At around 5pm I received a distress  call from Jeanine.  She had dropped her collection of keys (car, house, mailbox, work) into a storm drain as she was unloading food for Open Table. I arrived with a spare car key, a crude fishing wire, and surveyed the situation.  The keys were not visible and were probably submerged in the water at the bottom of the sewer some 9 feet below the grate. I returned home and fashioned a proper retrieval device from a 10 foot long 1″x1″ piece of scrap wood and three rare earth magnets affixed to the end of the stick with Gorilla tape.  I returned to the grate, happy no one had parked on top of it, and proceeded to conduct a grid search on the base of the storm drain.  My first pass was just below the surface of the water.  The second was 3″ below the water where I skimmed along the top of the sediment at the bottom of the drain.  On the third pass, at about 6″ under the water and well into the sediment layer, I felt the magnets mate with the keys.  I then gingerly lifted the keys up to the bottom of the grate and ever so slowly grabbed onto them and pulled them through.  The entire operation took 25 minutes with me seated on the ground as rush hour traffic streamed by.  I have little doubt that half of the town of Concord witnessed me fishing in the storm drain and are convinced I have gone mad.  Returning home with the lost keys, I was greeted by Jeanine with hero status. Her Facebook post on the outcome can be found at this link.

Maya decided she was going to shower Nala with affection this evening (for reasons not apparent to me) and requested that I take this photo of them together. Nala is slowing down as she gets older but Maya’s love for her only seems to grow. She is one lucky dog.

I stopped into the office today to retrieve my bonsai trees.  They were in great health having been well cared for by my colleagues during my one-month absence. Even more satisfying was the news that the Mark Two printer which began shipping just as I was leaving has sold in excellent numbers and has been preforming well in the field.

Kyle has returned from his three-month stint in Thailand a little ahead of schedule due to the timing of an audit in California which requires his supervision. It is unclear where his next posting will take him.  We are rooting for Boston but it is more likely that he will wind up in Menlo Park where his small company already has an office.  Until this decision is finalized he has furnished his office with an inflatable mattress so that he does not need to find temporary housing until the decision is made.  In addition, he now has one of the shortest commutes in all of California.

Jeanine was up before dawn to attend the non-denominational  sunrise Easter service at the Old North Bridge.  Maya and I needed a little more sleep and joined her for the 11 AM service at our church.  In a departure from tradition Maya received an Easter “bucket” instead of a basket.  It mattered little to her as the contents seemed more the priority. She was kind enough to share some of her more tasty gifts with me.  Later in the day we joined Alan and Sarinnagh for lunch at the AKA Bistro where I had my first burger in over a month.  Never has one tasted better.  I spent the balance of the day beginning the long process of post-processing the images I captured over the last month and deleting the less compelling ones.  The total now stands at 4,000, down from the 10,000 I shot.  I have started updating posts (you may have to go back a page or two) and hope I can get fully caught up in about a week.

As much as I enjoyed my adventures in Southeast Asia, I am delighted to be home again.  Jeanine and Maya picked me up at the airport and I was happy to clear customs in record time (so happy I enrolled in the Global Entry program).  During the ride home, I shared the highlights of my travels which made the trip go quickly. On the home front Jeanine, Maya, and Nicolai’s girlfriend, Karuna had readied the house for Easter with a beautiful Easter Egg bouquet that now graces the picture window in our kitchen.

The third Mughal Emperor, Akbar the Great (1555–1605), commenced the construction of his own tomb in around 1600. It was completed by his son after his death.  Today the Tomb of Akbar the Great serves as much as a wildlife sanctuary.  Deer roam openly and birds of every variety can be found singing in the trees.

I had originally planned to spend Holi in Mathura. Virtually everyone I met with advised against this because my safety could not be assured.  Mathura is where the hardcore come to celebrate and drink.  Think spring break.  I still wanted to see the city so we stopped there on the drive back to Delhi.  The birth place of Lord Krishna, Mathura is an ancient city of India known for its various monasteries of the Hindu religion and various pilgrim spots and temples. Most archeological sites are closed on Fridays but I did manage to find a massive reservoir that was pretty interesting.

With a check-in time of 1:30am for a 4:30am flight, I decided to sleep in the airport rather than stay in a hotel for a few hours. Kuldip, my faithful driver, dropped me at the airport.  Even though we had only exchanged a couple dozen words over the past week (he spoke very little English) it was funny how well we had got to know each other.  I have enjoyed my time traveling but am happy to be headed for home.

In Hinduism, Holi (also called Holaka or Phagwa) is an annual festival celebrated on the day after the full moon in the Hindu month of Phalguna (March). It celebrates spring, commemorates various events in Hindu mythology and is a time of disregarding social norms and indulging in general merrymaking. Holi celebrations start on the night before Holi with a Holika bonfire where people gather, do religious rituals in front of the bonfire, and pray that their internal evil should be destroyed as the bonfire starts. The next morning is celebrated as Rangwali Holi – a free-for-all carnival of colors where participants play, chase and colour each other with dry powder and coloured water, with some carrying water guns and coloured water-filled balloons for their water fight. Anyone and everyone is fair game, friend or stranger, rich or poor, man or woman, children and elders. The frolic and fight with colours occurs in the open streets, open parks, outside temples and buildings. People visit family, friends and foes to throw coloured powders on each other, laugh and gossip, then share Holi delicacies, food and drinks.

I can virtually promise you that any image of Holi celebration you have ever seen was of a sanitized Western version offered as a paid activity for tourists. Other than being colorful it bears little resemblance to the holiday celebrated in the streets. I shot the image above on a decorated tennis court outside a large hotel for tourists.

What follows is my best effort to capture the festival as it is celebrated by the locals.  I have classified the participants into several groups and labeled them accordingly.  The danger scale is relative to the probability of my cameras being damaged.

The marauding teenage male. Dangerous but mostly to each other. They run through the streets looking for other similar groups to attack. Frequently armed with aerosol propelled paints.

The inebriated adult male.  A danger to all.  Intent on coloring anyone in their sights. Best avoided entirely.

The peaceful adult. Looking for any opportunity to greet friends or strangers with kindness and a dash of color. Holy at its best.

The motorcycle contingent.  Always on the the move.

The adolescent female.  The most dangerous group of all by a long shot.  They lurk in alleys and on rooftops. Armed with water balloons and long range squirt sticks you can be hit before you know it.  If you breathe and/or move you are a target.  Their aim is unforgiving. They are relentless and merciless. I don’t have many pictures of this group because I would turn and run at the first sign of one.

The soloists.

It is entirely impossible to photograph Holi without becoming a target.  If I had to do it again I would have used a waterproof camera. That said, I did my best to protect my cameras while being “greeted”/attacked and managed to escape without any damage to speak of.

Shah Jahan was a member of the Mughal dynasty that ruled most of northern India from the early 16th to the mid 18th-century. After the death of his father, King Jahangir, in 1627, Shah Jahan emerged the victor of a bitter power struggle with his brothers, and crowned himself emperor at Agra in 1628. At his side was Arjumand Banu Begum, better known as Mumtaz Mahal (“Chosen One of the Palace”), whom he married in 1612 and cherished as the favorite of his three queens. In 1631, Mumtaz Mahal died after giving birth to the couple’s 14th child. The grieving Shah Jahan, known for commissioning a number of impressive structures throughout his reign, ordered the building of a magnificent mausoleum across the Yamuna River from his own royal palace at Agra. Construction began around 1632 and would continue for the next two decades. The chief architect was probably Ustad Ahmad Lahouri, an Indian of Persian descent who would later be credited with designing the Red Fort at Delhi. In all, more than 20,000 workers from India, Persia, Europe and the Ottoman Empire, along with some 1,000 elephants, were brought in to build the mausoleum complex. It has been described perfectly by Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore, as a teardrop on the face of eternity.

With an average of 12,000 visitors per day you might be wondering how it is that none are present in my photos. The answer is simple. First, you have to wake up very early to be first in line when the gates open. Second, you have to be able to run faster than all the other photographers and tourists who want to arrive at the reflecting pools first.  My speed did not let me down but scaffolding (for routine cleaning) on three of the four minarets did.  Even so, I was overwhelmed with joy to witness such beauty.

After the grounds were inundated with tourists, I moved on to the Agra Fort, more accurately described as a walled city.

When the Army of the British East India Company first attacked the Agra Fort in 1803 under General Gerard Lake, a cannonball fired by the artillery bounced off the throne at which it was aimed to make a hole through the opposite wall. Today it seems to have been occupied by another invading force.

In a brief lapse of judgement I agreed to visit a Persian rug factory to “learn” how these carpets are made.  The tour quickly turned into a sales pitch and I departed as quickly as I could but not before getting this nice image courtesy of the salesman.

Often referred to as the “Baby Taj,” the Tomb of I’timād-ud-Daulah, was the precursor to the Taj Mahal completed five years before construction of the Taj Mahal began.

I returned briefly to Qutub Minar to photograph with early morning light and used the opportunity to make several nice shadow self-portraits. The early hour also ensured an absence of tourists.

Built during the second half of the 16th century by the Emperor Akbar, Fatehpur Sikri (the “City of Victory”) was the capital of the Mughal Empire for only some 10 years. The complex of monuments and temples, all in a uniform architectural style, includes one of the largest mosques in India, the Jama Masjid. The journey from Delhi by car took half the day and I experienced a full dose of the insanity that is driving in India.

Of all the countries I have visited, I would say that driving in India is the least structured and most chaotic.  Surprisingly, there do not seem to be as many accidents as you might otherwise assume.  The entirety of the traffic code seems to include only one rule – don’t hit anything (too hard) with your vehicle.  Lane markers have no significance whatsoever. Direction of travel on either side of the road is only a loose concept. Traffic signals, little more than decorations.  Sidewalks, if not cluttered, are fair game for anything that will fit on them. Horns are used constantly to let those in front of you know that you are passing them with a few inches of clearance. In fairness to India, their traffic system must accommodate an enormous variety of users. You have your elephants, your cows, horse and oxen drawn carts, people powered bicycles, tricycles and push carts, tuk-tuks, buses, trucks, pedestrians, motorcycles, scooters, oh yes and cars, all traveling at very different speeds on roadways often in dire need of repair or clogged with commerce.  The only effective traffic controls are the ubiquitous and often unmarked speed bumps. Fail to slow down for one of these and you are guaranteed a damaged suspension.

I returned to Humayun’s Tomb this morning to catch golden light and to beat the crowds.  In many cases, I returned two and three times to the same location so that I could take advantage of optimal light. I like to think the results were worth the effort.

Gagan suggested we visit a step well which is something I had never heard of before.  I am very glad he did. As the name suggests, a step well is a water reservoir where people can walk down a series of steps to retrieve water.  This one was empty.

By mid morning, Gagan had to depart for other obligations and I was in the mood to do some walking. He dropped me off near the India Gate and from there I walked back to my hotel via a visit to the Presidential Palace.

Qutub Minar, standing at 238 feet, is the tallest brick minaret in the world.  Made of red sandstone and marble with a diameter measuring 47 feet at the base and 9 feet at the peak, it was our final destination for the day.  Inside the tower, a circular staircase with 379 steps leads to the top.

My final week traveling will be spent in India. Jeanine has connected me with the same guide she used while in Delhi, Gagan Anand. We started our morning at a the street markets where I could have easily spent the entire day for the variety of things to see and photograph.

As many of you are aware, Jeanine is the President of Open Table, a local community dinner program and food pantry for the food insecure. When Gagan explained that his mosque provided such a community dinner, I jumped at the opportunity to visit. Jeanine is known to get very excited about big pots as they suggest the preparation of food for many people. What do you think of this one, sweetie?  Also pictured are the volunteers preparing food and the guests enjoying it.

As golden light started to emerge, we visited Humayun’s Tomb and the Red Fort. On the way, I noticed an unusual traffic situation and asked if we could stop the car for a quick photograph. At some point I will try to describe the entirely insane and totally chaotic rules of the road that “govern” traffic in India. At that time, I will try to remember that our own driving etiquette might have trouble adapting to elephants in the road carrying a load spanning three lanes.

Our final destination for the evening was the Lotus Temple which is beautifully illuminated at night. It is also entirely surrounded by a very tall fence with narrowly spaced bars.  In order to get this shot, we had to find a location where I could scale up high enough to shoot over the fence.  I think the result was worth the effort.

Travel from Myanmar to New Delhi via Bangkok, the most economical route, consumed most of the day. The rest was spent planning my itinerary for India. I leave the country with profound respect for Buddhism and its followers.

Yangon previously known as Rangoon, literally: “End of Strife” is a former capital of Myanmar and is the country’s largest city with a population of over six million. The official capital was moved to Naypyidaw in 2006 for reasons that the local people find difficult to understand (or explain.) I arrived by midday and put the balance to good use covering some 12 miles on foot returning to my hotel late in the evening. My street food dinner did not include the grasshoppers pictured below.

 

A monk is allowed to collect, receive and consume food between dawn and  noon. He is not allowed to consume food outside of this time and he is not allowed to store food overnight. A monk must have all eatables and drinkables, except plain water, formally offered into his hands or placed on something in direct contact with his hands. Every morning the monks of Bagan walk through the town accepting gifts of food from the local people. They return to their monastery were they eat together.

Food of every kind can be found in the street markets where presentation is always utilitarian but beautiful.

The local people are extremely friendly and were happy to be photographed. Oddly, the boys seemed to be more into hair fashion than the girls.

My guide may have been the friendliest of all. He took me to his home and introduced me to his lovely family.  I have asked him to visit us should he ever find himself in the Boston area.

While on our cruise in Halong Bay, Jeanine and I met a fellow passenger who worked as a guide in Myanmar.  At the request of the passengers on the boat, he shared photos and stories of Bagan, his home town. When I decided to travel there, I contacted him and made arrangements for him to be my guide. It was a great decision because he was very attuned to my photographic goals and consistently made excellent choices for where we would find the best opportunities. Pictured above are the same temple, one shot before sunrise and the other just after.

Bagan is the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Pagan, the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar. During the kingdom’s height between the 11th and 13th centuries, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains, of which the remains of over 2200 still survive to the present day.

Ballooning over the plains is a popular tourist activity. I opted to use them as photographic element rather than as a platform from which to shoot.

There are as many great photographic opportunities within the temples as there are from the outside.

It is essential to alway check overhead in stairways for bees nests.  Bumping your head into one of these frequently found hives could make for a really bad day.

My guide, Kyaw, was an excellent photographer in his own right and he was kind enough to share some of the photos he took of me while I was shooting.

 

The country’s largest and most important commercial waterway, the Irrawaddy River flows from north to south through Myanmar. Traveling with the current, a ferry can reach Bagan from Mandalay in 9 hours. I decided this would be a far more interesting way to make the journey than a 30 minute flight.

The river is used as a transportation highway, source of drinking and irrigation water, bathtub, washing machine and garbage dump.

All manner of boat, usually loaded to capacity or of questionable seaworthiness can be seen on the water.

The shores are populated with small villages and tiny family enclaves.

Occasionally a large city pops up complete with a liberal collection of temples and stupas.

Everywhere the locals are hard at work, loading goods, harvesting crops, and tending livestock.

The one thing that I was not prepared to see on the Irrawaddy was the body of a dead child floating in the water. At a distance, I assumed it was a discarded doll and snapped a photo with my telephoto lens.  As it floated closer to the boat it became unmistakably clear that this was the body of an infant boy.  I immediately notified a member of the crew and asked him to summon the captain. By the time the captain arrived a minute later the body was out of sight. Even after showing him the picture on my camera he simply shrugged his shoulders and returned to his post.  I don’t know what I was expecting him to do. I was deeply unsatisfied with his response but had to remind myself that I was making that judgement from my own cultural perspective.  I imagine that this was not the first corpse he had encountered on the river and that interrupting the journey of 50 passengers to search for and retrieve a dead child was not something that he would have remotely considered nor did he have the option to call someone that would come to investigate.  I could not stop thinking about the parents of this boy. Were they sick with worry about his disappearance, unaware of his fate or had they been the cause of his death and responsible for discarding his corpse into the river.  The answer to these questions will never be known. In either case, I will pray for them and will keep the memory of this child in my heart.  May his soul rest in peace.

 

When I was in high school I had to write a report about Burma and have ever since wondered what it would be like to visit. Now called Myanmar, I flew into Mandalay for the beginning of five day visit this morning. I spent the entire day on foot and there was much to photograph with much of my attention captured by the fascinating people of the city.

I paused for a 30 minutes to watch as a human “bucket brigade” passed what looked like large deep metal serving plates filled with concrete from the mixer to the new foundation being “poured” below. It appeared to be back breaking work made even worse by the 100 degree plus temperatures.

I covered more than 12 miles in all making the trek from my hotel near the train station to Mandalay Hill and back taking in all the sights along the way.

The Royal Palace is a walled city built in 1861 by King Mindon, to fulfil a prophecy.  Access to the interior is only available at the East gate and photography is strictly limited to the actual palace which is a distant 2/3 of a mile from the gate.

Mandalay Hill is a 754 foot high hill overlooking the city. Along the path taken to reach the top are several monasteries, temples and pagodas.

Wat Rong Khun, also known to foreigners as the White Temple, is a contemporary, unconventional, privately owned, art exhibit in the style of a Buddhist temple in Chiang Rai Province, a three hour drive from Chiang Mai. It is owned by Chalermchai Kositpipat, a local artist, who designed, constructed, and opened it to visitors in 1997. Kositpipat considers the temple to be an offering to Lord Buddha and believes the project will give him immortal life.

The gold colored building below is not to be confused with a temple. It contains the restrooms for the compound.  It is said to be the most beautiful restroom building  in the world.

It is remarkable that every element of design and art has been conceived of by one man. While I found much to admire, I will admit to feeling that some of his work was simply over the top for my tastes especially in the context of an essentially religious site.

Most people know of the Karen people from television documentaries, magazines and encyclopedias as the “long-neck” or “giraffe” tribe. But the women who wear these brass rings on their neck belong to a sub-group of the Karen known as the Padaung. The weight of the rings pushes down the collar bone, as well as the upper ribs, to such an angle that the collar bone actually appears to be a part of the neck. There are many different accounts of why the Padaung practice this bizarre custom but the most common explanation — that an extra-long neck is considered a sign of great beauty and wealth and that it will attract a better husband.

Whatever the origin of the custom, one of the more common reasons it continues today, particularly in Thailand, is tourism. Some have suggested that these women are being exploited by tour operators. Other would argue that the entrance fees to these “villages” provides income that help sustain a cultural heritage.  Having now visited myself, I would say this is not a black or white issue but believe the truth lies closer to the former premise.

Created by Thailand national artist Thawan Duchanee, the grounds of the Baan dam Museum (AKA “The Black Temple”) include nearly 40 small black houses made of wood, glass, concrete, bricks, or terracotta in various unique styles and design scattered around the temple area. The cluster of houses accommodates Thawan’s collections of paintings, sculptures, animal bones, skins, horns, and silver and gold items from around the world. Several of the houses exhibit Balinese and Burmese architecture and art dating back to the Ayutthaya Period. The artist uses bones as a source of inspiration to paint. It is very interesting photographically but not a place for animal lovers.

I am ashamed to say that while in Nepal I rode an elephant while on safari (to track and safely photograph rhinoceros).  I did not know then what it took to train an elephant to do such work.  I know now and will never ride an elephant again and would ask the same of anyone reading this blog. Today I visited an elephant sanctuary located in the mountains where these noble and extremely bright creatures live without shackles and only participate in natural behaviors (eating, rolling in the mud, bathing). Elephants eat a lot of food and they particularly like bananas. After breakfast which also includes a more voluminous amount of vegetation the elephants pause for a long drink at the river before indulging in a mud bath. Once they are fully caked in mud it is back to the river for a bath.  They particularly liked using the small waterfall there as a shower.  The family of five that I visited included three generations (baby, mother, grandmother) and all are happy to befriend anyone with a supply of bananas.

After returning from the mountains I enjoyed a simple dinner before doing a little night photography of the temples. A most satisfying day from start to finish.

My train arrived in Chiang Mai just before noon.  Compelled to get something of a workout, I walked from the train station to my hotel some 5 miles away with my fully loaded backpack in the 100 degree heat. I quickly came to appreciate that Thailand’s northern capital is an escape from the whirlwind pace of its southern rival, a place to relax after the chaos of Bangkok.  After settling into my hotel. I ventured out for a tour of the Old City which contains no less than 36 temples. Quite certainly my favorite was Wat Chedi Luang. It was originally built in 1411 reaching a height of over 278 feet before it was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1545. It now stands at 196 feet.

Later I visited Wat Phrasing, Wat Mengrai and the Three Kings Monument. I wrapped up the day with a stroll, sans cameras, to and through the Night Bazzar where I purchased a pair of sandals to be used on my adventures tomorrow.

Jeanine returned to the US today per our original plan. I have decided to extend my travels in Asia for another two weeks.  Given the time and expense to get here, the completed day-for-night recalibration of my body clock, and the fact that I have no pressing need to return, it was an easy decision.  I spent the better part of the day at my hotel applying for online visas to Myanmar and India and making new travel bookings. I then headed into Bangkok where I purchased additional memory cards for my camera before catching the overnight train to Chiang Mai.  For whatever reason, I had pictured this train as being a bit more glamorous than it actually was.  The beds were formed by folding down the regular day seats and were significantly less than comfortable.  The toilet left me convinced never to stroll along the train tracks of Thailand. A slow and tedious ride, it was none the less an exciting way to start the second half of my adventure.

Most tourists who visit Phuket are here to enjoy Patong Beach and the infamous party scene which surrounds it.  Not so much our thing but worth a quick visit before heading back to Bangkok this afternoon.

 

Formed by the same geological processes as Halong Bay, Pfang Gna Bay is similar in appearance but much warmer than its northern cousin. We joined a speedboat tour for the day and made stops on several islands. Many of the eerily eroded karsts are populated by monkeys which are all too happy to supplement their normal diets with treats from passing tourists.

The most famous attraction in the National Park is the islet of Khao Phing Kan, now more commonly known as “James Bond Island.”  The island and adjacent beach were featured is scenes from the Man with the Golden Gun and Tomorrow Never Dies.

Our next stop was for lunch at the Muslim fishing village on the island of Koh Panyee. The houses and impressive mosque are built on stilts. A floating soccer pitch can also be found here. Inspired by the 1986 FIFA World Cup, children built the pitch from old scraps of wood and fishing rafts. The genesis for a successful soccer program on the island, a newer floating field has since been constructed. I was left to wondering how often the ball had to be retrieved from the bay during the course of play.

Next we did a bit of kayaking. More accurately, we were passengers on a two person kayak being propelled by a guide. We explored several nooks, crannies and sea tunnels in an area rich with these features. The tide was just low enough to allow us passage through the small opening pictured in the second photo below. All three of us had to recline fully in order to clear the barnacle encrusted passageway.

We concluded our tour on Naka Island which features a beautiful white sand beach and safety net enclosed area for swimming. The jellyfish and sharks pose real threats to swimmers.

 

Returning to Bangkok this morning we bid farewell to Kyle at the airport before continuing on another flight to Phuket, located in southern Thailand.  The old quarter is quite charming both during the day and at night when much of it is beautifully illuminated.

Morning light on Halong Bay was sublime.  The ever present fog and mist had briefly dissipated. Nothing but beauty to be found in every direction.

Our first stop of the morning was on an island which from exterior appearances looked like every other one in the bay. After climbing up its side, however,  we passed through a small opening which revealed a massive cave. It seemed to consume the entire interior of the karst. I didn’t have a flash but made use of my flashlight to illuminate the fascinating features of this underground world.

After exploring the cave, we enjoyed a brief walk on the island’s small beach while the tender from our ship was sent to retrieve us.

Small boats, occupied primarily with fishing, were to be found around every karst. Occasionally, we spotted cigarette smugglers bound for China seeking to avoid import taxes.  Little doubt that other contraband also passes this way.

As the captain navigated back to port we concluded our cruise with another wonderful lunch during which Kyle made this nice portrait of his parents. The three-hour drive back to Hanoi was mostly stressful as our maniacal driver seemed intent on running anyone who failed to move aside at the sound of his horn off the road.  Amazingly no one was killed and I managed to get a photo from the speeding vehicle of a farmer planting rice, a scene I associate with Vietnam and one I had hoped to capture while here.

We arrived in the Hoan Kiem Lake District with ample time to tour the area with Kyle who had yet to see any parts of Hanoi.  He proved to be a popular attraction with the young ladies who were keen on having their picture taken with him. Kyle did not seem to mind the attention. After dinner we went searching for dessert. Jeanine, using her exotic food locating super powers, sniffed out a fantastic little ice cream parlor where we suspended our otherwise healthy eating regime for a moment of bliss. The remainder of the evening was spent walking off the caloric damage while enjoying the illuminated night scene surrounding the lake.

 

This morning Kyle joined us in Hanoi for the weekend.  We had already booked an overnight small ship cruise of Halong Bay which has been on my list of must see places for many years now. Unfortunately, Kyle’s flight was delayed enough that we would miss the ship’s departure by the time we made the three hour trip by private car to the dock. Rather than miss this opportunity, we arranged for a speedboat to chase down the cruise ship and deposit us onboard.  The 20 minute high-speed ride was worth the price of admission alone. When we rendezvoused with the cruise ship we realized that our speedboat driver was also the captain. He had the crew prepare a second lunch service for our benefit and things could not have worked out more wonderfully.

At this time of year it is more likely than not that the bay will be shrouded in mist. Although it diminished the photographic possibilities, it added an aura of mystery as we glided between the thousands of limestone karsts and isles of every imaginable size and shape. We visited a pearl farm where we learned about the art of raising pearls and gained an appreciation as to why they can be so expensive.

We passed several floating villages and fisherman in all manner of boats.

Dinner was a splendid multi-course affair which we enjoyed with the other 7 passengers on board as we continued to slip through the bay.  A more intimate and relaxing cruise I cannot imagine.

Today Jeanine and I spent much of the day walking around Hanoi. Our first stop was the Temple of Literature where we found the most beautiful bonsai trees and wonderful gardens.

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Ho Chi Minh Museum were next on our tour. Once again the gardens were magnificent and we enjoyed watching the changing of the guard.

The Hanoi Botanical Gardens proved to be disappointing so we walked back to the Old Quarter where we could have spent days enjoying the the shops, people and food.

After lunch having already covered 10 miles on foot, we hired an electric tour car to take us to some of the remaining sights including the Quan Su Pagoda and Hao Lo Prison where John McCain spent part of his time in captivity.

Jeanine was sad that we did not get to see puppets while in Thailand so I surprised her with tickets to a water puppet show to cap off the evening. Water puppetry is a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century when it originated in the villages of the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam.  The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered. Shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large bamboo rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers, who are hidden behind a screen, to control them.

We are staying at the Cinnamon Cathedral Hotel located across the street from the Saint Joseph Cathedral.  Our fifth floor suite offered an unobstructed view of the profile which I photographed at night (last image). The hotel manager was so impressed with the photo that he offered us a nice discount in exchange for the right to use the image in their marketing materials.

Tonle Sap Lake is the largest freshwater body in Southeast Asia. Over the course of a year its size varies from 1000 square miles to 6000 square miles.  It is fed by the Tonle Sap River for half the year which then reverses to drain it for the other half.  Villages are either built to float on the water or upon very tall stilts to accommodate the huge variation in water depth.

This morning Jeanine and I visited the lake and a small village adjacent to it.  We had lunch on a floating restaurant which featured a collection of live alligators,  presumably there to be harvested for the alligator based dishes on the menu. We arrived by long tail boat which are well suited to navigating the narrow and shallow rivers and lake provided the propellor does not get fouled.

Depending on the season, inhabitants of the lakeside village either dock their boats at their front door or need to travel several miles to reach the edge of the lake.  I enjoyed photographing the people of this community whether they be resting, playing, or at work.

Shrimp are spread out on tarps and dried in the 100 degree air.

With the rainy season still months away, boats can be found everywhere, temporarily abandoned along the once full rivers that feed the lake.

On the return trip to our hotel we drove past the scene of an accident. It is a wonder that we did not encounter more of these given the extremely free-for-all approach to driving that is common to this part of the world.  After collecting our luggage we made our way to the airport for our flight to Vietnam.

Today Jeanine and I spent most of the day apart. She signed up for a Cambodian cooking class and had a massage.  I hired a tuk-tuk and returned to the Angkor complex.  I started at the Sras Srang reservoir for sunrise and then over to Pre Rup for early morning light. King Rajendravarman constructed Pre Rup sometime in the 10th Century and it remains one of the most architecturally and stylistically noteworthy structures in Angkor. The name Pre Rup means “turning the body”, referring to Khmer cremation traditions. Although cremation may’ve taken place at Pre Rup, this modern name seems to negate the enormous historical significance of Pre Rup as one of the capitals of the Khmer Empire.

Preah Khan, which means “Sacred Sword”, was built towards the end of the 12th century as a part of King Jayavarman VII’s massive building campaign. Unlike many of Angkor’s larger monuments, which served primarily as worship centers or military headquarters, Preah Khan was also a Buddhist University. At its zenith, Preah Khan supported more than 1000 teachers and countless students.

After revisiting my favorite temples, I spent the remainder of the day  focused on people and wildlife.

 

Banteay  Srei ( “citadel of the women” or “citadel of beauty”), is an exquisite 10th-century Hindu temple consisting of low walls surrounding peaked structures of deep red sandstone.  It is said that the reliefs on this temple are so delicate that they could only have been carved by the hand of a woman. Completed in 967, Banteay Srei was the only major temple at Angkor not built for the king; instead it was constructed by one of king Rajendravarman’s counsellors, Yajnyavahara. The temple was primarily dedicated to Shiva.

Adjacent to the temple I noticed a new born water buffalo and her mother.

Banteay Kdei, meaning “A Citadel of Chambers”, also known as “Citadel of Monks’ cells”, is a Buddhist temple built in the mid 12th to early 13th centuries AD during the reign of Jayavarman VII, it is in the Bayon architectural style, similar in plan to Ta Prohm and Preah Khan, but less complex and smaller.

 After returning to Siem Reap late in the afternoon, I went out for a long walk to photograph some of the local people, a nice break from shooting ancient monuments.

After dinner we attended an acrobatic circus performance put on by the Phare Performing Social Enterprise which seeks to provide gainful employment to Cambodian youth from difficult social and economic backgrounds and financially sustain a school dedicated to the rebirth of Cambodian modern art.  I was selected to perform on stage as the base of a human pyramid. Let’s just say I was the source of great amusement for the rest of the audience.