A “Portrait” of Thailand and Cambodia

My previous post on Thailand had me going through thousands of images I had taken on that trip. It made me really miss the people I encountered and also made me appreciate all that we have in the U.S.

Though I have many more shots, shooting well over 3,000 images during my two week trip, these are my favorites and I hope the stories behind them make them much more interesting.

Doing the usual touristy thing, our guide suggested we take the train to the bridge over the River Kwai. Of course as a kid and a WWII buff, I knew the story of the area and was excited to see the bridge. I remember it was a pretty muggy day and we had had a monsoon or two as we drove towards the train station. The train was like something you would see out of an old movie, the cars had wooden interiors with oscillating fans in the ceilings. Slowly the train lunges forward and we begin our journey, green everywhere and the river to our left. We had been on the tracks about twenty minutes when the train comes to a quick stop. “Are we here?” we seem to be asking each other with puzzled looks?

We sit in the car for awhile and people start to get out of the other cars and some europeans let us know there is a problem with the tracks up ahead. We decide to get out as well, since there is no reason being cooped up in a hot passenger car. Sure enough we see there is a problem ahead. The workers are replacing a steel plate that connect two rails together and it looks like the rail might have been replaced as well.

Of course I always have my camera to document the trip and the workers were completely oblivious to me shooting as the worked on the track for about twenty minutes.

Soon the job was complete and the workers gave the train engineer the go ahead to continue our journey. As we got back into the car, we chose different seats and across from us was the Buddhist monk you see in the above image. He was sitting quietly, reflecting, as the train slowly swayed back and forth. The light coming into the window with the lush green vegetation streaming by, made for a great backdrop. His robe, position of his head, holding the umbrella convinced me I needed to catch the image before it was gone. I quickly put my camera up to my eye and took two shots, one horizontal and one vertical. I don’t think he ever heard the shutter of my D1X capturing his contemplative moment. Putting the camera back in my lap, closing my eyes as the beads of sweat continued to remind me of my exotic location. I smiled to myself as my dream trip continued to a new destination.

Technical info on this shot:

• Lens: 50 mm 1.8 Nikon
• Aperture Setting: f5.6
• Shutter Speed: 1/125
• ISO: 200

As we headed from central Thailand up to the Chaing Rai area, our guide suggested we take a traditional Long-Tail boat up the Mae Kok River. The boats are quite fast and the journey winds through some beautiful scenery from lush mountains to scenes of small huts on the banks of the river. Many fisherman can be seen along the trip as we made our way up to the Karen village of Ruammit. An old village, Ruammit is famous for its elephants, retaining its traditional culture and traditions. Becoming one of the major tourist attractions in that area.

Arriving in the village our first stop was the “Karen Ruammit Elephant Club”. There are many elephants as the village is famous for along with shops of traditional crafts such as Karen hats and clothing. Not really interested in riding elephants, we made our way to an area that had a 200 lb boa constrictor that one could wrap around their neck for about $5 USD. My friend who I was traveling with had a 18 year old son that decided he needed to do this. Of course she was a bit freaked out about letting him throw the snake around his neck, but her protests were ignored.

Walking around the village we saw many people going about their day to day lives. My friend always loves to visit schools and this village was no exception as she insisted we make our way to the local village school. In a small village such as this, one can just walk up and start talking to the teachers during class time. It probably helped that we obviously looked like foreigners and our interpreter and guide Tony helped ease the communication barrier.  I was shooting with a Nikon D1X back then and sharing photos with the kids after I took them always broke the ice and gave the kids howls of laughter as they saw themselves and classmates on the LCD.

Soon it was time to make our way to the center of the village. I always like to help support the local vendors since many of these villages are remote and don’t get as much tourist traffic as the larger towns. The market area had lots of little stands and as we wandered through these little shops, I heard an interesting musical sound coming from one of the shops. The shop keeper was the man in the portrait above, playing the La Lai as I learned.

He had such an interesting face, his eyes focused on me as he played. Through a common gesture of pointing at him and then my camera, I asked him if it was ok to take some photos. With a slow nod he agreed, still playing the instrument. I shot almost 40 images of him as I review my images from this trip. This one really captured his eyes and relaxed demeanor and soon I was the owner of a new musical instrument.

Technical info on this shot:

• Lens: 50 mm 1.8 Nikon
• Aperture Setting: f3.3
• Shutter Speed: 1/320 with -0.5 exposure compensation
• ISO: 250

Monkeys are really fun to photograph. They are nasty little buggers, not very clean but their antics make me smile. When I heard we were able to make it to the Monkey Palace in Lopburi, I was pretty excited. Now this is a place where the monkeys rule, literally. The long-tailed macaques that live amongst its ancient temples are all over town including on the power lines, jumping on vehicles and pretty much having the run of the town which the towns people just seem to ignore. In fact the monkeys are celebrated each year with an annual monkey festival that allows them to gorge on over 4 tons of food in late November. Everything from various vegetables, fruit, ice cream and sweets. Of course they are given milk to down the tasty gifts.

Not knowing what to expect, we headed right for the Pra Prang Sam Yot temple and were “greeted” by tons of monkeys. Greeted is probably not the right word, but when I first walked onto the temple grounds, I had a monkey launch at me from about five feet onto my back. My instant reaction was to swat him off like a fly and get him off of me as fast as possible. He was probably as startled as I was at my reaction and he hissed at me with a wicked look in his eyes, baring some seriously sharp teeth. Soon you get used to them being around you, but it’s still a bit of a start when they jump onto your back and climb onto your head.

Across the street was an area where vendors would sell soda’s and chips and it wasn’t unusual for you to see a monkey drinking out of a bottle and having his head inside an empty back of chips, feasting on the last little morsels.

By these vendors, where the Mom and child seen in the above portrait. Before taking the photo, we offered a donation and handed it to the child who smiled and dropped it in the cup. I wanted to be pretty discrete about shooting the scene, but also wanted to get a good shot as it had such an emotional impact on me as I saw the two of them sitting there.

I had my Sigma 28-200 lens on the camera and shot at roughly 100mm, shooting 10 frames and then getting this one on the 11th. I knew I nailed it as soon as I looked at the LCD on that last shot.

I often think about what her life is like now and whether her child who is probably 11, is still living in poverty.

Technical info on this shot:

• Lens: 28-200 mm f/3.3-5.6 Sigma lens
• Aperture Setting: f5.6
• Shutter Speed: 1/125
• ISO: 200

The image above is still fresh in my mind as they day I took it. We were in a small village in Northern Thailand, around the area of the Golden Triangle if I remember correctly. When we arrived the village seemed electric with excitement, many women dressed in white and seemed to have a purpose. I asked Tony what as going on and he told me we arrived at a good time as all the Buddhist monks would be coming into the village to receive their offerings of food to sustain them for the next month.  I think this coincided with the day of the full moon, but I may be wrong.

Tony suggested we go into the temple to pray. By this time we had seen so many temples and people praying that it did not seem foreign to us. In fact I was warming up to the thought of Buddhism, the more I learned about their ways and how everyone takes care of each other. The temple was pretty full and it was virtually all women. Removing our shoes, we entered to the temple and paid our respects as best we knew how with the language barrier. A few ladies smiled at us and seemed to appreciate that we were there.

Soon we made our way outside while women gathered on the streets in a receiving line. Armed with silver bowls filled with rice, flowers, incense and various other types of food, they waited patiently for the monks to arrive. Each monk arrived with a stainless steel bowl wrapped inside a carrier as you see in the photo. They would receive gifts from each person and as their bowls filled up, they transferred it to a larger tub the younger monks were carrying.

Slowly the offerings were complete and it was time for us to move on. As we were getting ready to head to our vehicle to continue our journey, I looked to my right and saw the lone monk walking shoeless up the road. I took two shots and then it was time to go.

I always liked the solitude of this image, knowing all to well that he really wasn’t alone, but had a whole village there to help take care of him.

Technical info on this shot:

• Lens: 50mm 1.8
• Aperture Setting: f2.0
• Shutter Speed: 1/1600
• ISO: 800

If you have never been to Angkor Wat in Siem Reip Cambodia, you are missing out on one of the most amazing and spiritual places I have ever been to. Truly a magical place in both construction and history, a true wonder of the world.

Many of us learned about Cambodia through the movie the “Killing Fields” and have negative view of the country based on this and all we have learned as the Khmer Rouge virtually destroyed the country. Luckily I have a very close friend who is Cambodian and I learned that it was also a beautiful country that he had very fond memories of and would paint wonderful stories of his youth and his experiences before he was forced to leave.

I had read quite a bit on Angkor Wat and had seen some wonderful images on the web, so knew without a doubt that we had to make a side trip from Bangkok to this magical destination. So towards the end of our Thailand trip we hopped a small plane and took an hour or so flight to Siem Reip. Choosing flight as a method of travel vs. a bus across the border of Cambodia which we heard was chaotic. The plane circled and below us was nothing but jungle and scattered houses throughout the countryside. The plane landed with a huge jolt as it banged into the ground. This was not a landing but a falling onto the runway. One of the roughest landings I have been in.

So luckily we are safely on the ground and it’s time to enter the country. Customs has always been a pain for me because it just takes away from travel time, but it’s a necessary evil to go through. We gather our luggage and walk through a door where the Custom officials are. In an area of about 10 feet, six men are shoulder to shoulder at a desk and looking at passports. The first one hands it to the second and so on. Each one taking a look at it or stamping it. It was really quite efficient and when my passport got to the last man, he asked me for my photo. I looked at him with a puzzled look and stated I didn’t know I needed one.  He said it would cost me $20 and I need to go out the door and get one. Paying him first of course. Getting out the door, all I see are cab drivers trying to get our attention.. then I realized there was no photographer and my money was a donation.

Finally we find a cab driver who seemed quite nice. His name was Kehn and we liked him so much, he was our driver for three days. At $10 a day, how could one go wrong? We got settled into our hotel and rested for the next day of going to the temple.

Arriving at the entrance, we paid $20 for a one day pass but ended up going another day as it was so interesting. Making it past the gate, we were excited at what lay in front of us. Our excitement soon turns to irritation as we pull up to the parking area. As soon as we open our doors, vendors selling everything from t-shirts to counterfeited books are swarming us and they were relentless. Soon we made it into the temple grounds and luckily there were very few people trying to sell things. A few young kid wanted to be our “Guides” but we chose to navigate by ourselves.

After spending about an hour or so, I made my way to the center area and ran upon the lady in the above portrait. She was selling incense as offerings to Buddha and I gladly gave her a couple of dollars as a gesture. I asked her if it was ok to take a photo by pointing at my camera and she agreed. Lighting was really tough in this location and I switched to my 50 mm lens to get a bit more light, but also wanted some depth of field. I ended up taking six photos and showed her the first few and she said to me in her broken english “Eyeth clothed”. I didn’t quite understand her then she pointed at her eyes and blinked. Of course, her eyes were closed, so I took a few more shots and got her approval.

Before I left I noticed how weathered her hands were and took a couple of shots of those as well. I keep telling myself that I need to print this image out on canvas and hang it on my wall. Probably one of my favorite travel portraits ever.

Technical info on this shot:

• Lens: 50mm 1.8
• Aperture Setting: f3.5
• Shutter Speed: 1/50
• ISO: 400

After spending some time at Angkor Wat, we asked Kehn to take us to a typical Cambodian neighborhood on the outskirts of Siem Reip. We wanted more than the tourist experience and wanted so see how people really live. We ended up driving about 15 minutes outside of town. Traveling along Tonlé Sap,  the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia, we saw many stick houses along the lake and many boat houses scattered throughout. In fact, some of the boats even had T.V.’s based on all the antenna’s we saw and what appeared to be power cables strung to them.

Soon we saw a neighborhood that looked interesting and asked Kehn to stop. It must have looked a bit funny for us to just stop and walk around as we were completely out of place there. I with my camera around my neck probably stood out the most as a tourist. The houses were all mostly stick houses with elevated first floors, hammocks underneath to allow a respite from the heat. The sides made out of reeds as well as the roof, were just enough to keep the rain out during the monsoons, but not much else.

Slowly we walked around and like a pied piper, attracted the attention of children in the village. They seemed curious, yet a bit distant as we smiled and let them approach us. The thing I first noticed is how care free and happy they appeared. Running around with their friends and not having mothers that hovered over them as they played.

The neighborhood was a full of activity from kids riding their bikes through the area to motorcycles and water buffalo sharing the pathways. One little girl had her hand full of garbage and proceeded to walk onto a bridge in the area and throw it all in the river. The river was lined with plastic bags and bottles and it saddened me to see such filth.

Eventually we ended on a path that took us to a guy selling ice cream out of a three wheeled motorcycle outfitted with a cooler. By this time we had about 15 children following us and my friend said that we need to “Buy the children some ice cream” Little did I know that she would buy everything the guy had in his cooler and feed the whole neighborhood. And that’s just what she did. The children swarmed around us as they received their free treats, running to their friends to spread the good news.

The portrait above was taken after the ice cream was enjoyed. I assume this is two brothers, big brother taking care of the little one who was always on his back. A good lesson here is to get out of the touristy areas and learn more about he people and cultures and if you’re a photographer, you’ll most likely be richly rewarded.

Technical info on this shot:

• Lens: 50mm 1.8
• Aperture Setting: f6.3
• Shutter Speed: 1/180
• ISO: 800

I hope you enjoyed the stories behind the portraits and I would love to hear your comments on this post.

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