New Lens!

Excellent Halloween party, followed last weekend by an equally impressive fireworks display, dinner and after party. Finally I have some time free to catch up with the plans - less than a hundred days to go... So had a meeting with Mum a couple of weeks ago to complete our application forms for criminial records check, and since then we have both received clean certificates back (phew) as well as our original ID docs which had to accompany the forms. So far so good, that at least means that we can visit the project as volunteers working with the children.
We also received the full itinery from Eric the fine art photographer which is now costing less for a personal guide than it would have to join a group tour - result!

The planned photographic part of the trip is below and is just what we were hoping for;
Day 1 - Introduction in the morning before we are going to explore Phnom Penh. We will be visiting local markets and Buddhist temple sites. The Royal Palace and Tuol Sleng are scheduled for a visit in the afternoon.
Day 2 - Phnom Penh / Oudong / Kompong Chhnang. We leave the capitol by car along rice fields and rural life towards Oudong, once the capital of ancient Cambodia. After being uphill for spectacular views we'll have a short workshop during lunchtime. In the late afternoon we continue our trip to Kompong Chhnang on the borders of Tonle Sap lake.
Day 3 - Kompong Chhnang / Battambang. In the early morning at sunrise we will take a boat to a floating village on Tonle Sap lake for a photo documentary on life on water. After lunch we will be heading for Battambang and will be visiting Phnom Sampeau Mountain, famous for its Killing Fields in the caves. On our way to our hotel in Battambang we will see large fields of lotus flowers.
Day 4 - Battambang / Siem Reap. During the rainy season we will take a boat ride to Siem Reap. And again lots of photo opportunities on our way. We'll end up at some floating villages on Tonle Sap before we will picked up by tuk tuk to drive us into Siem Reap, the gateway to Angkor Wat. In the late afternoon we will have a fine art photography workshop near the ancient temple site.
Day 5 - Siem Reap. A full day at the temples within the Angkor Archaeologic Park for photo shoots at Angkor Wat, the Bayon, Ta Prohm, Preah Khan and more
Day 6 - Siem Reap. A full day countryside tour. In the morning we will visit a very local market and meet the villagers. After lunch we'll take a boat to a floating village for some life-on-water shooting.
Day 7 - Travel back to Phonm Penh - This day, on our way to Phnom Penh, we will stop at a 'Buddha factory' just outside Kompong Thom for a photo shoot. After lunch in Skuon we pay a visit to the Cham muslims, a minority that lives north of Phnom Penh on the borders of the Mekong. We take our time for a photoshoot on Khmer Islam. We arrive at our hotel before the sun goes down.

I bought a new long lens recently too (Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSAM).
Very excited and immediately booked myself on another one-day workshop with David Plummer to go try it out. I went to Richmond Park to capture the rutting season and it was so worth the effort (and the very early start). I highly recommend it to anyone who's never been.

Flights are booked

Just finished reading "First they killed my father" for the third time and I can't believe I still have 107 days to wait until we board the plane! Grrr. We are flying Thai Airways via Bangkok, leaving on the 17th February and I am waiting for a professional Dutch photographer called Eric De Vries to send the draft itinerary for what is now going to be a 7-day tour of the country, starting after we return from visiting my foster son and ending with a two night stay in a luxurious (a whopping £53 per night!), spa resort hotel in Phnom Penh before flying home. Soooooo excited, but have to park it right now, as have a halloween fancy dress party to prepare for!

Cambodia former king Norodom Sihanouk dies aged 89

From today's BBC News story;

Norodom Sihanouk, the former Cambodian king who was a key figure through decades of upheaval, has died.

The former king died at a hospital in the Chinese capital, Beijing, after having a heart attack. He had been in poor health for several years.

Sihanouk, who was 89, came to the throne in 1941 and led Cambodia to independence from France in 1953.

Despite long periods of exile and his abdication in 2004 due to ill health, he remained an influential figure.

Sihanouk abdicated in 2004 in favour of his son, King Norodom Sihamoni.

"His death was a great loss to Cambodia," said his assistant and relative Prince Sisowath Thomico. "King Sihanouk did not belong to his family, he belonged to Cambodia and to history."

His body is expected to be returned to Cambodia and go on display for three months in the capital Phnom Penh before an official funeral at the royal palace.

King Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen have flown to Beijing to accompany the late king home.

A statement from China's foreign ministry hailed Sihanouk as a "great friend of the Chinese people".

Japan's top government spokesman said without him "there could not have been success in the Cambodian peace process".

read the full story here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19943963

Merrily Up the Mekong!

Hurrah it's happening again, the feet are itching and the working traveller is planning another trip!

Destination : Cambodia - There are a number of reasons for this, the first of which came 6 years ago after reading a number of books about the atrocities that occurred there under Pol Pot's regime,  which systematically ordered the murder of 3 million Cambodians. The books  I read were true stories written by survivors, mainly orphaned children, which totally captured me and painted vivid images of the country both before and after the events of the Khmer Rouge and their "killing fields".  So when my fostering period came to an end in Senegal, and I was faced with the agonising task of choosing a new child, Cambodia came immediately to mind. Fostering through Plan International allows me to give something to entire communities at the same time as building a relationship with an individual child, so it seemed the perfect choice.

The second reason for going is that the child I was given back then was a nine year old boy named Arafin, pictured with his sister, who is now reaching an age where he will be working full time and therefore no longer part of the Plan programme. Which means there is a good chance I will be moving on to choose a new child very soon and I want to visit him before this happens.  He lives in a village in the Kampong Cham district which is a couple of hours by boat from the capital, Phnom Penh.

Another fantastic reason is that my camera would absolutely love it out there. The lush jungle, the brightly coloured birds, the Mekong River, the temples and of course the people, make it the ideal place to go on an image-hunting adventure with my new lens.

So that’s the “why” out the way, now for the “when?"...

Cambodia is a country with a monsoon season, during which roads become impassable, camera equipment difficult to use and wildlife harder to spot. So reading through various travel and tourism websites, I have settled on February 2013. Which does not leave me much time to plan – only 130 days in fact!

I started by contacting Plan to understand if a visit to Arafin could be arranged for February. They were delighted and immediately sent me a pack detailing the area, the actions I need to take, the forms I need to fill in and any costs I have to pay to make it happen. The most pressing task is to arrange for a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check to be carried out by the Home Office. The check can take anything up to 2 months to complete, and is only valid for 6 months. So I called them up and asked them to send me the relevant application forms which are on their way.

This time I will be travelling with Mum – we have been talking about going somewhere for a while now and since she is also a fellow photographer, we have agreed to do the trip together (there aren’t that many people I know who are willing to get up at stupid o’clock while on holiday just to stand around in mosquito-infested fields and swamps waiting for the perfect shot of a sunrise!).

We have found a trip leaving from Phnom Penh on the 21st February for 10 days which sounds perfect, they have even confirmed that they can arrange for us to arrive a couple of days early to allow us to visit Arafin before we set off. We are currently waiting for final costs and a proposal, as well as confirmation from Plan that the visit can go ahead.

Friday 24th August - The Journey Home

The early start, the long drive to the airport and the thought of all those children we would be missing didn’t provide the best start to the day. But thoughts of home, loved ones and a bank holiday weekend camping with friends soon chased the blues away and after successfully getting through the airport checks and a quick shop for gifts, we cheered ourselves up in the Karibuni lounge at Entebbe with freshly squeezed orange juice, fruit salads and Earl grey tea – what a treat!

Our thoughts were distracted on the way home by watching a few really good films and before we knew it, empty wine bottles filled the seat pockets and once again Caroline and I were giggling our way through the skies. What a cracking end to an incredible trip. (Sadly the charcoal stove didn’t make it in one piece, but with any luck it’s repairable.)