Open eyes to begin journey

Putang Village, Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia. The Pnong tribe...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:06:00 +0530

Putang Village, Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia.

The Pnong tribe have tamed wild elephants to use for hunting and logging for thousands of years. Many years ago, entire families began to die mysteriously in the village and nobody could figure out the cause. Animal sacrifices were made to appease the spirits but the deaths continued. The villagers finally learnt that an elephant in their community was pregnant and noone had known about it.

The deaths in Putang village were blamed on the pregnant elephant and a meeting with the village elders came to the conclusion that the owner of the elephant is to be held responsible for all the deaths. The man was made to compensate the families of the deceased by offering them farm animals and cash. Till today, no pregnant elephant is allowed into the village and most villagers own male elephants. Buying an elephant illegally from across the border in Vietnam can cost anything between US$5000-10000.

If two village members want to have their elephants mated, they must spend the entire gestation period which can last anywhere between 20-22 months in the forest with their animals. The men and the elephants are forbidden from entering or coming anywhere near the village during this period. Only immediate family members are allowed to deliver food to the men in the jungle without touching them. Failure to follow these rules may cause the men to be outcast from the village or a recurrence of those mysterious deaths. The men and the elephants can only re-enter the village with their newborn.

Today, female elephants are not used in the village and no one has yet undergone this tedious process to own a baby elephant. The Pnong can no longer afford to buy new elephants and illegal logging in their forests is forcing them to give up their ancient ways.

Putang Village, Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia. Being one of the...

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 11:31:22 +0530

Putang Village, Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia.

Being one of the most sparsely populated regions of Cambodia, the Mondulkiri province is home to a majority of the Pnong tribe living in the country. The Pnong are an animist tribe and continue to live the way they did 2000 years ago, collecting food from the forests and hunting. It is said that crimes like murders, rapes and robberies are unheard of in Pnong society. The Pnong have suffered greatly at the hands of the Pol Pot regime when their villages were burnt down and entire families were taken away to work in the rice fields.

Krong Te Village, Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia. With the sun...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 22:42:59 +0530

Krong Te Village, Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia.

With the sun setting unimaginably faster, stranded in a Pnong tribe village with few options of leaving due to the bad roads and lack of electricity; an old man generously offered to host us for the night. Everything he owned shows itself in this photograph.

He cooked himself a pot of plain rice and retreated to a balcony from where only his loneliness, a full moon and a village engulfed in darkness were visible. With a common language missing, we watched the moon silently for hours while he incessantly drank tea and blew smoke rings.

Bou Sra Waterfall, Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia.

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 22:27:00 +0530

Bou Sra Waterfall, Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia.

Krong Te Village, Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia. Getting to some...

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:43:00 +0530

Krong Te Village, Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia.

Getting to some of the wilder Pnong tribal villages by motorbike requires skills that can only be acquired by the determination to explore the unknown. Muddy paths are suddenly transmogrified into bottomless pits of soft earth that stretch endlessly through the forests where electricity, running water and shops are alien things. During the monsoons, the paths leading to these villages will invite no visitors.

Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia.

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:26:37 +0530

Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia.

Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia. The Pnong tribe are the largest...

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 12:39:00 +0530

Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia.

The Pnong tribe are the largest tribe in Mondulkiri and sustain themselves by cultivating, rice, taro, yams, pumpkins and beans, some of which is sold at markets to earn a little spending money. The 2000 year old Pnong have been nomadic for centuries but have begun living a sedentary life as the forest area where they forage for food is depleting and road development has threatened their nomadic lifestyle. Living deep in the jungle, the animistic Pnong believe everything, animate and inanimate possesses a spirit and animal sacrifices are still carried out to appease upset spirits.

Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia. In the largest and most sparsely...

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:59:53 +0530

Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia.

In the largest and most sparsely populated region of Cambodia, the gold rush still lives on, where the roads turn to red dust as soon as you leave the two-street main town and a feeling of lawlessness and unknown clogs the green air. The province is carpeted with endless, deep, dense forests where a few lucky tigers and elephants may still survive alongside communes of tribal minorities. The jungles which the tribes call home are the same jungles where millions of dollars worth of wood and gold hide.

Tuol Sleng Museum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Between 1975 and 1979,...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 14:57:00 +0530

Tuol Sleng Museum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Between 1975 and 1979, an estimated twenty thousand Cambodians were tortured and executed at S-21, most of whom were government officials, engineers, teachers, soldiers and anybody considered a ‘thinking person’ by the Pol Pot regime. Renamed by the Khmer Rouge as ‘Security Prison 21’, the former school was one of the biggest prisons of the Khmer Rouge regime and which was transformed and rebuilt to accomodate torture chambers and prison cells. Today, the haunting building is a gory reminder of one of the worst genocides in human history that many often forget.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Riding past walls marked with graffiti...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 14:38:28 +0530

Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Riding past walls marked with graffiti through narrow back alleys, I asked around for how to get to Phnom Penh’s biggest lake, the Boeung Kak lake and the locals pointed me in various directions and continued to smile wryly, shaking their heads saying, ‘No lake’.

Few minutes later, I found myself standing on sand where once a lake stood, where once thousands of families lived on it’s banks and sustained themselves on it’s waters. A lake which is now sand, where will be built an 80 million dollar commercial and housing project. Hundreds have been imprisoned for protesting illegal evictions and thousands wait homeless and landless, and future maps of the city will prove the lake’s inexistence.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:23:00 +0530

Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 20:52:17 +0530

Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Along the legendary Tonle Sap riverside...

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 15:52:22 +0530

Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Along the legendary Tonle Sap riverside where white-haired, male tourists hang out in bars with young Cambodian women on one side, a major redevelopment scheme readies itself to change the face of the city on the other side of the river. Besides the potential of being ugly and disastrous for the river, the construction plans have dislocated several small river-dependent communities in order to make way for hotels and high-rises.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 21:21:14 +0530

Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia. As much as the King is loved and admired...

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 21:14:34 +0530

Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

As much as the King is loved and admired by the Cambodians, he has often been criticized for supporting the Khmer Rouge who ended up killing five of his children. The man who seemingly loved fast cars, women and called Mao Zedong and Kim Il Sung his close friends was also a man who fought hard to rid Cambodia of French colonists.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I was welcomed by silence and deep sadness...

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 10:17:47 +0530

Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

I was welcomed by silence and deep sadness as I arrived in Phnom Penh as thousands from around the country descended to the capital city to pay their respects to the late King Norodom Sihanouk. People hung around the palace all day praying and lighting incense sticks in front of the larger-than-life size photograph that hung in front of the palace.

Koh Tonsay Island, Krong Kep Province, Cambodia. Cambodia turned...

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:12:58 +0530

Koh Tonsay Island, Krong Kep Province, Cambodia.

Cambodia turned out to be a wonderful little package of surprises with its stunning, crystal clear coastlines and islands shaped like paradise. Koh Tonsay island, with no electricity and no running water but with the most beautiful blue waters with a stunning forest as a backdrop turned out to be one of the most serene spots in the country.

Bokor National Park, Kampot Province, Cambodia. A nearby factory...

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:42:42 +0530

Bokor National Park, Kampot Province, Cambodia.

A nearby factory openly discharges its chemical waste into a stream that flows further downstream into the Popokvil Waterfall which is a tourist attraction and now runs the color of a rusty red.

Bokor National Park, Kampot Province, Cambodia. Spreading over a...

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:17:51 +0530

Bokor National Park, Kampot Province, Cambodia.

Spreading over a distance of 1500 square kilometers, the Bokor National Park provides habitat to numerous endangered species like tigers, Asian elephants, Gibbons, black bears, partridges, deer, pangolins, mongoose, etc. and also doubles as a major water source for the province of Kampot.

In 2008, a major part of the National Park was leased for 99 years to a multi-million dollar conglomerate who has begun constructing casinos and resorts and plans to build a rich man’s mega-city inside the so-called protected area. Wild animals have been poached to the point of extinction in these forests and illegal logging is rampant. Vast areas of the forest have been burnt down to make space for factories and hotels leaving the park empty and treeless.

Bokor National park, Kampot, Cambodia.

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 20:21:30 +0530

Bokor National park, Kampot, Cambodia.