Tomb Raider

I'm going to be honest, there wasn't any actual tomb raiding in Siem Reap but I did go to the 'Tomb Raider' temple on my three day jaunt around the Angkor Archaeological Park which was petty awesome. I also have to admit by the time I arrived in Cambodia nearly four months into this adventure I was feeling pretty 'templed out' and wishing that maybe I'd done Angkor Wat at the start as it's somewhere I've always wanted to visit. I felt like I was going to turn up and be all "Yeah it's a temple, whatever, seen like a bazillion of them." Nothing however can fully prepare you for just how amazing the temples are, and how many of them there are.

I spent three days of my week long stay in Siem Reap visiting the temples (it isn't cheap!) and was pleasantly surprised at how quiet it was, the tour groups only kicked in on the third day when I visited the bigger temples, even then it was often empty and quiet. Apparently it's a good time of year to visit and a bit cooler being rainy season. I still found myself becoming Asian by utilising my umbrella not for the rain but as a sun shade, it might be a bit cooler but it's still bloomin hot!

My camera was pretty much on permanent snap mode and I have only uploaded a fraction of the photos I took. Alas one thing I failed to capture on camera was the monkey attempting to steal my water bottle at Angkor Wat. Ironically I had been laughing with Heather (of travelling in Vietnam with fame) about how devious monkeys were and that these ones here at Angkor would not successfully rob my belongings because I was on to them when one approached, and by approached I mean loped towards me with criminal intent. The cheeky bugger grabbed my bottle with both of his little monkey hands and I had to wrestle it out of his grasp whilst clearly telling him that he would not be having my water. He then ran off, tail quite literally between his legs. Kasia 1, Monkey 0.

Of course there are other memories I will take from my visit, the sunrise of Angkor Wat, the amazing faces at Bayon and going all Tomb Raider at the very beautiful Ta Phrom, bouncing around on a Tuk Tuk through the Archaeological park etc etc but the monkey easily wins for most memorable moment. All in all, I loved my time in Siem Reap, the temples were more amazing than I had imagined and I'm glad I left them until the end, it feels like a fitting way to finish my adventures, bar a few days in Bangkok of course.

Banteay Kdei

Srah Srang

Pre Rup

Pre Rup

East Mebon

Ta Som

Ta Som

Ta Som

Neak Pean

Preah Khan

Preah Khan

Preah Khan

Preah Khan

Preah Khan

Bakong

Bakong

Preah Ko

Preah Ko

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Having a nap at Angkor Wat

In jail at Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Apsara Dancers at Angkor

In your face!

Rabid face eating monkey (may have been on bath salts)

He's spotted his prey

A quick shimmy down the pole and he's off

The monkey that failed

MY water. Not the monkey's but MINE.

Heather and I at Angkor

Apsara costumes

Bayon

Smiley face

Nose to nose eskimo kissing

More faces

Bayon

Bayon

Bayon

Bayon

Ta Phrom

Ta Phrom

Ta Phrom - Tomb Raider land

Tomb Raider Tree

Tomb Raider Tree again

Bendy Tree

Finding Nemo (again)

I am writing this ode to Bali sat in Siem Reap in Cambodia, full of a stinky cold whilst sweating like a goodun in the heat. Now I've painted that beautiful image for you I shall proceed to ramble on, in the usual fashion.

The month on Bali went all to fast for my liking. In a recent exchange on FB I declared it my favourite place on earth. It is so far anyway. It truly is a magical island paradise, as long as you avoid Kuta that is. My last few days, ignoring the one before I flew out that I spent in cacky Kuta were an absolute joy. I made my way to the North of the Island to a small village called Pemuteran to do some more diving. It was quiet, gorgeous and there were baby turtles. Hooray!

The diving was excellent, on my first dive in Pemuteran bay I saw TWO white tipped reef sharks. Simply AMAZING. The divemaster did the shark sign (you know hand on head like fin) and I laughed out through my regulator thinking it was a joke before realising there were two actual, real, live sharks right in front of us. WOW. They were actually rather cute and being very lazy just hanging around on the sea floor, lurking. I lost count of the other types of fish I saw but it did include Nemo again, he does get around. Then on my day trip to Menjangan Island to dive the Menjangan Wall I saw lots more firsts, eels, barracuda, a shoal of open jaw baby tuna, an octopus and Pygmy seahorses to name but a few. The seahorses were seriously tiny and so cute. I was also followed by a large and very curious Bat fish. Which also kept making me laugh. All in all, excellent diving and I definitely want to go back there and do more.

On my last day in Pemuteran before getting back in a mini van to go up over the mountains I went to the turtle hatchery on the beach to release a baby turtle. I'd been along a couple of days before to see them and found out if you turned up early enough in the morning and made a small donation you could release a baby turtle into the sea. It really was a very special and cool moment to watch the little dude take his or her first tentative steps towards the water and then swim off into the big blue. I immediately wanted to go back and release all the babies!

So now I'm in Siem Reap ready to go all Tomb Raider stylee at the temples but right now I'm missing Bali. Missing the amazingly friendly people, the beauty of the country, the joy in the temples and the offerings, the lovely chilled out vibe that just is Bali and also the Frangipani. They were everywhere and very often tucked behind people's ears, men included. It always made me smile. Ah lovely Bali I WILL be back, soon I hope.

Raka and son in Ubud

Branching out in these tough times

Pemuteran Bay

Bliss!

Buddy the beautiful Turtle

Menjangan Island

Swim fast and live long little dude!