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Published: November 20th 2013
Kamplong Pluck
This girl was so determined to get into town.This trip started off with a 4 day trip to Singapore to attend a Crossfit Instructor's Course, then ended with a 9 day exploration trip to Cambodia. I've never been to Eastern Asia, and other options running through my mind were Japan, Thailand or Indonesia, so I can see another trip to the region in the future. Cambodia has the draw of the many Temple complexes, and of some of the nicest people in the world. The main challenge is not getting "templed out" too quickly. The trick is planning a day of sightseeing followed by a day of activities not related to temples.
The trip started first with multiple flights to Dubai, then a trip to Guangdong, China. I can confirm there is a region called Guangdong and after a 5 hour layover in the airport I came away with 4 observations.
1. I'm the tallest man in this land, except for that one basketball guy.
2. Ecomomy class seating is not made for long legged guys.
3. I feel like either a movie star or a cone head, and people can't stop staring.
4. They have some rockin' soups here.
River along the Trek
Some ancient carvings on the rock in the background. Next stop is Singapore. I don't know much about the place other than it is clean, safe, and expensive. Singapore greets you with a wall of heat and humidity that just doesn't go away, even at night. I've never stayed at a hostel in my life, so why not give it a shot. My biggest concern was with security of my belongings when I'm not there. I checked into the Adler Hostel because it had high marks in security, and high overall ratings in general, but at a slightly higher price. This place had "pods" or sleeping areas divided by wood and curtains to allow for some privacy. The place was nice, but lacked what I expected in some common interaction at breakfast to find people interesting in seeing the same sights together.
After a late check-in, the next day was free for some sightseeing. I've heard of a few good places to visit like the Sentosa(sp?) Island, and also heard that the zoo was worth seeing, so off to the zoo it is. The zoo is really three different zoos with a "night safari" one that you can take a ride on a tram and
see all the animals in a more natural open space. I went to the normal zoo which is set up nicely for photography because most of the preditors don't have fences or glass in the way, and instead have a large moat for protection.
I set a goal for vacations, this year and next. Every vacation I take should have one certification course in something that I enjoy for a hobbie, or would like to learn. That way I have more options for work later in a field that I enjoy as a hobby. This trip was the "Crossfit Level 1 Instructors Course". I've enjoyed Crossfit for about 4 years now, and really believe it is the best workout to prepare you for multiple activities. It's too easy to train for one or two sports, but how do you train for 50 sports and hobbies? Although Crossfit is one of the few fitness programs that doesn't target "looks" but rather performance, I must say that the ladies that do it aren't looking to shabby! The course was two days of lectures and practical exercises which ended with a 50 question written test. The classes were very professional,
and fun, and my hats off to the cadre for laying on some great training. For future travels Paragliding, Freefall and Surfing are on the to do list as well as upgrading my dive cert.
After training it's off to Vietnam for a short layover then off to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Cambodia was less humid and cooler right away. November starts the end of the rainy season and is usually mostly dry, but this year has more rain into November than most. Not to worry, the rain is warm and most locals don't even blink an eye and continue on their motorbikes in teeshirts and shorts in the heavy rain. Its off to the Lucky Angkor Hotel because they had a half off discount on travelocity. The place is nice with free breakfasts. They had an omellete station and my eyes started getting big. I usually have a 5 egg omlette for breakfast so I wondered if they could craft such a thing to perfection? I thought I would try 4 and see if the small pan could handle it, and just baaaarely, so I didn't want to push it. The first day involved grabing a tuk
tuk and hitting the big three temples. Angkor Wat, Ta Prom (tomb raider), and Bayom. First I'll say that I'm horrible with remembering all the names of temples that I went to, but did remember these. They are rated higher than the rest for a reason, and get a lot of tourists. It's hard to get a moment of peace from the tourist rush at these places, but it is possible at the right times, and visiting the right parts. As a photographer I'm interested in the light conditions and not having many distracting tourists in photos. I will say the light in Cambodia is extremely harsh and other than the two golden hours of the day it is nearly impossible to get a photo including the sky that isn't "blown out". HDR can come in handy if used subtly, but better to seek the light of the early morning, or late afternoon.
Angkor Wat is an amazing sight and it's one of the wonders simply because of the timeframe it was constructed in and the enginnering achievement. Granted they had elephants to move some of the heavy stones, they had to make good use of the
three rings of waterways surrounding the temple because of the massive rainy months that would colapse such a large man-made structure with the rising and falling of the rain. Also pretty impressive to realize that the entire island was man-made. The light was fantastic in the morning for photography, and pretty harsh, but still doable between 2-3 P.M.
Ta Prom is the temple made famous from Tomb Raider. It is set in the jungle, and the trees have taken over the place! Really an amazing sight and one of those few places in the world that around every corner was a new place to explore. I made two trips there because the first was rained out, but I wouldn't miss it on a trip here.
Bayom is known as the "faces temple" with faces carved in the sides. The one thing I noticed is there are many guidbooks for Siem Reap, but I haven't seen one specific for photographers. An idea came to mind about creating one for the temple complexes that has an overhead drawing of each temple, and locations identified for popular photography locations with times of day for the best light
and example photos for each. If anyone knows about something like this, I'd be interested in checking it out, for any place in the world that is. I think it would be the best way to expedite a photo trip and plan times of day for travel. In the temples it is almost a game of setting up the right scene, measuring the light, then ambushing some monks as they complete the scene.
After some temple seeing, I signed up for a two day trip to Koh Ker, about a two hour drive North of Seim Reap. This place used to be the capital of the area before moving back to Angkor Wat, and it is a huge complex of temples. Also in the trip was a trek through the jungle to see some waterfalls and ruins. We started off the hike on a well worn trailhead and passed some local families. One lady was taking the lice out of another one's hair, and the kids were very happy without toys or Playstation. Hard to believe! The trail headed up a steep hill, and I felt bad for an elderly lady that was struggling on the hill
in the stiffling heat. We made it to the top and found a nice waterfall with stone carvings all around. Then the guide showed something amazing. Elaborate carvings under the water! Pretty amazing that some of these lasted hundreds of years of erosion, and were really amazing to see. We went lower in the river and saw more, they were everywhere. We were warned not to step off the main trails because the area was heavily mined during the wars, and the area was a military base during that time. I would have loved to see a Cobra in the wild, but apparently there are very few left in the county. They bring in a lot of money for the tourists in town that like to eat them. I did manage to see 3 "normal" snakes about 4ft long crossing roads, one wild boar, and a lot of monkeys. We walked a little further down the hill and it led to a 30ft tall waterfall with a great water temp that was nice to cool off in. After that, it was back down the hill and off for Koh Ker.
We stopped by Beng Melah which was
pretty amazing also. It reminded me of Ta Prom, the Tomb Raider temple. It was unrestored, crumbling, and the trees were taking over the place with green moss everywhere. These temples are pretty amazing. You would think there would be an established walking path and no going off to preserve the ruins, but that is not the case. You can pretty much go wherever you like. The guide was good and he led to several out of the way places that were amazing. After that trip, he drove to a small village in the middle of what seemed nowhere to a guest house. The house had a bed and a fan. They called one room a bathroom but it was esentially a toilet with some water you had to put in the thing for the flushing part, and apparently the same stale water could be used to bathe.. I'll pass. Walking down the main street of town (muddy road), it was apparent that westerners haven't been here in a long time. All of the children and most adults were friendly, and they all knew two words of English. Hello and bye bye. Some were shy at first, but a smile
or saying hello would bring a smile back. Dinner was wild boar and deer mmmmmmm they made it into a soup and it was the best!
The next day was off to the Koh Ker temple complex. A few noteworthy temples, and about 10 that seemed like a carbon copy of the last.. After seeing all of these I was getting the "templed out" feeling going, so back to Siem Reap. The next day called for a break in temples, so a motorbike tour was set up. They give you 125cc motorbikes and you are off. We actually went over some interesting sand and mud terrain and made several river crossings. I was afraid of killing the engine in the foot deep river, but it smoked and sputtered and made it through like a champ. Lunch was at another smaller temple and then back to town. Next day I wanted some more, so I hired a proper dirtbike tour.
I would highly recommend this to anyone that has ridden before. Not set up for the first timer. After getting boots, pants and setting up the Gopro it was off into the lawless traffic. After
a few miles we hit the muddy trails and we were off for an amazing 200 Km ride through the country. We ended up near some mountain with tricky single track trail and big rocks everywhere. I haven't ridden in a while so some of the technical parts were pretty challenging. As I turn the corner I see me vs. a 1ft tall rock ledge. Instinct tells me to get the front wheel up by gunning the gas, and it did. Unfortunately for me a little too much and this go for broke move landed me in the bushes for the first, but not the last time of the day. No injuries except a bruised ego and it was off for some more. The trail ended at a field of house sized boulders with religious carvings on them. I could tell that the rock quality was good and others had been climbing here based on the chalk marks on the good holds. I did some climbing myself, then started the return trip. Some parts were on the paved road, and there is no regard for any kind of driving rules. We are going 70mph and weaving through traffic like it
was standing still. Good thing is there are no rules, nobody looks before turning, there are no turn signals, and you can generally fit 6 people on a motorbike with kids standing on the fenders..
After that amazing trip, I needed some beers in Siem Reap, so off to "Bar Street". Dinner with a beer is 4$ Amazing!! Draft beers at some places are 50 cents. unbelievable! Seeing as how beers were $18 a piece in Singapore. 1 led to 15 or so with a quickness, and after some attempt at dancing, I'm off to sleep. The next day was a trip to the floating village of Kamplung Pluck. You take a boat out on the big lake to a dock then enter a smaller canoe and get paddled into town on the lake! First time I've seen anything like this and have to say it's pretty cool. Next was a Mangrove forrest that was something to see then back to civilization. One more day on walking the temples and the trip is over.
Take aways:
1. Seeing temples for more than 3 days is too much.
2. Take photos in the
early and late light to avoid all of them being overpowered by the strong sun.
3. Cambodians are generally nice people.
4. Things are incredibly cheap even in the touristy parts.
5. Get out of town and do something fun.
6. Beers are cheap, get many
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Great pic
Love this shot