Tom Vater

Tom Vater has been working and traveling in Southeast Asia since 1993. He first visited Cambodia in 2001 to document the indigenous minorities in Mondulkiri for the British Library’s International Sound Archive. He instantly fell in love with the country. A year later, Tom co-wrote and produced a documentary on Angkor for German-French television, which gave him the opportunity to spend several weeks among the temples. Since then, he has been back in Cambodia several times a year to cover the country’s politics and culture for many different publications. On his journeys around the country, he has traveled with kings, pilgrims, soldiers, secret agents, pirates, hippies, policemen, and prophets.

Tom is the author of numerous nonfiction titles, guidebooks, and a novel, and has co-written several documentary screenplays for television and cinema. Tom’s feature articles, mostly on Asian subjects and destinations, have been published by the Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Times, Marie Claire, and many other publications. He is the Daily Telegraph‘s Bangkok expert. His nonfiction book, Sacred Skin, published with award-winning photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat (who took many of the pictures in Moon Angkor Wat) was an international bestseller. Most recently he published Cambodia: A Journey Through the Land of the Khmer with renowned photographer Kraig Lieb. Tom is also the co-owner of the Hong Kong-based crime fiction imprint Crime Wave Press. Visit his website at tomvater.com.