MEKONG DELTA : A MOODBOARD

10 months ago, before the dark days upended time and space, i spent two days in a sampan on the mekong river delta in southern vietnam, and another two days exploring the ruins of angkor, the khmer empire's capital city, in siem reap, cambodia. it's suddenly november.

the memory of both is cinematic: a reconstruction that's sequential but non-linear, skips the in-betweens and goes straight into the fragments of scenes.

mekong is languor, biodiversity, saturation, intimacy, rawness, kitsch.

angkor is adventure, erosion, portals, mystery, detail, erotic symbolism.

to revisit these places, after so much has changed in you this year, is to recapture more forcefully the impact of what life means now compared to then. to move freely elsewhere 10 months ago is to be free in this moment.

on location in vietnam: cái bè. cao đài temple. brick factory. sa đéc outdoor market. nhà cổ ("ancient house"). cần thơ. (JAN 17-19 2020)

related stories: the dark days in la • angkor