2007 allowed the opportunity for Mai and myself to make two personal
journeys to Indochina.
In March, we traveled throughout Vietnam. On that trip, whilst down in the
Mekong Delta, we peered across the Cambodia border. Allured by what we
could see, we were determined to come back and make a separate journey
into that country.
Therefore toward the end of November, we donned our backpacks once
again and flew back to Saigon. Part of the legacy of wanting to take some
photographs with a digital SLR was that the camera, its power adapter,
a couple of lenses, and a light-weight tripod constituted half the weight
and bulk of my pack. Since part of the plan called for us to travel on the
backs of motorbikes at times, we needed to travel light, but I was also
compelled to try and capture some images, so the camera gear had top
packing priority.
After overnighting in Saigon, to save time we caught a flight to Siem Reap,
at the very heart of Cambodia. As we flew over the giant fresh water lake
of Tonle Sap and I looked down at it and the jungle below, the landscape
was instantly familiar. Before taking the journey I had overflown and explored
this area and elsewhere in Cambodia using the satellite imagery of Google Earth.
Just a few km outside of Siem Reap was the Angkor Archaeological Park,
covering an area of over 400 sq. km. This area contains what remains of the
heart of the Angkor Era Khmer Empire, which lasted from the 9th to the 15th
Century. Some of the remains include dozens of temples, the walls of an ancient
city, huge moats and enormous reservoirs. For example, two of the largest ancient
reservoirs are known as the East and West Barrays and West Barray measures 8km by
2.3km in area, clearly visible on Google Earth and making the 20th Century
constructed airport runway at Siem Reap, designed to take jet aircraft, diminutive
by scale.
The most famous structure within the park is the magnificent Angkor Wat temple,
a massive complex and one of the most impressive structures ever built by man.
We scheduled to spend five days around Angkor and the surrounding area.
On the first day we rented a couple of bicycles and rode into the park from Siem
Reap. The Google Earth satellite imagery could not prepare us for the
magnificant spectacle of this amazing part of the planet.
In the following posts, I wanted to present a series of short photographic
essays.
The first essay is associated with the Angkor Era. I will attempt to order the
photographs chronologically corresponding to approximately when a particular
temple was constructed.
A second essay will deal with the terrible Khmer Rouge era from 1975 to 1979.
A third essay will deal with the French era in Cambodia, which lasted from
1863 to 1953.
I hope you find some of these images interesting.
Best Regards
Gary Kopff
Mt. Kuring-Gai