Southeast Asia Travel News

Banteay Kdei Temple in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Angkor complex is not generally considered one of the ‘major’ Angkor temples and is thus skipped by many visitors and tour groups, though one of its major attractions and, why we think it’s well worth including in any temple itinerary, is precisely because much of the time you’ll have the temple almost…

A selection of photos from our Cambodia Overland tour or at least the Cambodia section of various tours since Dan and Sara, having signed up for the Indochina Adventure, had already travelled through Northern Thailand and Laos for a couple of weeks and Yvette was doing Cambodia as part of a Saigon to Phnom Penh Overland tour. First pic then…

Turn up in just about any Cambodian village and ask the locals if they have a ‘prasart boran‘ in those parts and they’ll almost certainly direct you down some track, across a field or round the back of the village wat to their very own Angkor period ruined temple. Now don’t get your hopes up since many of these will…

Already did a photographs of Kompong Chhnang post on the fascinating market of this provincial Cambodian town but thought we’d add a few rainy season photographs for good measure since the views do change radically with the change in water levels. With the market being located right on the Tonle Sap riverbank, high water means the boats can unload their…

We’ll round up our Cambodia boat journey series on this highly picturesque river with a selection of typical Sangkar River landscapes. We do feel that photos, or at least our photos, don’t really do the scenery justice though. It’s not like trying to capture a beach, mountain or say a sunset – these are such broad vistas and 360-degree landscapes…

Following on from our bird-life post here’s a selection of some of the everyday, local life on the Sangkar River we’ve photographed on recent trips along this spectacular, picturesque and unusual river in western Cambodia: The lower stretch of the river, closer to the great Tonle Sap lake sees the largest fluctuation in water levels between rainy and dry season…

A few photos of some of the spectacular bird-life on the Sangkar River we’ve come across on recent boat trips down from Siem Reap to Battambang. (Would have a lot more for you but since it’s tricky getting sharp shots of fast-moving birds from a heavily vibrating boat we had to delete most of them!?) The Sangkar River begins in…

Giant gnarled trees rise from huge piles of sandstone blocks; spreading roots and sprawling vines cloak massive walls, dense foliage obscures crumbling towers and moss and lichen conceal intricate carvings. Cambodia’s Beng Melea; chaotic, decaying ancient ruins and rampant tropical vegetation is a perfect synthesis of man’s handiwork and untamed nature yet, ultimate[y, a complete antithesis of what it was…

A bit rushed today so minimal text, (you’ll be glad to hear), and a few photos we came across in a far corner of our hard drive – kind of a computer equivalent of down the back of the sofa we guess. These are some of our favourite Apsaras of UNESCO World Heritage Angkor Wat carvings at with an estimated…

Just a few pix from our latest visit to the Prek Toal Saray Water Hyacinth Handicraft Project in Cambodia’s Siem Reap Province. Already mentioned this excellent scheme a few times before, (e.g. see here), so won’t go into any details for now but thought we’d add a few photos on the subject since our recent trip was by far the…

Thanks very much to Blanca who actually mailed us these Cambodian boat journey photos ages ago but which we only recently retrieved from a semi-redundant in-box! Now getting out and pushing trucks, buses and assorted vehicles stuck in the mud is part of adventure tour mythology but on the Cambodia Overland tour in question we thought we’d better go one…

A few unusual images of Buddhist monks during a ceremony at the partially-ruined, but still active, shrine Wat Preah Ang Kok Thlok.  Originally an Angkor-period temple the Wat is located just opposite the southwest corner of Bayon Temple at Angkor and we just stopped in as an afterthought on our way back to the car-park after our Bayon visit. A…

A bit rushed today -no time to write a blog post – so we’ll fall back on a few classic dawn at Angkor Wat pictures, which you can never have too many of (can you)? Must have watched the dawn rise over the famous silhouette at least 30 times but it never gets boring! Different time of year, different weather,…

We’re talking about the Tonle Sap riverbank market in the central Kompong Chnang waterfront area – a small provincial town and capital of the province of the same name some 2 hrs north of Phnom Penh.  Ok don’t think we’ve ever actually bought anything there but it is our favourite market to wander around – and that’s in a country…

Ta Keo Temple at Angkor – often overlooked and never gets too many stars in the guide book ratings yet it is a very impressive monument and one that you can generally visit without fighting your way through noisy crowds of Koreans for a pleasant change.  (Or Chinese, French, Russians whatever – don’t mean to be rude about Koreans in…

As with Ak Yum, Kutisvara temple is another of those minor Angkor temples whose historical importance is equalled by its lack of tourist cachet! The 3 unspectacular and ruined brick towers are never going to get 5* in any temple guide but it is considered by many historians to be the oldest temple in the entire central Angkor area, so…

Just about to fly from Bangkok back to Chiang Mai after finishing a recent Cambodia Overland tour (but more of that in a later post) so, since we don’t have time to write much, here are a few photographs of the bustling alleys of Phnom Penh’s Psa Tuol Tompoung – better known of course as the Russian Market. It was…

The Angkor Royal Enclosure is a walled-off area slightly to the north and west of the centre of Angkor Tom and which housed the palace complex of the Angkor kings. The palace itself was constructed of wood so nothing remains except for said surrounding walls which were constructed out of laterite, the sandstone-clad entrance gopuras and some stone-lined bathing pools. …

The Road to Battambang. Well, strictly speaking by boat across the Tonle Sap and up the Sangkar River followed by a drive across country to Battambang. We usually do the whole journey from Siem Reap to Battambang by boat but water levels being low at this time of year meant that whilst we left Siem Reap by boat we actually…

Another excellent and interesting Cambodian overland trip yesterday – the road to Siem Reap in western Cambodia from the cpaital Phnom Penh. First stop was Skuon for the always popular deep-fried ‘tarantulas’. Popular photo subject that is – not always such a popular snack and this time the fried crickets won out over the spiders hands down. Problem with the…