Cambodia

The Royal Palace (Phnom Penh) 

 The Royal Palace serves as the royal residence of the king of Cambodia. The Kings of Cambodia have occupied it since it was built in 1860s, with a period of absence when the country came into turmoil during and after the reign of the Khmer Rouge.

I love this.  The rear view is priceless!

Reflections in a puddle of water.  Everyone wondered what I was doing with my camera nearly touching the water.  I think it was worth it.

By the river  (Phnom Penh)

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is Cambodia's most famous ancient temple and deservedly so.  It's absolutely epic in scale and is unbelievably well preserved, as its never been left to ruin.  Its full of beautiful carved figures and its so large that its possible, even in busy times, to find quiet chambers to just be.  I visited Angkor Wat three times; its the kind of place you can never grow tired of.  

Climbing up to the upper sanctum of Angkor Watt.

The upper chambers and courtyard were very peaceful when I got there.  A wonderful place to meditate.

Monks of Angkor Wat

In one of the inner chambers of Angkor Wat, some monks are available to give their blessings for a small donation.  They chant some words and sprinkle you with water, and then tie some orange thread around your hand. 

Monkeys of Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat has some beautiful resident monkeys including the cutest baby.  These monkeys, as one would expect of monkeys in a Buddhist temple, are full of love for each other.  They spend their days giving each other beautiful massages.  When it comes to humans however, they are rather unscrupulous, always looking to steal a morsel from bags.  Their favourite item of theft is plastic water bottles which they then drink with gusto.

Bayon Temple 

Built in the12th-century, Bayon, is the mesmerising, if slightly mind-bending, state temple of Jayavarman VII. It epitomises the creative genius and inflated ego of Cambodia’s most celebrated king. Its 54 Gothic towers are decorated with 216 gargantuan smiling faces of Avalokiteshvara, and it is adorned with 1.2km of extraordinary bas-reliefs incorporating more than 11,000 figures.  I loved this temple, one of my favourites.

Boeung Mealea - the lost temple 

Boeung Mealea is one of Angkor’s lost temples, a mirror image of the mighty Angkor Wat, but totally and utterly consumed by the jungle.  The temple lies about 70Km from Siem Reap.  I went there by tuk tuk with my wonderful driver friend and loved the views of Cambodian rural life on the way.

We left very early and I'm so glad we did.  The experience of exploring this vast, mysterious jungle temple with almost no one around was an unforgettable experience.  There were some very dark tunnels along the way and I was very lucky I had my i-phone torch to show the way.  It was a real Indiana Jones type experience although I'm sure he poo poo the i-phone torch !!

Temples we visited on the way home

Preah Khan Temple

Neak Pean Temple

East Mebon Temple

Pre Rup Temple

Ta Prohm 

I'd seen photos of this temple and it is one of the main reasons I wanted to visit Cambodia.  It was also featured in the movie, Tomb Ranger.  Absolutely wonderful with huge trees that have consumed many of the temples.  It's a very popular temple that attracts the crowds so the answer is definitely to come at first light.

Kratie

Kratie is a chilled town on the Mekong River.  I stayed two nights.  The highlight was seeing Irrawaddy Dolphins.  Unfortunately, there are only a hundred or so left in the wild.

Getting the ferry to Koh Trong

I hired a bicycle and cycled around the island.  Very rural, great seeing how people live and very untouristy.  

A very loved puppy.  Beautiful to see in a country where many dogs aren't so lucky.

Getting to see Irrawaddy dolphins

My boat driver

Stopping off at a lovely temple on the way back

Mondulkiri

Mondulkiri, the original Wild East, and the most sparsely populated province in the country is a world apart from the lowlands with not a rice paddy or palm tree in sight.  I spent 3 nights here.  The highlight was visiting the local elephant sanctuary.

Bou Sraa Waterfall

Coffee plantation

Local Village

Local hill temple

Little girl getting a blessing

Elephant sanctuary

Hiking into the elephant sanctuary

Two beautiful young girls living at the elephant sanctuary

Ratanakiri

Situated in the north east corner of Cambodia, this region is famous for its natural beauty.  I spent 4 nights here.  The highlight was a stunningly gorgeous crater lake and getting to see wild gibbons.

Local waterfalls

Boeng Yeak Lom 

This is a beautiful emerald-hued crater lake set amid the vivid greens of the towering jungle.  It was most peaceful and beautiful place I visited on my whole trip.  The water is the perfect temperature for swimming and so clear.  I spent half a day here lazing and swimming and becoming friends with 3 lovely German backpackers.

Image taken from the internet.  Such a beautiful place.

The beautiful sunset from a local hill

Gibbons

After crossing the river on a rickety ferry and a wonderfully hair-raising motorbike trip into the jungle through swamps and rivers, and over narrow bridges, I arrived at the jungle camp.  Here I met up with 2 friendly female zoologists from Australia who are studying the gibbons.  

I chilled out at the camp, drenched in mosquito repellant and the next day, after waking at 4.30 am, we hiked deep into the jungle to where the gibbons live.  It was hard to get good photos as they stayed high up in the canopy but they did their wondrous territory calls which sent goosebumps down my spine.  

It was fascinating to watch the zoologists work.  Every second of their sightings are recorded in a notebook including exactly what the gibbons are doing and eating down to the very last detail.  This is then fed into a computer later.  I loved the morning but don't think I could do this everyday for 6 months.  I've always kind of regretted giving up my Zoology degree after a year so this was actually a wonderful realisation ! 

It was an absolutely unforgettable experience and I'm so glad I did it.

How is this for a car ferry !!  

Trekking deep into the jungle.

Male Yellow Cheeked Gibbon (source: Internet)

Female Yellow Cheeked Gibbon (Source: Internet)

My photos of the male.

My photos of the female

Listen below to their amazing calls which I recorded with my phone.  Amazing !!!

Koh Ta Kiev

Staying on this remote island off the coast of The Ream National Park was an amazing way to end my trip.  5 days of blissful lazing around and exploring the island and eating the most amazing food made by a professional chef.  The island was 8 km long and very wild and unspoilt with virgin jungle.  By far the quietest and least touristy of the islands.