Well, this is my recalls of Philip. First, waiting for Lon Nol to make his exit from Cambodia, at the gate of the Chamcarmon Palace in 1975, just a few weeks before the fall of Phnom Penh. Then we last met in November 2006 at the Angkor Photo Festival where he came to help with our Photo Workshop. I value the time I've talk with him over the years.
This ANGKOR era temple built atop a hill, now on the border between the 2 countries is again at the center of a row between Cambodia and Thailand. The Khmer government want to have it listed as a World Heritage but the Thai Government object about this… So I went up there a few weeks ago. And the place is truly amazing…the sunrise (for which it was purposely built) over the plain of northern Cambodia is a must. Accessing the top is a little scary from the back of the motorcycle taxi, but going down is ever scarier… Well it is really worth the trip, and the overnight stay at the very basic guesthouse in the Khmer village at the bottom of the hill.
Well, it's an old story…but with KR tribunal going on in Phnom Penh and somehow a renewed interest in the recent history of Cambodia, I though I may as well put out my part of witness in the whole thing. In fact, most of the people talking about the KR were not around when they stormed into Phnom Penh in April 1975… I was there and working as a photographer… so it's a good time to make my point. I penned (with the help of Ben Davies) a 10,000 words story to accompany my images and try a to render what it was as well in my mind.
After some trouble at the printing, I finally decide to put out this version which is available across SE Asia at about 30 USD.
The first edition of Ben Davies book has sold out… With Asia Horizons Books, I redesigned and publish this new edition with a cover designed by Helen Kudrich. This time we use a very nice paper from Italy (Cartieri de Milano) and the result is pretty nice.
The book ist still one of the best picture book on Laos where Ben spent several months in a dozen trips toward the end of the 90s to get all those images.
It's available across SE Asia in most bookstores and from Asia Horizons Books website (www.asiahorizons.com) using PayPal. Available for just 40 USD.
