water of life

Cambodia is home to Southeast Asia's biggest lake - Tonle Sap which for many Khmers, represents the lifeblood of the country. On its ebbing tides was forged one of the world's greatest empires - Angkor.


More than a thousand years later, life still goes on and living still exists on its waters. I have been fervently visiting the lake but am still mesmerized by its vastness and silent power... and more importantly, how the people have managed to survive it.

The most recognizable part of the lake to the outside world is the floating village of Chong Kneas...


Most of the homes here are floating, which means they are built on boats or on barges - making it easy for dwellers to transfer their homes wherever they want. Now who will ever evict you?


Shopping is also very mobile - why go to the market when the market can go to you? Now if only H&M's Comme des Garcons is peddled this way!

Here, only two things are essential - a sturdy pair of legs and a spool of courage to brave the unpredictable waters...

Friendships can be forged on water...

or on land...

Make your way to school or the school makes way for you (at the end of the day, the floating school brings its students home! No kidding!)...

Fancy a game of basketball on a floating gym? Now let's see if Kobe Bryant can still make a dunk while being seasick!

Waiting for the day's catch...

...sometimes, the waiting pays...

...but some simply wait... and wait... and wait...

The lake and its shores are throbbing with lost souls finding directions...

and its young souls...

...eager to find life's answers...

Here, one is surrounded by water, but thirst is still enevitable.

But for those who thirst spiritually, the floating karaoke church (a former karaoke pub converted into a catholic church!) is a good place to quench your souls...

a home for holidays

Of late, most hotels have been bombarding us with overused lines and cliches such as "home away from home", "your home in + name of place", "feels like home" and all that crap that goes with it... even big chains with 300+ rooms define themselves as a "home" when all you see is actually an impersonal, factory type accommodation that sells itself to busloads of toruists from wherever. What the...???!!!

A coffee friend of ours (people you meet over coffee or you run into coffee shops) asked my team to visit their home here one day and see if we can help them market it as a holiday home. Meaning, they live there but they accept a small number of guests to try out their home and sample their lifestyle.


They call it Amatao - a marriage of Japanese sensibilities (the wife is Japanese), southern French flair for the simple yet out-of-the-ordinary things (the husband is French) and of course, Khmer lifestyle since their home is in Cambodia.

Located in the Cambodian countryside 30 minutes away from the city center and overlooking Southeast Asia's largest lake, Amatao is a collection of several house structures, mature gardens, ponds and a green tiled pool.

Inside, each "house" is crowned by large, muslin draped beds and wooden beamed ceilings. Bathrooms are also large and airy. As this place is stuck in the middle of a ricefield, spectacular views are on hand in every corner.

Right down below the main house is a dead giveaway of its Frenchness - a temperature controlled wine cellar with its collection of vintages and new world favorites.

There are reading nooks everyhere, and corners where you can lounge with your ipod.

There are also massage rooms near the Japanese garden and an outdoor bath to watch the stars while wash out life's worries away...

The tea house in the Japanese garden is also a great place to hang around and be lazy. As the owners are also avid gardeners, an orchidarium housing rare Cambodian orchids and plant species is a great showcase, as well as a rose garden with French roses blooming around.

When they first told us about the concept of different cultures and styles coming in together, we thought that it was too much of a hodge podge of things, but seeing them altogether as an amalgam of their personalities turned out to be a rather interesting mix! The biggest draw though is the fact that it is a real home open to guests - not a hotel that hard sells itself to any Tom, Dick and Harry. They cook for you, their personal house help tend your needs and their own kids wander around and help serve you...

Just outside is a real cambodian village where people live in houses on stilts, where people still graze their goats and cows and where things haven't changed for the past decades (except perhaps for the occasional mobile phone laoding centers!)...

I wish we have more places like these around, and if we have saved enough money hopefully (which will be a million light years from now), we would love to build something like this...

Donations are now accepted...

dinner with the gods and kings

Do you know that for a price, you can actually rent out any of the temples of Angkor and relive the golden age of the empire? Well, with the modern conveniences of course- like a generator set, mist sprays and luxurious portable toilets. So if you are probably someone who has some scandalously big cash to burn and have a couple of nights in Cambodia, try these out for a change... real value-for-money dinners at the world heritage temples of Angkor!

(I shot these from different catering photography assignments from various hotels and events)


The experience begins with a symphony of lights...


Then the intricate set-up is laid: from candle-lit tables, wine bars, Michelin-star chefs at your beck and call and all that jazz... this is a full dinner setting at the Prasat Kravan temple


A courtyard dinner at the Thommanon temple where you are blanketed by the jungle...


A lounge set-up at the Banteay Samre temple by Amansara


A dinner set-up at the Terrace of the Leper King


Ice sculptures guard the gates to the inner sanctum of Wat Attwiya


The dinner set-up inside Wat Attwiya with classical performances on the temple's causeway


Cocktails and wine by the Bayon temple, Angkor Thom


Classical Cambodian dance performances or music can be arranged... or if you fancy to be serenaded by U2 or Madonna, it's your call.


...or perhaps float a thousand candles on coconut on the temple's moats?


Rental prices for temples range from $2,500 for smaller, far flung temples while Angkor Wat can cost as much as $20,000 for a 3-hour dinner schedule! And that doesn't even include your dinner yet! Dinners usually start at around $300 per person. For most Cambodians earning an average of $2 a day, dinner alone is equivalent to their life savings. Rental price in Angkor Wat can actually build you a house here...

A couple of years ago, a year before I came to Cambodia, Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor held a dinner at Angkor Wat with performances by tenor Jose Careras, a full philharmonic orchestra and the Cambodian Royal Ballet. Dinner cost a measly $2,000 per person. Not bad for a two-hour spectacle. Very very affordable indeed.

So what are you waiting for?

Live it like the kings!