Cambodia Captured! (PART 1)

3:56 PM

With my Canon 600D,obviously! Fast-backward to December 2012, I was bustling around in Siam Reap requesting the locals to smile for my DSLR to capture each and every moment I get to spend in Cambodia. #travel log

My guide with his wife.

It was a dream come true to be able to roam in an alien place with my 600D and my lenses. I have always longed travel to new places (I'm aware many people share similar goals), not only to experience the new-ness of the place but also to capture them in my photographs.

I feel photography is not a hobby for me, it is an expression of something I can't put into words. I can blabber about how beautiful Cambodia was and how much I enjoyed drowning in the raw but innocent beauty of the places I visited but a single photograph can say a thousand words, it can express meanings that can't be squeezed into mere words.

Yes, they did!

I'm flying.

Never alone.

Reaching the skies.

Changes, ceaseless!

Never let anyone fall.

Strangers pass.

Reaching Cambodia took forever, at least that's how I felt. I was waiting, waiting and waiting, to fall asleep. I looked beside me, my grandpa sleeping soundly as if he was on his own bed in Chemor. Well, the wait was worth it as I first got the glimpse of the lands and water of Cambodia stretched as far as I can see from the plane, below me.

Anticipation.

A new land welcomes.

And everything that captured my eyes after the moment I stepped onto Cambodia, somehow seemed shockingly lovely and indescribably beautiful. Every fragment of this country excites me and urges me to explore more. I feel extreme thirst for adventure and beauty that it almost feels unquenchable. Well, I might seem like I'm exaggerating but the truth is that, I mean each and every word that I've wrote.

Faces born out of innocence.

'Can we touch it?'

Forced adulthood.

Coming to a new country, meeting new people and experiencing new culture gave me valuable insights and immense amount of inspiration. I loved capturing every moment of these delightful adventures with my each of my clicks and treasure them forever. The streets, the bicycles, the so-called 'salesmen' and 'saleswomen', the paddy fields, the children, hawkers, buildings, the shops, restaurants, and everything else that I saw during the first night being there made me wonder about how much I have missed in my life.

Reaching Cambodia with my grandpa,aunts and their friends, we were greeted with this inexplicably tasty juice in Golden Mango Inn. (I'm not sure about it's local name)

Our nest.

We found statues like this a lot, almost everywhere.

Had difficulties in finding vegetarian food (remember I'm a vegetarian)

We were brought to a local night market that evening where we lingered around, buying some crafts from the locals.

Long live.

Health and tradition.

Abundance.

Loved the spirit of the locals in the night market, and I was pretty occupied in examining and bargaining for the goods I wish to buy for my family and friends back home. Though, that did not stop me from getting a few shots to seal the atmosphere in my photographs.

A place that never sleeps.

Displayed.

Back in time, present in mind.

Promiscuous.

Livelihood.

The night's sleep was really uncomfortable and the bed was giving me backache.Also, it was too cold inside the room.I, somehow survived, and we were to rise and shine as early as 4.30am tomorrow morning, as we were taken to see the sunrise silhouetted by Angkor Wat.

Dignified rise.

The spectacular view was worth the rather-annoying early rise. We indulged in the silence the place offered. Despite the increasing number of tourists flooding Angkor Wat for the sun rise, the silence was never broken. Everyone remained silent and tranquil as if it's an unspoken rule.(I found peace that morning)

Newborn rays.

Beauty found on the ground.

Blossomed among many.

Later, we went to other places around Angkor Wat, quite an exciting walk through the ruins of what once might have been the iconic buildings of the Khmer empire. I can't really tell if it was the ruins, as the buildings still stood beyond time, with pride and dignity.

Explored.

Irony.

Magnificent climb by nature.

Deep and meaningful.

Damage does no damage.

Prayers to be heard.

Old and grip.

Lady in the veil.

Curious and amused.

Noon took us back to Angkor Wat, giving us plenty of time to explore the ins in private as the numbers were low due to the hot weather. I promised to myself to not miss an inch of the place, and took as many photographs as possible. Some of my shots that I adored.