Killing Fields’, but it wasn’t until I read this memoir that I gained a better understanding of this act of genocide by the organization led by Pot Pol in 1975. The Khmer Rouge subjected Cambodia to a radical social reform process that was aimed at creating a purely agrarian-based Communist society, forcing over 2 million people out of the cities to work in collective farms, depriving them of their basic rights as they controlled how Cambodians acted, what they wore, who they could talk to, and many other aspects of their lives. Money was abolished, books were burned, teachers, merchants, and almost the entire intellectual elite of the country were murdered.

In addition to the relocation and forced labor, the Khmer Rouge isolated the country from foreign influence, closing schools, hospitals and factories, abolishing banking, finance and currency, outlawing all religions, and confiscating all private property. These actions resulted in massive deaths through executions and torture, work exhaustion, illness, and starvation.

About 4 million people, over half of the country’s population, were lost to the unspeakable and brutal ways of the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot died on April 15, 1998, having never been put on trial.

‘First They Killed My Father’ by Loung Ung is a firsthand account of a five year old girl forced to flee from Phnom Penh in 1975 with her family, eventually being trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans. Her story is heart wrenching and horrific, and yet reminds us how strong the human spirit can be in the face of such horrors.