I am planning a business/leisure trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Taking my usual outfit of M6TTL and extra body with 35, 50 & 90 lens.Any general advice on travelling and photo taking in that country??

Thanks

-- Tim Tan (kctan18@yahoo.com), January 24, 2002

Answers

Sounds like a great trip, Tim. I think you might want a wider-angle lens to supplement your usual array of lenses - a 24mm perhaps, to minimize the potential for excessive WA distortion. I think you should also hire an older photo coach to go along with you on this trip. ;-)

Some of the other participants may have more helpful info about film availability there, and other travel tips for the region. Have fun.

-- Ralph Barker (rbarker@pacbell.net), January 24, 2002.

Great idea to visit Angkor. Unbelievably beautiful: the Khmer civilisation has build one of the most extraordinary temple compounds in the world. Take 21/28/35 mm high speed wideangle glass for the bulk of your pictures and maybe a 90mm Elmarit for portraits. Would suggest to take a tripod as many images will be made in shadow area's. Don't use too contrasty negative or slide film (I would take Kodachrome 64)as the contrasts between area's in the sun and in the shadows is very high. Get up once early once to see and photograph the sun rise over Angkor. Photograph when the light is best, e.g. avoid making pictures between 10:30 and 15:30. Pictures made during 30 minutes after sundown may come out beautiful as well. Have a great trip.

-- Gerard Captijn. (gacaptijn@amasbank.com), January 24, 2002.

Tim,

I went in late '96 and enjoyed every minute. I got to Siem Reap by boat from PP (Phnom Penh). BTW, there are things to see in PP. Use motor bike taxis. Cheaper, and easier to jump off from if you get nervous (I didn't). Good chinese food in PP.

Some advice:

Don't buy any fake Rolex's or any thing else fake; their pretty good at it. They will say it was from the murdered elite.

All I took was the Hasselblad SWC and an M6 with 35, 2.0, and plenty of film.

Rent a motor bike to have more freedom ($5/day, then). Stay off the tours. It's also much cooler with the wind in your face.

I didn't get to Bantay Srai, though (least looted/best preserved/most intricate carvings). The road guard wouldn't let me pass. I tried a backway using trails, came upon, and photographed a military encampment overlooking the river; didn't find Bantai.

Food is fine if the restaurant is clean.

Discos are OK, if your in to THAT kind of thing.

See the thread "daily bed" that I started for don't miss photo locations.

-- chris chen (chrischen@msn.com), January 24, 2002.

See if you can get more time than less in Siem Riep. There is far too much to see and photograph in 1 or 2 days.

Do take the motorcycle rides to get from place to place. Avoid the car and guide routine-it greatly decreases your mobility. Mine was part of a package, inadvertantly and I switched as soon as I could.

It is quite possible to become snap happy and miss out on the experience of just being there and taking it all in...

If you are there on a Sunday or Saturday, be sure to be in front of Angkor Wat itself in the evening. The townspeople gather around it and take the evening air-makes the whole place come alive.

Lastly, do help out the mine victims you see begging especially the little ones. No faking there.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), January 24, 2002.

Tim,

These two websites have a range of pictures that might give you an idea of the type of lenses you would like to take on your journey:

http://www.angkorwat.org/

http://www.leidenuniv.nl/pun/ubhtm/mjk/angkorwa.htm

Please be sure to tell us of your experience, both photographic and otherwise. My parents went there in 1955 and they remembered it forever. It is a very serene place in spite of the element of tourism.

Bon voyage!

-- Vikram Singh (VSingh493@aol.com), January 24, 2002.

There are many terrific photo books on Angkor to give you some ideas. My favorite is the one by Marc Riboud--all shot on B&W with Leica. His photos run from the late 60's into the 90's and the book is extraordinarily well printed. It's an out-of-print item now, I think, but your library might have it.

-- Tim Nelson (timothy.nelson@yale.edu), January 24, 2002.

If you have your own moped you can stay away from the few busses you'll see. When I was there in the high season (dec., '96) it was not difficult. Sometimes you'll find yourself alone; except for the guide-for-hire at every temple entrance ($1). I did hire sometimes; they generally speak english, but don't give much information. I "used" them in my photo's for scale because I was often alone.

Mani, definitely go early, stay late.

-- chris chen (chrischen@msn.com), January 24, 2002.

Tim, We're leaving Monday for three weeks in Vietnam. I'm taking an M6 with Tri-Elmar and a 90mm APO Summicron. Also, I'll have a polarizer for the Tri-Elmar. Slides will be the media...E100VS,Fuji 200 and Provia400F for low light situations. I'm trying to travel lightly, so no tripod...maybe a mistake. This is essentially the same equipment I took to the Perigord area of France this past October and it worked quite well. Good shooting!

-- George L. Doolittle (geodoolitt@aol.com), January 24, 2002.

S.E. Asia--all of it pretty much--is a spectacular travel destination and photographers' paradise. I applaud the moxie of those who venture out into traffic on mopeds or motorcycles, I've seen the traffic and I'm chicken s*** to join in the fray. (The last time I dismounted a motorcycle--in the early 70's--it was an unplanned event and the bike and I parted company quickly, in opposite directions). Speaking of equipment, on one venture to S.E. Asia in the 90's I carried an M4+35 and a Nikon F+105, with a 50 for each body stashed in my pack. I wanted to see the land through similar equipment carried by many of the PJ's during the war years. The last time I was over there I carried an F5 and n90s with a 20, 28-105 and 70-210, all AF, and got much better results with candid people shots, although I'll admit that most of it was shot with the 70-210 at the long end, from waistlevel with the F5 minus the prism. I'm not much of a street shooter, obviously. If I were to choose an M outfit for a trip to Cambodia now, it would be 1 M6/1.25 magnifier+90, Hexar RF+Tri-Elmar, and the 35/1.4ASPH and 21mm in the bag. I would carry my ubiquitous table tripod as well. In your case, if you don't have a second M body, I would seriously consider picking up a used Minilux or Contax T2/T3 or perhaps even a Yashica T4 or Olympus Stylus, and stash it away. It would be a terrible thing to come home empty- handed if something were to go sproing on your only camera.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), January 24, 2002.

Have any of you globetrotters ever been to Petra, in Jordan?

-- Frank Horn (owlhoot45@hotmail.com), January 24, 2002.

Thanks for all your input, they are all useful information. It's great to have a forum like this where you can get so much information.

Will try to post some photos after the trip.

-- Tim Tan (kctan18@yahoo.com), January 24, 2002.

Tim.

Sounds like a great trip (phographically speaking). The lenses you have selected are excellently suited toward travel photography. But in my view, perhaps the single best lens for the anticipated photo situations would be a lens wider than 35 mm: preferably 21 or 24 mm. (If you have the C/V 15/4.5 I would also include that one.) A very wide lens is extremely useful for photgraphing interesting buildings,sweeping vistas, indoor shots, and any situation in which you are crowded and cannot move back. A 21 or 24 mm lens is generally the best for these types of photos.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), January 24, 2002.