Bird's Eye View

2011-01-08T04:40:00.000-08:00

i guess for 2011, i really need to re-live this blog, it's so dead right now... i mean 2007?? can't even believe as usual how time wheeze by...sigh.. i'm gonna have to be a little more hardworking and edit all my previous travel photos and experience and post them up. haha...hope to achieve that :) ganbatte!!

2007-04-07T07:50:00.000-07:00

Bali, a tropical island in paradise where you find just about everything. And I do mean everything - sun, sea, fun, shopping, all kinds of entertainment, historical and sacred places, plenty of activities for nature-lovers such as mountain climbing, jungle trekking, white-water rafting, photography, etc and a favourite rejuvenating activity for most people - the spas. Therefore, 5 days in Bali is just hardly enough to do everything. However, we did manage to cramp a lot of stuff in 5 days. We managed to cover most of the tourist spots like Kintamani, Besakih, Ubud, the infamous Tanahlot, Uluwatu and Jimbaran where we had good seafood by the beach. We also managed to catch a cultural show, spend half a day at a spa, went clubbing, shopping and did body art. Here are some snapshots:

2006-10-07T00:50:00.000-07:00

Tawau-Semporna-Mabul Island (29 Sept - 2 Oct 2006)

October 2006 was supposed to be the month we go Beijing. Unfortunately, as much as we wanted to go, we had to postpone it to next year due to personal reasons - lack of money, lack of leave, just changed job, etc.

Our flight to Tawau was on early Friday morning. Dragging ourselves out of bed in the wee hours of morning is never an easy task especially when we have been having 4 hours of sleep in the last few days. We reached LCCT exactly one hour before departure and managed to check-in on time, had a light breakfast and boarded the 2 hour 45 minute-flight. Tawau airport was only 30 minutes away from the Tawau town. The six of us checked into Dynasty-Monaco Hotel for one night.

After lunch, we departed to visit the Madai caves (1.5 hours away from Tawau), famous for bird's nests. For those of you who are not completely sure what bird's nest is, allow be to elaborate. Bird's nest is an authentic delicacy taken from a swiftlet's nest, it is not made out of twigs and straw, mind you. The nest is made of the bird's hardened gummy saliva, apparently wonderfully yummy to those with an acquired taste for it. It is expensive. We were offered RM5,000 for 1 kg of uncleaned bird's nest and I was told that it was cheap. Anyway, the caves left me with a mark of experience for I have to admit, being some sort of a city-girl, I have never been into any caves, except Batu Caves :-) Indeed it also gave us some interesting shots of photography.

We proceeded to a waterfall in Kunak but it closed by the time we got there. Disappointed, we headed back to Tawau and feasted on a sumptuous array of seafood - crabs, fish, crayfish, tiger prawns, jellyfish. I would say definitely much better than a whole kg of bird's nests. Bernard, you should have been there to take photos of all the food. Later, Kwan brought us to a yacht club, where we sat by the deck, drinking and admiring Kwan and Cheah's collection of photographs. Life is good....

After breakfast the next day, we took a 1 hour and 45 minute-ride by van to Semporna. Our speed boat was already waiting for us when we reached and it took us 30 minutes to get there. It was love at first sight the moment we docked Mabul Island. Whatever I described now would hardly do justice to this place. I have never seen such clear sea water, one can just see right through to the corals and fishes beneath. It's almost heaven! The only thing missing in the next few days were blue skies and fluffy white clouds. The haze came as an uninvited guest.

We took our time walking around the Mabul Sipadan Water Village and explored a nearby Bajau village. When it became too hot and we got a little sunburned, we headed back to the chalet to enjoy the view there. We had lunch followed by siesta before heading out again to catch some evening shots.
It wasn't a easy task trying to find a good spot for sunset and when we did find one, it was the haze that did the damage again. Barbecue dinner was considerably good but it was the ambience that was fantastic. Plus we were also graced upon by the Raja Muda of Perlis and his super VIPs who stayed there the same night. The island was well guarded by the police, military and marine, safety wasn't an issue.

A thunderstorm came at 2:00 am. It was a little scary as our chalet faced the open sea. We felt the chalet shook each time lightning struck and thunder rumbled along with strong winds and heavy downpour. Quite an experience, I would say. We woke up slightly before 5:00 am to try our luck on sunrise, hoping the rain would clear the haze and bring back blue skies. Tough luck, the weather was worse than the day before. After breakfast, we took a walk to the resort next door, the Mabul Water Bungalow resort which was just as beautiful, with a spa of its own. We gave up our cameras and went for a dip by the beach. And then it was time to pack up and leave.

We arrived at Semporna and checked into the Seafest Hotel. That afternoon, we chartered a speed boat for a little sea adventure. We were like on a quest to look for the Sea Bajau people. Of course our boatman was very familiar with the surrounding islands and he knew where to take us. To get to Maiga island, we had to pass through certain areas of the sea which was just 3 feet deep. Really interesting, because we could see the deep blue sea in front and at the back of us and here we are, with just 3 feet of water, rocks, corals and lots of starfish. One could of course get down and walk just to experience what it's like to walk in the middle of the ocean but no one wanted to get themselves wet.

The Sea Bajau people were originally from southern Philippines who moved to these islands because of a separatist movement. The island was like a lost paradise, lined with endless rows of tall coconut trees, sand and clear emerald water. There were 2 settlements on the island, one closer to land and the other further out into the shallow waters of the sea. Their huts were made of wood and built on stilts as high as 5 feet. Harvesting seaweed seemed to be their source of income.

Time did not permit us to visit another island so we had to return to Semporna. The next day, we decided to cancel our boat trip to explore other islands. The weather was turning on us and the haze had worsened. We went to the jetty instead and took shots of fishermen turning in their catch for the day. We had an early lunch and departed for Tawau in a hired van. Our flight was only at night, so we had a whole afternoon to kill. We walked around the Tawau town and found a place to eat, drink and hand around. The place served many varieties of "Pan" mee and I had a plate of fried "pan" mee (this is not found in KL) which was really tasty. Kwan and Cheah took us for a hearty dinner and we had the pleasure of meeting with Louis Pang, who joined us for dinner. Kwan and Cheah also drove us to the airport after dinner.

To Kwan and Cheah, thank you so very much for taking the time to bring us around and helping us with all the arrangements for this trip. Overall, we were a little disappointed with the weather but the whole experience made up for it. We will return some day for better photographs.

2006-09-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

It's really been ages since I have last posted anything on this blog. From then till now, I've already been to Seoul (Korea) and back, plus a few photography outings and an adventure-cum-photography thingy called Photorace which ended with a model shoot at MTC. This coincided with the launch for Visit Malaysia Year 2007. I was never interested in model shoot for lack of equipment ;-) and skill.

But this model shoot was different, held outdoors in the garden, fantastic and creative costumes and make-up and of course getting my hands on a VR lens make a whole lot of difference. Right equipment increases the level of skill definitely. And of course, outdoor lighting makes a whole lot of difference, wonderful for a beginner like me.

There were a few other photography outings I went for this year, one was Pulau Ketam and the other was my 2nd visit to the bird park in lake gardens. Well, one of my submissions got picked during the photography meeting...here it is...

2006-05-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

Wesak Day, 12 May 2006

We were quite excited about Wesak Day's photo outing because Meow decided to join us for her first photo outing and ITAF tagged along with her compact camera. We got up rather early and had a good roti canai breakfast at an indian restaurant just across the Thai Buddhist Chetawan temple in Taman Jaya. This is the best roti canai ever....served on banana leaf, so delicious even without sambal, I am definitely going back there again!

The weather was superb for photography. The crowd grew as our shadows grew shorter. I could hear continuous sound of bells ringing (devotees ringing each of the 36 bells as they walk along the circle as this believed to bring luck). There were many rituals going on, though I did not fully understand its purpose till I read about some articles in the newspapers the next day. Apart from bell ringing, the crowd were lighting lotus candles and oil glasses, making offerings to a long line of golden statues with donation bowls, pasting golden leaves onto a statue, lighting joss sticks and praying. If you moved to the back of the temple, there was a long queue waiting to bath a Buddha statue. It was all very interesting. I've never been to a temple on Wesak, did not know there were some many interesting things to watch and photograph.

When the sun became too hot and we were tired out, we decided to get some water and food before leaving. Green curry noodles tasted really authentic, though we couldn't understand why it wasn't vegetarian. Well, I'll be back next year and hopefully with a better camera ;-)

2006-04-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

Fashion Shoot at KLCC

Last Sunday, I decided to go with my hubby to KLCC to try my hand at fashion shows. It was my most frustrating photo shoot...ever... We covered 3 fashion shows from 1:00 - 4:30 pm, except for the I. Kartini show, the rest of the apparel were just boring, not at all close to the fashion shows we watch on TV. I tried RAW mode again but it was a disappointing turn out...noise, hazing, fuzzing, whatever you call it. Well, I guess one needs DSLR to do fashion shows, not some prosumer number. But I can't part with my G5 yet, I still feel I'm not good enough with the basics and don't fully understand the concept and techniques yet. Patience!

2006-04-13T01:46:00.000-07:00

Putrajaya on a raining Sunday morning

Hi, I'm back. The reason I have not blogged on this site for ages is because I haven't been on any photography outing. Why does it always rain whenever we are free to go get some shots? We wanted to go for sunrise in Putrajaya but it was raining cats and dogs, so we slept till the rain stopped. Of course the weather wasn't fantastic, overcast or whatever you photographers call it. Gloomy, sunless, wet morning....and only a handful of the club members turned up. I guess the rest are enjoying the cold, lazy morning sleeping.

Well, I shot in RAW mode for the first time. I haven't adjusted the photos yet, hopefully they could be of use. Keeping fingers and toes crossed. If this is good, I will use RAW mode more often then.

By the way, I was not at all satisfied with the shoot that day because of the weather. Will definitely go back there for sunset shots. Till then, over n out.

2006-02-13T00:13:00.000-08:00

Hurray! As of last Saturday, 11th Feb 2006, I am now an official member of the PSPJ (clap, please!). It has taken me two years to sign the paper. The meeting turned out rather interesting and very vocal. There was a photo presentation by one of the members on his previous trips to Harbin and some other places in China which neither could I spell nor repeat (yes, neber go school mah...). Then, it was followed by very vocal discussions about the AGM coming up next month, I shall not get into the details, leave that to the secretary *wink*

I am proud to be a member of a photography club. Never in my early years would I have thought I would put serious interest into photography. I felt it was way out of my league and an expensive hobby and requires a huge chunk of your time. Come to think of it, I do spend less time on any other things now like I've hardly touched my books or even the TV and our DVDs, and less baking. Hmmm....obsessed? No, at least not yet...

My first meeting as a new member was a rather heated one (I was told that this was unusual). Some members wanted to see changes such as being provided with photograpy classes or courses, the suggestions were good but one ended saying wrong things to stress his point. I for one, who hardly stands up to speak publicly (a phobia I have not fully overcome), stood up to point that that member's opinion was askewed.

I believe if you want to achieve something bad enough, you need to have the first thing - determination. If one is determined to learn photography, theory and lessons would probably contribute 10% and one also should go through reading books, magazines, websites and view any professional photographs one could get hold of. I am near nothing compared to all the photographers in the club but these are the things I observed my hubby doing. The most important thing one needs is to practise what one has learnt, learn from mistakes as I believe the learning process is valuable. Then why would that phrase "Practice makes perfect" be so famous? And never be too shy or proud to ask, but of course one must know what to ask or do a little research first, if not, it would just be chicken-and-duck talking.

After spending years in the training field, I am a strong believer in the learning process - You can learn anything you set your heart to, and learn with an open mind. Even the Bible said - God helps those who help themselves. Well, don't expect to achieve something by getting everyone to help but you don't lift a finger. It's what you put in, your effort and contributions that will help you.

And I am so proud of that "one person" for achieving this from scratch...lou-kung la, who else!

Yeah, I can make it for the photography outing in 2 weeks - Butterfly Park. The first time I went for photography there was Jan '05. And this happy bird-brain cropped and adjusted all her photos and didn't keep her originals, so they were too small for any "good" use...sigh...this will NOT happen again!

Over n out.

2006-01-18T09:51:00.000-08:00

Cambodia Day 7 : An Experience That Lasts a Lifetime

We had breakfast at the coffee shop just across our guest house at 6:30 am. It was half-boiled eggs, delicious fried mee hoon and coffee again. Today, we will be visiting a site that would never be found in any tourist guidebook nor would it be in the list of places to visit. This will be our last place before we fly back home this afternoon.

We stopped by the city to buy two big bags of bread to take with us. The streets were already buzzling with morning activities and monks moving from shop to shop to earn donations from shopowners. When we reached our destination, smoke and stench greeted us as we alighted from our van.

Steung Meanchey Municipal Waste Dump (yes, it is a dump site, for those of you who can't believe we actually visited one) is located in southern Phnom Penh, more than 30 minutes away from where we stayed. This dump site covers 100 acres and about 2,000 people live and work here, of which 600 of them are children. Thanks to KK's friend for recommending this place to visit, we got to witness and experience this ourselves.

There was an article written about this dump site which said an adult rubbish picker earned an average of 4,000 to 5,000 riels (US$1.00 to US$1.25) a day and children earned half as much. They built makeshift huts to live in the landfill and are charged rentals by the landowners, as it is private land. Some children go to school but most do not, as the adults need them to help contribute to the family income.

The dump site was filled with very thick smoke, which prevented us from seeing clearly. I did not see many makeshift huts, they should be on the other side of the hill. But I did see many children, some playing, some eating while others were picking rubbish. There were food stalls in the dump site - fruits, ice-kacang and noodles, and the people just ate there, surrounded by garbage. It is a sad sight for again this reminded us of the many privileges we have waiting for us at home.

As each garbage truck approaches, the adults would get ready and eagerly await for the truck to unload its fill. Then, they would move in to grab as much as they could find. That's their way of earning a living.

We gave away the bread we brought with us. Little hands and big hands that reached out were black with dirt but the owners didn't seem to mind at all. Not being able to withstand the situation any longer, Cat and I were one of the first ones to leave. I just couldn't take any more photos there.

We waited for everyone to finish and headed back to the city. With extra time to kill, we stopped by the Russian market to look at souvenirs. We returned to our guest house, did our final packing, showered and checked out for good, then off to the airport.

The soles of my favourite Reebok shoes (heartache) gave way and I decided to leave them behind, wearing my slippers to fly home.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as this was a truly experiential week for me - the many ancient sites of a once lost kingdom, floating village, dump site, new friends, ample supply of photography tips. As someone mentioned somewhere, "imagination is more important than knowledge", I'll be bold enough to add "it is also the experience that counts"

A tribute to:

Uncle Lee, our almost 70-year old veteran photographer who managed to climb the steep hill of Phnom Bakheng and withstand our craziness
KK, for planning this entire trip, from doing reservations for our air-tickets to providing us useful information to coordinating until the last day, our sincere gratitude
Lillian, for being able to carry that very heavy camera bag with all the lenses wherever you go, we kept wondering how you deal with that weight
Bernard, Irene and Cat for providing all the fun throughout the trip
My hubby, for bringing me...*muacks*...heh heh...

Hey guys, next trip...Beijing.

(Photograph courtesy of KK Tan)

2006-01-17T09:50:00.000-08:00

Cambodia Day 6 : Tonle Sap Lake

This is the first time we got to wake up at 6:00 am since the last four days of our "drill" sessions. Of all people, I think our driver must be the most thankful one to wake up at a more decent hour, after having to cope with us wackos since we arrived on the 12th. Our communication with him was limited to very basic English words and lots of hand movements but we were quite sure he thought we came from a land where sunrise and sunset never existed. What a bunch of nuts!

And we had a yummy breakfast which we ordered last night, a variety of omelettes and bread and the pancakes which Cat and Irene ordered were really good - banana and pineapple. We left for Tonle Sap Lake at 7:15 am.

Today was a different experience altogether, different from the last few days of the Angkor empire. Here we saw the daily lives of the Cambodian people as we passed through village after village on the way to Tonle Sap Lake, as poor as can be - simple worn-down wooden huts, no electricity or pipe water, hot and dusty. It reminds us of how privileged we are to have brick houses, lots of clean water to waste, plenty of electricity to supply the many appliances at home.

We made a stop at Kompong Phluk, located just before the jetty. It is a fishing village where boats were coming in at that time, bringing in their catch. Villagers were busy sorting out fish, weighing and transporting their catch to where I could only guess, the local markets.

Children running around, mothers carrying their babies, little pink piggies in cages, children and adults gambling with make-shift dice - we managed to capture the daily activities of this fishing village and its villagers but the smell was rather unbearable for some of us. Irene, don't complain, it's not as bad as the dump site!

We reached the jetty eventually and got on to our boat, which costs us US$50 per hour. Immediately, our cameras went to work. Homes on this floating village range from barges to rafts to covered fishing boats. The villagers use small rowboats to get about and the younger ones to school. There is a school (Chong Khneas Elementary School), some shops, restaurants and a Catholic church, all built on barges. Hmmm... I wonder if the floating school changes its location occassionally.

As our boat drew nearer a floating restaurant,we were "attacked" by little "pirates" . These are young boys rowing around in plastic or metal basins with a piece of wood. They would grab on to any boats that pass by (with tourists) to ask for money - 1 dollar.

At the floating restaurant, one could get refreshments and souvenirs. We had many plates of unpealed, boiled small prawns and a drink or two. At 11:00 am we returned to Siem Reap's local market for an early lunch. There we did our last-minute souvenir shopping. Yes, Bernard, I remembered to mention your girlfriend, Ah Ling. We bought many things from her shop - bags, Cambodian shirts, wood carvings, shawls.

We returned to our guest house to shower, pack-up and check out. At 2:00 pm, we loaded our van and left for Phnom Penh. Back to the road where we came from, We saw again those never-ending paddy fields, the horse carts and bullock carts, skinny buffalos working, skinny cows grazing whatever grass that was left due to the dry season, motor-carts carrying slaughtered pigs or chickens, road signs with name of places written on it but struck across with a red line (didn't understand what that's about).

Understanding our obsession for sunsets, our good driver stopped us at a nice location by the side of the road to witness another magnificent sunset. He took peeks at our pictures and joined us in taking some sunset shots with the mobile phone camera. PSPJ, you have a potential Cambodian member!

Our driver drove us to a local restaurant to have dinner. He gave us a thumb's-up sign, indicating good food. We were on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, about another hour's drive away and it was already getting dark. We continued our journey with our bellies filled and finally reached Spring Guest House, the place where we stayed when we first arrived.

After checking-in, we wanted to do a little tour (too early to sleep) and look for a place to hang out. Unfortunately, our tired driver had already happily gone home. We decided to be a little adventurous and do a some walking. We didn't know the directions and the map board was confusing, but we continued walking. Uncle Lee was worried about his camera bag left at the reception, so he headed back to the guest house with KK and Bernard. Oops, not a good idea to continue our journey with five girls and just one guy. We hardly see anyone walking on the streets, those hanging around looked like they were up to no good. Ok, everyone, balik! We found a coffee-shop that was still open and had drinks there until they closed.

2006-01-16T07:25:00.000-08:00

Cambodia Day 5: Final Day at the Kingdom of Angkor

Yup, it's our final day at the Angkor empire, our passes will expire after today. We woke up at 4:30 am for our last sunrise session and we had decided to spend it at Angkor Wat again. There was more mist/fog than the first day and it felt less crowded with tourists. We walked through the darkness in Angkor Wat for the second time, with my dear hubby limping a little from yesterday's sprain.

We finished around 8:00 am and went for breakfast. Uncle Lee dropped his glasses and they broke, so we went back to the hotel to get another pair. While waiting for Uncle Lee, we discovered that our guest house served food and drinks, cheap too! We have been too smart for our own good, looking around everywhere but our guest house for cheaper meals.

Our next destination, Ta Prohm, the site where the Tomb Raider movie was shot. Ta Prohm is an abandoned temple that was discovered in the midst of the jungle. Surrounding endless groups of tourists, there lies the pile of ancient ruins with gigantic tree roots covering from roof to the grounds of the temple. Amongst the heaps of stones seen on the courtyards and around the galleries of the temple, one still finds beautifully sculpted devatas on the wall panels.

It was quite difficult to photograph the many tree covering sites without wanting any tourists to appear in our photographs. This place was packed with tourists who came in by the bus loads, led by tour guides who explained historical events in different languages - English, Korean, Japanese and Mandarin. The heat this afternoon was rather unbearable, the light-coloured gigantic trees reflecting more light and making the place hotter.

We returned to our guest house for lunch, took a short rest and recharged our batteries. All I remembered was that it took ages to serve drinks (the fruit shakes were good though) and lunch for all eight of us, cutting into our nap time.

We left at 4:00 pm, dropped KK off at the balloon field and headed for Tammanon. Unfortunately, we never got there because we had a little "detour". Our driver returned to pick his "sir" up and drove us to Ta Keo for our sunset shots. Not all of us climbed up to the top, in fact, it was only KK.

Ta Keo looked like an enormous stone monument with barely any carvings on its walls, come to think of it, I don't remember seeing any. History has it that the temple was struck by lightning which was interpreted as bad omen and therefore abandoned uncompleted. The steps were the usual very steep and narrow ones, we climbed up half way (the sunset scenery wasn't that fantastic anyway) while Uncle Lee decided to stay on ground. You didn't miss much, Uncle Lee!

Dinner wasn't as good as the two previous nights as we decided to try out a different shop, but it was cheap, so nothing much to complain about. After dinner, we went to Angkor Market which sold liquor and cigarettes cheap, much cheaper than duty-free shops at the airport. With so frequent use of this word "cheap", it wasn't a surprise that our driver learnt a new vocab - "cheap-cheap".

We returned to our guest house and had fruit shakes, and also ordered breakfast for the next morning. Oh and the banana shake was so delicious...

2006-01-15T07:59:00.000-08:00

Cambodia Day 4: Power-packed Day

5:00 am on a Sunday morning, a new day, a new sunrise - same sun, different place.

Srah Srang, which is located opposite Banteay Kdei, was built on a artificial lake in the 10th century and remodeled at the end of 12th century by Jayavarman VII. It was said to be used for ceremonies and royal baths. Well, you won't find more than a handful of tourists watching sunrise here. There were many young pedlars who kept pestering us to buy their coffee and wares since the time we arrived. We also managed to spend a few minutes outside Banteay Kdei before adjourning for breakfast.

Our driver took us to a local place to have some good and cheap breakfast - Cambodian pao, beef noodle soup, fried noodles, yummy! Then, off we go to Banteay Srei, a 37-km drive according to our driver. We made a little detour when we passed by Pre Rup, While some of us went toilet, the rest took Pre Rup shots.

Banteay Srei - an exquisite temple covered with beautiful, fine carvings on every inch of its walls and intricate figurines. It is classified as the "finest example of classical Khmer art". We could see many ropes being put up to keep tourists from standing too near the 1000-year old carvings. It is such a beautiful place for photography but the heat prevented us from staying too long. Some of us went shopping at those shady stalls outside the temple while the rest headed off for some cool coconut drinks. Thank God for coconuts!

Then we left for a quick tour to Preah Khan, our last stop before a late lunch. We didn't spend much time at Preah Khan, only about 20 minutes (must be our record time in one place!) as we wanted to reserve our afternoon for Angkor Thom. Lunch was steamed white rice and stir-fried pineapple with pork, quite good actually, for all of us except Uncle Lee who had stir-fried beef and steamed rice.

Angkor Thom has five huge gates that led to the city - North, South, East, West and Victory Gate on the east. During our stay, we travelled between the South and Victory gates frequently. The main attractions at Angkor Thom are the Elephants Terrace which we walked on, the Terrace of the Leper King (which we saw but did not walk on), Phimeanakas and Baphuon temples which we only took pictures from outside. But we did stand on the large open space, the terrace of the palace where the king used to review his troops before they left for battles.

Located inside Angkor Thom, Bayon is a Buddhist temple that has 54 towers with carved faces on four sides and many bas-reliefs carved on its walls. Most of us climbed up the towers to get better angles of these carved faces, like the ones we saw in books and on website. On the way down those narrow steps, my hubby sprained his ankle. It was swollen after that, and prevented him from walking much more than he would have.

We made a 15-minute stop by the South Gate to take some evening shots. Then we headed out to the Angkor Balloon field as KK wanted to purchase his ticket for a hot-air balloon ride the next day. While we were there, we maximised our time by taking sunset shots, beautiful magenta skies. Photographers, never a moment to lose!

We headed back to the same stall for dinner and returned to our guest house like a bunch of farmers who have been working out in the fields all day.

2006-01-14T01:52:00.000-08:00

Cambodia Day 3: Angkor Wat - from sunrise to sunset

Our mobilephone alarm rang at 4:30am... and I suppose I dragged my feet to the bathroom, thankfully without hitting the wall or the bathroom door. Then we met downstairs and got our poor driver up at 5:00am. Without time for breakfast, we left to witness our first sunrise at Angkor Wat.

The roads were dark and when we made our footsteps into the historical Angkor Wat, it was still dark and we had to use torchlights to find our way. My biggest fear at that time was walking into the moat. We found a place before a lotus pond, which seemed to be the most popular spot for photo-taking and set up our equipment to catch the first lights of the day appearing behind Angkor Wat. It was beautiful beyond description, the tranquil, peaceful feeling for which no money could buy. Even the air smelt different. I could hardly believe I am in Angkor Wat, one of the most talked-about lost and found empire of Kampuchea or Kemboja, as known in my history books during my school days.

We spent 4 hours photographing all the angles of this historical site, the bas reliefs, figures of the famous Apsara and monks. Especially monks, I remember some of us getting all excited whenever monks appear because they tend to "beautify" photographs with their striking orange garments.

We finally sat down to have coconuts, our first source of food for the day. At a little after 11:00 am, we left to get some proper food at a local market place. Fried rice was like food made in heaven because we were so hungry and exhausted. After shopping around a little, we returned to our guest house for a three-hour rest (after Cat's "bargain" with KK).

At 4:00pm, we returned to Angkor Wat to catch more photographs of the place at evening light. We spent more than an hour here which meant we just couldn't get enough pictures of this place. We were so late for the sunset shoot at Pre Rup. When we reached Pre Rup, we only caught the last of lights there.

We went back to the same local place in Siem Reap for dinner (we had dinner at the same place for three consecutive days, don't ask why!). After dinner, we went shopping for souvenirs at a place called Center Market and then returned to our guest house and had the usual chit-chat session. 3 days down, 4 more to go...

2006-01-13T23:52:00.000-08:00

Cambodia Day 2: The Road to Siem Reap

Breakfast was at 5:30 am at the coffee shop across the street - fried mee hoon with the hottest cili padi, some slightly over-cooked half-boiled eggs and that wonderful Cambodian coffee which we had last night. Then it is Siem Reap, here we come!

After spending 30 minutes on the road, we couldn't resist making an impromptu decision to stop over to take some photographs. It was the perfect weather with the perfect lighting (the word I picked up from these photographers) just after sunrise. As Bernard said, we should take more photographs off-the-beaten-track. We stopped by the bridge and had a full view of a river, village and Cambodians about their daily activities beneath the bridge. Being not widely awake and a little blur, I guess I didn't take that many photographs. The stop took half an hour before we unwilling piled into the van to continue our journey.

We passed by endless hectares of paddy fields and flat land again. The people on the outskirts live in wooden huts, some in better shape than others. The only brick buildings we saw were temples and schools. Along the road, we'd always see plenty of bullock carts, horse carts or pony carts, motor carts and trucks packed high with people and goods.

We made another half an hour stop along the way at a local market place. Our driver was a little annoyed as we arrived in Siem Reap an hour late at 1:00pm, he as tired and hungry as we were. Our driver took us to lunch at a Cambodian restaurant frequented by tourists. Wow, definitely not cheap, 3 US dollars for a plate of noodles or fried rice. Well, we are on a budget, reserving our money for more sight-seeing and good bargains :-)

We checked-in at Bun Nath Guest House, a nice, clean place where we stayed for the next 4 nights. After an hour's rest, we left to do a little sight-seeing around town. Our driver took us to Angkor Shopping Centre which sold gem stones and souvenirs at cut-throat prices. With nothing affordable to buy, we ended up taking pictures of the surrounding area.

At a little after 4:00pm, we left the place to make our very first step into the ancient city of Angkor. We were told that we could get free entrances after 5:00pm. After purchasing passes for the next 3 days, we felt our adrenalin pumping as we drove through the checkpoint to Angkor. The road leading to Angkor Wat is serenely lined with trees on both sides and you can see many locals having picnics by the moat overlooking the Angkor Wat. What a sight!

Our first sunset stop - Phnom Bakheng, situated up a hill, a difficult climb for those who do not include the word "exercise" into their vocabulary. And if you thought climbing up the hill was difficult, try climbing up the steps to the peak. Each step is about 4-5 inches in length, just enough to place your foot sideways and some steps are about a foot high. My hubby and I (and I can say most of us except for KK who seemed to be the fittest) reached the peak panting heavily, with wobbly knees and legs that felt like they weighed a few tons.

The peak was crowded with tourists, some taking photographs and the rest just enjoying the view of the sun setting. It's a different atmosphere having so many people watch the sunset together as compared to watching it from our window at home. I guess most of us don't even watch the sunrise or set at home, we are either too busy working or going around with our daily routines. So this is the best sunrise and sunset trip (for 5 continuous days!) I've ever experienced, and I'm sure most of us in the group felt the same. We even got our driver influenced into this later on.

We were one of the last few to leave the peak. The remnants of light in the sky was more beautiful than earlier on when the sun was setting.

Going down the steps proved to be tougher, we had to use our torch lights to find our footing. Safely on ground, we proceeded to have dinner at a local stall, where the food was cheap and good. We returned to the hotel with some drinks and junk food, showered then sat on the balcony to chit-chat. Our journey continues...

2006-01-12T22:45:00.000-08:00

Cambodia Day 1: Phnom Penh

The day has finally arrived! Yes, we are going on an expedition to see the famous ancient city of Angkor. Apart from Cat and Irene, I’ve never met the other half of the group but I’m sure they are equally as excited as my hubby and I, maybe even more. We met Cat and the ERL station in Bandar Tasik Selatan and travelled the cheapest way by possible by ERL to KLIA. “Cheapest” meant that we had to get down at the next station to purchase tickets at a stop-over before KLIA.

We reached KLIA at 1.00 pm, checked-in and later met up with the rest of the group at McDonald’s. One last bite of fast food before leaving for Cambodia, a land unknown to most of us except for one or two episodes of Travel Discovery and whatever information and photographs we could get from the web.

With the exception of Cat and I, this group is made out of avid photographers from the Photographic Society of PJ. There are 8 of us in this 7-day photography expedition enroute to Angkor Wat. For Cat, I guess it was like an instant photography lessons for 7 days. For me, it was plenty of brushing up on the skill and technicalities, as well as the remember-to-clean-lens as often as possible because of the dusty environment. I’ve never cleaned my camera lens as many times in the past week in Cambodia as I did in the last two years of using digital cameras. That shows how serious I was in photography.

We touched down in Phnom Penh at about 4:00pm local time. KK’s friend, Henry and our driver, Hai, was already waiting for us at the airport. We squeezed into the van with our luggages to our hotel, Spring Guest House. Through the 15-minute ride from airport to hotel, we got our very first glimpses of Pnomh Penh and its people: endless acres of rice fields and flat land, traffic coming from all directions - bicycles, carts, trishaws, motorbikes carrying 3 or 4 people each (no helmets required), trucks and carts laden with goods piled as high as possibly could, trucks with more than 20 people riding on it, motorbikes pulling carts with goods and people on it, cars without registration plates, petrol sold on the streets directly from petrol drums or filled into re-used softdrink bottles.

We had a splendid dinner at Restaurant 123, a Chinese restaurant which Henry recommended. After dinner, our driver took us for a tour around the city. We couldn't get down to take pictures, so we had to be contented to the view from our van. We passed by some "happening" placed by the riverside and also on Sisowath Road.

We returned to our hotel and went to have drinks at a coffee shop opposite the hotel. Coffee was irresistibly wonderful and of course kept me awake from 2:00 to 4:00am. We ordered our breakfast for the next morning as we wanted to start our journey early. Our journey continues...