I saw this interesting lookin’ fella at the Angkor Centre for Conservation and Biodiversity. ACCB is the first nature conservation centre in Cambodia. The centre features a variety of birds, monkeys, and more. It was established to preserve and breed rare wildlife in Cambodia. It’s a 1.5 hour tuk tuk ride from Siem Reap town and you can enjoy beautiful scenery along the way.
Photo of beautiful flowers I recently took shots of in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Hope you enjoy 🙂
After months of anticipation, this was it. 99% excited, 1% nervous. That was the sentiment I felt at JFK airport in NYC in the Fall as Brian and I had just said goodbye to our loved ones. It was a one way ticket without a defined route — something we highly recommend. We had just finished college and graduate school and we were about to backpack Southeast Asia.
The intention of the trip was to experience other cultures and to learn as much as possible about ourselves and others. To experience something so unique to what we had become accustomed to (life in the Northeast of the USA.)
Our first stop was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We thought it would be a good central southern hub to begin our trip — and that it was. It worked out well but if we had to do it over again, we might have started further south, in Bali or another Indonesian city.
As backpackers know, you generally want to avoid backtracking during a trip like this so it is wise to pick a southern or northern city to begin with. Then, you begin to work your way north or south depending on the starting point.
After traveling for 20 hours we had reached KL. It was an awesome feeling landing in SE Asia for the first time. Our dreams of seeing the East were starting to become a reality.
We checked into our hostel around 9pm local time (9am New York time) after having hardly slept on the 14 hour flight because of excitement and anticipation. We agreed that it would be prudent to take a half hour nap before walking over to the Rhasta Bar that we had heard such good things about. Well, an hour turned into five hours and by the time we woke up, we decided we were better off sleeping through the night.
We woke up at 7am feeling refreshed and after asking several people in the hostel for recommendations on what to see, we decided to go to the Batu Caves. We hopped on a bus and were greeted by a maniacal driver screaming, “BATU CAVES, BATU CAVES, BATU CAVES, BATU CAVES!” We still laugh about it to this day but looking back we now realize that it was an introduction to the many oddities of Southeast Asia. It was incredible to see the devotion of Hindu faith — multiple people were “walking” up the massive staircase (272 steps) on their knees simultaneously balancing a basket on their heads.
Upon our arrival, we were bewildered by the enormous statue of Lord Muruga. It was at this point that we were introduced to the beautiful Hindu religion. We saw a gigantic statue of the incredible Hanuman for the first time. Little did we know that our first day in Asia would have such foreshadowing. Three months later as our trip was coming to a close, we were once again introduced to Hanuman, this time in a more intimate setting of a yoga retreat in Koh Phangan, Thailand.
The trip brought about so many memories we hope to share with you. Please follow more of our journey here on Lucid Practice.
1. Visit Batu Caves
2. Spend a night at the Rhasta Bar (friendly people, lots of expats and backpackers and Marley music)
3. Take in the scenes at the Kuala Lumpur Central Market
4. Visit the Petronas Towers
5. Watch the shopping scene at Berjaya Times Square
Hostel: $16 USD
Food: $11 USD
Transportation: $5 USD
Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia in general are much more expensive than other top Southeast Asian backpacking destinations. The Ringitt is a relatively strong currency compared to the Thai Baht or the Cambodian Real (in Cambodia, USD comes out of some of the ATM machines and vendors prefer USD over the Cambodian Real.)
Another difference that travelers will find is that Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country. This impacts the culture. Overall, it is a wonderful city with great food and interesting culture.
We have talked before about Jim Rogers as a person who is not afraid to “think differently.”
As a young adult he co-founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros. After a few years of living in New York City, he realized that he wanted more out of his life and went on his first trip around the world. He wrote about that trip in the book Investment Biker (he did the first trip via boat and motorcycle). He has since gone on three trips around the world that have each lasted over three years.
He had an interesting quote today about “moving to Asia.”
“When I was selling my New York house, I almost backed out; I just couldn’t bear the thought of leaving. But now I’m very happy here. I fly to New York and I realize I’m in a Third World airport. Then I get into a Third World taxi onto a Third World highway. The difference now just slaps me in the face. New York is a wonderful place, with the people and the vibrancy, but I can find the same vibrancy, if not more, in Asia.”
This is not to point out negative aspects of New York, its to highlight his interesting thesis:
“If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia.”
David Butow spent 2012 traveling the world to photograph Buddhism.
Butow used a variety of strategies — and camera formats — to try to capture the heart of Buddhism. He layered reflections, employed camera motion and made metaphoric images that suggested stillness. He included double exposures, used diptychs and even physically altered negatives with a small blade.
“Among the core concepts of Buddhism is the idea of understanding your individual experience of living and the way that you are connected to other people,” he said. “As a photographer, you observe your subject, try to become connected and then capture that in a single moment.”
Check out the NYT Blog article — here.
Check out David Butow’s Seeing Buddha website – here.
Follow my friend Mike as he travels the world. It started with a 6 week road+trip across the US. Now Mike’s absolutely crushing it in Asia. He’s depicting the trip through breathtaking photos like the one below.
Here’s the link to his blog: http://thefieldblog.tumblr.com
