(Photo Marc Levy - Click Image to Enlarge)
I met Mea at Ta'Prom, one of many archeological ruins at Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Prior, I had paid five bucks at the Ministry of Information for a Press Pass, having written my 'resume' on a computer at FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) in Phnom Penh.

Elephant Man drove me there from the Capitol Hotel, a backpackers place located in the center of town. Elephant Man was thirty two years old. Like the other young men clustered outside the hotel each morning he had survived Pol Pot and now hauled tourists on his Honda Cub. He knew English and when he spoke of Pol Pot he got quite angry. Rides in town were fifty cents. The Press Pass allowed me to stay in Siem Reap and visit Angkor Wat for seven days. There was something about Ta'Prom and I went there often. Mea was fluent in English and sold souvenirs. I treated him kindly and one day took a Japanese girl who was backpacking to his village. We brought food and music. Mea lived in bamboo house in a small village with his mom and brothers and sisters. Pigs, chickens and a large water buffalo nearby. 

We ate and danced and the Japanese girl, whose fiancé had dumped her, heart ache the cause for her travels, later she said she had a great time. On the speed boat from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, I met a powerful American named Carl who'd been in the Marines. We had a few adventures. Once, we played frisbee in a field and suddenly armed men walked out of the jungle. But let that be a story for another day.

When we first met Carl said he had wanted to fight in Vietnam but his brother was there so the Marines made him a spoon.
A spoon for three years.


(Photo Marc Levy - Click Image to Enlarge)
Sapa 1995: Father playing music to children.