Barnaby Jaco Skinner spent about a month photographing Cambodia in the rainy season, and he let the weather into nearly every frame. His photo essay Temples, Markets and Rain, published in 2015, follows a route from the temples of Angkor through Phnom Penh and the Mekong to the riverside town of Kampot and the crab shacks of Kep.

Tree roots over the weathered stone of Angkor Thom’s East Gate
Angkor Thom’s East Gate, where roots grip the old masonry. Photo: Barnaby Jaco Skinner.

Angkor Thom and the temples around Siem Reap

Skinner began around Siem Reap, the base for visiting Angkor, the capital of the Khmer Empire from roughly the 9th to the 15th century. Angkor became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 and draws around two million visitors a year, so he deliberately sought out quieter, less-visited temples.

His opening picture shows the East Gate of Angkor Thom, the walled royal city founded by King Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century as the last great Khmer capital. Its walls run 3 km on each side and stand 8 m high behind a moat, enclosing about 9 km² with the Bayon temple at the centre. The gate towers carry carved faces 23 m tall. The East Gate is also known as the Gate of the Dead, and the city’s south gate lies about 7 km north of Siem Reap.

Rain-soaked, empty Angkorian temple ruins
Angkorian Temple Run: rainy, slippery and empty. Photo: Barnaby Jaco Skinner.

Skinner’s “Angkorian Temple Run” sums up the wet season at the ruins: rainy, slippery and empty. Ta Prohm, also built by Jayavarman VII and dedicated to his parents, is the best-known of the jungle-wrapped temples nearby; one of its inscriptions records 12,640 people serving the complex.

Phnom Penh: markets, palaces and memory

Skinner called Phnom Penh one of the easiest cities to shoot. Two of his favourite frames come from the Russian Market, one of the city’s busiest covered markets, where he used manual high-dynamic-range processing to capture bright openings and dim stalls in a single image.

Narrow passage lined with colourful goods in Phnom Penh’s Russian Market
A crowded passage in Phnom Penh’s Russian Market. Photo: Barnaby Jaco Skinner.
Motorbike parts tightly packed on a stall in the Russian Market
An assortment of things: motorbike parts packed into one Russian Market stall. Photo: Barnaby Jaco Skinner.

In the centre of the Royal Palace stands the Silver Pagoda, officially Wat Ubaosoth Ratanaram and also called Wat Preah Keo Morakot, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Founded by King Norodom in the 19th century, it takes its name from its floor of 5,329 silver tiles weighing about 1,125 kg. Inside are a small green crystal Buddha, the country’s most revered image, and a life-size gold Maitreya Buddha of about 90 kg made in 1906–1907 for King Sisowath.

The Silver Pagoda in the Royal Palace, Phnom Penh
The Silver Pagoda at the centre of the Royal Palace, Phnom Penh. Photo: Barnaby Jaco Skinner.

About 17 km south of the centre lies Choeung Ek, the best-known of the Killing Fields. Under Khmer Rouge rule from 1975 to 1979, prisoners from the Tuol Sleng (S-21) detention centre were taken to this former orchard and executed. The remains of 8,895 victims were exhumed there, and a Buddhist memorial stupa built in 1989 holds more than 5,000 skulls behind glass. Skinner called it a very tough place to photograph. Give the visit time, and move and photograph quietly.

The Killing Fields memorial at Choeung Ek near Phnom Penh
The Killing Fields at Choeung Ek. Photo: Barnaby Jaco Skinner.

The Mekong and a heavy rain moment

Skinner took a small boat out for a shoot on the Mekong, then admitted the river was too flat and wide to convey its size, and saved it for a future trip. His tuk-tuk picture is the essay’s best weather shot: rain pouring past the open back of the vehicle as he rides through it.

Fishing on the Mekong river from a small boat
Fishing on the Mekong. Photo: Barnaby Jaco Skinner.
Heavy rain seen from the back of a tuk-tuk in Cambodia
A heavy rain moment, shot from the back of a tuk-tuk. Photo: Barnaby Jaco Skinner.

Kampot and Kep on the southern coast

The trip ended in the south. Kampot sits on the Praek Tuek Chhu River, about five kilometres from the Gulf of Thailand, and keeps a centre of 19th-century French colonial buildings, unusual for a Cambodian provincial capital. The region is famous for its pepper. Skinner photographed a derelict riverside house and a thunderstorm from the roof of the Two Moons, beer in hand.

Lightning over Kampot seen from a rooftop
Lightning over Kampot, seen from the roof of the Two Moons. Photo: Barnaby Jaco Skinner.
Derelict house on the riverside in Kampot
Kampot or bust: a derelict house on the main riverside. Photo: Barnaby Jaco Skinner.

Kep, about 20 km away, was founded by the French in 1908 as the beach resort of Kep-sur-Mer and stayed a retreat for the French and Cambodian elite until the early 1970s. Its modernist villas from 1953 to 1970 are examples of New Khmer Architecture, though many now stand empty. Today Kep is Cambodia’s smallest province, known for seafood; Rabbit Island (Koh Tonsay) lies 4.5 km offshore. Skinner stopped for lunch several times at the crab shacks on the edge of town.

Looking out from a crab shack on the edge of Kep
Looking out from the crab shacks on the edge of Kep. Photo: Barnaby Jaco Skinner.

Travelling in Cambodia’s rainy season

The southwest monsoon brings the wet season from about mid-May to mid-September, sometimes into October; the drier, cooler months run from November to March. Humidity in the rainy season averages around 90 per cent, and highs above 32 °C are common. Expect sudden downpours: carry a dry bag for your camera, plan temple visits for early morning and keep the afternoons flexible. The reward, as Skinner found, is green landscapes, dramatic skies and far fewer crowds.

For another photographer’s view of the region, explore David Heath’s historical Myanmar photographs, or try a short travel-video diary.

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