I have been in the US for 39 days now and starting to feel like I am settling down. From the moment I got here I have been navigating through NYC’s train system, busing back in forth between NY and PA, driving down to the Carolinas, jumping from couch to couch, and driving from neighborhood to neighborhood everyday looking for a job.
Finally!
I have a place to call home.
I have a job.
My cat is by my side.
Classes begins on the 20th.
The Rover has landed on Mars.
I’m ready.
I can breathe.
Today was another exciting step in my new life. I am now the proud owner of a Honda Metropolitan Moped! A big time thanks to my mother and father who encouraged me to get one. Perhaps the encouragement came more from my father, I think Mom is still a little nervous nelly about the whole situation, but she went a long with it like a trooper, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
Since I have been moving around so much, I haven’t had a lot of time to reflect. A friend posted this video, and when I watched it, time stood still for me. With the video came a wave of emotion that was undeniable. I love the city of Phnom Penh, and I can’t wait for the day I return. Please watch, it is truly beautiful, not to mention the music by Sigur Ros:
Shot this over a period of 3 weeks around Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh using a Canon 550D and intervalometer. The panning shot was created using the upturned base of a swivel office chair lashed to the tripod legs and a flexible plastic door seal marked with length increments to give a somewhat consistent incremental rotation. Didn’t cost me a penny:-) Over 5,000 individual photos were required to produce the 5 minute video.
Phnom Penh is a city moving into the 21st century at an astonishing rate. Western technological and social influences are creating a highly contrasting society between those who embrace change and those who can’t or won’t. Where the west had decades for society to progress in parallel with technology, Cambodian people are trying to squeeze that progression into just a few years. This video represents the pace at which this city is changing.
-David Simon Photography
HERE'S TO NOW 