Photography in Southeast Asia

Roads in Laos

During the 12 hours bus trip from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang we got a 5 hours forced stop due to a small landslide that closed the only road along this mountains. This road is quite dangerous during monsoon season so is definitely better get a plane to Luang Prabang. Few years after my trip, on the very same road, some tourists were shot and died during a robbery of the bus. I have anyway to say that Laos is very peaceful country and I feel myself very safe there, much more then in some street in Turin… Continue reading →

Loy Krathong in Chiang Mai

In Chiang Mai is very famous the “Loy Krathong” festival held on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar this usually falls in November. During the festival people prepare a krathong a small rafts made of bread to be sent do the river currents. The reason for using bread for the krathongs is to protect the environment since having many rafts in the river can create a huge water pollution problem. Finally bread will become food for fishes and other animals in the river. Banana leaves is another… Continue reading →

Si Phan Don

Si Phan Don means 4,000 islands and is a region of Champasak Province in southern Laos. There is not much to do here but definitely is a nice nature and environment. It is a very good place where to find peace and relax. The sunsets and the photo opportunities were marvelous. The Mekong River flows through the province and, just above the Cambodian border, is broken by the Khone Falls, a large number of rapids which make this section impassable to river traffic. During French colonial times a railway was completed in 1924 for transportation across the rapids… Continue reading →

Wat Phou Champasak

In southern Laos the small town of Champasak, along the Mekong river, worth absolutely a visit because is the location of the Khmer ruins of Wat Phou Champasak. I arrived in Champasak from Thailand through the Chong Mek border crossing, towards the city of Pakse. I got my Lao visa in Bangkok but is also possible obtain it from this border post. Wat Phou Champasak is located at the base of mount Phou Kao, few kilometers far from the Mekong river in Champasak province. There was a temple on the site as early as the 5th century, but… Continue reading →

Mandalay

I arrived in Mandalay after a 10 hours bus night ride from Inle Lake, also if it was just 5 in the morning the bus station was crowded. The main first notable difference from Yangon was the thousands of motorbike all around horning and beeping all the time coming in every direction. The city is a complete polluted chaotic mess that only Burmese can manage. Immediately I arranged a motorbike trip and moved around Mandalay and also surrounding places using motorbike with driver. I like underline that foreigners, specially tourist, are not allowed to drive in Burma without proper authorization.… Continue reading →

Singapore

Singapore is one of the main financial districts in Asia, the whole city is a big business center with several areas built in order to host the workers during the night. That is all. Coming from years spent in Thailand I was astonished when I saw the organization, the cleanness, the technology, all the glittering. After the first nice impression I was setting my backpack in a small hotel room quite clean but certainly ”asian sized”. A city-state, Singapore is the world’s fourth leading financial center and a cosmopolitan world city, playing a key role in international trade… Continue reading →

Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok

The Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. It is located in the historic center of Bangkok within the grounds of the Grand Palace. The construction of the temple started when King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) moved the capital from Thonburi to Bangkok in 1787. Unlike other temples it does not contain living quarters for monks. The main building is the central ubosoth, which houses the Emerald Buddha. In the Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok there are three main doors used to enter the temple, however only the King and Queen… Continue reading →

Killing Fields in Phnom Penh

In the Killing Fields it was like I could feel the ghosts of 2,000,000 men, women, children, elders, deported from Phnom Penh into the country under the Khmer Rouge regime. I was not prepared to see this place, I was not prepared to see all this beauty and all this misery, I was not prepared to encounter all that death smell around me in the Killing Fields. The Khmer Rouge believed that the origin, the source of all modern problems, difficulties, social differences, unfairness, was the city. I could agree on that. But for them for their madness… Continue reading →

First time in Chiang Mai

In 2000, during my first visit in Chiang Mai, I have definitely felt something really special there. I have no idea why but I was and I will be linked to Chiang Mai forever. My first time in Chiang Mai was in 2000 and I was fascinating from this nice and magic town. As all the other photos of my trip in 2000 I had with me just a cheap point and shot camera bought in Pattaya. The images of Chiang Mai could just give a fade idea of the real beauty. Since 2000 the city has changed a lot,… Continue reading →

Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur and more

Here we are, my second time in Kuala Lumpur. Definitely when you leave a place you never know when and how you will be back there. I have been in KL in 2007 and the reason of this second visit was mainly to get the Visa from Myanmar embassy. I had three possible choice. One was quite expensive in Italy to get my Visa from Myanmar embassy in Rome. The second one is to get a Myanmar Visa in Bangkok and the third one is to get the Myanmar Visa in Kuala Lumpur. My first place was again the Kuala… Continue reading →

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