In the past two days I've managed to get some good shots of my two daughters, and the technique of simply grabbing them with one hand and snapping the results seemed to work quite well.
Teenager On The Move 🚶♀️
The thumbnail shot was taken just after the above pic because I asked Srey-Yuu for a picture, she refused, and then I her showed my dadly strength and might by grabbing her wrist and taking a picture of my captive family member. Parental abuse or friendly shenanigans to maintain morale and keep the soldiers happy and laughing, you decide 😉.
After the captive shot. Srey-Yuu volunteered this shot of herself hanging some laundry in exchange for an hour of podcasts. She drives a tough bargain, but I gotta snap any pics she'll let me take because cooperative photos of Srey-Yuu are a rarity.
👷♀️ The Excavator & The Ninja 🥷
While Srey-Yuu was busy hanging laundry I saw Monkey-B and Ah Boom playing, and wondered what he'd do if he knew the camera was on him. As soon as he knew he was the target, he struck a ninja pose and Monkey-B kept digging dirt as if I wasn't even there. A few seconds after I took this pic I was walking away and saw his stick fly by my head, one of the many close calls that always seem to happen when he is around. He is cute, but wild and mostly undisciplined, and it's very tiresome to enforce a different code of conduct on our property that he is not used to at home.
Backup Plans Cancelled 🚫
Yesterday I was contacted by some potential guests about renting the cabin and staying on our land for a weekend homestay escape. They told us their reservations at a large and well-known Cardamom Mountains resort were cancelled by the staff because of a clerical error. We began preparing the cabin and cutting the grass near the cabin in order to allow a better view of the rapids and forest.
After a day of getting things ready for some short-notice guests, I got a message letting me know our place was way too far and they wouldn't be able to make it. The cancelled now became the cancellers, but it's fine, I understand. The bottom edge of the Cardamom Mountains is easily accessed by a highway running from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, two of the largest cities in Cambodia, and therefore tourism is well-developed in those parts.
None of the roads to the south of us are good enough to use for taxi transport because the mountains are too rugged, so you basically have to skirt the outer edges of the mountains and use a long remote highway to get to us. It's a double-edged sword, the thing that keeps this place beautiful also makes it very inaccessible.
Yo' Monkey-B ⛏️
Monkey-B always has several different faces for the camera, and when I asked her what she was doing, this was the face I was given, but not necessarily an answer. That is one cheeky daughter if you ask me, so I decided I'd snag her a few times throughout the day and see what photos I could produce.
The first time I went fishin' for a Monkey-B I caught the above face, slightly playful and a little threatening. I waited a few more minutes, then hid behind the door and snatched her arm as she was walking in the house, and this produced some better results.
I don't want to brag, but even though my kids think I am a total dork, it's clear I keep them happy and laughing as much as possible, and I'm usually such an active parent that I only find time to post after they've gone to bed, and that is the case on this night as I write this sentence at 12:04 am.
Tibetan Momo Chef At Work ☸️
Fast forward to early evening and I find that if I do the hard work of making the dough and the stuffing, the ladies are quite happy to prepare and fry the momos, so that is the current dumpling situation in this house. Tibetan momos are luckily legal food in Cambodia, but the Tibetan flag is outlawed due to Cambodia's coziness with China's CCP.
Intruder Campers ⛺
Earlier in the day some wealthy youngsters from Phnom Penh asked if they could park their cars on our land, and I allowed them, but also asked what their plans were. They said they wanted to camp at the river, and I asked if they'd like to rent our hammock hut or cabin, and they declined. I was a little pissed off because they'd just spend at least a hundred dollars on plastic-wrapped goods at our neighbor's house, but seemed intent on not spending any money on accommodation for the night.
We had already heard from our friendly non-enemy neighbors that they'd refused to pay $2.50 to pitch tents at their place, so I already knew they were trying to cheapskate us. I didn't ask for any parking fees, but would you believe when it got dark that we found they'd simply pitched tents behind our house and occupied the hammock hut without asking? Well, they did, and that's why Cambodian tourists from Phnom Penh are banned from our property, they've only ever caused problems. They were even kind enough to make a new firepit 4 meters from an existing firepit and use firewood I spent weeks collecting for their pleasure, and thanks for the pile of half-burnt trash.
The following morning we took pictures of the license plates on their Lexus and Toyota, and added them to the banned for life list. Meekness is not to be misunderstood for weakness, something the Cambodian culture has not grasped yet, and we spent the evening by the campfire with our trespassers in full view. From now on out I will say no thanks to rich entitled passerby tourists and instead focus on making bookings for people that actually want to come with a sense of respect. Luckily the fence will be going up in the next few weeks, and this will help to keep out trespassers because the rope boundary around our property isn't intimidating enough.
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