Ruined!

Mandy and I are both feeling a bit out of sorts this evening after a day checking out the ruins. A real shame as we had lots of plans for this evening to see in the New Year - not! I really hope I'm not coming down with something as we had plans to see the famous Angkor Thom tomorrow morning. Mandy is off home on Friday, so we want to fit in as much as we can before she leaves.

Cambodia hasn't been quite what I expected - particularly Siem Reap and the ruins of Angkor. It's most definitely on the tourist trail now and unfortunately we came at probably the busiest time of year as the ruins are swarming with bus-loads of tourists from various corners of Asia. The ruins are still stunning, but it's much harder to appreciate them when there are tourists everywhere trying to get that perfect shot. I really wish I'd come 10 years ago - but then again it would have been much more difficult logistically. As it is, within 40 minutes last Thursday, Mandy and I had made the short hop from Bangkok to Siem Reap and were waiting in line for our Cambodian visas.

Siem Reap is a real boom town with hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and cafes everywhere to cater for the toruist boom. I definitely wasn't expecting to be sitting at a cafe drinking a latte! Saying that Mandy and I have our regular street stall where we have dinner and a fruit shake some nights and I also came across a place that does delicious Khmer desserts as well as a Khmer delicacy - duck embryos!!!

I bought a 7-day pass, so for the first few days I cycled round some of the ruins while Mandy has massages and went on a boat trip to a 'floating' village. Mandy picked up her 3-day pass yesterday and in a cute Cambodian style three-wheeler - a two-wheeled cart attached to a motorbike - we went out to some famous ruins some 40km from Siem Reap. Unfortunately the first place - Banteay Srei - was a circus with tourists swarming all over the site, but the second place - a set of images carved into rocks in a small river - was quite evocative. On the way back we stopped off at Ta Phrom - the place with the trees growing out of the ruins that apparently featured in Tomb Raider! Mandy did a great Angelina Jolie impersonation!!!

This afternoon we finally made it to Angkor Wat. It was difficult to really appreciate the magnificance of the place as it was completely over-run, but it's definitely impressive - particularly the bas-reliefs that run the whole way around one of the lower galleries. Would like to re-visit when it's a little quieter, but at this time of year I don't think I'm going to have much luck!

Can't quite believe that today is the last day of 2008. It's been quite a year. The first half of the year was really tough - what with the DELTA and breaking up with Dhanushka, but the second half of the year saw some big changes and although I still really miss Dhanushka at times, I'm feeling much more positive now. A big thank you to all my friends who supported me throughout the DELTA and the trauma of breaking up.

Happy New Year - here's hoping 2009 is a good one. As it's also my Dad's birthday - Happy Birthday Dad!