Introduction

Galleries
Mumbai 26 Nov '08
Cambodia Nov 2008
Vietnam Aug 2006
Hanoi Sep 2006
Mumbai 2005
Dubai 2004
Manila Streets
Story of Ben-Hil
Cambodia 11/2002
Cambodia 5/2003
Thailand
Singapore
Laos
Indonesia
Sydney 3/2004
HK 11/2003
HK/Macau 09/2005
MY FISTS FEED MY FAMILY 7/2003
Colombo 2/2004
Eating Singapore
Cold Chinese Sea
Rehabilitation
Java Train Ride
Khmer Kick Boxing
China Today
China (B&W)
RAISE THE RED PLASTIC BAG
SUNDA KELAPA - PORTRAITS OF LIFE
Ed's Mates
Family - Priceless

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The hours before India Shook - 

I was up and out early on Wed 26 Nov 2008.  A glorious morning beckoned and living in the suburbs of Mumbai, I was running into all sorts of different situations with the local folk.

By 9.30am, I was back at my hotel preparing for the last of my appointments that day.  With little to do after my work was done, Mumbai was starting to drip into a  golden dusk.  The driver took me all over town between 3.30pm till nightfall.  

The city was generally filthy but magical in its natural hospitality despite a population of 14million 

Having finished a well deserved dinner at the Oberoi after 3 busy days in Mumbai, I left for the airport at 9pm on 26 Nov  to catch a flight home to Singapore.

Barely an hour later, India was brought to its knees by one of its worst terror attacks.

Had I left any later.....
Mumbai 26 Nov '08
9-16 Nov 2008

Angkor Wat has changed vastly since I last visited in 2002.  The monuments are still accessible but the visitor today faces many intimate areas that are now cordoned off.... no longer is one free to climp to the very tip of some of Angkor's magnificent spires

Many of the reminders of its violent past have been filled in with plaster and restoration work.

The town of Siem Reap itself and the nearby on-lake local villages are now geared towards the visitor.  Years ago, the streets of Siem Reap were dark and silent after 10pm..... now, many parties do not end before 4am

Still,  Cambodia retains much of its heritage and charms... the children are just as adorable and many a village outside of town continues with life unaltered
Cambodia Nov 2008
Personal images from Crossing Bridges v3.0 2006
Vietnam Aug 2006

Unlike its commercial cousin Ho Chi Min City in south Vietnam, Hanoi is a city moving along at its own leisurely pace.  The Old Quarter possesses a unique charm while surrounding villages take on their own unique characters.  Hanoi is a city best savoured immediately.
Hanoi Sep 2006
Landing in Mumbai at 7 in the morning, the heat laid its hot hand on me almost immediately.  This city is both filthy and mesmerizingly beautiful.  The sea of humanity marinated with the curries of rich architecture and local customs come together in a way that overwhelms most first time visitors.  Unfortunately, this was a 24 hr work related stopover and my shooting time was a miserable 2 hours.  Yet Mumbai's richness and diversity yeilded several images that I share here
Mumbai 2005
Before arriving in the UAE for the first time, my impression of the country was that of vast deserts and camels grazing around the airport's runway.  I was in for a shock when I landed in one of the most beautiful and fastest growing modern cities in the world.  Despite its rapid growth, Dubai still manages (for now) to retain large pockets of traditional life in its souks and wharf areas
Dubai 2004

I was back in Manila after a 5 year absence and the city has changed little.  The economy was still sluggish BUT the heart and soul of Philippinos is still well and alive.  With only a day and a half of shooting opportunities, I stayed away from Manila's glitzy Makati district and instead concentrated my efforts in the areas of Quiapo and Manila Bay.
Manila Streets
Right off the main strip of Jln Jend Sudirman in Jakarta, Indonesia is an area commonly known as Ben-Hil.  Its official name is Jalan Bendungan Hilir....locals sidestep the toungue twister and nicknamed the area  Ben Hil  This neighborhood though tough typifies a slice of regular Indonesian city life seldom explored by a casual or business visitor to the capital city.
Story of Ben-Hil
A land and its people stepping out of the horrific reign of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge, Cambodians have been through the worst hell imaginable.  Today peace reigns and progress is at last coming.  Land mines and its dangers are still a very real danger in Cambodia today
Cambodia 11/2002

Rather than covering both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap,this trip saw me  concentrating my time and energies in and around Phnom Penh.  Two major stories were covered, Cambodian Kick Boxing and Land Mine Victims that will show in another gallery.  THIS gallery is a collection of miscillaneous street photographs taken with a digital Canon G3.....and for once, its an all-color gallery
Cambodia 5/2003
Thailand is a country that I've worked on the most over the last few years, having covered its length and breadth. Thais have an uncanny ability for 'sanuk' (to have fun, to look at the lighter side of things) that makes them face the harshest challenges with a smiling heart.
Thailand
Attempting to describe Singapore to folks who've never stepped foot across her border, I find the words Sterile, Boring, Regimented, Clean, Efficient and Safe tossed around like everyday commodities.  Singapore does have its unhibited side and its colors away from the clean image in which the world is fooled into believing
Singapore

Mostly mountainous, Laos carries with it a dubious record of being one of the most heavily bombed countries in the world. The magical province of Luang Prabang with a World Heritage listed town of the same name reveals to visitors the soul of its society.
Laos
Indonesia defies description in its sheer diversity and infinite stratas of society spread through a few thousand miles of more than 10,000 islands.  From the tip of North Sumatra through the tail-coat end of Sulawesi, Indonesians find themselves mired in a series of political, economic and  religious upheavals.  Stepping out of the Suharto era into an unprecedented economic crisis further laden with the seperation of East Timor and the Independence-driven Acheh ordinary Indonesians seem to get on with their lives oblivious to these issues, intent instead on the job of living and coping.

The dark clouds of religious fanatism has been around for more than a generation, only highlighted now after September 11.
Indonesia
Spending most of my time in Asia, Sydney came as a cultural shock to me despite its rich ethnic diversity.  I arrived in Sydney without a clue beyond what the tourism authorities had wanted tourists to see.   With work related weekday appointments up to my neck, I had only half a weekend to dig out the real Sydney.  I think I found it.
Sydney 3/2004

22-26 October...the weather in Hong Kong had been a comfortable 22-27 degrees C.  Staying on HK island in the non-tourist area of Sheung Wan opened my eyes to life of regular people.  Wing Lok Street, where we stayed housed  many shops hawked an endless variety of dried sea food.  I promised myself no tourist pictures,,,,so here are the results within this gallery
HK 11/2003

HK/Macau 09/2005
This gallery has been set up to allow those unable and/or too far away on the other side of Earth to view the exhibition online.  The original prints are handprinted and 'feel' slightly different from the digital gallery here.
MY FISTS FEED MY FAMILY 7/2003

Signs of a civil war are well hidden in multi religious Colombo. I'd spent 5 days in this easy going city and found the people irrpressibly smiling and positive
Colombo 2/2004
Eating is a favorite recreational pasttime in Singapore and the Number ONE activity for all during weekends, festivals and holidays.  A major venue would be the hawker centers and the food courts that are scattered throughout the island with thousands of small hawker stalls dishing out a whole galaxy of food from throughout the world...... especially Asia.
Eating Singapore
Having spent a good part of this China trip in Dalian, China's nothern most sea port, the following is a collection of snapshots of life with a cold-water sea
Cold Chinese Sea

This gallery is dedicated to the sick and physically disabled in Cambodia.  Birth defects and victims of land mines are prevalent and its victims try to return to society despite their handicaps
Rehabilitation
One of my favorite train rides in Indonesia has to be the scenic 3hr Jakarta-Bandung Argo Gede.  Rolling through lush Javanese countryside, the 2nd half of the trip trundles uphill into the highlands and ends at the old Dutch colonial city of Bandung.  Gambir Station is where we board the train in Jakarta.
Java Train Ride
A day at the fights draws crowds from all over Phnom Phen to the boxing stadium.  Many who cant afford a ticket will spend all day in front of the TV watching the live coverage of the event.

Some images have made it to the Exhibition 'My Fists Feed My Family
Khmer Kick Boxing

China today was not the China of even 15 years ago.  Here lies my humble depository of images from this vast nation.
China Today
China defied description 14 years ago when I last visited.  Its faced very much changed today (2003) and it continues to defy description.  This gallery of pictures attempts to give the viewer a glimpse into China's soul
China (B&W)
A lampoon of Zhang Yimou's classic movie, Raise the Red Lantern starring Gong Li.  I was at my neighborhood market one Saturday morning and for some reason or another the humble red plastic bag used to carry anything from one's breakfast to fish for that evening's dinner, caught my eye for no apparent reason.  

Looking around, it dawned on me that EVERY OTHER PERSON was carrying one.....including me (vegetables and fruits that my wife needed to prepare lunch with)

So this story is for that humble red plastic bag, without which the world will be unable to bear more burden.
RAISE THE RED PLASTIC BAG

In an age of steel hulled ships and mechanization, the ancient port of, Sunda Kelapa carries on life the traditional way.  Sails power ships and manual hand labor loads and unloads cargo, no more different from a century earlier when Jakarta was known by its Dutch colonial name of Batavia
SUNDA KELAPA - PORTRAITS OF LIFE
This is a gallery that shows my colleagues (more like friends) that I've had a great time working with.  How appropriate that I should choose this as my opening picture.  A Korean colleague sitting next to a Japanese colleague, filling out the day's betting slips during this year's World Cup soccer tournament.
Ed's Mates
I'm creating this gallery to share all my own family pics.  Nothing much is critical from a technical point of view but they're more precious to me than any of the works displayed in the other Walkeast galleries
Family - Priceless

All images and text copyright © Eddie Ng. All rights reserved worldwide.