Day 8 Siem Reap. An 8.30 start but still a full days adventures ahead. Our guide, Mr Sithom (Tom for short), and driver Mr Tier (he doesn't appear to have a short name so we call him Driver or Drive for short), pick us up for our visits to the Kulem mountain to see the 'Lingas' at Kbal Spean, before descending to visit a pink temple at Banteay Srei with a quick visit to the Landmine museum on the way back to Siem Reap. The lingas are an amazing piece of dedicat...

Day 7 Siem Reap. The day has started with steady rain and quite cool for these parts (24 degrees) although the oven is turned up at our next destination at 37 degrees (but still raining!). We have really enjoyed Laos and its people, who are softly spoken and quite 'laid back'. I shan't miss the cockrels who all need a new clock as they start sounding off at around 2.30am. In particular one cockrel has a serious case of laryngitis that he needs to take to the 'he...

Day 6 Luang Prabang. Our final day before we fly out tomorrow to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Temperatures are still on the low side, a bearable 30 degrees, so the rain of yesterday seems to have cleared the air. We were picked up after breakfast for a 2 hour boat ride up the Mekong to visit the Pak Out caves, a small cave where local Buddhists have hidden statues of Buddha every time their country was invaded by hostile countries/religions. Over the centuries some ...

Day 5 Luang Prabang. The day dawned cloudy after heavy rain overnight. It looks like 'being officially hot' has been cancelled for today. Today is a 'at leisure day' (Julie has reminded me that I need to read the dictionary definition of leisure). I have planned a quick hop over the overside of the Mekong to see true village life. After negotiating for the boat across the river with a local fisherman (the trip across the river that is and not purchasing the wh...

Day 4 Luang Prabang. Day 4 dawned hazy and hot (isn't it always here). Apparently the haziness is typical for this time of year as local farmers 'slash and burn' their fields after harvest. The day started early at 5.30am when we watched a procession of 200 brightly orange robed monks collecting alms for themselves although in reality most is distributed onward to the poor. Then we had a quick tour of our first (of many) temple, followed by a tour of a local m...