Earlier in the year I was working on my forthcoming book ‘Presenting Cambodia’, a commissioned A4 hardback which provides an overview of this wonderful country through text and around 250 images. My chosen mode of transport in Cambodia, and anywhere else for that matter, is a motorcycle, preferably a dirt bike so I can get off road when the desire takes me.

In February I hired a bike in Phnom Penh and headed northeast. The first stop was Kompong Cham. The town takes its name from Cham Muslims who have a sizeable population in the area and there are Cham fishing villages to discover on both sides of the river. The town is the perfect destination for a few lazy Mekong days.

One of the highlights Kompong Cham is a day spent exploring nearby island, Koh Paen. During the cool and dry seasons it can be reached by a bamboo bridge. Built every year when the Mekong’s high waters recede, the fantastic structure stretches for almost one kilometres and is wide enough and strong enough to take the weight of small trucks. In the late afternoon a pleasant hour or two can be spent at the bridge observing the to-and-fro of locals, and watching fishermen cast their nets into a river illuminated by the setting sun’s fiery glow.

While there, I bumped into the diminutive and enthusiastic Vietnamese photographer, Hao Dinh, and we spent a couple of memorable afternoons exploring the island and photographing the bridge.

All but the first image are out-takes that never made it into the book. I gave up long ago trying to fathom the ways of publishers…

Presenting Cambodia should be out in late October or early November.