Interview
of Bernhard Heiser (October 2004)
www.asiaphoto.de
Why
this passion for Indochina ?
I think
it all began with my first trip to Lao, when I felt like traveling at least
50 years back in time. I really love thist combination of laid back atmosphere,
nice and helpful people, good food, great music and fascinating landscapes.
It’s also the tranquility of Buddhism that adds to this special feeling,
people are very much influenced by religion in their daily lifes. Last
but not least history and politics of the whole region are very interesting.
Just think of the cruel Khmer Rouge regime and what they made of Cambodia.
Or the millions of bombs that went down on Laos during the Vietnam war,
many of them still unexploded. There is a special mystic surrounding the
Golden Triangle with its druglords and opium villages. On my last trip
through Burma I heard again many of these interesting and sometimes sad
stories that you just can’t read in the newspapers from people who had
a remarkable past and witnessed things by themselves.
What
is Asiaphoto.de ? What was your target when you have launched this website
?
Asiaphoto.de
is a personal website about my trips, my impressions. I want to show how
I have seen things and offer practical advice for other travelers. The
internet is about giving and taking information, I just want to participate
in that. People email me from all over the world and I have had many interesting
contacts through my website.
You
comment every photo. What’s the role of a text when associated to a photo
?
Originally
I wrote a travelogue (about my first Lao trip) and added some pictures.
On my Cambodia and Burma Pages I did it the other way round. First the
photos, then I added the description. That’s completely different. However,
I wanted to create something like a continuous story, so I wrote about
the part of my trip related to each photo. When I visit other travel sites,
I always find out that text is more important than photos. Good photos
are great, but they cannot tell the whole story on their own.
Have
you already sold some pictures thanks to your site ?
Yes. I
sell my photos to magazines, airlines, travel companies and everyone else
who just likes my photos. Someone referring to this interview will of course
get a special discount :)
Which
of the five presented countries (Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos &
Thailand) is for you the most interesting to visit ?
That’s
really hard to say, as each county offers it’s own kind of adventure...Thailand
is of course the most developped country, coming back there is always like
a little cultural shock for me. But there are still many places in Thailand
that are worth going to.
No
travel planned in Vietnam ?
No, I
think that’s too late and there is already too much tourism there. Maybe
I will visit Vietnam soon when I come back from my planned trip to South
China. I think the area around Hanoi is really beautiful. I also want to
visit the Mekong delta, I really love that river. |