Angkor Wat

“The good, the bad, and the ugly is a simple way to sum up Cambodian history,” my guide book states, “... but no matter how ugly things got, the Cambodians built Angkor Wat and it doesn't come better than that.”

The Killing Fields (1984) is of course the quintessential movie about the Khmer Rouge period but it was the demi-god Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft:Tomb Raider (2001) who put the area back on the map for millions of tourists and hence created employment for many tens of thousands of people.

I hadn't realized that there was more than one temple. There are dozens.They were built by a series of very successful kings about 1000 years ago. “Ancient Angkor used up far greater amounts of stone than all the Egyptian pyramids combined, and occupied an area significantly greater than modern-day Paris” according to Wikipedia. They were deserted at one point and completely overgrown with huge trees. When re-discovered by the Europeans several hundred years later some of the temples had all the overgrowth removed and were at least partially re-constructed while others remain still effectively untouched.

You can spend days traipsing happily round them. I know, I did.

Some of the temples are HUGE. Buildings within buildings within grounds and walls and an outer moat. The sheer volume of landscaping, let alone quarrying, is absolutely mind boggling.

There are intricately carved walls some 3 or 4 meters high and hundreds of meters long...

... they tell stories of the kings' lives, tales from mythology, or just depict everyday life. 

The trees which grew on the temples unchecked for hundreds of years are beyond picturesque... (Could someone please explain to me why I'm travelling without a proper camera!)

(Yup. I'm here for scale.)

... but the trees also created huge amounts of damage. 

Resident type #1.

Resident type #2. Families already living in what is now UNESCO park are grandfathered in, with restrictions. Kids do school either 7-noon OR noon-5 and usually spend the other half of the day working. 

Resident Type #3: Several monasteries have permission operate within the park boundaries. 

And, of course, gazillions of tourists visit!

Angkor Wat wasn't really on my bucket list or even my radar. I just ended up there by mistake. But I recommend it. Highly.

Phuket with Ben

AKA Embracing our Inner Tourists

I'd always assumed that one day I'd sail to Phuket and see the amazing karst landscape from the deck of a boat but now that I've given up crewing it seems less likely that that will happen. So, since I was so close, I figured I'd just go. I asked Ben if he'd like to join me or if I should make the trek after he’d left. He said he'd be happy to come with. He's very amiable that way.

Flights, an hour and a half each way, less than $40 CAD round trip, took about 15 minutes to book, and a hostel at Kata Beach about as long. And we were off.

We were only there a few days, and it's not really our kind of place as it's VERY touristy, but we decided go with the flow and embrace our inner tourists.

We had an excellent time. Here is a short list of a few of our wins:

• We arrived well after dark but nonetheles went out and had a great adventure exploring the beach the first evening.
• We played a dinosaur themed mini putt in a park so fantastic I wrote up a tripadvisor report, something I very rarely do.
• We hiked to Karon beach for an ocean swim. The beach was, in it's own way, as good as Burkes. I cannot offer higher praise. We had so much fun swimming we managed to end up with serious sun burns!
• We walked into a super classy hotel for a cooling swim in their pool. And french fries and beer at the swim up bar. (OK so we were still being ourselves.)
• We visited even more of the tourist district… walked till we were exhausted.
• One evening we found a lovely little bar full of character where Ben drank beer, I, margaritas, and we played pool for hours.
• I wanted to see the famous, and very touristy, James Bond Island so we booked a full day tour. Because it's low season we were given 60% off the ticket price without even asking and then the tour was fabulous including, among other things, awesome kayaking through dark bat infested caves in one island and majestic cenote-like openings in the cliffs of another.
• We watched The Man with the Golden Gun and were horrified at the 70’s morals throughout it but loved seeing all the places we'd been.
• Phuket Island was bigger than we'd anticipated, and hillier, and more congested, and given the immense amount of time we'd put into planning our venture (joke) we found ourselves crisscrossing it more than once but we could only offer praise to the minivan transportation system and all the drivers we had.
• Ben found exactly the item he'd been commissioned to buy by a friend. (He also bought himself a bouncy ball and a pokeball and a dino egg toy!)
• And, of course, we continuously ate excellent food: thai breakfast soup and deep fried squid and sweet luscious pineapple and endless other delights…

It was a great couple of days!

Wait, what, is this the Barron Canyon?

Dinosaurs...

... and dragons ...

... and bowls of breakfast soup!

Yipee!