The Bayon Temple - Cambodia

The Bayon temple was built at the centre of city of Angkor Thom by the King Jayavarman VII. Each tower bears four faces, facing the four cardinal points. There are 54 towers in total and therefore 216 smiling faces.

The Bayon Temple - Cambodia

If I had to rank the temples of Angkor, I would place the Bayon on the top of the list, followed by Phnom Bakheng and Ta Prohm. If the outskirt temples would be considered, then Koh Ker and Beng Mealea would share the second and third position!

The Bayon Temple - Cambodia

More of the enigmatic smiling faces of the temple of Bayon.

The Bayon Temple - Cambodia

Early morning, the light plays with the faces of the Bodhisattva (black & white rendition).

The Bayon Temple - Cambodia

From afar, the Bayon temple looks like one of these sand castles kids create by letting wet sand drip from their fingers. It is at close range and especially on the third level that one will be amazed by the towers bearing the enormous smiling faces of Avalokiteshvara.

If your trip schedule permits it, I would highly recommend the visit of this site early morning as you will have the temple almost entirely for yourself from 7am to 8am. By 10am, the crowd will be so large that you will not be able to appreciate it fully. Additionally, the morning light plays with the faces and offer interesting photographic opportunities.

Rainbow at Sunset - Phnom Krom / Cambodia

As we were getting used to, it started raining just as the sun was setting. The show this time was not the sun directly but rather the beautiful double rainbow in the exact opposite direction, with Siem Reap in the background. Another great time that made the climb well worth it. Walking down the hill was in the dark and under a heavy rainfall. Still worth the climb ; )

View from Phnom Krom - Cambodia

When there is a hill, there is a view. So let's climb it... On the way up Phnom Krom.

Chong Kneas - Cambodia

A game of volleyball before sunset. In the background, local habitations, partly floating, partly on stilts.

Chong Kneas - Cambodia

Chong Kneas is a small village on the Tonle Sap Lake and is an important point of passage with boat connections to Phnom Penh and Battanbang. On a piece of recently reclamed land, a market was established, geared mainly to the inhabitants of the lake returning home.

Chong Kneas - Prek Toal Highway / Osmose

Back from Prek Toal to Chong Kneas, our boat must follow the channels through large patches of floating plants. Wind and currents may displace or simply erase these paths, which have to then be remarked, at the force of the vessels' propeller. To guide the boatman, the hill of Phnom Krom shows the way.

Our memorable visit and home stay at the Prek Toal floating village would not have been possible without the dedication of Osmose, an organisation registered as a local NGO that supports and provides environmental education to the local community.

In the unique environment of the Tonle Sap Great Lake, Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary is host to the highest number of breeding large water birds in South East Asia. Ten years ago, many of the rarest birds species populating the area faced a serious danger of extinction as over-harvesting of their eggs threatened to destroy their populations. As part of the response, Osmose was established with a novel approach to environmental protection: advancing conservation objectives through environmental education, community support and alternative income generation from Ecotourism.

10 years later, egg harvesting has stopped, the bird populations have recovered and Osmose is growing and evolving. The environmental education programme has reached 1000s of children, creating the future environmental guardians of this great lake. The alternative income programme has expanded to include Saray, a cooperative that creates woven products from the super-abundant water hyacinth on the lake, generating incomes for almost 40 women, while Osmose remains the premier Ecotourism operator in Prek Toal. Now, more than 100 families in the villages in which they operate benefit from Osmose’s income generating activities, and many more from Osmose’s medical (e.g. supply of water filters), social, schooling and material support and assistance.

More information on Osmose can be found on their website: www.osmosetonlesap.net/www/english/quoideneuf.php

Nesting Bird Colony - Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary

Another view of the birds nesting in groups on half flooded trees.

Oriental Darters at the Nest - Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary

Oriental darter feeding its chicks at the nest.

Nesting Bird Colony - Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary

Bird colony comprising mainly of darters and cormorans nesting on half flooded tree at the sanctuary.

Asian Openbill - Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary

The Asian Openbills is another species that can be easily spoted in the reserve.

Oriental Darter - Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary

Oriental Darters are common sights in the Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary.

To avoid carrying too much weight during the trip, the longest focal lens I had taken along was the 70-300mm VR. Used with a full frame camera, the reach was unfortunately not sufficient for bird photography...

Prek Toal Flooded Forest - Cambodia

The top of some trees as well as tall bushes can be seen above the water, mixing with floating aquatic plants.

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A typical floating garden complete with its roof providing just the right amount of shade for the growth of, in this case, some herbs used to spice up the regular meals. Old rice bags are used to retain the soil on top of a bed of bamboo sticks cut longitudinally.

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The long boats as seen above are used by fishermen during the fishing season (when the water start to receed).

While there are TV antennas on some of the houses, electricity is scarce and expensive as it is produced by fuel generator that are usually shared between a few families.

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Paddling at the first morning lights.

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The night had been short. After the Buddhist festival, the yougsters of the village gathered for some dancing and the loud music kept us awake till it stopped, around 2AM. It is then that most started returning back to their floating houses silently when paddling but the roar of some engines suprised us. The local gekoes were particularly loud too. Once all was finally silent, the rain started drumming on the tin roof and I could hear myself laughting loudly under my mosquito net. Satisfied that the roof was not leaking on us and the camera equipment, sleep caught up with us... till the roosters woke up... at the first lights!

Fantastic Sunset at Prek Toal - Cambodia

As it had been usual during our trip, a heavy tropical rain started to pour just when the sun was about to set. The resulting colours and spectacle were just fantastic. We happened to be in the observation tower of the Head Quarter of the Bird Sancturary (the tallest brick building of the village beside the cell antennas) while our guide was filling in the paperwork to enter the reserve the following day. With the swirling wind and the show in front of us, the challenges were to keep the camera lens free from water drops and remember to take some shots! What a closure for an amazing day.

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A girl on one of the decorated boats.

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We were greeted by an impromptu gymnastic performance!

TIP: When traveling to such destination, bring along bags of colourful balloons. They are lightweight, do not take any space and are great ice breakers with the kids (and their parents). The place is then filled with laughter and it is really heart warming to see all the children interacting and enjoying themselves. On the other hand and considering the state of local oral hygiene, I would not advise offering sweets.

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While the parents are occupied at the temple, the children play hide and seek on the raft that is used for recess by the primary school.

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Decorated boats anchored by the pagoda.

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Prior to entering the pagoda, it is customary to walk around it clockwise three times.

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It is a day where the community makes donations to the temple for its upkeep and for the construction of annexes. The amounts received from the different families are mentioned to all by loudspeaker during a part of the ceremony.

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We were lucky enough to arrive at the floating village the day of a Buddhist celebration. Some of the devotees made their way to the temple by boats decorated with Buddhist flags, umbrellas and other religious paraphernalia.

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Her face brightened when her little (well fed!) brother came back home on her mum's boat. It was with a lot of pride that she presented him to us.

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