Mechrey to Kampong Kdey

The team awoke this morning on a floating crocodile farm to the cock-a-doodle-doo's of the resident rooster; and from there, the day got increasingly colorful.

The reason for our aquatic overnight was because Sam began his race at Mechrey, a floating village on the Tonle Sap Lake, and the hometown of Khatna, one of Sala Bai's graduates.

After a ceremonial visit with Khatna and her parents, we said goodbye to her family, and Sam set out to take the first plunge of his cross-Cambodian challenge.

Sam bravely dove into the cloudy snake-filled waters of Tonle Sap and, as the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, he had the tall task of negotiating it's strong currents. Thankfully, there was only one casualty from our nautical morning: Mike’s Nikon AW 100 camera sadly plunged to the bottom of lake during a rogue inflatable kayak incident.

After conquering the swim, and following a quick change on the boat, Sam stepped foot on dry land and began his run for, and to, Sala Bai Hotel & Restaurant School, where more than 50 students lined the street and energetically cheered him on.  After greeting him, the students became a

bicycle entourage and joined Sam for the rest of his run, cycling by his side through the streets of Siem Reap. This lively entourage journeyed from Sala Bai to the Angkor Wat Temples, dotting the dusty roads with their bright orange shirts and even brighter smiles.  It was a striking and emotional scene: Sam running, students cycling, all against the backdrop of some of the world’s most spectacular ancient temples.

For most adventurers this would have been enough action for one day (month, year, etc), but not for Sam.  After the temples, Sam bid adieu to the students, hopped on his bicycle and, battling the sandy back roads of rural Cambodia, pedaled another 70km to Kampong Kdey. Nearly 17 hours after he began, Sam successfully completed the first day of his adventure.

Did you miss yesterday's post?  Read the first installment of Sam's adventure here.

Donate to support Sam, Sala Bai and the fight against human trafficking.

- Meghan Shea

About Sala Bai

For nearly ten years now, Sala Bai Hotel & Restaurant School has been offering tuition-free hospitality training to 100 impoverished young people annually.  Sala Bai's mission is to provide their students with the capabilities and experience necessary -- in one of four disciplines: restaurant service, cooking, front office and housekeeping -- to secure gainful employment in one of Siem Reap's numerous luxury hotels, guesthouses or restaurants. These skills, and the resulting economic independence, not only improves the students' quality of life, but those of their families as well.

About the Adventure

In the early morning hours of Saturday 31 March, Sam McGoun -- a Detroit-area native and current resident of Singapore -- will begin a seven day journey, swimming, running and cycling 625km across Cambodia in an effort to raise awareness for, and help fight against, human trafficking.  Inspired by the challenges overcome by the students of Sala Bai, Sam’s route will follow the actual journey traveled by one recent Sala Bai graduate, Khatna, as she gained an education at the school.  All funds raised by Sam will directly benefit Sala Bai, an organization that stops human trafficking before it starts.

The Adventure Begins: Singapore to Siem Reap

Sam and the team began our cross-Cambodian adventure early Thursday morning, departing from Singapore and bound for Cambodia laden with camera equipment, bicycles, energy bars and flush with excitement for our week ahead.

Soon after landing in Siem Reap, Sam dove headlong into his triathlete responsibilities, playing the role of bike mechanic as he assembled and prepped his rides after their flight.  Thanks to the ever-supportive staff at the Heritage Suites Hotel, Sam's bikes were roadworthy in no time.

Later in the day we touched base with our friends at Sala Bai.  Sam addressed a sea of smiling young students at the morning flagpole ceremony, explaining that his inspiration and motivation for his journey is in fact the students themselves.  Their commitment to creating a better life and future for themselves and their family has clearly left a very deep impression on Sam.  As a physical manifestation of this inspiration, on every day of the adventure Sam will wear a different shirt -- one for each student specialization at Sala Bai -- connecting each of the student groups directly to one segment of his race and showing his solidarity with the students of Sala Bai.

In the final throes of trip preparation, the crew gathered for an epic pre-departure meeting where we got a preview of what to expect on our week-long trek.  We’ll be camping at abandoned temples, waking before dawn to monastic chants, sleeping in pagodas, encouraging Sam and finding showers whenever we can.

As the documentary photography and film team chronicling Sam’s odyssey, we will be doing our best to keep pace with him as he dives into the rivers, runs through the villages and pedals across the countryside of rural Cambodia.  And if Internet gods smile upon us, we will bring you a daily Report From The Road every evening, sharing a few snapshots and the daily headlines from Sam's journey.  We are in for one fantastic adventure...

Donate to support Sam, Sala Bai and the fight against human trafficking.

- Meghan Shea

Since 2009 I have worked alongside the inspiring women of The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP), a non-profit philanthropic organization based in Singapore.  United by a passion for adventure and a dedication to helping others, TCRP seeks physical challenges and local organizations that can benefit from their efforts in some of the world's least-developed nations.  TCRP's mission is to be catalysts for change, pushing themselves and inspiring others to tackle a physical or mental challenge for a good cause.

Over the past three years, the women of TCRP have raced in the Tour de Timor, a 5-day, 450-kilometre mountain bike race across Timor-Leste, run the Dili "City of Peace" Marathon and completed the grueling nine day KILI[Man] in Tanzania, summitting the highest peak in Africa over over six days, biking 250km around the mountain over two days and running a full marathon on the final day.  Along their journeys, TCRP has inspired many dozens of other catalysts for change and raised more than USD$100,000 for HIAM-Health, a Dili-based malnutrition rehabilitation and education centre and AmaniKids, a home for Tanzania’s street children and AIDS orphans.

TCRP recently launched their newly-designed website, www.thechainreactionproject.com, and I am very proud that a large selection of the photography I created for them on

their two trips to Timor-Leste is prominently featured there.

This collection of imagery was my personal donation to TCRP: a library of photographs that can be used for their marketing and public relations purposes, and as a way to help garner additional sponsorship and donations for their future philanthropic endeavors.

TCRP's passion, tenacity and dedication to helping others is admirable, and I am honoured to be both their partner and their friend.

See more of my imagery from the ruggedly beautiful nation of Timor-Leste captured on my TCRP documentary shoots in 2009 and 2010.

I spent most of last week in Cambodia with my filmmaker friends and frequent creative partners, Mike Rogers and Meghan Shea of Persistent Productions.

The three of us were there to visit Sala Bai, a hospitality school for underprivileged youth in Siem Reap, as part of location scouting and pre-production meetings for an upcoming film and photographic collaboration.

In November, we will return to Siem Reap for 10 days to create photographic reportage and a short documentary film about Sala Bai and the positive work they are doing for Cambodia's disadvantaged youth.

For nearly a decade, Sala Bai has been training, free-of-charge, approximately 100 young people annually in the hospitality industry.  The school's goal is to provide the students with the skills and experience necessary to secure gainful employment in one of Siem Reap's numerous hotels, guesthouses or restaurants, helping them achieve economic independence and improving their quality of life, and those of their families.

Sala Bai offers students four specific training programs: restaurant service, cooking, front office and housekeeping. The 11-month curriculum includes theory classes,

practical training and internships at partner hotels in Siem Reap.  The students are supported by social workers who mentor them throughout their tenure at Sala Bai, as well as assist them in finding a full-time job after graduation. Remarkably, 100% of Sala Bai's students secure gainful employment in the Cambodian hospitality industry within three months of their graduation.

When we return to Cambodia for our shoot in November, we intend to focus on Khatna, a young woman who recently graduated from Sala Bai and now works on the front desk at the boutique Heritage Suites Hotel in Siem Reap.  We intend to tell the story of Khatna and her journey, in less than one year, from Mechrey Village -- a rural floating community located on Tonle Sap Lake, where she lived with her pig farming parents and four sisters -- to working the front desk of a luxury hotel in the city.

As part of our pre-shoot interviews and location scouting, we traveled with Khatna, by tuk-tuk and small motorboat, to Mechrey Village to meet her family and see their humble home.

I opted to leave my Nikon DSLR's at the hotel, instead brining only my iPhone to document this informal family visit.  This series of Hipstamatic images (which I tweaked a

little in post-production using Noir) are of Sovern Sorn, Khatna's father, who welcomed us warmly into his small wooden home, and then sat silently by the window throughout our hour-long visit, smoking cigarettes and gazing out at the passing boats.

At first Sovern was reluctant to let me photograph him, but after showing him a few of the processed images as they popped-up on the screen of my iPhone, he opened-up and permitted me to quietly snap away.

Our visit to Mechrey Village with Khatna was a highlight of our time in Cambodia, and Mike, Meghan and I are very excited to return to Siem Reap in November to get to know Khatna and her family better, as well as begin our creative project alongside the students and administrators at Sala Bai.

See more of my iPhoneography elsewhere on this blog or on Flickr.

Regular readers might recall a post I wrote a couple of months ago following the time I spent on assignment with the Elephant Flying Squad at Lubuk Kembang Bunga Village on the outskirts of Sumatra's Tesso Nilo National Park.  The feature I was there photographing is the cover story of the May edition of Silkwinds, SilkAir's inflight magazine, in airline seat back pockets now.

Excerpted from editor Rod Mackenzie's Silkwinds article "Sumatra's High Flyers": Deep inside the Indonesian rainforest of central Sumatra lives the Tesso Nilo Elephant Flying Squad.  This group of seven domesticated elephants and their 11 specially trained mahouts are operated "by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in collaboration with Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry... [The squad's] mission is to provide a secure haven for Riau Province’s largest remaining wild elephant population... Elephant numbers have declined in Riau Province from more than 1,600 in 1985 to as few as 350 today, about 150 of which live in Tesso Nilo National Park..."

According to the WWF, "Because the region around Tesso Nilo is being logged so rapidly and the forest converted into agricultural plantations, elephants with no place to go are forced to wander in search of food, making farms and commercial plantations an irresistible temptation for elephant-sized appetites."

As Rod continues in his Silkwinds feature, "By patrolling the fringes of the national park, [the squad] helps prevent wild elephants invading farms and villages, where they can cause immense damage and also run the risk of being killed or injured" by carefully driving them back into the jungle.  The Elephant Flying Squad is in "constant battle to bring harmony to the local environment" by mitigating human-elephant conflict.  And, "so far, they appear to be winning."

The Silkwinds article contains only a handful of photographs I made during this amazing experience with the Elephant Flying Squad.  To see a much broader collection of my pictures from the time I spent patrolling the jungles of Sumatra with this supersize security patrol, please visit my website.

Last Thursday night, I attended the premier of filmmaker Grant Knisely's documentary The Chain Reaction Project at The Arts House in Singapore.

In August 2009 Grant and I traveled to Timor-Leste with the women of The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP) as they competed in the inaugural Tour de Timor, a five day, 450km adventure mountain bike race across nine of Timor's 13 districts.  Coined "The Ride For Peace", the mountain bike race presented the ladies with a grueling challenge on their way to raising USD$35,000 for HIAM-Health, a clinic dedicated to the rehabilitation of malnourished children in the capital city of Dili.

Grant's uses Timor-Leste's historical suffering as a backdrop for his film -- a result of a brutal 1975 Indonesian military invasion and a subsequent 24-year occupation that left over 100,000 Timorese dead -- while documenting the athletic achievements and selfless philanthropic work of the women of TCRP as well as the passion and dedication of the employees of HIAM-Health to help make a better life for the people of Timor-Leste.

As with many small, independent films, funding is often difficult to come by.  But The Chain Reaction Project was a labour of love for Grant and his small Code Red Films

production company, and he persevered in raising the human interest and the monetary capital necessary to complete his movie.

The end result is a short film that Grant should be very proud of.  Indeed, I am proud to have my photographs featured throughout his documentary, as well as gracing the film's DVD cases and movie posters that were on display Thursday night at The Arts House.

Click here to see a slideshow of my Tour de Timor photography.  More of my imagery of the ruggedly beautiful nation of Timor-Leste and her people can be found here and here.

Zhang Tingjun and the women of the The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP) get some well-deserved love in this month's Reader's Digest (Asia).

Rightfully so, these catalysts for change are named "Heroes" by Reader's Digest; indeed their passion, tenacity and dedication to helping others is valiant.

I feel privileged to have met these women and documented their philanthropic endeavours to Timor-Leste in both 2009 and 2010, including their recent participation in the Dili "City of Peace" Marathon -- as profiled in Reader's Digest -- where they delivered a SGD$28,000 Playpoint playground and more than SGD$10,000 to the children of HIAM-Health.

Next stop for these wonder women: competing in the KILI[Man] in Tanzania from 19-27 February 2011.  This entails summitting the highest peak in Africa over a period of six days, biking 250km around the mountain over two days and running a full marathon on the final day.  All funds that TCRP raises will benefit AmaniKids, a home for Tanzania’s street children and AIDS orphans.

Heroic, indeed.

A couple of months ago I did a short Q&A for British online adventure portal WideWorld Magazine where we talked briefly about travel, music, sports, books and, of course, photography.

I was recently approached again by WideWorld Magazine, this time to contribute "10 Tips for Better Adventure Photos".  Although I don't necessarily consider myself an "adventure photographer", per se -- at least not in the conventional sense, or the same realm as true action or sports photographers --  I suppose that what I do, and the places I go to do it, is adventurous.

Therefore, I tried to provide a collection of tips that aren't simply applicable to adventure-related photography, but can be applied across all photographic disciplines, such as having a shoot plan, not over-packing, introducing a human element to images, understanding and using your camera's aperture and ISO settings, and getting creative with light.

I am not sure what WideWorld Magazine will suggest we do together next, but I am already looking forward to it.

I have spent the past three days in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) shooting an assignment for the European edition of American Express' Centurion Magazine.

I used to live in HCMC in 1998 and 1999, so it is always a pleasure to return to Vietnam's economic capital in the south to see old friends, and how much my former home is changing.  HCMC is rapidly growing and developing: luxury hotels line the streets of District 1, modern skyscrapers rise up behind them, and less-and-less ubiquitous are the bicycles and cyclos of a dozen years ago, replaced instead by seas of swarming scooters, cars and trucks.  However, HCMC remains charming, and one doesn't need to go too far off the beaten path to catch a glimpse of yesteryear.

Each night I was in HCMC, I made one panorama photograph at dusk in the city centre: the first from a coffee shop overlooking Nguyen Hue Street and Le Loi Boulevard and The Rex Hotel, the second from the rooftop terrace of Shri restaurant and lounge, and the third from Saigon Saigon, the rooftop bar at The Caravelle Hotel.

I arrived in Hanoi this afternoon, and have four more days of shooting here for this assignment.  It was sad to say good-bye to HCMC and my friends there, but I am looking forward to exploring the nation's capital city.

Jasmine Wong, one of the founding members of The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP), wrote this article for September 2010 issue of Singapore's Shape Magazine about her experience running the Dili Marathon and TCRP's support of HIAM-Health in Timor-Leste.

A handful of the photographs that I made during TCRP's race, as well as at HIAM-Health, illustrate Jasmine's editorial.

It is fantastic to see the TCRP initiative -- as well as its founders and supporters -- getting this deserving recognition.

And, on a personal note, it is very rewarding to see my photography supporting TCRP's efforts.  My work with The Chain Reaction Project is a wonderful by-product of running my own photography business: meeting and working with inspiring people, having the ability and means to travel and explore the corners of the world, meet new and interesting people and being given the creative freedom to make photographs that tell a story.

See more photography from the ruggedly beautiful nation of Timor-Leste captured on my documentary shoots with TCRP in 2009 and 2010.

Yesterday, WideWorld Magazine, a British online adventure magazine, published a short Q&A with me where we talked briefly about travel, music, sports, books and, of course, photography.

It was an enjoyable interview, and I had fun answering WideWorld's questions, almost all of which were framed within the context of 'adventure':

Who’s my adventure hero? Photojournalist James Natchwey

What's my favourite book by an adventure athlete, explorer or traveller? Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between

And what’s the best piece of travel advice I have been given? “You never know if you never go.”

Click here to read the entire interview.

It is, indeed, a wide world out there.

Last night was the official screening of the documentary film and photographic work that Mike Rogers and I created for The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP) in Timor-Leste two months ago.

More than 100 people attended the outdoor screening and fundraiser at Singapore's Mount Emily.  I always get a little anxious sharing my photography with a large group of people, but I am proud to say the work that both Mike and I produced for TCRP was warmly received.

As background, TCRP is a non-profit philanthropic organization born in 2009 when four extremely inspirational women in Singapore -- Ting, Alex, Jas and Anina -- committed to help change lives in some of the world's least-developed nations.

United by a love of adventure and a passion for philanthropy, TCRP seeks physical challenges and local organizations that can benefit from their efforts.

TCRP's journey began in August 2009 with the Tour de Timor, a 5-day, 450-kilometre mountain bike race across Timor-Leste.  Using the race as a platform and harnessing the power of social networking and media, TCRP successfully raised awareness for Timor and more than SGD$50,000 for HIAM-Health, a Dili-based malnutrition

rehabilitation and education centre for parents and children.

This past June, TCRP returned to Timor-Leste.  But this time a group of 22 "Catalysts for Change" joined them in running the Dili "City of Peace" Marathon to raise awareness for the poverty-stricken nation and its people, as well as to continue their support of HIAM-Health.

Together they delivered a SGD$28,000 Playpoint playground and more than SGD$10,000 for the children of HIAM-Health.

This is my personal donation to TCRP: a documentary slideshow of their journey and efforts that can be used as a marketing tool and a way to garner additional sponsorship and donations for their future endeavors.

See more photography from the ruggedly beautiful nation of Timor-Leste captured on my documentary shoots with TCRP in 2009 and 2010.

To view this video in HD, click here.

**If you are having trouble viewing the video, please download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player here.**

In August 2009 I visited the ruggedly beautiful country of Timor-Leste to document The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP) as they competed in the inaugural Tour de Timor adventure mountain bike race.

TCRP is a non-profit philanthopic organization comprised of four women from Singapore who search for unique sports- and adventure-themed opportunities to help change lives.  Their mantra is to be catalysts for social change through sport, and inspire others to take up a physical or mental challenge for a good cause.

The Tour de Timor was a personal initiative by Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta, to help raise awareness of the plight of this fledgling state on the 10th anniversary of it's independence from Indonesia.  More than 300 cyclists from across the globe raced for a grueling 5 days/450km across nine of Timor’s 13 districts.

The women of TCRP raised USD$35K in private donations and corporate sponsorship which, at the end of the race, was donated to HIAM-Health, a Dili-based malnutrition rehabilitation and education centre for parents and children.

My personal contribution to TCRP was to accompany them on this cycling adventure and document their journey; the result is the slideshow of my photography presented here.

In a few days, TCRP will once again be returning to Timor-Leste to participate in the inaugural Dili City of Peace Marathon, running 42 kilometers up mountains, through native villages and along pristine coastlines of this country that not long ago was ravaged by civil war.  Like last year, the four women of TCRP -- this time accompanied by a group of 50 "catalyst" runners -- will be competing to raise awareness for the poverty-stricken country of Timor-Leste and its people, as well as to once again help raise funds for HIAM-Health.

I will also be returning to Timor-Leste to photograph TCRP's adventure.  However, this time I will be accompanied by my close friend and documentary filmmaker, Mike Rogers, who will join me to film the journey, as well as HIAM-Health and the impact that TCRP's monetary donation is having on the facility.

More of my photographs of Timor-Leste and her people can be found here.

To view this video in HD, click here.

**If you are having trouble viewing the video, please download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player here.**

My Assistant, Zam, and I spent last week in Shanghai shooting an advertising campaign for a yoga club.  The shoot called for making a mix of indoor and outdoor photography, which was an enjoyable brief to work on, as we were able to share our time working in a studio and out exploring the amazing city of Shanghai.

I visited Shanghai once more than five years ago, but that was a whirlwind week end that didn't really give me a chance to properly experience the city.  This time, however, we spent the better part of three whole days walking, exploring and shooting on the streets of Shanghai, and I soaked up every minute of it: the remarkable fusion of historical and modern/post-modern architecture, the hornet's nest of frenetic energy and (seemingly controlled) chaos on the roads, and the sheer excitement that comes from spending a few exhilarating days amongst 20 million people in one of the fastest growing cities on the planet.

I am not sure I can say that I fell in love with Shanghai. But I can say that I developed a bit of a crush on her.