PHNOM PENH — When I spent a few years in Cambodia, I lived for a year in a Phnom Penh neighbourhood called Russian Market. My apartment was a stone’s throw from the eponymous market itself.

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA - “Have you heard about the lost city?” asks Sean, our Cambodian guide, who seems eager to expand our horizons beyond the temple complex of Angkor Wat.

BATTAMBANG, CAMBODIA - The narrow bridge does not inspire confidence. It is made of wooden planks laid beside each other with conspicuous gaps between them. At the other end, a child takes no chances and walks her bicycle, rather than riding it.

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - We arrive at the boulevard running along the Mekong before the boats have begun racing. The streets have been decreed pedestrian only and are empty of their notoriously chaotic traffic. The city is quiet without its usual din of motorbikes, tuk tuks, cars and Hummers, and I can’t quite believe I don’t have to triple-check for SUVs before crossing the street.

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM - A month before I was to wind up a long-term volunteer stint in Vietnam, my 89-year-old father Gordon arrived on my doorstep. I was working in Hanoi as a communications advisor with the World University Services of Canada in their Uniterra program, and the local college where I was stationed was closing down for Tet, the lunar New Year’s celebrations.

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA - Mr. Happy is not happy. The delightful guide with the infectious laugh whose real name “Soc” means “happy” in Cambodian, has lost sight of members of the tour group he’s guiding through the tangled roots and crumbled temples of Ta Prohm, one of the major archeological sites at Angkor Wat.