[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 in halves

i love how the golden half pictures of the royal palace turned out. my favourite shots are the reflection of the palace in my dad's sunglasses and the one with the flock of birds. the film is konica minolta vx 200, an expired film i picked up on ebay. i don't think it's in production anymore which is a pity because the colours are beautiful. creamy and bright at the same time. i would love to get more of it if possible.

golden half, konica minolta vx 200

[cambodia 2010] the rest stops

cambodia travel diary day 3

we made two rest stops that day. the first one was in the town of kampong thom for lunch. the second stop was at a small town's marketplace. at first all seemed normal, kids trying to sell us fruits and stores of fresh vegetables everywhere but then we realised that some of the stores were selling fried spiders, locusts, rats, birds etc etc. i am so not kidding here! there were also some villagers selling live spiders! our guide told us that these huge spiders thrived here because of a certain local plant. they are not farmed at all! my brother was actually adventurous enough to try to eat one of them. well, he did managed to eat one leg but he chickened out after that, our guide ate the rest of it. *shudders. will never forget this!



golden half, ferrania solaris 400

[cambodia 2010] purple sunset

golden half, ferrania solaris 400

[cambodia 2010] climbing pre rup

cambodia travel diary day 2

we decided to go to pre rup to catch the sunset over angkor. pre rup is a slightly less popular sunset viewing spot, the most popular is at bakheng but our tour guide advised against it because it was a really steep climb and it would be extremely crowded. we reached pre rup around 5pm, not the first ones but we still got great viewing spots.



pre rup is thought to be a funerary temple and it's architecture is considerably less elaborate as the other temples we had visited. but with its three towers and tufts of grass sticking out from the summits, pre rup is somewhat more mysterious than the rest.



check out the steep steps we had to climb. you really had to go on all fours to make it safely to the top. but the effort is so worth it! like any cheeky kid, of course i had to immortalise my parents' huffing and puffing efforts to climb up the steps. heh.



golden half, ferrania solaris 400

[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!

say hello to my cameras

inspired by rhianne's post about her amazing camera collection and a twitter convo we had, i decided to document my camera collection as well.

01. all of my cameras
02. lomography fisheye 2, holga 135bc
03. fuji instax mini 7s, powershovel golden half
the holga 135bc was my first camera that i bought in april last year to bring along for my grad trip. after that i added the golden half, fisheye 2 and fuji instax mini 7s to the collection. go here to read about how i acquired the fisheye and here for the golden half's story.

04. pentax espio 140m, twinway star panorama
my mum found the pentax espio 140m after spring cleaning recently. i need to find a compatible battery for it to check if it's working. also, there's a roll of film still in it which makes me really excited to find out what did we last use the camera for! the twinway star panorama was picked up for $3 at a thrift store. it's able to take both normal and panoramic pictures. i have tested it once and it takes pretty decent panoramic pictures. good bargain!

05. nikon fm, canon canonet 28
the nikon fm was my father's who handed it down to me after he discovered i was into film photography. unfortunately, the shutter malfunctioned on the second roll i ran through it. it has to go to the hospital soon :( the canon canonet 28 was given to me by a friend's mum. it has a cloudy viewfinder so i will have to send that for a check too. otherwise, everything seems to be in order.

so that's all the cameras i currently have! currently being the important word in that sentence. i am sure i will add to this little collection before long. but at least not in the next six months. i imposed a six-month camera no buy on myself because i haven't had enough chance to learn my way around all these cameras. also i need to save some money! :)

do post up your camera collection, nothing more i love more than ogling at cameras! :)

[cambodia 2010] bantey srei

my lomo-location article for bantey srei got published at lomography last Sunday, so head on over there to read more about this charming and tiny temple.

holga 135bc, fuji sensia 200

golden half, solaris 400





p/s: this means i have accomplished item 14 on my 20 things to do in 2011 list!

[cambodia 2010] a glimpse of angkor

cambodia travel diary day 2

easily the most exciting day of the trip, we travelled around the angkor region for the whole day, spending 2-3 hours at each temple. we explored angkor wat, angkor thom, the bayon, bantey srei, ta promh and pre rup. honestly, one day wasn't enough for me. i could happily spend more than a week in angkor, exploring the many many temples.



angkor wat was the first stop of the day. our guide brought us to a spot where you could glimpse the five 'towers' of angkor wat in the distance. as you go nearer, because of distance perspective, only three 'towers' are ever in view (like in the fourth picture).



so begins my visit of the world's largest religious building.



travel tip

for the ladies, please make sure to wear bottoms that will cover your knees otherwise you will not be allowed to ascend to the highest level of angkor wat. i had actually planned to wear shorts but my guide said it wasn't appropriate. i wore leggings in the end, which was all good, because it turned out to be an unusually chilly day.



holga 135bc, agfa ct precisa

golden half, solaris 100