Monday, 30 March 2009
Konnark: The Sun Temple (ordaned with each 84 Kama Sutra positions)
Kolkata
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Wat Pho, Bangkok
Wat Pho houses the largest recling Buddha in Thailand. It's hard to tell how incredibly big is it from these pictures, it was quite overwhelming.
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Pai, Elephants and the Hot Springs
Pai is a small town in the very North West of Thailand. We managed to find a bungalow across the river in a beautiful, peaceful spot.
Chiang Mai
Wat Ta Kua.
Saturday, 7 March 2009
Angkor
S-21 Genocide Museum
In one of the buildings a photo gallery of all the people that passed through S-21 on the way to their deaths has been set up. Until the later stages of the tyranny new arrivals did not know what would happen to them here and the look of confusion and apprehension on their faces is plainly evident. I would recommend the book 'First they killed my father', it gives an insight into the horrors of the Khmer Rouge campaign.
Sunday, 1 March 2009
Giving blood in Phnom Penn
Into Cambodia: Ban Lung and the crater lake

Ban Lung is in the Northeast of Cambodia in Ratanakiri province. The town itself is small and a cloud of red dust fills the air. It's famous for the Yeak Laom which is lake formed in a volcanic crater.
Southern Laos: Tadlo waterfalls
Tadlo is a small town in an area of Southern Laos called the Boleaven Plateau where Laos' famous coffee is grown. A river runs through the town and due to the drops in altitude there are 3 waterfalls.
We spent a couple of days here walking, relaxing and playing around the falls with the local kids. A group of young girls were jumping into these naturally formed holes in the rock and trying to persuade me to do the same, when i demonstrated that i could barely squeeze in it brought fits of laughter as they ran off to show their mum what the crazy 'falang' (foreigner) was doing!
Damn Virus
It looks like a virus has managed to infect my memory card so I'm currently unable to upload any photo's from Vientiane all the way down to the southern tip of Laos (apart from a couple I've stolen from Tom!)
Friday, 13 February 2009
Canoeing in the mountains of Northern Laos...Solitude
This was my favourite day of the trip so far. We rented a traditional Laos canoe and headed up the Nam Ou river and into the mountains. Heading upstream proved really strenuous on some stretches where the current was stronger...but we made it a couple of km's upstream and spent the afternoon on a sand bank with a picnic of bananas and biscuits!
There was not a soul in sight and the only sounds were bird calls, the chattering of monkeys and the echos of our own voices. The journey back down stream took a third of the time and towards the end we rode the rapids, as i was sitting at the front at this point i got drenched!
Luang Prabang and North into the mountains
Whilst back in Luang Prabang we chartered a tuk-tuk 35km south to Kuang Si Falls where we spent the day swinging into pools, swimming and generally relaxing.
This is one of millions of UXO (unexploded ordanance) that litter the Laos countryside. During the Vietnam war US Air Force dropped millions of tonnes of exposives in the northeast of the country, 30% of which didn't go off. These cause thousands of accidents each year causing loss of limbs, sight and life. We found this at the edge of a village in Muang Ngoi.
Water buffalo our everywhere in Laos, usually crashed out in the shade of a tree or sumberged to escape the punishing heat. As a side note; water buffalo noodle soup is delicious!...though i'm not entirely sure which one in this picture (Muang Ngoi) i ate!
These delapidated Buddha statues we're in an outbuilding at Wat Xieng Thong in Luang Prabang.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Falling in love with Laos
This photo was taken in Luang Prabang, the second largest city and original capital of Laos. It's an incredibly peaceful town littered with temples and teeming with monks. I spent a day down by the river watching a group of young monks taking a break from chores and swimming in the Mekong.
This was taken in Vang Vieng, a town between Luang Prabang and Vientiane. It's a dichotomy, whilst one side of the river swarms with drunk young travellers falling asleep in the 'Friends bar', the other is dotted with limestone peaks, caves and lagoons. We hired one speed ladies bicycles (with basket!) for the day and did a 35km circuit, stopping at villages along the way.
Also in Vang Vieng, we had to cross this bridge to go between the town and the veritable sanctuary of our bungalow. Only once did we make the crossing whilst 'under the influence'...and never again!
This was taken deep inside a cave somewhere inside the mountains that surround Vang Vieng. The main reason I have added it though is so you can keep check on 'Project Beard'..so far I deem the mission an ongoing success!
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