Seeing more of the World: Part III Kampong Thom,Cambodia

We traveled by bus to this small less touristy town of Kampong Thom. We stayed at a great little hotel, the Sambor Village.












This gave us a nice break from the busy city of Phnom Penh, and a spot to cool down after a hot day in the countryside.

The much less visited ruins of Sambor Prei Kuk are just a tuk tuk ride away from Kampong Thom. 

Our ride awaits.

Sambor Prei Kuk predates the more famous Angkor Wat and was built in the 7th Century. It was built with bricks, rather than stone. Some of the structures are being restored with funds from various countries, but as these photos show, the vines have beautifully wrapped around many of the structures. (We also saw craters throughout the park that had been created by U.S. bombing 1969-1973.)

Our guide followed our tuk tuk for miles to the ruins, hoping to exchange his knowledge for our dollars. He spoke English and had been trained by a German-based archaeology program.

Looking up a tower into the sunlight

Our tuk tuk driver spoke little English, but gave us a wonderful ride through the Cambodian countryside.

We were fascinated by these contraptions (single cylinder engine)  that could haul tons of stuff.

Rice is harvested and raked out in the farmer's yard to dry.

Supervising the raking of the rice

Raking the rice

If your tuk tuk gets a flat tire, one young guy with two hands and two feet can replace the tire in the same time Les Schwab can do it with all the modern tools!

There are other things to see in the area. One is a silk farm where they grow a few silk worms (although most silk comes from China) and train women to weave the silk, a skill they can take with them to make a living in a larger production facility.

The silk worms start out as a green larva

Worms busy making silktreads

Mike ate a boiled silk worm--tastes just like peanuts!

Another industry in Kampong Thom is the carving these giant statues from stone. We wondered where all these would end up.

After this wonderful stay in Kampong Thom, we waited for a bus to take us on to Siem Reap.

Snails, anyone?

Seeing more of the World: Part II Phnom Penh,Cambodia

I am so glad that I travel with a journal! As I look over these photos a month after our trip, I am already confused about where we were and what was the most impressive part of our visit to each city. Luckily, I can look at my journal (along with some details I google) to make sense of over 700 photos. I'm trying to pick only the best.

Phnom Penh  

This was our first stop in Cambodia. This is the city that was evacuated by the Khmer Rouge in 1975, is known for the prisons of torture and death, and is one site of many "killing fields" used by the Khmer Rouge. We visited the Tuoi Sieng Genocide Museum. We took no pictures. Our guide was 12 when her family was told to leave the city. She and her mother ended up separated, working in the fields. Her father and siblings were killed. This is one of many stories we were told. Everyone we met in Cambodia had their own story or a family story about the horrifying reign (1975-79) of the Khmer Rouge.

However, this country is moving on, and so did we. Visiting the Royal Palace, it is easy to envision the days when the king rode an elephant while scenes from the "King and I" float through your mind.

Stupa holding the remains of a king.

Spectacular painted ceilings 

A mural of Sanskrit epic poem wraps around the interior of the walls.

This was painted in 1903-1904 by a team of art students.

Before leaving the palace grounds we washed with a bit of sacred water.

The city of Phnom Penh is full of markets and tuk tuks. The traffic is crazy and crossing the street on foot can be rather terrifying. 

Seafood Anyone?

Buying a hat

And then there is the poultry department

At the end of a hot, busy day of sight seeing, the Foreign Correspondent's Club, overlooking the Mekong River, was a good spot to sit and sip on a cold drink.

Seeing more of the World: Part I Hong Kong

My husband and I racked up the miles with a 3-week trip to SE Asia this winter. Every day brought new adventures. We encountered many different places, different cultures, and met many new friends.

I'm inviting you to view a lot of our photos and read about our trip. For me, blogging is a wonderful way of  keeping historical records for myself! I'm surprised at how useful my writings and photos can be as I try to keep track of  the happenings of my life.

Hong Kong: three days to adjust to a time change and see this world class city.

Hong Kong is home to the world's tallest building. On a days, such as we had, of fog and rain the skyscrapers are endless. Throughout our travels we saw fantastic landscaping, topiaries and bonsai.

And even in this city of over seven million, we found a lovely, quiet, and nearly deserted spot to escape some of the city's exuberance.

Hong Kong is well known for it's food and shopping. Our first morning, I ordered a typical Hong Kong breakfast--a bowl of noodles is served with 2 fried eggs and a side plate of sausage and toast.

East meets West breakfast in Hong Kong.

Another big food thing for me was to have a traditional Dim Sum meal. After reading up online, I was convinced that Maxim's with a view of Hong Kong's Harbor was just the place. If you travel on your own in foreign cities where English is not the native language, you soon learn that getting directions that you understand and can follow can be a challenge. But, of course, that is part of the fun. We had to navigate our way from the mainland Hong Kong to Hong Kong Island using public transportation. Once on the island, we had to get across the city, find our way to under a major street, walk around several giant buildings. We asked a lot of folks and got more than a few misunderstandings before we arrived at Maxim's. However, it was not the dim sum Maxim's--that was up two more flights. Finally we arrived at the spot that would serve me my dream dim sum lunch! But wait! We arrived 20 minutes before closing for lunch and hours before dinner. The hostess was pleasantly, but firmly, turning away customers. I was nearly tearing up! As we turned to leave she grabbed Mike's arm and pulled us into the fabulous room. I don't know if it was the Asian respect for elders, or the fact that she saw I was near an emotional breakdown, but she let these 2 Americans in and we were the last customers of the day. I cherished each bite!

Maxim's City Hall Palace

Num num dim sum

One of the full days we had in Hong Kong, we decided to see some of the sites Hong Kong is well known for. We started out early to hit Flower Market Road.

On our way to Flower Market Road.

What an eye-full of flowers and plants we found, both for indoors and out!

I love the succulent filled laughing Buddhas!

We then ventured on to Wong Tai Sin Temple, a very popular and busy Taoist shrine. We were in SE Asia in time to be part of the mounting excitement for the coming Lunar New Year, which is a huge celebration.

Entrance to Wong Tai Sin Temple

One of the 12 Chinese zodiac sculptures.

A courtyard full of burning incense, bells, lanterns and worshiping.

Before we knew it, we were packing up and on our way to Cambodia, but we had one last night to make some new friends and enjoy a beer!

Letter from Rosie

The Wonder of the Internet!

I wrote my first blog post in October of 2007. I was just beginning my life as an artist with no other job except enjoying living in Hawaii. Living on an active volcano, I explored ways to express the wildness and unpredictability of this amazing part of our planet. Over the years we lived there, I painted and repainted this theme.

In 2011 an elementary art teacher in Maryland, Holly B., found this image on my blog and posted it on her blog: blog:http://linesdotsanddoodles.blogspot.com/ She shares her lesson ideas for connecting art to many different subjects. I found her blog by tracking the traffic statistics of my own blog.I get hits through "lines and doodles" on a regular basis. I also get viewers from around the world

My web presence frequently brings attention to my artwork, and I get emails from people inquiring about a particular piece or commissions.

But this email really grabbed me.

Hello Margaret,  my name is Rosie and l am seven and live in Haddenham in England . At school we are looking at your pictures of volcanoes and I really like them. Please could you tell me if you have seen a real one and how you did your pictures so I can make my own just like yours. Thank you very much. From Rosie 

My reply:

Dear Rosie,

For a couple of years I was lucky enough to live on the "Big Island" Hawaii. That island is actually made up of 5 volcanoes. Kilauea is currently active. When I lived there 7 years ago, we watched the hot red lava go right into the ocean, which made such a red steamy sky. Here is a painting based on what we might see on an evening hike.

  

  

For the painting I think you've seen of mine, I started with acrylic ink which I would place on good heavy watercolor paper in line with generous amounts here and there then blow on the wet ink to move it up into explosive lines. That makes the horizon line. After that was completely dry, I would begin painting the sky and landscape. You must know that my work is abstract, meaning that it is what I want to see--what's in my head--rather than a literal interpretation. Sometimes I will add other papers (collage) to my work or stamps I've made.

If you use this link to go to my blogspot, you will see some entries I made while in Hawaii.

http://margaretgodfreyart.blogspot.com/search?q=volcano 

Two things an artist needs to be: brave and experimental. Remember, it's only paper you are working on. You can always get another sheet of paper!

So the internet presence is there for the long haul. It is used for really good things like sharing and teaching art. A little girl in England can directly communicate with an artist almost 5,000 miles away, to talk about painting techniques!  Wow!

Christmas 2016: From Fine Art to Fun Art

First let me wish all my readers, viewers, followers, friends and family a very Happy New Year! My goal for 2016 is to have a fulfilling year full of art, family, and friends, with a sprinkling of adventure. I wish you all the same!

We were so fortunate to have our daughters, son-in-law and 4 grandchildren here to celebrate the holidays. We were missing our oldest granddaughter, who had been with us at Thanksgiving.

We really enjoyed the day that my sister Janice came up to visit before December 25th. She and Hannah got some good reading in!

One of the phrases that most tickled me when some of the family lived with us more than a year ago, was Hannah (the youngest) asking, "Mimi, can we do a cwaft?" So before the kids arrived, I spent some time on Pinterest (what a resource) looking for some crafty projects that would work for our wide age range. 

Here are some of the results.

Sharpie colored plastic cups, softened in the oven then flattened.

Pine cone owls.

Santa in the chimney

And then there was some thoughtful gift making.

Angelica and Marin filled jars with thoughts of appreciation for a couple of special people ( mom and BFFs)

The last project was making snowmen out of white socks. (Hannah has a lot of problems keeping her shirt on. I guess it was a hot project :)


We had no crew socks in our house, so we had to raid our neighbors. Luckily they had a drawer full of mismatched white socks.





























After the kids had their snowmen, they made up some great scenarios for their new characters.

Snowmen visiting Lego Town.

Sock-snowmen playing checkers.

And finally, the family portrait. Have a wonderful January!