Kiran Jonnalagadda’s Blog

This morning I figured I’d try my hand at HDR photography. I have a ton of unused pictures from my 2005 vacation in Southeast Asia. HDR seems like a decent means to rescue them. To make this image of the Bayon, I exported the same image at three exposure levels and combined them using Photomatix Pro.

Update: There was an error in the image URL. This has been fixed.

A month after Bylakuppe, I went to Cambodia and hung out in Buddhist shrines from a different era.

Also tourist infested.

After having his picture taken, this monk, who spoke some English, wrote down the photographer’s email address because he wanted to have a pen pal. Then I got a picture taken too.

(Thanks to Vineeth for help making this picture.)

The Tonlé Sap occupies a great depression formed when the Indian subcontinent collided with Asia. For most of the year it is a shallow river, barely a metre deep, but come monsoon and the lake is now five times in area and the river flowing in reverse, bringing in water from the Mekong downstream. Flooded fields become excellent fisheries, supporting over three million people. When the monsoon abates and water flows out, a rich agricultural sediment is left behind. Entire villages are built on stilts in these fields around the lake’s periphery.

I spent two glorious days exploring the ruins of Angkor in December 2005. When done with the temples the second day, I set out to explore the floating village bordering Siem Reap on the Tonlé Sap. My boatman did not speak any English, but his twelve-year old son Chit did. Chit attended floating school, 3rd standard, 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM and served as tour guide after. He proudly pointed at his school as we went past it.

When I left Cambodia the next morning, I promised my hosts I would visit again. Two days is way too short for such a beautiful country.

udhay suggested I post to Silk List about Cambodia, and AMS wrote in asking for travel advice. I thought I should post it here too.

Avoid the tour operators. You’ll pay way too much. Here is what it cost me for a trip from Bangkok:

Read on...

I’m going to Cambodia in the morning and will be offline for most of the week. This is a short trip: only two days in Siem Reap, visiting the Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm temples, after which I’m back in Bangkok.

Ta Prohm is the setting of the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider games and movie. It’s the scene where a jungle is growing out of a temple. The temples were built nearly a millennia ago, lost to the jungles, and rediscovered again. I’m quite excited to be seeing them in real life.

More later.