Bookshop Travel has created a bespoke Cambodian package for travellers to learn photography from internationally-acclaimed photographer, Alan Benson, while immersing themselves in the country's fascinating Khmer culture and staying at iconic heritage hotels, Raffles Hotel Grand d'Angkor Siem Reap and Raffles Hotel Le Royal Phnom Penh.

Having started his career at London's Savoy Hotel, Alan eventually traded the kitchen for a camera to capture food from 'behind the lens', travelling the globe on assignment for magazines such as Gourmet Traveller, Delicious, SBS Feast, Mindfood and Vogue Entertaining & Travel.

His work has appeared in books for Martha Stewart, Lonely Planet World Food Guides and over thirty cookbooks including those detailing the personal stories, philosophies and recipes of Luke Nguyen at the Red Lantern, Frank Camora at MoVida, Peter Kurivita, Matthew Evans of 'Gourmet Farmer' fame, and Bourke Street Bakery. 

Most recently a nominee for the prestigious Northern American James Beard Award in the Photography Category in 2012, the highest honour for food professionals in that region, Alan's course will include a skills component which will focus on photographing after the sun goes down, architecture, environmental portraits, interiors, details, landscapes and of course, food.  He will be joined by tour leader, award-winning food and travel writer Carli Ratcliff, whose latest Cambodian features appearin current issues of VOGUE Living and SBS Feast .

Aspiring photographers and travel writers will have no shortage of subjects and experiences, with opportunities to capture the temples of Bayon, Ta Prohm, Angkor Wat and Bantey Srei, tour floating villages of Oudong up close by private boat and visits to the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and Takhmao Khmer Arts Centre.  Khmer cuisine will be explored through a range of hands-on experiences, from Raffles private cooking class, local restaurants ranging from NGO supported ventures, the popular Sugarpalm and upscale French-influenced Malis and an optional early morning foray to Phnom Penh's vibrant Central Market. By sunset, the photographers might even share their snaps over Femme Fatales at the fabled Raffles Elephant Bar, the cocktail created to honour celebrated guest, Jacqueline Onassis.

From $5980 per person twin-share, this eight-day package from 25th August to 1st September 2014 includes transfers, daily breakfasts, most meals and activities as stated in full itinerary, accommodation at Raffles Grand D'angkor Siem Reap and Raffles Le Royal Phnom Penh and internal flights between these. It excludes international flights and visa costs.

Bookings: Carol Crennan/ Email: carol@bookshoptravel.com.au/

Mob: +61 419 489 141 www.bookshoptravel.com.au

Media contact: Jane Corbett-Jones/ Email: jane@janecorbett-jones.com/ Mob: +61 417 772783

EDITOR'S NOTES:

ABOUT BOOKSHOP TRAVEL: Bookshop Travel is a bespoke tour operator and travel specialist from Sydney's Double Bay whose trips engage in an authentic skills development component that brings new opportunities to the traveler.  A Bookshop Travel tour takes you behind the tourist trail to experience and practice newfound abilities while you have exclusive time with industry specialists who mentor and support individuals.  Travel is enriched by engaging actively in new skills. http://www.bookshoptravel.com.au

ABOUT THE HOTELS: Opened in 1929 and 1932 respectively, Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor and Raffles Hotel Le Royal, are supremely qualified to be the setting for this photography workshop, with both having witnessed and played their parts in recent Cambodian history.  These are the only hotels in Cambodia allowed to display the Royal crest above their doors and to serve original Khmer dishes, created from recipes from the Royal kitchens granted to them by the late King Father Norodom.

Raffles Hotel Le Royal – Phnom Penh – opened 1929

Agence France-Presse journalist, Jon Swain details the last days of the hotel prior to the fall of Phnom Penh in his book, 'River of Time'. In 1970 his home was “Studio Six, a two-bedroom duplex with ceiling fans on the ground floor of the Hôtel Le Royal.”  By 1974 he recalls, “Only at the hotel (then called) Le Phnom was there still something of the lazy charm of the pre-war days. But with a difference: most of the French community had deserted the city after the Khmer Rouge shelled it with artillery.”  Then later, “The bombardments were so intense that journalists abandoned their rooms at the top of Le Phnom, which were fully exposed to rocket and artillery fire, for those on the lower floors”. The higher rooms were available at the bargain price of $5 -- but there were few takers…

During the last days of Phnom Penh, the façade of the old hotel “was bedecked with giant white flags and red crosses and surrounded with barbed-wire barricades. It had been declared a 'neutral zone' by the Red Cross”. A Scottish medical team set up an operating theatre inside one of the bungalows in the hotel grounds.  Soon the hotel was abandoned completely with everyone forced to leave.  Journalists, war correspondents and embassy personnel recall the last days of the hotel prior the fall of Phnom Penh with a mixture of sadness and fondness. Phnom Penh fell to Khmer Rouge forces in April 1975.  According to a former member of Khmer Rouge Battalion 310, this group of military cadres was in charge of the hotel between 1975 and 1979.

Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor – opened 1932

Between 1970 and 1975, the turbulent Lon Nol era, Cambodia was racked by internal political intrigues, American bombing raids,  North Vietnamese attacks and a strengthening of the Khmer Rouge forces throughout the countryside. During this time, important Lon Nol military staff occupied the hotel. Later The Grand Hotel d'Angkor was deserted except for Pol Pot cadres who took up residence in the hotel that had been stripped of its furnishings. During the 1980s, following the defeat of Khmer Rouge in 1979, Vietnamese forces occupied the hotel. The Grand Hotel d'Angkor began to function again as a hotel in late 1991.

Both hotels were reopened in 1997 by Raffles Hotels & Resorts after a thorough and sensitive restoration.

About Raffles Hotels & Resorts:  Raffles Hotels & Resorts is an award-winning, luxury international hotel company with a history dating back to 1887 with the opening of Raffles Hotel, Singapore.  The portfolio currently comprises ten luxurious properties, from secluded resorts to city hotels in key locations around the world:  in Singapore, Cambodia, China, Philippines, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles and Paris, each one is an oasis of calm and charm.  The company is embarking on a new phase of expansion, with openings in Istanbul and Indonesia scheduled over the next year.  With a compelling mix of cultures and styles, every hotel in the Raffles family has its own individual personality, with its own story to tell and its own sense of place.   However, each one is proud to draw on the timeless essence of Raffles – to deliver thoughtful, personal and discreet service to well-travelled guests. www.raffles.com