An image I took at Père-Lachaise Cemetery in 2001 on my K1000 Pentax film camera (I loved this little beast!) has been included in the online map publication Schmap!  You can see my entry here with my name!!!  I only recently got some negatives scanned at Fitzgerald Photo Imaging and uploaded onto Flickr so I am very excited that the image got noticed and included.

I cannot wait for my European trip next year (destination wedding in Greece - WOO HOO) to go again to Paris and visit and now with my Schmap on my iPod touch (massive PLUG!) and when I meet a lost tourist I will help them out with the map and casually say “oh by the way, that is my image of the cemetery - you should visit…”

BTW it just goes to show it is not about the camera or the lens…  I picked up the K1000 secondhand with one 50mm fixed lens in London for 120 quid and travelled extensively with it until my conversion to digital in 2006!

I met two friends from Victoria, Rach and Loz in Cambodia for this adventure.  We had already travelled as a threesome before hitting Sicily in 2006 (and almost hitting a few locals with our little Micra as we negotiated tiny alleyways and giant potholes) and Rach and I have travelled through Africa and Vietnam together as well.

Cambodia was a mixed bag of surprises, with stunning ancient ruins, friendly people and beautiful markets.  Unfortunately it wasn’t all beautiful with tourist clambering all over the ruins of Ankgor and the surrounding temples, not paying attention to blocked off areas, poverty and environmental problems.  The poverty of the cambodian people was highlighted for me especially, hotels and tour companies operated by businesses that are not Cambodian owned and profits do not go back into local infrastructure.  Also visiting the beautiful silver pagoda with all it’s riches and coming out of the compound to be confronted by beggers left a bad taste in my mouth. 

All that aside, I loved my time in Cambodia (thanks Rach and Loz for a great time!) and hope you enjoy the photos.

PS I didn’t get the monks to pose for me but I may have stalked some around Angkor for a couple of hours…