Sandrine Steinberg: Journalist, Filmmaker, Therapist, and Eternal Traveler in Siem Reap

Journalist, filmmaker, therapist, and eternal traveler, Sandrine Steinberg seems to have as many lives as the cats she particularly adores. Having fallen in love with Cambodia and listening only to her emotions, this vibrant personality decided to join the kingdom to offer a full range of body care treatments.

Sandrine Steinberg

Siem Reap with her wide smile and sparkling gaze. At a time when tourists have deserted the city and many expatriates are questioning their future, this adventurer determined to write a new chapter in her life has bet on settling in the city of temples. And so what if she has to wait a few more months before inaugurating her new professional activity: it gives her more time to organize her projects. In the meantime, Sandrine is overflowing with occupations and quenches her thirst for discoveries in her new adopted country.

It took a deep love at first sight for Cambodia to convince her to leave a territory she had frequented for 26 years. Originally from the Paris region, Sandrine settled in Nouméa in 1994, where she first worked in journalism. Is that the reason for her open-mindedness, her attraction to cultures, like a professional leitmotif? Not so sure, hearing her recount the stages of a life with multiple facets, all guided by the quest for diverse experiences, but ultimately deeply linked and coherent. This quest, she wanted to follow it to Asia, a continent rich in contrasts and colors, a paradise for the senses to which Sandrine is particularly receptive.

“I had already been to Cambodia, but without feeling particularly drawn to live there. And then one day, while biking in Siem Reap, I saw a few grains of dust dancing in front of me. A true golden dust surrounded me, lit by fantastic light. Everything was golden around me, like in a fairy tale. It was from that moment that I irresistibly wanted to live here.''

You feel good here, it’s a city that encourages dreaming and contemplation. You just need to glance at the river to feel like you’re right in the middle of a painting. The paths taken by life sometimes hinge on just a few particles of dust dancing in the air near a river.

Sandrine Steinberg, the Passion for Cats

This sensual aspect of Asia, Sandrine discovered it very early. At the age of 10, exactly. The sound of the sliding door of the Volkswagen Combi still resonates in her memory, revealing an incredible Ali Baba's cave. “I was a child when Monique and Henri, a hippie couple friends of my parents, parked their vehicle in the courtyard of the house. They were just returning from a long stay in Asia driving their van. At the back of it was a multitude of objects collected throughout their journey to resell once back. As it opened, this Combi door also opened the door to a New World, whose existence I had no idea about. From that moment, the Orient exerted a hold that has never faltered since.”

The amazed gaze of a little girl contemplating an oriental treasure would be the first contact with a fantasized Asia, which continued through reading, of which Sandrine has always been fond.

The Japan of Mishima fascinates her, his descriptions of pavilions, flowers, and Japanese refinement make her devour the works of the author of The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea.

Her youth, Sandrine spent it within a family divided between scientists, inventors, and talented artists. Among their relatives, the Steinbergs include composer Vladimir Cosma as well as illustrator Saul Steinberg, whose drawings regularly adorned the covers of The New Yorker. “I learned of his existence quite late, about fifteen years ago at most. His life immediately fascinated me, by his journey, but also by the similarities between our two characters.

The disdain for what people say, the priority given to passion over reason, are values we have in common.” Another family figure, that of her grandfather, also played a major role in her life. This scientist recorded the memories of a vibrant life in a manuscript titled “From the Kerosene Lamp to the Neutron Bomb”. An entire existence unfolds in the pages of the book, which Sandrine typed with the help of her cousins. Inevitably, such a family heritage leaves its mark.

Comes the time for studies, focused on physiotherapy. While attending the school of Dr. de Sambucy, the young woman discovers journalism through the then-flourishing free radios. Here she is on the microphone of music shows broadcast on small stations, then on major antennas such as Radio France Vaucluse and Oui FM, where she hosts Le Tour du monde en 45 tours. She evolves in this microcosm by frequenting the very lively evenings of the Palace and Jack Lang's salons, rubbing shoulders with musicians and jet-set stars.

“But the final exam was approaching and it was necessary to temporarily put an end to all that. I had no right to error, and it was only after obtaining my physio diploma that I could then focus on journalism, particularly the written press.”

“I went for it boldly, forcing the editor-in-chief’s office door at Guitare et claviers, a reference in the genre at the time. Since it was impossible to get an appointment, I pushed his door and stood in front of him looking him straight in the eye. The tactic worked, as I finally got the coveted position!” She then juggles three part-time jobs, writes for Larousse, Réponse à tout, Challenges, or even Le Nouvel Observateur. Not forgetting Globe, “An unforgettable memory, with the charismatic Jean Marc Benamou, Édouard Baer, or even BHL”.

She balks when offered to hold the camera for a regional France 3 station, but learns to love image capture. She practices the profession with the passion that characterizes her, but wants to add a touch of exoticism to her life. When a position in New Caledonia, in Nouméa, opens up, Sandrine seizes the opportunity.

“I didn’t even know where it was! There was no internet at the time, so I went down to the basement of the newsroom, where a large world map was displayed on the wall.”

“After a while, I finally spotted the small dot symbolizing New Caledonia. Great, it’s not far from Australia, I’ll be able to go there for the weekend! I accepted the position, and so what if I realized afterwards that more than 3,000 kilometers separate the two places.”

Since then, her geography skills have greatly improved. The discovery of Borneo, to make a documentary on the laying of the world’s first gas pipeline in Kalimantan, constitutes her first contact with a very different Asia from the one previously fantasized. No disappointment, however, just an even more unquenchable thirst for discoveries. The list of her travels is dizzying: Turkey, Burma, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Mongolia, India, Pakistan, China, Iran… And Afghanistan, a country in which she spends a year on a mission for the NGO AVICEN (Afghanisation Vaccination Immunization Center). She discovers the beauty of this country and its inhabitants there, and works under the protection of a certain Commander Massoud. Thailand also fascinates her, and for 12 years, Sandrine goes there for each of her vacations, exploring one by one the regions of the kingdom. Botany, and particularly the world of flowers, particularly attracts her in a country where the practice is considered an art. In the meantime, her professional activities expand, as she becomes a director of short films as well as a photographer. Before setting down the camera for a new adventure, that of body care, which she materializes in 2010 by opening Linea Estetica, her beauty physiotherapy practice.

“The connection between physiotherapy, journalism, image capture, and care doesn’t seem obvious at first glance, but I assure you there is a deep link between these activities. The literary aspect is very present in photography and video.”

“You can put as much emotion in an image as in a text. And the same goes for body care, which requires an artistic side, a search for beauty. When I ran my salon in Nouméa, I had the impression of living in a book. I entered lives very intimately, an attentive confidante of my clients, who shared their projects, hopes, and disappointments. Extraordinary existences were revealed. It was close to Balzac and Zola.”

To add to the long list of her activities: humanitarian missions, a detour through pastry-making, as well as the preparation, currently, of a diploma as an animal health auxiliary.

“Animals, and particularly cats, drive me crazy.”

When she talks about her future activity in Siem Reap, she is inexhaustible about her projects and how to implement them. Sandrine is not short of ideas, and the different types of care, treatments offered, rejuvenation and relaxation methods, cosmetics used, and devices all more advanced than the others hold no secrets for her.

In the conversation slip in terms such as reactivation of basal metabolism, body cleansing, non-invasive therapy, thermolipolysis, or dermis work. Ten years of practice forge an experience that Sandrine is ready to continue under Cambodian skies. In order, always, to continue living her dreams.

By Rémi Abad