A look at Siem Reap, Cambodia

Crossing Bridges had been in its fifth establishment. Was held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, it really impressed each participant. Four tooearly mornings, six days capturing, five nights reviewing; they were all magnificent. As it is well-known, Cambodia is exotic.

Keeping her magical beauty behind the shadiness of her jungles, sincerity of Cambodians’ smiles and greatness of her historic temples. Six days of hunting could be and could be not enough to picture her every side.
Scheduled for six days from November 11 to 16, 2008, 55 photographers from four South East Asia countries – Vietnam (Photo.vn), Singapore (Clubsnap.com), Malaysia (PhotoMalaysia.com) and Indonesia (Fotografer.net) – came one to two days earlier. Since Singapore was in turn to take charge, seven participants from Clubsnap had already been in Siem Reap two days earlier with Eddie Ng Kwok Yong leading, who was then the coordinator of CB5.

Among 55 participants from four different countries, Indonesia (Fotografer.net) had the biggest quota – 18 photographers coming from Medan, Jakarta, Solo, Surabaya, Balikpapan and Manado, plus an Indonesian living in Yangon, Myanmar. Impressing, Surprising This photographers’ enthusiasm excited Eddie Ng coordinating CB5.
“The cooperation between photographers from different countries was great. It was. But in CB5 what warmed my heart was during non-shooting times (on buses, during meals and after dinner activities); participants playing lots of jokes with participants from other countries, and we had a larger number of irrepressibly funny people from each country that kept things light-hearted,” said Eddie.

Alike Eddie, Kristupa Saragih, the leader of Indonesian participants, said “Another thing impressing is the enthusiasm of members from four countries to attend this trip. It shows that CB is important among the countries in Southeast Asian region.” With a lot of excitements, more than 55 cameras and tripods began their days of exploring Siem Reap’s magical sides.
For Indonesian participants, the day began in H-1; exploring the Bayon sites in Angkor Thom temples complex. With tuktuk, a motorcycle driven cart a la Cambodia with only two or three people fitted, they were on bad and even muddy roads with almost no wayside lighting.

Thus, this was eased by Angkor’s beautiful temples, bright blue sky and great sunshine. More of, the Bayon, Baphuon, South Kleang and North Kleang sites brought in their exoticisms through ancient reconstructed ruins, corridors with pillars, four entrance gates of four compass points, a pool with geese and 200-meter bridge-like construction with artistic pillars.

“I impressed with the destination. Angkor brings kind of magical feeling for me personally,” Kristupa admitted. The next day – the first scheduled day – began with capturing the crowd of a traditional market on one of the waysides in Siem Reap.
Though physically similar with ones in Indonesia – slummy, bad parking, bad driving, traffic jam – this market is photographically interesting. Fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, meats, pottery/glassware and tent food-courts are more than enough to capture along with the crowd.