This week... Zombies!

A couple of weeks ago I was in Fremont to shoot the Summer Solstice parade (for th 4th year in a row). This is a colorful and lively event that has been put on by the locals of this north Seattle community for the past twenty-something years. It attracts a large crowd from all over. Mostly, I think, to see the nekked people.

This weekend I will be going back to shoot the Red, White & Dead Zombie walk in which Fremont in which our local un-dead will try to recapture the Guinness record for most zombies performing Michael Jackson's Thriller- a record that was taken away last year by some folks in Scotland. This year, Fremont is going for 10,000 zombies. That's what I call a photo op.

Great Trip... only lost one hat

I am getting ready to start my 34 hour trek back to Seattle. I have about 4500 images with me - most of which I have not had time to even look at - and a suitcase full of very dirty and very sweaty clothes. The food was great, I didn't get sick, and I think that I even gained a little weight (which is probably worse than losing the hat). I learned a lot from Art and his assistant Gavriel Jecan ( a world-class shooter and Nat'l Geo. contributor). I just hope that I can continue to apply these lessons when I go shooting on my own. We'll see.

Note that two of the images above are ones that you probably will recognize. It is the iconic photo of Angkor Wat at dawn. I took about 50 images that all look pretty much the same. Add that to the images of the other 200 photographers that were also there at 5am, and you have one very-well documented sunrise. You should know that sunrise is the most populr time to shoot the temple because a good portion of the structure is now covered in green tarp as part of the ongoing maintenance. It's not so pretty in the daylight. You should also know that there is a secret to getting a good spot in which to shoot the sunrise. You want to be down front, at the shore of the small lake so that you can catch the reflection of the temple in the water. The way to do this is to come there the previous afternoon and pay one of the vendors that has set up shop nearby to save you a spot. They will then go out at 4am, before any of the tourists arrive, and set up chairs in your preferred spot. When we arrived at 5:30, most of the spots in front of the lake were already filled and there was much jostling for room. We just picked our way through the crowd down to the front row and claimed our spots. Our place-holder had coffee waiting for us. I think this service cost us $1 each.

Angelina Jolie Was Here

Angkor Wat is a very special place. I think so, and so do the tens of thousands of other visitors that I met today. It has to be special to put up with this incredible heat. It is very easy to see why the Khmer abandoned this place 600 year ago for a nice place on the coast. In any case, we are getting some good images and still having a ball. And we are still dead tired at night. Hence the short and not-so-witty posts.

We are up at 4am (6 hours from now) to go shoot the sunrise at them main complex.

Back in Pizza Town

For the past 4 days, we have been in the small town of Tam Loc, near Ninh Binh. We have been fortunate to have found three really good Vietnamese restaurants at which we have taken all of our meals. The problem with this is that they are all Vietnamese restaurants, and we are sick of Vietnamese food. As a result, one of our favorite meal-time conversations is about this great pizza restaurant that we found on the last night in Ha Noi and how we were going to eat there on our last night in Vietnam. Tonight is the night. Dinner is in two hours.

We had pretty much exhausted the photographic opportunities in and around Tam Loc, so we are all happy to be moving on. Tomorrow morning we fly to Siem Reap in Cambodia and spend the next three days exploring Angkor Wat. Because of its popularity, Siem Reap has been turned into a world class tourist destination, featuring a dozen five-star hotels, and great restaurants. And, of course, gazillions of tourists. We all know this, and we are prepared to deal with it, but we are not looking forward to the crowds. Art has hired a couple of monks to accompany us so that we can pose them in different parts of the temple complex. He is also trying to see if we can rent a water buffalo. This is how he rolls.

Since tomorrow is mostly a travel day, I won't have much to report until the day after (unless we have some adventures at the airport).

More Ninh Binh

Today was another good (and long) day in and around Ninh Binh. In the morning we went to a preserve to see the endangered Duoc Langur. Instead, we managed to see four not-so-endangered langurs of a different type (Erika - help me out here) on a cliff about 200 meters away. The image above is an extreme crop from a telephoto lens. The rest of the day we visited various temples and rice fields and managed to sneak in a 2-hour and much-needed nap in the middle of the day. We have one more full day in this region before we head back to Ha Noi. We're still dog-tired, but having a blast.

Ninh Binh

Ninh Binh, in north central Vietnam is another visually stunning place to visit. It's sort of like Guilin, China but without the cormorants. We spent the morning rowing down the river with its three caves, and the afternoon walking along the dykes in the rice paddies. This evening, Art gave another lecture - this one focusing on the development of his work and style over the years.

We are all having the time of our lives, and we are all exhausted. Basically, I'm too pooped to post. Just look at the pictures.

Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is one of those truely mystical places that has to be seen in person to be appreciated. Depending on the light and the weather, it can look like Valhalla, or Mordor. It is the primary destination for all tourists that come to Vietnam. Fortunately, it is large enough that it is possible to get away from most of the boats and find yourself alone with the landscape. There are also some magnificent caves here.

We cut our visit to Ha Long Bay short by one day as heavy clouds have rolled in and it has begun to drizzle. It is beautiful to look at in these conditions, but very difficult to photograph. So, today we drove south to Ninh Binh which will be our headquarters for the next four days. As you can tell, there is internet service here, but I cannot access my email... which sucks big time. Tonight, Art Wolfe critiqued our images. This was both humbling and motivational. The man is a God.

It has been a long day, and I'm pretty pooped. I hope to have more time to compose something coherent tomorrow.

Today, we had Mexican

Although the Vietnamese food here is very good, we decided that we needed a break, so we headed to Hanoi's only Mexican restaurant. The place was an outdoor cafe in a a walled garden. Proper Mexican motif. Even the menus had the proper south-of-the-border flourishes. Unfortunately, this was only a Mexican themed restaurant... all the food was traditional Vietnamese. Oh well.

Today was another long day that started in the main market at 6am. Except for a two hour break before lunch, we were out on the streets until 6pm. What I'm saying is that this is turning into a working vacation. The day ended with a lecture and slide show of Art's work. This was really good stuff, and the hour went past very quickly. Today was a good day.

Tomorrow we are off to Ha Long Bay where will be staying three nights on a junk. I'd like to say that it is a luxury junk, but I'm not that hopeful. From there, we will head south to Ninh Binh for a couple of days. This is a very rural area with few um... amenities. In any case, I probably will not have internet service for the next few days. If you don't hear from me in a week, please call the US Embassy.

Final note: Most of us passed on Dinner tonight as we were more tired than hungry. Art and a couple of others decided to go out anyway. They just came back, and they brought me pizza! I am so happy!

Chuc Mung Nan Moi

We have arrived in Hanoi, and spent the entire day out walking and photographing, and more walking. Art is going to kill us, unless the traffic here kills us first. There are seven of us in the group, altogether. Art and his friend Gavriel, a couple from Seattle, a woman named Ziggy from Zurich,and Terry from New Hampshire. And me, of course. It looks like it is going to be a good group.

I'm quite surprised at how good the food is here. i have never been a big fan of Vietnamese food, but apparently, the Vietnamese have a knack for fmaking it.

Anyway, I am totally pooped, and we are getting up at 5am to go visit the morning markets. More later. BTW, Vietnam suppresses access to facebook. Bummer.

Another Temple, Another Market

I set out a bit earlier today in order to miss the most intense heat. First stop was Wat Arun, or the Temple of the Dawn. I didn’t quite make it at dawn, but it didn’t open until 8:30 anyway. This is a real populist temple in that you are allowed to walk, and even climb, all over it. There are stairs that take you almost to the top. Unfortunately, you need to take these same stairs to get back down again. I stayed on the ground. Next up was Wat Pho, or the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This is a very impressive (and at the same time, very silly) 150 ft long statue of the Buddha lying on his side. The statue is housed in a building that is not much bigger than the statue, so it is hard to find an angle in which you can take the whole thing in at one time. Kind of adds to the drama, in a way. Between wats, I came across a dried fish market. Surprisingly, dried fish smell worse than fresh fish.

The culture shock for the day came when I went to the Siam Paragon shopping center in the afternoon. This place is huge. The food court is bigger than all of Bellevue Square. It even has two McDonald’s (one at each end) to keep your walking time down. Altogether, an amazing and disorienting place.

Tomorrow morning, at 5am, I am off to Hanoi.