Ryan Anders

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Meet Votey, one of Cambodia’s young heroes. Together with her partners, ហុក សុវណ្ណវត្តី created Cambodia’s first hand-washable menstrual pad. “It’s all about changing the social norms or misconceptions. I just want a change in women’s freedom. To understand themselves and not feel disgusted about their own body.” #menstruation #period #women #freedom #womensrights #freedom #instafeminism instawomensrights #PhnomPhen #Cambodia‪ #HumanStories #StreetPhotography #MakePortraits #Street #TravelPhotography #Instagood #PicOfTheDay‬ ‪#Life‬ #neverstopexploring (at Phnom Penh) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3LrwCyBxWv/?igshid=wbv5j2svpufo

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This is my friend Chi, who currently studies English in Phnom Phen. It’s amazing how someone who didn’t grow up in an English-speaking country, can learn to speak flawless English. When Chi’s not studying, he’s also got a full-on job. He’s gonna go great places in life! Thanks to Chi, we were able to shoot a cool video with Ou Vanndy two years ago. #PhnomPhen #Cambodia ‪#Travel #HumanStories #StreetPhotography #MakePortraits #Street #TravelPhotography #Instagood #PicOfTheDay‬ ‪#Life‬ #neverstopexploring (at Phnom Penh) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3J_XlzhHqy/?igshid=zno78wo3gu63

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“Mot” has a fever. “I get them often.” That’s why he has a circular bruise on his forehead. It’s from cupping, a common practice for colds around Battambang. Perhaps Mot has a fever from the heat and heavy lifting at the fish factory where he’s worked for the last 30 years. The fish comes in supposedly from Thailand, in this case packed in ice, in a car. Then the fish is weighed, dumped and hacked up into small pieces by a few ladies with very-concentrated faces. The pieces are piled up, salted and cured in big wooden tubs, packed into plastic and finally taken to the market for sale. #fish #cupping #Battambang #Cambodia ‪#Travel #HumanStories #StreetPhotography #MakePortraits #Street #TravelPhotography #Instagood #PicOfTheDay‬ ‪#Life‬ #neverstopexploring https://www.instagram.com/p/B3HfH-6Bf44/?igshid=miusmqq7ohmk

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Occasionally, when I meet someone new, I instantly think: winner. Meet Ratanak. When he was 10, his hand got ground up inside the sugar cane juice machine he was cleaning. “For me no problem,” he says thinking back. Ratanak says that kids shouldn’t have to work, but “Cambodia is a poor country.” Next Ratanak’s parents died. Now he lives with his uncle, who didn’t have any boys. He collects fish guts from the market, grinds them up into a putrid slop and sells it to local fish farms. It’s his own business. He’s also studying marketing in Battambang. And he has a girlfriend. Of course he does….because he’s a winner despite all adds. #winners #againstallodds #fight #Battambang #Cambodia ‪#Travel #HumanStories #StreetPhotography #MakePortraits #Street #TravelPhotography #Instagood #PicOfTheDay‬ ‪#Life‬ #neverstopexploring (at Battambang) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3DUVhGhOIZ/?igshid=8vagmpyowo7j

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Mao Hach (ម៉ៅ ហាច) was born here. Her father grew rice. She got married and it was an arranged affair. When the Khmer Rouge came, they killed her husband. But inside her body, her daughter, Phany, had already begun to grow. Now she looks back and thinks, life is better now than ever. #Battambang #Cambodia ‪#Travel #HumanStories #StreetPhotography #MakePortraits #Street #TravelPhotography #Instagood #PicOfTheDay ‬ ‪#Life‬ #neverstopexploring https://www.instagram.com/p/B3A_eZkBP-z/?igshid=1kwwv6112kx5y

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Phany is cooking up a tub of hot soy milk that she’ll sell in the afternoon outside her house near Battambang, Cambodia. Her son is studying in Phnom Phen. She stays with her elderly mother. Unfortunately, she never knew her father. He was killed by the Khmer Rouge while she was still a baby in her mother’s womb. #desert #food #foodie #Battambang #Cambodia ‪#Travel #HumanStories #StreetPhotography #MakePortraits #Street #TravelPhotography #Instagood #PicOfTheDay ‬ ‪#Life‬ #neverstopexploring (at Battambang) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2_WNQ6h6U_/?igshid=o6ywtk0zhtvz

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“I’m tired!” says Padi-rii, who learned how to make bamboo sticky rice from her mother. I she says she’s too old to get another job. First she soaks the rice for about 3 hours. Then she shaves coconuts out and squeezes the coconut milk from the flesh. She’ll mix that together with sugar and a bit of salt then add it to the rice. The mixture gets pressed into the ends of a bamboo shoot and cooked over a fire until ready. “When you get back to your country and aren’t sure how what to do, call me and I’ll help you.” #bamboostickyrice #desert #food #foodie #Battambang #Cambodia #RainySeason ‪#Travel #HumanStories #StreetPhotography #MakePortraits #Street #TravelPhotography #Instagood #PicOfTheDay ‬ ‪#Life‬ #neverstopexploring https://www.instagram.com/p/B278uPchwJ7/?igshid=i3xrnhalctb0

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“Gut” and his family cook bamboo sticky rice. His job is the buy the bamboo and shucks the hulls when the rice is ready. He has a tattoo on his chest that protected him from being shot when he was a child and soldier during the Khmer Rouge times. #sacredtattoo #BambooStickyRice #Battambang #Cambodia #RainySeason ‪#Travel #HumanStories #StreetPhotography #MakePortraits #Street #TravelPhotography #Instagood #PicOfTheDay ‬ ‪#Life‬ #neverstopexploring (at Battambang) https://www.instagram.com/p/B26mXWQh4aR/?igshid=t69y7co90o65

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Rai works in Ishmael’s blacksmith shop (yesterday’s post). They’re relatives. But while Ishmael is married, Rai is “very single”. They use old car “leaf springs” as their raw metal and add Ishmael’s brand before selling. In #Battambang #Cambodia #blacksmith #blacksmiths #trade #handmade #forged #bladesmith #forge #forging #blacksmithing #handcrafted #RainySeason #CycleTour ‪#Travel #HumanStories #StreetPhotography #MakePortraits #Street #TravelPhotography #Instagood #PicOfTheDay ‬ ‪#Life‬ #neverstopexploring (at Battambang) https://www.instagram.com/p/B22ugTih8KT/?igshid=a5i5novwg7av

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Ishmael is a blacksmith in Battambang, Cambodia. He learned his trade, ”from my father,” he says. Ishmael bangs out new tools from old scraps of metal taken from cars (leaf springs). What are the positives and negatives of his job? It’s hot but he makes good money. #blacksmith #blacksmiths #trade #handmade #forged #bladesmith #forge #forging #blacksmithing #handcrafted #Battambang #Cambodia #RainySeason #CycleTour ‪#Travel #HumanStories #StreetPhotography #MakePortraits #Street #TravelPhotography #Instagood #PicOfTheDay ‬ ‪#Life‬ #neverstopexploring (at Battambang) https://www.instagram.com/p/B21ELLwBZf0/?igshid=1xatlaogabm3z

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This is Nara, who helps with his family’s sticky rice shop. Every morning before the sun comes up, the family gets up to roll rice into bamboo and then pack them in the end of bamboo stalks. The bamboo is cooked over an open fire. The outside of the bamboo is shaved down to make it look attractive and sold to customers. #Battambang #Cambodia #RainySeason #CycleTour ‪#Travel #HumanStories #StreetPhotography #MakePortraits #Street #TravelPhotography #Instagood #PicOfTheDay ‬ ‪#Life‬ #neverstopexploring (at Battambang) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ySMZPh1IX/?igshid=yitwaetdv5dx

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Mrs. Mak-Pove sells fruit from Thailand on the road between Sisophon and Battambang. In addition to Khmer, “I speak Thai too,” she says. Her sweet grape boosted my sugar level all the way to Battambang. #Thailand #Sisophon #Battambang #Cambodia #CycleTour ‪#Travel #HumanStories #StreetPhotography #MakePortraits #Street #TravelPhotography #Instagood #PicOfTheDay ‬ ‪#Life‬ https://www.instagram.com/p/B2tcf9ah6KR/?igshid=1abvpfjabbrqs

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Mr. Houn Vandoeun is a very lucky man. He hasn’t been blown up… yet. Since the end of Cambodia’s civil war in 1979, he’s been helping remove bombs and landmines from the countryside. In 2018 (almost 40 years after the war) the Cambodian Mine Action Committee (CMAC) reported removing 45,500 explosives. Despite all this work, 58 people were killed by mines or bombs buried in Cambodia’s soil. Just in February 2018, an American bomb weighing 340 kilograms was unearthed. More here: https://thewalrus.ca/2006-10-history/ #banlandmines #Cambodia #Sisophon #Photography #ICBL #USWarCrimes #LandMines #Bombs #UnitedStates #War #Travel #HumanStories #StreetPhotography #MakePortraits #Street #TravelPhotography #Instagood #PicOfTheDay #Life https://www.instagram.com/p/B2rAozMBRFi/?igshid=n6tjslaisyge

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Sorky meets his friends in Sisophon, Cambodia, to play sey after work. “Every evening!” The sport is thought to have originated in ancient China, also known as Jianzi (毽子). The object is to keep the “shuttlecock” in the air as long as possible, by only kicking it with your feet. #unusualsports #nohands #Cambodia #Sisophon #จังหวัดศรีโสภณ #asia #photography #humanstories #travel #streetphotography #photooftheday #makeportraits #street #photographer #travelphotography #instagood #picoftheday #life https://www.instagram.com/p/B2otmOlhIM4/?igshid=yq6unljthskr

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I’ve been working here for 25 years. Each week I do three trips between Sungai Kolok and Bangkok. My name? It’s on my name tag. On the #train #hatyai to #bangkok #travel #streetphotography (at Bangkok Railway Station) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2im4AYBJzz/?igshid=rgex7kq9wlob

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I was born at midnight. That’s why people call me “noon”. I’m from Bangkok but I don’t like it there. The traffic. I’ve only been in Hat Yai one month. My girlfriend is back in Bangkok, so I’m a little lonely. #hatyai #thailand #thai #humanstories (at Hat Yai, Thailand) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2gVKY1h8pl/?igshid=r2qgla6iaoge

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One of my last days, shooting the cutting, slicing and bartering at the Songkhla Market. #Songkhla #Market #FreshFood #ตลาด #สงขลา #photography #humanstories #travel #streetphotography #photooftheday #makeportraits #street #photographer #travelphotography #instagood #picoftheday #life (at Songkhla Sunday Market ตลาดนัดวันอาทิตย์สงขลา) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2dWEWLBlHE/?igshid=1sp3yumerravi