Laos

Coming up, based on over 20 years of leading tours to Cambodia’s UNESCO World Heritage site; are the following few Angkor tips and suggestions on how to optimise your temple visit. Firstly, though, one very important tip! Try and time your visit for the low season. The awesome, often jungle-clad, temples in Western Cambodia are obviously today a huge draw…

So…wretched mosquitoes and how to avoid them! First, the good news: they will be nowhere near as prevalent on your Southeast Asia tour as many first-time visitors might imagine them to be. Especially in urban areas, particularly during the daytime and certainly outside of the rainy season. In fact, we’ve been to many European or North American destinations with far…

Khmer Red Curry Recipe Khmer red curry paste (kroeung) can be made in advance and any leftover can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days or it freezes well Curry paste ingredients 2 sticks of lemongrass, outer leaves discarded and roughly chopped 4 cloves garlic, peeled 2 shallots, peeled and chopped 2 kaffir lime leaves Zest of…

Fish Amok Recipe A lovely, mild fish and coconut curry, fragrant, zesty and full of flavour. Below is a simple version which can be cooked using ingredients many of us will already have in the kitchen, without the need for specialist shops. Made it, ate it and did the washing up in less than an hour and there’s spare curry paste…

Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, has three principal downtown city centre markets that most casual visitors are likely to come across: Phsa Thmei, Phsa Chas and Phsa Kandal, which translate as New Market, Old Market and Central Market, respectively. Alternative spellings such as Psa, psar or phsar are also sometimes seen, as there is no official English transliteration of the Khmer…

A new addition to our Cambodia itinerary, this half-day tour to discover some of the local cottage industries in one of the villages outside of Battambang has proved very popular.  Also very practical since it can just as easily be done by bicycle or by tuk-tuk for the less energetic and the 3 or 4 hour round tour then leaves…

First off, when we say photo sharing, we mean with the subjects of your images, not just Grannie, mum, your mate in the pub or whoever else you share it with on social media. Most people, whether in Southeast Asia or elsewhere, enjoy seeing photos of themselves. When taking people photos, the first thing to do (well, second, after having…

Traditionally the kingdom’s 2nd largest city, the western town of Battambang Cambodia has surely been overtaken by now by booming Siem Reap and although still relatively prosperous from the Province’s fine farming land, (indeed it’s sometimes known as ‘Cambodia’s rice bowl’), it has, so far, been largely bypassed by the country’s tourism boom. Well, until recently that is, and these…

Phanom Rung, Thailand – a forgotten marvel! In 2008, Cambodia’s magnificent mountain-top Angkor period temple, Preah Vihear, received UNESCO World Heritage status and to our minds, justifiably so, even if it did provoke some serious bickering between the neighbours, Thailand and Cambodia, as to exactly which side of the border the surrounding area belonged to. While Thailand’s Khao Pra Viharn…

The famous floating villages and fishing communities around Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake are well known, with the more easily accessible ones such as Chong Kneas and Kampong Phleuk now firmly on tourist itineraries. Far less known are these River nomads of Western Cambodia – people who spend the whole year travelling up and down the rivers leading into the huge…

Lao waterfalls March, being the dry season, might not be the ideal time of year for Lao waterfalls but come May and June when the rains start they’ll be filling out, flowing fast and back to their lushest best so here’s a small selection of waterfall photos taken at sites included on our Mekong Adventure, Lao tour itinerary, beginning with…

Leaning Tower of Kampong Thom An isolated and very rarely visited Angkor period temple site, Prasat Kok Rocha (or Kok Roka) in Cambodia’s Kampong Thom Province is famous – well locally at least – for being the area’s very own leaning tower. According to some locals, the depression in the ground in front of the temple is rumoured to be…