Lion Lager

Lion lager is a beer brewed by the Lion Brewery Ceylon PLC in Sri Lanka and has got to be one of the most beautiful bottle designs I have seen in any beer. After a walk through the back streets of Colombo and a walk along the seafront this drink welcomed me in the Galle Face Hotel, one of the oldest and most traditional hotels in Colombo, and a great place to have a refreshment as you sit at the Veranda overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Snake Charmers

These two kids at one of the floating villages on the Tonle Sap Lake near Siem Reap in Cambodia had no toys to play with .... but when you have two live snakes to play with why would need toys! No wonder they look so happy.

Colourful Colombo

I love to dive down little back streets of anyplace I visit to get a real feel for the life there away from all the usual tourist traps. This little side street in Colombo, Sri Lanka was delightful with people living their simple life in simple houses. However the place was brightly painted providing a wonderful mosaic to capture with my lens. Even the little tuk tuks were brightly painted red and green. Again photographer's luck prevailed when I lined up this shot as the little girl appeared in the doorway just to complete the scene.

West Lake Fisherman

An early morning walk around the West Lake in Hangzhou, China is a great start to the day. You can see many activities with people walking, cycling, singing, dancing or doing their tai chi. This boatman and fisherman were out early but by the look of their empty baskets it wasn't a successful outing. You can see the Leifeng Pagoda in the background of this photo.

Colombo Lottery

Gambling seems to be an inherent part of life in Sri Lanka. All over the island you see turf accountants and numerous of these small stalls selling lottery tickets. This lottery ticket seller was a happy smiling character who took pride in his work as he touted the tickets to the passing crowds using a microphone.

Colombo Post Box

Wherever I travel I usually collect some photos of post boxes. Don't ask me why ... I just like post boxes and some of the designs you find in various countries are rather unique. In most cases you will find post boxes to be bright red but in Colombo, Sri Lanka this one was a bright emerald green which is a little different.

Castle Hotel, Slave Island, Colombo

The Castle Hotel at Slave Island in Colombo, Sri Lanka may have been a prime place to stay many years ago but is now run down and dilapidated. The yellow colours of the building however still stands out proud and made a great photo particularly with the man in the doorway. Apparently its just a cheap bar now selling beer and arrak

Slave Island Railway Station

Slave Island is a suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka located directly south of the Fort area of Colombo. The name Slave Island was given during the period of British occupation and administration, and refers to the situation under Portuguese and Dutch administration when slaves were held there, most of them from Africa. Most of the slaves later returned to Africa. However, a very small group of African descendants are scattered throughout Sri Lanka and are collectively known as Sri Lankan Kaffirs. The suburb contains Beira Lake, a large lake and its esplanade is visited by many for recreation. Slave Island is mostly a commercial area with hotels and shopping centres.

Colombo Tuk Tuk

The tuk-tuks of Colombo, Sri Lanka are very bright and colourful as well as providing a convenient and cheap way to get around the city.
Every year they have the  Lanka Challenge where intrepid foreigners drive these local tuk tuks over the island of Sri Lanka - this has got to be the best way to see Sri Lanka. The Lanka Challenge is by no means an easy affair; contestants will embark on a true test of character, resourcefulness, endurance and navigational stupidity. It is a real maker of men and a genuine quest for wonder woman. This usually requires you to patch up your three-wheel mean machine in the most extreme of weather conditions, marooned in the most remote of locations and wearing the most ludicrous of outfits.   

Jolly Green Giant Drink Stand

Along the beachfront of Galle Face Drive in Colombo, Sri Lanka you will find many food and drink stalls as well as other vendors selling brightly coloured kites and balloons. It's a great spot for a late afternoon walk in the fresh sea air as the sun is setting over the Indian Ocean.
This green drink and snack stand really stood out from the crowd and I half expected the Jolly Green Giant to appear from behind the counter. This was an ideal image to take multiple brackets for some HDR post-processing which was post-processed using the latest Nik software HDR Efex Pro.

Magic Bus

Colombo in Sri Lanka is a colourful destination .... the people, the clothes, the houses, the food .... and the buses. This classic Ashok Leyland bus had a psychedelic colour scheme which certainly brightened up the old design and gives it the air of a magic bus.

Ashok Leyland is a commercial vehicle manufacturing company based in Chennai, India. Founded in 1948, the company is one of India's leading manufacturers of commercial vehicles, such as trucks and buses, as well as emergency and military vehicles. Operating six plants, Ashok Leyland also makes spare parts and engines for industrial and marine applications. It sells about 60,000 vehicles and about 7,000 engines annually. It is the second largest commercial vehicle company in India in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) segment with a market share of 28% (2007–08). With passenger transportation options ranging from 19 seaters to 80 seaters, Ashok Leyland is a market leader in the bus segment.The company claims to carry over 60 million passengers a day, more people than the entire Indian rail network. In the trucks segment Ashok Leyland primarily concentrates on the 16 ton to 25 ton range of trucks. However Ashok Leyland has presence in the entire truck range starting from 7.5 tons to 49 tons. The joint venture announced with Nissan Motors of Japan would improve its presence in the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) segment (<7.5 tons). Lanka Ashok Leyland was established in 1982 and is a joint venture between Ashok Leyland and the Government of Sri Lanka. 

Red Maple

The strong red colour of these maple leaves really stood out against the cool blue sky and made a lovely splash of colour against the drab colours of winter. This photo was shot on the banks of the West Lake in Hangzhou, China.

West Lake Sunset

Now I'm not much of a sunset photographer .... but here's one from the beautiful West lake in Hangzhou, China. I got lucky and also captured the bird in mid-flight with its wings matching the v-shaped hills in the background.

Lake of the Four Forested Cantons

Lake Lucerne (German: Vierwaldstättersee, lit. "Lake of the Four Forested Cantons") is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country.

The lake has a complicated shape, with bends and arms reaching from the city of Lucerne into the mountains. It has a total area of 114 km² (44 sq mi), an elevation of 434 m (1,424 ft), and a maximum depth of 214 m (702 ft). Its volume is 11.8 km³. Much of the shoreline rises steeply into mountains up to 1,500 m above the lake, resulting in many picturesque views including those of Mount Rigi and Mount Pilatus.

The Reuss River enters the lake at Flüelen (in the canton of Uri, the part called Urnersee) and exits at Lucerne. The lake also receives the Muota (at Brunnen) Engelberger Aa (at Buochs), the Sarner Aa (at Alpnachstad).

It is possible to circumnavigate the lake by road, though the route is slow, twisted, and goes through tunnels part of the way. Dozens of steamers ply between the different towns on the lake. It is a popular tourist destination, both for native Swiss and foreigners, and there are many hotels and resorts along the shores. In addition, the meadow of the Rütli, traditional site of the founding of the Swiss Confederation, is on the southeast shore of the lake. A 35 km commemorative walkway, the Swiss Path, was built around the lake to celebrate the country's 700th anniversary.

Yummy Yam

Another image from the back streets of the Old City in Shanghai showing the yam (or sweet potato) seller in action.

Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea (family Dioscoreaceae). These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania. There are many cultivars of yam.

The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) has traditionally been referred to as a yam in parts of the United States and Canada, but it is not part of the Dioscoreaceae family.

Although it is unclear which came first, the word yam is related to Portuguese inhame or Spanish ñame, which both ultimately derive from the Wolof word nyam, meaning "to sample" or "taste"; in other African languages it can also mean "to eat", e.g. yamyam and doya in Hausa or "to chew" in Dholuo language of the Luo of Kenya and Northern Tanzania.

There are over 100 ethnic groups and languages in Nigeria, and each has different language names for Yam, "Isu" is the Yoruba translation or "Iyan" when it has been prepared to be consumed as a main course for dinner. The yam is a versatile vegetable which has various derivative products after process, it can be barbecued; roasted; fried; grilled; boiled; smoked and when grated it is processed into a dessert recipe. Yams are the staple crop of the Igbo people of Nigeria, in their language it is known as ji, and they commemorate it by having yam festivals known as Iri-ji or Iwa-Ji depending on the dialect.

Yam tubers can grow up to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) in length and weigh up to 70 kg (154 lb).

The vegetable has a rough skin which is difficult to peel, but which softens after heating. The skins vary in color from dark brown to light pink. The majority of the vegetable is composed of a much softer substance known as the "meat". This substance ranges in color from white or yellow to purple or pink in ripe yams.

Yams are a primary agricultural commodity in West Africa and New Guinea. They were first cultivated in Africa and Asia about 8000 B.C. Due to their abundance and consequently, their importance to survival, the yam was highly regarded in Nigerian ceremonial culture and used as a vegetable offered during blessings.

Yams are still important for survival in these regions. The tubers can be stored up to six months without refrigeration, which makes them a valuable resource for the yearly period of food scarcity at the beginning of the wet season.

Yams are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Palpifer sordida.

Bó bǐng

Bings are usually a casual food and generally eaten for lunch, however, they can also be incorporated into formal meals. Both Peking duck and moo shu pork are rolled up in thin wheat flour bao bing with scallions and sweet bean sauce or hoisin sauce. Bing may also have a filling such as ground meat. Bing are commonly cooked on a skillet or griddle though some are baked.

Some common types include:

• Cong you bing (蔥油餅; scallions and oil bing)
• Fa mian bing (發麵餅; yeast-risen bing)
• Laobing (烙餅; branded bing)
• Shaobing (燒餅; roasted bing)
• Jian bing (煎餅; fried egg pancake, similar to crepes), and a popular breakfast streetfood in Hong Kong.
• Bó bǐng (薄饼; literally "thin pancakes") refers to a thin circular crepe-like wrapper or "skin" (薄餅皮) wrapping various fillings. This is sometimes called "Mandarin pancake" or "moo shoo pancake" (木须饼, mù xū bǐng) in American Chinese food contexts.
• Yuèbǐng (月餅; mooncakes) a type of bing usually produced and eaten at the mid-autumn festival
• Luo buo si bing (萝卜絲餅, shredded radish bing) is a type of panfried bing consisting of a wheat dough skin filled with shredded radish

Bings are also eaten in Korean culture, the most common being jian bing, which are consumed together with seafood.

These Bó bǐng seen in the image above were seen being made in one of the tiny back streets of the Old City area in Shanghai. This street was full of food vendors making and selling a large variety of foods and made a very colourful and lively venue for street photography ..... as well as food sampling.

The video below shows the process of making the Bó bǐng.

Historic Prague

Prague is home to a number of famous cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence and destruction of twentieth century Europe. Since 1992, the extensive historic center of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, making the city one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, receiving more than 4.1 million international visitors annually, as of 2009. 
Prague Castle is a castle in Prague where the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have had their offices. The Bohemian Crown Jewels are kept here. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Prague Castle is the largest coherent castle complex in the world with an area of almost 70000 m², being 570 meters in length and an average of about 130 meters wide. 

The roads and stairs up to Prague Castle reminded me of Edinburgh with its castle and similar steep stairs and roads.

Three Shanghai Chefs

Taking photos of people when they are busy at work or tied up in a deep conversation is an ideal moment to capture a candid image. I love getting right into the middle of a busy food market or shopping area where people are so tied up in their own world that they are not bothered about a photographer with a large lens.

These three chefs in Shanghai were out from the restaurant taking a break and were in deep discussion about something important .... maybe discussing their work problems, or wife problems or perhaps deciding on which horse to bet on at the races! No matter what this gives you the photographer an ideal moment of invisibility to capture the moment.

Cool Haircut in Shanghai

I have seen many street barbers at work around Asia but this one was seen in the Old City area in Shanghai in wintertime with an outside temperature close to zero - perfect remedy for a cool haircut! I guess if the barber slips you are so numb from the cold anyway you wont feel a thing.

I shot this image just as the barber looked up at me and a second after this he shouted out something in Mandarin ...... and I'm pretty sure he was not wishing me a good day!

Camera Shy in Shanghai

The locals in Shanghai seemed strangely averse to having photographs taken as can be seen in this image. On numerous occasions I had locals turn away or even get downright nasty when my camera was out and armed. This lady took a defensive position by hiding behind her scarf  as she walked down one of the interesting, winding back lanes in the Old City area of Shanghai. I particularly liked the subdued, muted colours of the walls and doors and the outfit worn by the lady seemed to match very well making a good shot .... although a smile may have enhanced the shot even more.

Horny Flying Pig

I always enjoys taking shots of quirky street signs ...... and this one was a good one. Shot in the grounds of the castle in Prague, Czech Republic it was advertising a restaurant which I presume to be called the "Flying Pig and Horn".

Prambanan Temple, Yogyakarta

Prambanan is a ninth century Hindu temple compound in Central Java, Indonesia, dedicated to Trimurti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Sustainer (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva). The temple compound located approximately 18 km east of Yogyakarta city on the boundary between Yogyakarta and Central Java province.

The temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, currently is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, and is one of the largest Hindu temples in south-east Asia. It is characterised by its tall and pointed architecture, typical of Hindu temple architecture, and by the towering 47m high central building inside a large complex of individual temples.

West Lake, Hangzhou

West Lake is located in the western area of Hangzhou City's center in China. There are dozens of lakes called West Lake worldwide, but "West Lake" usually refers to the Hangzhou West Lake. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with an area of around 6.5 square kilometers. The circumference is around 15 kilometers. The average depth of West Lake is 0.8 meters, and the capacity is about 14,290,000 cubic meters. The lake is divided by Gu Shan, Bai, Su and Yanggong Causeways into five areas. Ordered by their areas, they are Outer West Lake, West Inner Lake,  North Inner Lake, Little South Lake and Yue Lake. "Outer West Lake" is the largest. "Gu Shan" or Gu Hill is the largest natural island in the lake. Su & Bai Causeways run cross the lake. Three small man-made islands, "Xiao Ying Zhou", "Hu Xin Ting", "Ruan Gong Dun", lie in the center of Outer West Lake. Thus, the basic layout is "one hill, two causeways, three islands, and five lakes".
West Lake is not only famous for its picturesque landscape, it is also associated with many scholars, national heroes and revolutionary martyrs, thus embracing many aspects of Chinese culture. In addition, many ancient buildings, stone caves and engraved tablets in surrounding areas are among the most cherished national treasures of China, with significant artistic value.
Due to its prominent historical and cultural status among Chinese scenic resorts, West Lake was elected as a National Key Scenic Resort in 1982, one of Ten Scenic Resorts in 1985 and national 5A tourist resort in 2006. Moreover, the picture of "Three Ponds Mirroring the Moon" was printed on the backs of both the foreign exchange certificate one yuan bill issued by the government in 1979 and the fifth version of RMB one yuan bill issued in 2004, indicating the status of West Lake in China.

Along with its cultural importance, West Lake historically was also of value for the local commercial fishermen. According to statistics from 1977, the 560-hectare lake had the annual fish yield of 1300 kg/hectare, quite a bit more than for some larger lakes (e.g., the 1500-hectare East Lake of Wuhan had the yield of only 450 kg/ha).

Shanghai's 1st Apple Store

This is Shanghai's first Apple store which opened in July 2010. The new store bears a striking resemblance to the flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York City. Located next to the IFC Mall in Lujiazui Financial District in Pudong, aboveground is a 40-foot high glass cylinder (apparently with the largest curved glass panes in the world), with a descending spiral staircase that leads into the actual underground retail space. Unlike New York though, there is an inexplicably shallow moat of water surrounding the store, tripping up those who don't watch their step. 
The store itself is 1500 square meters and holds the most goodies in any Apple store the world over - over 250 unique Apple products on display for people to try, including over one hundred Macs. It also boasts one of the largest Genius Bars, taking up the entire length of the back wall. On staff there are over 175 employees to help customers, 75% of whom are native Shanghainese and 80% of whom hold graduate degrees. Apple expects its China stores to be some of the busiest in the world.

Old City of Shanghai

Away from the tourist areas of The Bund, Pudong and Yu Gardens lies the Old City area of Shanghai where a maze of small streets and alleys takes you into another time. This small street in a back lane of the Old City is typical of how life goes on unchanged since many decades ago. Only one small sink with water outside the house to do all the washing, cleaning and cooking, a tiny outside cooking area and of course no heating for the cold winter nights. You can see here the ingenious way of using straw to lag the water pipes to prevent these freezing in winter.

The Bund

The Bund is an area of Huangpu District in central Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road (East-1 Zhongshan Road) within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District. The Bund usually refers to the buildings and wharves on this section of the road, as well as some adjacent areas. The Bund is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai. Building heights are restricted in this area.

The word "bund" means an embankment or an embanked quay, and comes from the Urdu word band, meaning an embankment, levee or dam (a cognate of English terms "bind," "bond" and "band," the German term "bund," etc.). "Bund" is pronounced to rhyme with "fund". The term was brought to Shanghai by the family of Victor Sassoon, a Baghdadi-Nepali Jew. There are many "bands" to be found in Baghdad, even today. There are numerous sites in India, China, and Japan which are called "bunds" (e.g. the Yokohama Bund). However, "The Bund" as a proper noun almost invariably refers to this stretch of embanked riverfront in Shanghai.

Chinese Art Brushes

I was in Shanghai over Christmas and the old city and back streets of Shanghai provided some great photo opportunities. This image shows some traditional Chinese art brushed used for watercolours and calligraphy and come in a large variety of sizes, designs and colours.

Best of 2010

Another year almost gone. Time just seems to go faster. Looking back over the year I have selected 12 special images highlighting some key events over 2010.

Realising that the infamous Pudu Jail in KL was about to be demolished for a new property development I took the opportunity to make a last visit before the bulldozers arrived and shot images of all the walls with painted murals and of course the intimidating front entrance.

The Kwong Tong Chinese Cemetery sits in a prime plot of land in central KL on a hill overlooking the city and offers some wonderful picture opportunities.

In February Joe McNally blew into town and conducted a lighting workshop and seminar. The Shangri-La Hotel ballroom was full on the one day seminar with hundreds of photographers who came to hear from the guru. They were not disappointed with a humorous and informative talk and a great opportunity to meet and talk with a world famous photographer.

The Red Hot Chilli Pipers from Scotland gave a blistering performance at the Hilton Sentral Hotel with a successful blend of traditional bagpipes and more modern guitars and drums in a new music genre termed bagrock.

I had the opportunity to visit Chiang Rai in northern Thailand staying at the Meridien Hotel on the banks of the Mae Kok River. This wonderful sunset was seen as I supped on a cocktail at the outside bar.

On the outskirts of Chiang Rai you can visit a village where you can see a number of different hill tribe people living including the famous Karen tribe with the elongated necks caused by wearing neck rings. This lady was from the Yao tribe and had such a wonderful warm smile.

The Masjid Wilayah Persekutuan, or Federal Territory Mosque, is a magnificent building and this image shows it with the background of the KL city skyline.

The Birch Road cemetery is an old Christian graveyard in the heart of downtown KL. It's rundown and overgrown which provides some atmospheric photo opportunities.

The medieval town of Brugge in Belgium with its canals and old buildings like the cottage above is a great getaway for a few days. The local food and beer are also excellent.

The interior of the luxurious Metropole Hotel in Brussels, Belgium is magnificent and I had the chance to stay there for two nights during a visit to belgium. Built in 1895 this is the only 19th century proper still open for business.

Patrick Low conducted a flash photography workshop in November and the lovely local model Evon Tan provided a very pleasing subject to capture.

Bangsar Shopping Centre in KL has gone through a very successful renovation with a number of new outlets including WIP restaurant/bar where I will be this evening to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. Happy 2011 to all!

Fattoria Castello de Monteriggioni

Fattoria Castello di Monteriggioni was founded in 1964 by Alvaro Gozzi and his wife Luisa Masini Gozzi. Alvaro Gozzi, fascinated by wine, bought lands, between Monteriggioni and Castellina in Chianti. He planted the vineyards and build the new wine cellar. He loved the oenological world and he wanted to know much more every day. During many years Alvaro Gozzi was able to obtain products with improving quality and so the wines of Fattoria became famous in Italy and in many more countries.

When Alvaro Gozzi died, his role in Fattoria Castello di Monteriggioni, passed to his son Michela Gozzi, also director of an other business venture of the family, the Hotel Monteriggioni.

Today Fattoria Castello di Monteriggioni is managed by Tommaso Battignani, graduated in Winegrowing and Oenology. Thank to his studies and his passion, like his auntie and his grandfather, Tommaso works every day, to produced wines of high quality, to keep up the family's tradition.

Shipwreck

This shipwreck was lying on the beach on the north Musandam coast of Oman. The Musandam peninsula juts into the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow entry into the Persian Gulf, from the Arabian Peninsula. The Musandam peninsula is an exclave of Oman, separated from the rest of the country by the United Arab Emirates. Its location gives Oman partial control, shared with Iran, of the strategic strait. In the northern section of Musandam, around Kumzar, the current language isKumzari, which is one of the south-western Iranian languages and a sub-branch of Persian. The Musandam Peninsula has an area of 1,800 square kilometers (695 sq mi) and a population of 28,727 people. 

Live Music at Sacre Coeur

What a great venue for a live performance .... the audience sit out on the steps with the musician at the base of the steps with the impressive Sacre Coeur church on top of the hill overlooking the whole scene.

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost five hundred years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.

Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms and covers 720,000 m² (7,800,000 sq ft). The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

Since 1925, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and artifacts were built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Part of the museum's former collection is now located in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Both museums descend from the same institution, but were split after the Chinese Civil War.

Baklandet Trondheim

An icy cold day in the old streets of Baklandet, Trondheim. The Baklandet Skydsstation is a restaurant bar in one of the old traditional wooden houses.

Ema at Kiyomizu-dera Temple

These wooden prayer tablets or Ema were seen at the Kiyomizu-dera Temple, in Kyoto, Japan. Ema are small wooden plaques on which Shinto worshippers write their prayers or wishes. The ema are then left hanging up at the shrine, where the kami (spirits or gods) receive them. They bear various pictures, often of animals or other Shinto imagery, and many have the word gan'i, meaning "wish", written along the side. In ancient times people would donate horses to the shrines for good favor, over time this was transferred to a wooden plaque with a picture of a horse, and later still to the various wooden plaques sold today for the same purpose.

Ema are sold for various wishes. Common reasons for buying a plaque are for success in work or on exams, marital bliss, to have children, and health. Some shrines specialize in certain types of these plaques, and the larger shrines may offer more than one. Sales of ema help support the shrine financially.

At some shrines, such as Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, one can find ema in many languages, as tourists leave their own wishes and prayers.

Lake Tonle Sap, Cambodia

The Tonlé Sap ("Tonlé" meaning "Large Fresh Water River," but more commonly translated as "Great Lake") is a combined lake and river system of major importance to Cambodia.

The Tonlé Sap is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and is an ecological hot spot that was designated as a UNESCO biosphere in 1997.

The Tonlé Sap is unusual for two reasons: its flow changes direction twice a year, and the portion that forms the lake expands and shrinks dramatically with the seasons. From November to May, Cambodia's dry season, the Tonlé Sap drains into the Mekong River at Phnom Penh. However, when the year's heavy rains begin in June, the Tonlé Sap backs up to form an enormous lake.

For most of the year the lake is fairly small, around one meter deep and with an area of 2,700 square km. During the monsoon season, however, the Tonlé Sap river, which connects the lake with the Mekong river, reverses its flow. Water is pushed up from the Mekong into the lake, increasing its area to 16,000 square km and its depth to up to nine meters, flooding nearby fields and forests. The floodplain provides a perfect breeding ground for fish.

The pulsing system with the large floodplain, rich biodiversity, and high annual sediment and nutrient fluxes from Mekong makes the Tonlé Sap one of the most productive inland fisheries in the world, supporting over three million people and providing over 75 percent of Cambodia's annual inland fish catch and 60 percent of Cambodians' protein intake. At the end of the rainy season, the flow reverses and the fish are carried downriver.

National and local observers often state that the Tonlé Sap Lake is rapidly filling with sediment. However, recent long-term sedimentation studies show that net sedimentation within the lake proper has been in the range of 0.1-0.16 mm/year since circa 5,500 years before present (BP). Thus, there is no threat of the lake filling up with sediment. On the contrary, sediment is not a threat to the lake but an important part of its ecosystem, providing nutrients that drive the floodplain productivity.

The reversal of the Tonlé Sap river's flow also acts as a safety valve to prevent flooding further downstream. During the dry season (December to April) the Tonlé Sap Lake provides around 50% of the flow to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

The lake occupies a depression created due to the geological stress induced by the collision of the Indian subcontinent with Asia. In recent years the building of high dams in Southern China and Laos has threatened the strength and volume of the reverse flow into Tonle Sap; a phenomenon that environmentalists have been slow to recognize or raise concern about. Already fish catches are significantly down.

The Tonle Sap Lake and its surrounding provinces are part of the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve. There are nine provinces that are part of the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve, these are; Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear, Pursat, Siem Reap, Otdar Meanchey, and Krong Pailin.

Life After Death

This flower appeared to be thriving in this old graveyard in Prague, Czech Republic demonstrating the power of life while surrounded by death.

The Old Water Wheel

This water wheel was seen in Prague, Czech Republic. I used Nik Software's Silver Efex application to convert the image to black and white which I thinks adds character and a timeless effect to the image.

How to Keep Your Jeans Blue

Ever wondered how to keep your jeans blue? This is the trick at the Dhobi Ghat in Mumbai India where a large wooden tub is used to soak the washed jeans in a solution of blue dye and water.