Mekong River photo exhibition

CHIANG RAI : An exhibition of photographs shot during a hovercraft trip down the Mekong River in November 2002 will be on view at Chiang Rai’s Central Plaza, 29 August to 4 September.
Created by photographer and travel media specialist, Reinhard Hohler, his exhibition has been seen over the last 10 years in Bangkok, Vientiane, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City , usually linked to international travel trade events including the ASEAN Tourism Forum .
This time round the exhibition helps to publicise the newly established Alliance Francaise in Chiang Rai.
Hohler was the only journalist to join the Diethelm Travel expedition in 2002.
The unique collection of photos, underscore the appeal of the Mekong River, the longest river in Southeast Asia. It is also a timely reminder that communities along its banks are now threatened by the building of dams and industrial development schemes mainly in China and Laos.
The river runs from the Tibetan plateau through China, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam before it spills into the South China Sea.
Dams will ultimately threaten the lifestyle of the river and reduce its resources, a point that underscores Hohler’s photo exhibition.
He has selected 72 photographs to highlight the landscapes and scenery seen during the November 2002 expedition, which started in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan/China, passing through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, before ending in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The exhibition includes photos marking the group’s visit to the gravesite of the famous French explorer Henri Mouhot in Luang Prabang, the difficult transfer of the group’s hovercraft around the dramatic Khone Falls on the Lao-Cambodia border, as well as a side trip to the ruins of Angkor in Cambodia and Oc Eo in Vietnam.
Hohler, 63, is an experienced tour director and media travel consultant specialising in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. He was born in Karlsruhe/Germany, a port on Europe’s Rhine River. After studying geology in his hometown and ethnology, geography and political science at Heidelberg University, Reinhard Hohler moved to Thailand and has lived in Chiang Mai since 1987.

Sourced: ttrweekly