100 words - day 4

They say ‘A picture can say a thousand words’, well I would argue a map can do this too. Maps have power in so many ways and have been used in history to manage power when countries go to war. How one depicts your own nation relative to others sends a clear message. Perhaps in some cases maps don’t even recognise the existence of a country or boundary.

But I have also seen the power of a map in a really positive and practical way. When I lived in Cambodia in 2011 I used a paper map, the type of tourist map you see in many cities around the world, as my bible to navigate Phnom Penh.

In a bustling city that has formal and informal roads and tracks and using tuk-tuks to get around, I didn’t speak Khmer and most of the drivers only had a a few words in English. This tatty tourism map with marks across it was essential to get me around. It transcended the language barrier and along with business cards that had addresses I managed to get to various places. Maps are powerful in all kinds of ways. I hope I can find this map and stick an image in here later!