A PHOTO DIARY

New Home

tumnei — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:11:01 +0000

Now Tumnie got a new HOME at

http://cheaphal.com

I am greatly appreciated if you could take your time to re-bookmark it or RSS this new site. Hope to see you all at the the new place.

Thansour Bokor Photo Project

tumnei — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:09:29 +0000

In December last year, I received an expected email from Thansur Bokor Highland Resort’s Market Department asking me whether I am interested in doing photography project with them. It was quite is big one and more importantly was just exactly the types that could enjoy doing it.

The project was divided into two phases. The Phase I mainly covers the shooting of landscape and landmarks of Borkor Hill, while the phase II’s shooting is about resort facilities and buildings. I spent about 5 days for the first project. Sadly I could not get all the required shots due to unfavorable weather. Personally I wished to overnight on the hill, but the resort management said no on the ground that it is not safe to do so.

Here are some photos from the Phase I. I am expecting to start the Phase II someday this month.

The Old Church

Wat Sampoa Pram or Five-boat Temple

100 rice field, but what you find are just stones and stones.

A dam on the hill for water supplies to the resort

The giant stone face along the way up to Bokor Hill

PS: I was introduced to the Marketing Department by a staffer in the same company who have followed this blog for some time. I cannot thank him enough.

Serei Sophorn Railways Station

tumnei — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:18:54 +0000

Railways stations have became places of interest for me to photograph. I used to think of visiting all these old railways stations in the kingdom for my personal collection. However I just do not have time to realize my wish. The station in Banteay Meachey’s provincial town is my latest one I photographed in January 2012. I woke up early morning hoping for some good skies but it was NOT my lucky day. Here are two shots I snapped on that cloudy day.

A lady (I assume) riding motor on the station platform in the direction to the vegetable market.

A vegetable seller along the railways road not far away from the station. She said do bring her [photos] to the United States.

Urbex-Cambodia

tumnei — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 04:13:40 +0000

Urban exploration (often shortened as urbex or UE) is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities.[1] Urban exploration is also commonly referred to as infiltration, although some people consider infiltration to be more closely associated with the exploration of active or inhabited sites. It may also be referred to as draining (when exploring drains) urban spelunking, urban rock climbing, urban caving, or building hacking (Wikipedia)

I started shooting Urbex around 2010 after seeing some mind-blowing Urbex photos. Later on I started to look for abandoned building in Phnom Penh. If you pay good attention, you will find plenty of abandoned buildings here, yet it is relatively hard or impossible to trespass though buildings. So far, I could only trespass a few buildings in the Penh.

To my surprise, I also learned there are several ghostly buildings in Senmonorom, the Provincial Town of Mondolkiri Province, from Tom Windelinckx, a Belgian blogger living there. Last month, I had a chance to visit Mondulkiri on my mission and was fortunate to have some time for my own. I decided to hire a motor taxi and hunting for the buildings I saw on Tom’s blog. And here are some of them.

Unknown Building Building. From its interior, I can tell this building was under renovation but for some unknown reason it was stopped.

I was told it is former military base.

My motor taxi said it is former Department of Social Affair.

PS: I have also created a facebook page for Urbex-Cambodian, please be my fans. You can also find more my Urbex photos at my flickr’s urbex set as well.

Busra, At Last

tumnei — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 08:42:50 +0000

If my memory is correct I my first visit to Modulkiri was in 2004. We spent a couple days there visiting Domank Sdech, Romanea waterfall and other places that I cannot recall. Our plan to visit the renowned Busra waterfall was not realized since the road condition at that time was too much for our rented Pajero. It was only 8 years later in February 2012 that I had the second opportunity to see mountainous Modulkiri again. At the time of this writing, the roads from Phnom Penh to Senmonorom, the provincial town of Mondulkiri, have been completely paved and the construction of the 30 km roads from Senmonorom to Busra Waterfall is partly finished. Now you can either reach there by motorbike or sedan in less than one hour. As the proofs of my visit, here are some photos.

Hello Kratie

tumnei — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 04:09:42 +0000

If I remember well I paid the first visit to Kratie in 2003 with two other friends as a part of our trip to Northern Cambodia. I have been here for some times after that but I had never strolled around the town until yesterday. There are still some nice colonial buildings but not surprisingly most of them do not received much care and love from the locals.
This is my favorite building in the town. Not very far away from the market.

Prahok Making

tumnei — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:33:11 +0000

I have been quite for some times. Well almost two months. I still take photos and photos though I rarely post here. In early January I went to Chrang Chamres with 3 other photographers to photograph life of people catch fish for Prahok making. It was my second time to go there in three years. I was went there for the first time in 2009 and I wrote this. This did not change much during this three years. Even the sign “ទូកដរ 24″ was till there near-by the eye catching green-color wooden house.

Well here are some photos from the trip.

A man transferring fish into big basket.

That is the green wooden house, i said above.

A boy selling soft drinks on boat. We told we would buy his drinks if he posted of us

The Kindest Pagoda in the Kingdom

tumnei — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:25:46 +0000

Wat Broyouvong was rated by the Phnom Penh Post as the kindest pagoda in the Kingdom, considering their generosity of letting people buildings houses right next to the Vihara, the pagoda’s main building.

Central Market, After Renovation

tumnei — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:48:31 +0000

Central Market built in 1937 and completely renovated in 2011 is one of Darryl Collins’s Favorite architectures in Cambodia. I took the photos below for some months ago.

This quintessential southeast Asian colonial Art Deco market was built on reclaimed land over a former swamp. Its moderne design and the technology employed in its construction, ranks it as one of the most important 30s buildings remaining in Phnom Penh. Designed by Desbois and engineered by Chauchon, it still functions as the main market. One of the shopping highlights of Phnom Penh, a lively, bustling affair filled with fresh daily goods, clothes and household wares, it has most recently undergone a facelift orchestrated by the Phnom Penh Municipality. Source Asian Life

Bangkok-ized Phnom Penh?

tumnei — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 14:15:21 +0000

In the recent years, many high-rises have come one after another, especially along Monivong Blvd. Since public transportation in Phnom Penh is barely exists, future congestion is pretty imaginable. During this long holiday, I were able to get some shots of Phnom Penh along Blvd.