1 DREAM / 17 COUNTRIES / 10,963 PHOTOS

Now that I have wrapped up Australia, I have officially closed a chapter. I started this blog with the intention of charting a 1.5 year trip around the world. I left New York City in May of 2013 with a backpack and a dream. I left on the trip with someone and finished it on my own. If you have followed my course, you will know that I made it through almost a year when I left out of Vietnam to head to LA to care for a sick mother and sever a relationship that had runs its’ course. Within that year I had touched the Berlin Wall, saw the midnight sun in the Arctic Circle, ate reindeer, marveled at Red Square, hopped the Trans-Siberian Railway, dipped in the oldest and deepest lake in the world, slept among nomads in Mongolia, rode camels, rode horses, milked goats, drank fermented mare’s milk, climbed the sand dunes in the Gobi Desert, saw the Taj Mahal, got Delhi Belly, got grabbed, got amazing photos, got eaten alive by mosquitoes, ached for a comfortable bed, wailed for a hot shower, laughed, cried, hunted for Buddha’s tooth, saw blue whales, went for my first scuba dive, island hopped, rode bikes, rode tuk tuk’s, lost clothes, lost my mind, lost faith, broke bread, broke my heart, cut clothes, cut ties, made connections, acknowledged disconnections, wrote words, spat words, held words, felt strong, felt weak, felt big, felt small, carried gear, carried thoughts, carried baggage, threw clothes, threw fits, almost threw up, almost quit the trip several times over, wanted to escape the escape, loved moments, hated moments, was blown away, enamored, shattered, in awe, in pieces, complete, completely unsure, 100% sure, surely wrecked, surely aware, acutely aware, and there at the Ho Chi Minh airport in April of this year, I said goodbye to that part of the journey.

When I got to LA, I vowed to finish the end of the trip on my own once my mom was well enough. At least finish seeing the last of my family, which I hadn’t made it to, whom reside in Indonesia and Australia.

The summer was full of reinvention and transformation during a time of tough circumstances.

As summer closed, I boarded another plane as a different woman. Off to finish what I had started. I traveled through Indonesia and Australia for six weeks. Zigzagging among family and beautiful landscape. I was open and brave in ways I wasn’t before. My heart was full. It was glorious. I had originally planned on New Zealand after Australia, but my heart had other ideas. I changed my ticket with chance in mind and found myself in San Francisco shortly thereafter.

As the trip came to a close, it was bittersweet. This specific journey was over, yet I was thrilled for the next chapter! It has been amazing to share this specific journey with you and I can't wait to share what's to come. Thanks for all the support. During the next month, Nomadic Habit will be taking on new shape and I can't wait to reveal Nomadic Habit version 2.0.

Of the 10,963 photos I currently have from 17 countries, I wanted to share one image from each country that I haven't yet shared in honor of this journey. I hope you enjoy.

THAT'S A WRAP! I DID IT!

What an amazing adventure. I will never be the same. Just wait until you see what I have up my sleeve.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Cambodia

The Killing Fields were brutal, but the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum made me ill. Literally. While it was once a school, it was transformed into security Office 21 under the orders of Pol Pot on April 17, 1975.  Office 21, or S-21 for short was designed for detention, interrogation, torture and killing. The prisoner records of S-21 counts up to 10,519 prisoners from the years 1975-1978.

It is quite eerie to walk the halls of a once primary and high school knowing it housed over 10,000 prisoners in abhorrent conditions. The energy is rooted in the walls and it had my stomach turning.

Bodies of fourteen victims were discovered by the United Front for the National Salvation of Kampuchea (UFNSK) on January 7, 1979. The corpses were unidentifiable due to decomposition and were buried in front of the building. These were the last people to be tortured and killed by personal before they fled.

Below are a few of the rooms where the fourteen victims were found. Each room has a photo of what was initially discovered by the UFNSK. The images are graphic can be really tough to look at. This isn't your typical museum where replicas are in place to show you the conditions. You are in the actual room where these bodies were found and their beds and other objects are right there with you.

The first building is what made me feel ill. Absorbing all that took place in the actual place is exhausting to your soul. We move on to another building where classrooms were converted into several small brick cells. Stepping into one is claustrophobic and you wonder just who and how many people were crowded into these walls that were once full of children with educational aspirations.

Other rooms are filled with faces, faces, faces. Everyone is photographed and documented. A picture is worth a thousand words and these faces say it all. As a photographer I am feeling at odds. Some of these images are actually beautiful portraits, but for the ugliest of reasons and so I can't call these pictures art and yet I can't stop starring at them. What were they thinking? What are their stories? The sheer number of faces is overwhelming.

Click on the images below to view them larger...

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The woman below I was particularly mesmerized by because her eyes evoked such desperation.

If the eyes are the window to the soul, her soul is certainly screaming for help.

I cannot tell you how deeply impactful this experience was and how desperately sad it made me.

How and why as humans do we kill our own fellow man? And why is it still happening?

For more images of the prison, go here.

Killing Fields, Cambodia

Readers beware, the next two posts are going to be heavy as we dig into the genocidal history of Cambodia. While in Angkor Wat I saw Cambodia as this magical place with a rich and beautiful past. I wondered what the grounds must have looked like at its peak. While that was the rise of Cambodia, we are now delving into the fall of Cambodia, and the magic turns into terror. If you are not familiar with the Khmer Rouge or the genocide that took place in 1975-1979 led by Pol Pot that killed up to 3 million Cambodians, then here is a quick overview.

As a result, the country was filled with mass graves called killing fields. We visited the most well known one called Choeung Ek just outside of Phnom Penh. It's horrifying, unfathomable, and absolutely terrifying.

What troubled me most was the "killing tree" (seen below), where children were smashed and beaten against the tree to death. The other troubling aspect is that this took place in the 70's. It is not ancient history and the world did nothing. This is nothing short of infuriating.

The grounds include a memorial that house skulls that have been unearthed. Their violent deaths are visible on their skulls as many were killed in vicious, barbaric ways.

The earth is visibly scarred from the atrocities.

The land now with large dips where bodies were once piled also has not recovered.

Could it ever?

Then you ask yourself...

How did this happen?

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

After the magic of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, we took a cramped minivan to Phnom Penh. This would serve as our base for visiting the killing fields and genocide museum. While it proved to be quite a heavy visit and before I get to posting about those two places, this is a look into Phnom Penh, which is quite colorful and ripe for picture taking.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia | Part 2

The second day of the tour is much like the first. Getting lost in ruins, stone passageways, and watching the trees slowly devour the towering walls.

The area is truly magical...

Angkor Wat, Cambodia | Part 1

Now that we've explored Siem Reap, it's time to see what we really came here for... Angkor Wat! While Angkor Wat is the main temple that you think of when you think of Angkor, the area is filled with different ruins and the task of exploration takes two days. You can buy a 1 day ticket for $20, or a 2 or 3 day ticket for $40. It's best to explore the area by hiring a tuk tuk for the day which is exactly what we did. The drive is beautiful, lovely, and peaceful. Angkor Wat is well kept and impressive, but I particularly loved the more unruly temples and ruins that the earth appears to be claiming back, one tree root at a time. Trees devour the temples like an ancient stone meal and it looks as if Medusa's hearty locks are in the form of roots. The decay is terrifyingly beautiful, and it's apparent that earth's mouth is hungry for man's meal.

Don't these ruins look like such a delicious meal? Stay tuned for Part 2!

Siem Reap, Cambodia

After some New York pizza in Bangkok, we hopped an Air Asia flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia where we stayed at Angkor Orchid Central Hotel. It was a steal for around $15/night when we booked on Agoda.com. Airport tuk tuk pickup included! While Siem Reap is the jumping off point for Angkor Wat, I found the central town to be both charming and photogenic.

Don't you think?