Temples, temples, temples, temples....

...temples, temples, temples, temples. Templey, wempley, dempley, hempley. Temple-emple-snemple-cemple. Yes, it's happened. I am now officially "templed-out". I have temple-fatigue. Temple-tiredness has set in. I'm up to my tits in temples. I just yearn for a two-door semi. or a portloo or something. I am currently in Siem Riep around which are the temples of Angkor making it the temple capital of the world! The first picture is Beng Mealea temple, the second is Preah Khan, the third is Bayon in the Angkor Thom complex, and the last is the big one, Angkor Wat. Not included is Ta Prohm which was used as a location in the puddle of cat sick known as Tomb Raider : The Movie. The Lonely Planet map of Ta Prohm even points out the Tomb Raider Tree (as it calls it) which Lara Croft climbed up to get a magic orchid or something.

My personal favourite was Preah Khan...it had the gone-to-ruin atmospherics of Beng Mealea without the genital punishing bike ride to get there plus the nature running wild spookiness of Ta Prohm but with half the number or tour groups traipsing through, presumably because Angelina Jolie never ran through it in her pants.

Unfortunately I've had a dodgy stomach the last couple of days so had to intersperse appreciation for the architecture of the ancient Khmer empire with frequent trips to the bathroom to unleash the warm jets.

Siem Riep is a nice little town. Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia all have a French influence in the buildings and food but Laos was bombed to hell by the Americans during the Vietnam War (in fact it's per capita the most heavily bombed country in history) and Vietnam itself came in for a pounding so many towns and cities were damaged or completely destroyed. Cambodia didnt cop too much from the Yanks and as the Khmer Rouge were more about up-close and personal genocide rather than artillery based wackiness the lovely old French building are mostly still intact. Every horrendous act of mass-slaughter has a silver lining.

Changing the subject, some people have asked me who is taking all the pictures with me in. Well I shall tell you...random strangers that's who. Either I am more fantastically antisocial than even I thought (which is a possibility) or that whole oh-you'll-meet-so-many-people thing is a complete load of cobblers. Dont get me wrong, I've met people, chatted to folks on the same boat trips, firing range outings etc. but nothing more than that. There are certainly no roving bands of friendly attractive single-travellers littering the Southeast Asian landscape. Good thing I like my own company. The Khoa San road in Bangkok was the most sociable place, mainly because so many Westeners were crammed into such a small place and also everyone was very drunk. Hey ho.

Just got my boat ticket to Battambang tomorrow after which it will be back to Phnom Penh and then to the coast. I'm thinking of going to Malaysia after Thailand and then possibly Singapore for a few days before flying back to Bangkok and then home. Depends on money of course but I think Singapore would be a nice swanky place to end the trip.