Candid camera at Angkor
When people ask about my future plans, I’ve been known to quip: “I don’t even know what I’m having for dinner tonight.” I usually argue that spontaneity helps you to enjoy life in the now. When it comes to taking photographs, I apply the same philosophy.
I have an 8-megapixel digital camera small enough to fit into my pant pocket. I don’t take a lot of photographs and I rarely spend time trying to achieve just the right composition. I see something that catches my eye and I quickly pull out my camera and shoot. This way I can capture one of life’s moments while still remaining a participant. Just like the surprises spontaneity grants, candid photography allows you to capture something outside of the anticipated.
While I was crossing the bridge to Angkor Thom within the temple-city of Angkor Wat in Cambodia the other day, I saw three Korean girls photographing each other kissing one of the Buddha statues. Sometimes it’s just as interesting watching the other tourists as it is admiring the monuments.
I was drawn to one of the far corners of Bayon temple by the sound of a sweet and melancholic voice, which echoed throughout the stone courtyard. There was one other tourist nearby reading a book. Despite her public performance, the young girl seemed completely uninterested in her audience.
Tuk-Tuk is the best way to explore the hundreds of temples spread throughout the ancient city of Angkor Wat. Between temples our driver stopped at one of the many roadside filler stations which dot Cambodian roads. Petrol is stored in glass Pepsi bottles and stored under a large umbrella. Even though there may not be a formal gas station for kilometers, this system makes it easy to fill up your moto or tuk-tuk even in the most remote areas.
In my raincoat negligee, a term coined by my friend Thomas (who snapped this shot with my camera), I held an umbrella over Tony while he photographed the stunningly detailed stone carvings at the Bantei Shrei temple. Don’t miss Tony’s amazing pictorial of Angkor from ContemporaryNomad.com here.
Then and now
At its height, the ancient temple-city of Angkor Wat was one of the great powers of Southeast Asia with a population of more than one million. A short but interesting animated video in Cambodia’s National Museum in Phnom Penh recreates what it must have been like in the city during its heyday. Described as a “hydraulic city” because of its sophisticated aqueduct system, ancient Angkor is depicted within an agriculturally rich landscape. The stone structures were reserved for the Cambodian God-kings while wooden houses gave shelter to ordinary citizens. The video shows people working in the rice fields, walking past temples set within a lush yet tame landscape and paddling in dugout canoes along the waterways. Fast forward ahead seven centuries where one million no longer live in the city, but millions visit every year.
