Can You Face More Temple Photos?

I hope so, as I still have a few more to share....

Built around 1190 AD by King Jayavarman VII, Bayon is a Buddhist temple, but it incorporates elements of Hindu cosmology... and is famous for its massive, serene stone faces.

Do you see what I did here? Faces? Can you face more photos? Never mind...

Bayon Temple

The temple is also known for two impressive sets of bas-reliefs, which present an unusual combination of mythological, historical, and mundane scenes.

A scene depicting a naval battle

Fishing scene

A Ray of Light - smoke from the incense burners, reflecting the sunlight

It should not be forgotten that the temples are still places of worship for devout Cambodians.

Hope they don't mind all these annoying tourists!

To conclude my series of Cambodian temple scenes, here are a few more photographs of Angkor Wat temple, that I showed in an earlier post on here.

Devatas in Angkor Wat

Vishnu

Ta Prohm - The Jungle Temple

Mysterious. Magical. Romantic. Otherworldly.

These are all words that sprung to my mind when exploring the jungle temple of Ta Prohm, by far my favourite of the temples around Siem Reap. Unlike most of the temples of Angkor, Ta Prohm has been largely left to the clutches of the living jungle, making it a dynamic interaction between Nature and man-made works of art, and a photographer's dream location.....

 

Construction on Ta Prohm began in 1186 AD. Originally known as Rajavihara (Monastery of the King), it was a Buddhist temple dedicated to the mother of King Jayavarman VII. Sadly, Ta Prohm was looted quite heavily in recent years due to its relative isolation, and many of its ancient stone reliquaries have been lost.

Visitors to Ta Prohm can't help but feel a little like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft (which was filmed here) as they pick through the rubble of the ruins....

Flying to Cambodia...

We tacked a two-day excursion to the Angkor Wat temples at Siem Reap onto the end of our tour of Vietnam in April, flying there directly from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). It’s a very popular route with travellers, so anyone planning on making this trip should book their flights well in advance, and get to the airport in good time as the flights are almost always overbooked.


The guide books warn you to avoid Angkor Wat during the months of March to May, unless you enjoy spending huge amounts of time in steam rooms. They use descriptions like ‘stifling heat’ and ‘sapping humidity’. They are not exaggerating! I grew up in a hot, tropical country and I have visited a few more in my time, but I can safely say that during those months, Cambodia has the hottest, stickiest, most uncomfortable climate that I have ever experienced. On the plus side, at least it was not raining.

Given the unpleasant conditions, we should have more or less had the place to ourselves.... but we hadn't realised that our trip coincided with the Khmer and Thai New Year festivities.  Or that Thailand's fugitive former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, would be holding a mass rally for his "Red Shirt" supporters in Siem Reap that weekend.

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra - Photo source

An estimated 50,000 Red Shirts made the pilgrimage from Thailand to Siem Reap to catch a glimpse of the one-time premier, who has been living in a kind of self-imposed exile for years. As a gesture of friendship, the Red Shirts were all given free admission to Angkor Wat by the Cambodian authorities.... all 50,000 of them!

To be honest, I am not particularly clued up when it comes to the politics of the situation... all I know is, Siem Reap was heaving!

And that security was very tight.....

And that loads of people wearing red shirts can really spoil photographs of ancient temples! It was already a huge challenge just trying to capture the temples, without passing out from heat exhaustion and dehydration.

Angkor Wat is one of those places that I had included on my bucket list of Places I Hope To See Before I Die. Looking back on the experience now, I think perhaps I did not truely appreciate the magnificent temples. The intense heat, the crowds, my tiredness after a fortnight of touring Vietnam and the slightly 'edgy vibe' in Siem Reap just got to me that weekend.

Angkor Wat

The inspiration for the title to this blog post is Kim Wilde's "Flying to Cambodia"... I absolutely loved this song as a teenager (and still have it on my ipod today). Cambodia seemed such a mysterious, secretive place, almost fictional. I was blissfully ignorant of the country's tragic, and still so recent, past...

You can read more about Cambodia's history over here.

I will post more photos on the temples shortly. This post is just to set the scene for my time in Cambodia...

BIG News!

We interrupt Nat's Travel Monologues with some breaking news...

Back in January I mentioned that I was embarking on a new healthy lifestyle regime, determined to shift some weight by making some permanent changes.... such a New Year cliche, right? Right!

I promised not to bore you all with nonstop, tedious calorie-counting tales.... so I haven't! I dabbled with a separate weight loss blog, optimistically named Not So Fat Nat.... not my finest work. I barely manage to keep up with this little collection of random tales and travel pics, let alone maintain a healthy eating journal too. However, while that blog never really got off the ground, my weight loss plan did... and I am happy to report that by last night I had reached my new target weight at my slimming club.

I've shifted almost 3 stone (that's 42 pounds/20 kg), dropped from a UK size 16 (US size 12) to a UK 12 (US 8), and got my BMI down to a healthy 24.1 (it was pushing over into obese at 30).

How have I done it? Pretty much the boring old-fashioned way... I eat less calories and move more. But I have not been depriving myself - I eat a huge amount....of fruit and vegetables, supplemented with reasonable portions of lean meat and fish, eggs, pasta, rice and potatoes, and keep tabs on the little treats. Nothing is off the menu, it just has to be kept in control. I have to exercise restraint to get a healthy balance.... splurge tonight on a meal out, eat modestly the next few days.

Warning! Some serious stuff coming up.....and just possibly way, way TMI.....

My decision to adopt a healthier lifestyle is not one that is driven purely by vanity - although it is really nice having everyone telling you how good you are looking and being able to shop for nice clothes! Around this time last year, I was screened for bowel cancer. This dreadful disease took my dad away from us last year, his mom and her mom too before that, and a whole lot of others on that side of the family. With such a strong family connection, I was considered at high risk for one day developing the disease myself...so I had to undergo a colonoscopy - at the age of 37, that is quite unusual. As anyone who has ever been for one will tell you, the procedure itself is relatively pain free.... and they give you Happy Drugs! I was very chatty, apparently...

The worst part is in fact the preparation the day before... you drink a whole load of horrible salty stuff, and then you spend the next few hours... ahem... chained to the toilet. By the end of it, I was cr*pping through the eye of a needle! Fortunately I work from home. Unfortunately, I am a medical writer and I have written reports about the very medication that I was putting through its paces... or rather it was putting me through mine! So I knew exactly what was in store....

Not to dwell on that any longer, the outcome of the procedure was that the colonoscopy picked up a growth that was removed and sent for lab analysis... and it is the type that had the potential to develop into bowel cancer if left to just do its thing. So yes, my risk is a lot higher than the average person.

Butt, I'm not going to take that lying down.. well, apart from the next colonscopy that's scheduled for next year. The results of research into the causes of bowel cancer (and others!) suggest that being overweight or obese increases the risk, as does drinking too much alcohol, physical inactivity, and eating processed meats and animal fats. A diet rich in fibre, fruit and vegetables has been associated with a decreased risk. With my dodgy genes, I'm not taking any chances! I plan on keeping the weight off and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

So I won't be doing too much of this....

The Old Fat Nat

And instead keeping up with this....

I'll be eating my greens

And movin' to the beat!

Please read more about bowel cancer over here.

Never fear, faithful readers, normal broadcasting on Just Nat will resume shortly with a glimpse of my time in Cambodia earlier this year.....

Day Tripping...

The Elafiti (or Elaphiti) islands are easily explored on a day cruise from Dubrovnik. There are 13 islands in the archipelago, but only three islands are inhabited – Koločep (pronounced Kolo-chep), Lopud and Šipan (pronounced Shee-pan).  

A number of companies tout for customers down by the old Dubrovnik harbour, offering cruises to these three islands, with a fish picnic lunch aboard a larger boat and drinks usually included in the price.

Click on any photo to enlarge and view all as a slideshow

Old town harbour - Dubrovnik

Our boat - a bit smaller than we'd anticipated!

 Koločep

 Koločep

 Sunj beach - Lopud

 Lopud

Lopud

 Lopud

 Lopud

Succulent plant in the botanical park - Lopud

Just a few words of warning….. the Adriatic sea can be quite rough at times, so any boat cruise is best undertaken if you have strong sea legs, or if you have taken precautionary anti-sickness pills as we had! There were a number of rather green people on the boat…. and they were feeling a whole lot worse when we hit rough seas on the way back to Dubrovnik. The Captain decided we would dock in an earlier port, and travel by bus back to the old town. As luck would have it, the bus stopped right outside our hotel... so all in, an adventure that ended well!

Seagulls follow the lunch boat