Angkor and more!

Ok while we're on the subject of Angkor I better add in some more photos. This blog is hopelessly out of order so for all those chronologically obsessed people out there... tough! Well, maybe a quick concession:

-Saigon
-Mekong Delta tour boat through to
-Phnom Penh (Cambodia)
-Bus to Siem Reap
-A few days in Siem Reap checking out a wonder of the world - the incredibly huge expanse of ruined temples and palaces of the ancient Angkor empire.
-Back to Phnom Penh
-Couple of days in Kratie checking out the rare freshwater dolphins
-Boat over the border into Laos

Blah blah, Laos we'll deal with later.

Right Angkor. As Sarah said - simply breathtaking. I'm not a huge fan of spending days and days wandering around ruins (usually an hour gives me my fill) so I wasn't expecting to be overlly excited about the whole thing, but it really was something else and after three full days of throroughly exploring, I was very sorry to leave and felt like I could have done more. A real plus was getting to hang out with Jo and Omar, an awesome couple from Briton who had just spent 6 months working in Ghana and were on the trip home. The four of us had such a fun time riding around the temples at the very hottest part of the day when all the travel guides tell you to stay indoors! Our rigorous schedule of getting up at 11am meant that at least the temples were completely empty when we were checking them out. Some would call this daily regimen of panting, dehydration and heatstroke stupid. I call it smart travelling!

Some of the coolest temples are the ones totally taken over by the forest - you see what I mean:



It was also cool to see a flash of bright orange against the grey stone as some random monk came to take a look around.


It sometimes got a little tiring.


But we made it until sunset


Getting that perfect angle


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