SGTrekker 4D Angkor Wat Photo Tour (4-7 Oct '12)

[limwhow]

Pub Street...?

Huh? What is Pub Street? I must have been really sua koo.
Didn't know anything about Pub Street until just a few minutes before I was supposed to go roam it's tarmac ground.
Apparently this Pub Street is a complex of Street where lots of pubs, cafe, eateries, shops, massage palours..
But it sort of cater mostly to travellers from the West..
The first two nights when we were there it was pretty quiet and we were all taken aback by the pausity of visitors.
But on Saturday night the whole place came alive.

Here our Tarzan lady and ZeroPlus1 were basking under the warm light of the street sign...

... and Khmer Barbecues were aplenty.

McDermot Photogallery

Adrian said: "I am going to bring you guys to the very famous photographer called McDermot who shot many Infrared pictures of the Angkor Wat and has his own photo gallery right here in Pub Street."
Infrared photos! Wow.. right down our alley.

Oh but they don't allow photography inside their gallery.
But still I managed to sneek in one shot of all of us enjoying the gallery.

I remember going around asking many of our team members which one of the photos spoke to them and which one they liked most.
vngks was running crazily all over the gallery showing me this shot and that shot: "I am going to capture this angle. I want this shot. I also want to get that shot..."
LOL... He is enthusiastic!

 

[limwhow]

... of ice creams and French-influenced architecture.

Don't know how to describe it as I am not an Architect nor a Civil Engineer, but a mere recorder.
But somehow, roaming the streets of Siem Reap sort of brings back a dejavu kind of feeling, with buildings and houses of French-influence peppering the streets... almost like... Luang Prabang.
But of course, both were French colonies in the past.

So.. we all got drunk earlier on on Angkor (or was it Anchor) Beer, and now we got drunk on Rum Ice cream.. Here SereneXMM and Mr AlexK having one of the best ice creams ever...

... and Ms Tarzan must be enjoying her ice cream too, her smile is sooooooo cool!

Adrian nagged (again!): "Ok, let's go back early for an early night rest for tomorrow we need to gather at 4am at the lobby for early set off to shoot sunrise!"

So every one can see the *Sianz* faces on our big brothers vngks and AlexK and Mrs AlexK and ZeroPlus1.. they must have wanted to venture deeper and eat more...LOL..

 

[Zeroplus1]

Dinner time & Pub Street roaming...

'tis time for dinner.
Adrian said: " This time I am going to bring you all to a restaurant that is highly recommended by Jamie, the boss of the hotel here in Siem Reap..."
Ok. That sounded really good.
And our coach ended up right at the dead end of a road where a blinking start indicated the entrance of the restaurant.
The owner of the restaurant is this Australian man who apparently has lived in Cambodia for more than 10 years and every day he would go out onto the street and grab young boys and girls off the street and save them from 'drugs, gambling, prostitution and all illegal activities' and house them in his restaurant, providing education and such.
He seems to have 64 children under the care of him and his Cambodian wife.

But story aside, the food tasted really nice.
And the Anchor Beer (or was it Angkor Beer) that AlexK bought for every one was really at a good price. US$7.50 per huge tower.
Wah lau... I think a few of us got pretty drunk that night. :bsmilie::bsmilie:

we had 2 towers of Anchor beer. The Aussie seems like doing Oppa Gangnam Style in this photo....LOL

 

[SgTrekker]

6. Apsara model shoot at Victory Gate

Nice! I finally see the resemblance between our model and King Jaya's face behind Both have thick luscious lips!

 

[limwhow]

Day 2 morning: Angkor Wat Sunrise...

The last time we woke up so early to shoot sunrise was at Mount Bromo and at Borobudur.
So it was not without difficulty that we woke up to gather in the lobby for the coach to ferry us along the same dirt-covered tarmac road to the West Gate of Angkor Wat.

Hmmm... looking at the faces, not too sleepy yah... LOL..

Mr Thay, our Cambodian guide reminded us: "Pleae get ready your Angkor Wat pass, it's too early now and the guards are not yet here at the entrance to the Archeological park. But they will be checking them when we arrive at the West Gate of Angkor Wat."

True enough. The hard-working guards were at the steps of the West gate waiting to check our passes.
Adrian reminded us to keep our passes with us at all times. "If any time in the park, any warden were to approach you to check your pass, you have to produce them. If you don't have the pass with you, then you would have to use a couple of other papers to pretend that these are the passes..."

We walked along the main straight path in total darkness and entered the doorway of the gate, and a little forward before we turned left northwards to come to the shore of the basin. Luckily for SereneXMM and I, vngks was doing the job of a sweeper, having his powerful torch light on the ground for us.
It was still dark at the water edge, except for some lamp lights in the distance.

Adrian: "Ok here we are. Quickly all line up along the edge of the water. Be careful don't step into the water, but you would have to place your tripod legs into the water to make sure that you are close enough to the edge in order for the late comers not to encroach upon the ground in front of you all..."

We quickly deployed and waited...

 

[limwhow]

6. Apsara model shoot at Victory Gate

Nice! I finally see the resemblance between our model and King Jaya's face behind Both have thick luscious lips!

Yupe. That's why when our model was getting ready for the model shoot, remember what Mr Thay said?
He said: "The model has dark skin, and that is because she is Cambodian."
And I believe the Cambodian-ness extends to the thickness of the lips too.

 

[limwhow]

Video of us waiting for sunrise...

Haha... an amateurish attempt with my iPhone.
Leow was sort of pushed to our side here because one *ahem* gentlemen from up-north rudely elbowed his way and stood right in front of him, totally blocking his view even though our Leow was already set up.
To avoid making a scene, Adrian gotten him another slot here...

[video=youtube_share;NdIBYIIa7QM]http://youtu.be/NdIBYIIa7QM[/video]

 

[limwhow]

I really cannot believe we were the first group to arrive at the scene.
For many years of my life, I have heard about having to be here very very early in order to have an unobstructed view of sunrise across the basin towards Angkor Wat.
And I have imagined time and again in many of my dreams, scenes of ourselves having to jostle with the crowds to grab a small part of the space just so to shoot a sunrise.
But today we all emerged the victor, for almost the whole stretch was occupied by members of SgTrekkers.
And soon after we have deployed, the other visitors came and had to be contented with second place behind all of us.
Heng ah...

Here, Ms Speng was sooooo happy because she had a perfect spot, and she had a perfect shot of the lovely blue sky and the orange hue together with a horse-shoe shaped cloud with its reflection in the water.

Our LEO had his Nikon working at its max, squeezing out the orange from the sky.
Job done, he also 'sow kong' 收工...

Our two photography power horses forever at the ready with their tua-leng-gong cameras...

 

[limwhow]

... Quick, let's keep our equipment and run...!

Adrian ordered: "Ok guys. The crowds are coming in. Quickly, keep our equipment and follow me. I am going to bring you guys to another spot where there are absolutely no visitors at this point in time so that we can have the whole place to ourselves."

Wow.. that's what having an experienced tour leader means. It means we can leave the whole crowd trying to capture whatever sunrise left here while we fly to the next vantage point.
As we walked, we turned back and saw the egg-yolk coming out from behind the clouds..
... and all the latecomers scrambled to lift up their handphones, point & shoot cameras...

Yupe... handphone shooters were aplenty on this lovely morning...

Quick! Get up the bus and let's have a quick breakfast..!

Breakfast was da-pao. Bread, hard-boiled egg, some lucky ones have croissants, and a couple of pieces of dragon fruit and banana.
We only had about 10 mins to gobble down the breakfast before the coach arrived at the secret secluded spots.. Here Mr R was trying his best..

 

[limwhow]

... at some secluded part of Angkor Wat...

Another pass check point, and we were on foot again.

Mrs AlexK said: "Hey look at the reflection in the water! Just now the whole group were shooting this reflection. I am going to give it a try."

A bonus to all of us... a couple of nuns meditating early in the morning!

A sudden silence fell upon the group. Like stalkers we quietly approached the nuns..
And every one found a position to shoot.. like predators waiting to pounce on their prey..
Well, at least it looked to me like it in this picture...

vngks was the best. He went RIGHT up close!

 

[SgTrekker]

Group Photo at the East Gate of the Angkor Wat


Group Photo AKW by Singapore Trekker, on Flickr

 

[SgTrekker]

I really cannot believe we were the first group to arrive at the scene.
For many years of my life, I have heard about having to be here very very early in order to have an unobstructed view of sunrise across the basin towards Angkor Wat.
And I have imagined time and again in many of my dreams, scenes of ourselves having to jostle with the crowds to grab a small part of the space just so to shoot a sunrise.
But today we all emerged the victor, for almost the whole stretch was occupied by members of SgTrekkers.
And soon after we have deployed, the other visitors came and had to be contented with second place behind all of us.
Heng ah...

Yeah it was so crowded that after slotting you guys in, i only made the 3rd row... Unfortunately, most of my sunrise shots were handheld.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat by Singapore Trekker, on Flickr

 

[limwhow]

Group Photo at the East Gate of the Angkor Wat


Group Photo AKW by Singapore Trekker, on Flickr

Nice shot of the whole group! Very memorable!

 

[Zeroplus1]

Nice shot of the whole group! Very memorable!

ya man.
Adrian, can send us the jpeg file of the original size?

 

[LowLights]

... Quick, let's keep our equipment and run...!

Adrian ordered: "Ok guys. The crowds are coming in. Quickly, keep our equipment and follow me. I am going to bring you guys to another spot where there are absolutely no visitors at this point in time so that we can have the whole place to ourselves."

Wow.. that's what having an experienced tour leader means. It means we can leave the whole crowd trying to capture whatever sunrise left here while we fly to the next vantage point.
As we walked, we turned back and saw the egg-yolk coming out from behind the clouds..
... and all the latecomers scrambled to lift up their handphones, point & shoot cameras...

This one looks like you all are do taiji :bsmilie:

 

[limwhow]

This one looks like you all are do taiji :bsmilie:

Haha.. not us lah, LowLights. They were some China tourists and some Japanese tourists whom we just happened to see along the way! LOL..

 

[LowLights]

Haha.. not us lah, LowLights. They were some China tourists and some Japanese tourists whom we just happened to see along the way! LOL..

Hahaha .. Pai Sei .. Pai Sei

 

[vngks]

This VNGKS is the best. You don't see his Leica chrome chrome like that. Water not scared, Wind not scared, sky not scared, earth not scared. Even flooded forest also sap sap water!

Wahahaha!!

Anyway, here are my IRenditions of the flooded forest:

1.


2.

3.

Enjoy

 

[vngks]

Here's my version of AKW:

Cheers.

 

[Daoyin]

Here's my version of AKW:

Cheers.

Nice reflection.