Siam Reap & Bangkok & Yangon
Mid February, 2011
Elephants or Chang's are the chosen ones within the animal kingdom to represent Thailand in an exotic, tremendous,
humble and peaceful manner. Nor the Tiger or the Turtle which are also very acknowledged animals within Siam
(Thailand) can compete with the popularity of the Elephant. But just recently a Chinese panda was born within a Thai
zoo, which resulted to an outburst of curiosity. Everyone in Thailand has once seen, touched or feed an Elephant
before. But having a panda being born & being able to watch it live twenty four hours a day, seven days a week on a
private owned channel set off a fuse within the Kingdom. Elephant supporters opposed the polar switch to the new
born king which would downgrade the Chang, which has been the icon for centuries. Meanwhile the kids just wanted
to see a small black and white doted bear pop, shit and sleep on national TV.
Kickin' the habit in Cambodia.
John Tanner is accustomed to Mac products. If he is not kickflipping into banks avec stylé or eating a proper British
breakfast, he is looking for that Wifi within Khmer-browser-space.
No one is allowed to enter the Kingdom of Cambodia without at least stepping foot onto Angkor Wat. The ancient
ruins which are spread around the outskirts of Siam Reap is known to be the largest religious site on this planet.
According to our trip schedule we only had a bit under a week planned for Cambodia. We used a couple of those
days to stay longer in Vietnam to focus on gathering footage on marble ledges which subtracted a portion on our
Cambodian leisures. Only after a day in Siam Reap, we crossed borders into Thailand, were we'd stay in Bangkok
for five days to strengthen the skateboarding segment of the documentary with spots which were already previously
found & conquered in contrast to cities prior, where we spend valuable time to actually find the spots via mopeds.
Like mentioned above, Elephants hold a symbolic value within Thai culture. A thirty meter high three headed
Elephant on a side of the road on soi Sukhomvit would not exist if this animal wouldn't enfold identity.
I apologize for the lack of visual documentation towards this Photography update from the South East Asia trip. Out of
past experiences, I always tend to remember and recall that the difficulties of filming a documentary is the pressure of
constantly being awake & on point to capture every moment. Never the less I always tend to find some time to focus
on taking photos, but I really found it difficult along this road to Mandalay. The Sony VX-2100 was the first child, I had
to nourish it before the Nikon F3 had its turn to snap away.
Curious Burmese child peaking over mommy and fellow passengers to give the foreigner a look.
I would love to write a bit more about the Republic Union of Myanmar, but I feel like i covered a lot of it's history,
current issues and uniqueness during my last visit to the Shan Province.
The People of Myanmar face a harsh history of military oppression, but so did African-Americans during their first
dozen decades on North American territories. Dan went to an old bookstore or flee market and randomly found this
very racist book addressing a study from the 1940s which concluded that African American's should be send back to
Africa. It is easy to forget, but America went through some shit during its formation of Liberty & Freedom.
Monks wear orange, brown and red, while nuns in the Buddhist culture wear pink.
Thai's believe that the number 25 is unlucky! One of the best deeds one could do within their twenty fifth year is
to become a monk. Geng went to a Monastery in the jungle of north eastern Thailand to meditate, pray and learn
how to think, talk, walk and respect like a monk.
I never thought that a broom seller would turn into...
...my favorite shot of the trip.