Bali 2013

Earlier this year, I headed out to Bali for a quick jaunt with three junior college friends. We stayed in Seminyak, a fairly cosmopolitan area of Bali compared to Uluwatu where I stayed previously.

We stayed at a little place called Jas Boutique Villas, located behind the main Seminyak stretch, making it a very quiet spot which is a good thing in my book. We booked a 2-bedroom villa with a plunge pool. It has a small gazebo and a little open-air kitchen where breakfast was served daily. I made full use of the gazebo, lazing around when the sun was out, catching up with my magazines.

Every day of the trip, we were in the pool, splashing and floating around to our heart's content. We played around a lot with my Fisheye 2, using up one entire roll on underwater shots. This is my first time using a camera underwater. Not going to lie, it was a little scary the first time I brought the Fisheye into the water but I quickly got over it once I realised how secure the Fisheye Submarine case was. Shooting was easy. Even though you can't feel when the film stops turning, I just watch the film spool stop turning to know when it's done. 

Besides splashing around, we also headed out to Seminyak beach for the sunset and for massages at a nearby massage parlour. And although I have no dinner photographs because they all came out blurry on film, I managed to get them on instagram! We had bbq ribs at Naughty Nuri's (highly recommended) and Indonesian seafood at Bale Udang.

A fun, little trip.

[cambodia 2010] the russian market

cambodia travel diary day five

our fifth and last day in cambodia was a lazy lazy day. i spent the morning reading by the pool, hoping to acquire some sort of tan. (i am suddenly struck by the thought of why didn't i bring down at least one camera to the poolside!) in the afternoon, we hit the russian market for some last minute souvenir shopping. the russian market had loads of souvenirs but it really was rather small (compared to thailand's chatuchak). you could easily cover that place in two hours. after a quick dinner in the hotel, we headed to the airport for our night flight.



it was an amazing trip and i look forward to going back with my friends, spending more time among the ruins, breathing in the history. this also finally concludes my cambodia travel diary. it has only taken me like four months to post up everything. why yes, procrastination is my middle name! :)



oh and if you haven't heard, i will be going back to korea next week! i am so excited, i have been planning and planning for this trip to happen and it's so so close. i can't wait. if you want to read more about this, visit my project blog for this trip our april adventure! i am co-writing it with my trip buddies and we have been posting our planning sessions and pre-trip preparations!



fisheye 2, kodak color plus 200

[cambodia 2010] independence monument and wat phnom

cambodia travel diary day four

as we travelled around phnom penh, we had a quick photo op at the independence movement built to commemorate cambodia's independence from the french. the style of the monument is meant to resemble angkor wat. so appropriate.

wat phnom is the founding spot of phnom penh. legend has is that a lady named daun penh found four bronzed buddha statues by the river banks, taking these statues to a small hill, she built a shrine on it and placed the statues in it. slowly, the city of phnom penh grew around it and the city flourished. well, legend or not, the wat phnom temple is a sacred place and is the largest religious building in the city. unfortunately, by the time we got there, it was twilight and the other pictures i took came out extremely under-exposed.

before wat phnom, we visited the killing fields and the S21 interrogation centre. i didn't think it was appropriate to take pictures of such sad places. even though the killing fields is currently a peaceful field, my heart felt really heavy and sad for the ones who died. the S21 interrogation was even worse, we walked through the interrogation rooms and cells, and it was just horrible. god bless the souls of the victims.

golden half, konica minolta vx 200

fisheye 2, kodak color plus 200

[cambodia 2010] national museum of cambodia

cambodia travel diary day 4

after touring the royal palace, it was time for the national museum of korea. now i am big museum-lover so i was really looking forward to the national museum. i was thoroughly enchanted by it. firstly, the building was gorgeous. it was built by the french but in a traditional khmer style. the museum is built with an open-air concept in mind which terrifies me to no end because i kept obsessing over the fact that there seems to be no museum standard climatic controls in place to preserve the largest collection of khmer art in the world. some of the statues were in glass cabinets but most of them were left out in the open! *shudders.



still it was wonderful being able to wander around the different rooms, examining each sculpture where there wasn't a didactic sort of museum narration in place. i like that i am able to walk around and just admire each piece as it is. the museum also has a wonderful courtyard where visitors are able to bask in the sun and being surrounded by such ancient works of art.



fisheye 2, kodak color plus 200

golden half, konica minolta vx 200

[cambodia 2010] royal palace, phnom penh

cambodia travel diary day 4

our first day in phnom penh began with exploring the royal palace. i love the khmer architecture, it's so unlike anything that i have ever seen. it was a beautiful day as well, the sky was a gorgeous blue, the perfect backdrop for the golden palace. and my oh my, the royal palace was filled with priceless treasures! the silver pagoda had all this rare buddhist treasures as well as the silver floor. and there was a small museum where royal artefacts were on display. i was a bit freaked out by how cavalier the cambodians are with displaying their royal treasures though.



holga 135bc, fuji sensia 200

fisheye 2, kodak color plus 200





p/s: i have a very exciting announcement coming up this week! :)

[cambodia 2010] red sunset

fisheye 2, lomography xr redscale

fisheye friends

have you heard? lomography is giving away a million piggie points! everyday, there is a new challenge and anyone who completes the challenge gets 5 piggie points. easy peasy piggy wiggy! out of the three challenges so far, my favourite was to create the three lomowalls! this is my fisheye friends lomowall, created from all the fisheye shots i took during the end of year party season and chinese new year! happiness and friendships all rolled up into one! this wall is love love love!

[cambodia 2010] ta promh

cambodia travel diary day 2

possibly the most visually amazing temple of them all. ta promh is a classic example of man versus nature, where the trees have enroached onto the stone walls of the temple after man cleared them in the first place to build said temple.

ta promh was also the set for tomb raider so now i can say me and angelina jolie have been to the same place!

fisheye 2, lomography redscale xr

golden half, solaris 400

[cambodia 2010] the bayon

cambodia travel diary day 2

after crossing the victory bridge into angkor thom, we headed to the bayon which is located at the centre of angkor thom. this temple has 216 stone faces scattered all over. they may look similar at first glance but slowly you realise that some are smiling, some frowning and some simply expressionless. could be kind of freaky if you were a villager then, and there's a pair of eyes following you at every turn you make.



fisheye 2, lomography xr redscale

golden half, solaris 400

[cambodia 2010] angkor thom

cambodia travel diary day 2

picking up from where i left off, we made our way from banteay srei to angkor thom. in khmer, angkor thom means great city and literally it really was a great city. it was at least 9 square kilometres in size and contained monuments such as the bayon and ta promh (more to come about these two places.)

we entered angkor thom via the victory gate (last picture). leading up to the victory gate, the bridge was spanned on one side by 25 angels holding a naga (snake) and on the other side by 25 devils also holding a naga in a cosmic tug of war.

golden half, solaris 400

fisheye 2, lomography redscale xr

thank you greg and katie for the birthday wishes!