Cambodia Photos – Tony James Slater

Cambodia Photos

We spent an amazing month in Cambodia, split almost entirely between three places; Ban Lung, where we relaxed while my eye recovered from its own near-death experience, Siam Reap, home of the incredible Angkor Archaeological Park, and Sihanoukville – which is where the beach is!

Bus-to-where — We were a little concerned that our bus to Siam Reap had ‘Ho Chi Minh City’ in Vietnam written on the side of it…

Spiders-all-fried-up — In Skuon, they eat spiders. Deep fried tarantula, to be exact. So, when in Skuon…

Tony-with-spider — I only wish they’d shaved them first. All that leg hair doesn’t half stick in yer teef

Preak-Vihear-view — Looking out over the disputed border between Thailand and Cambodia, from the temple of Preah Vihear (this bit didn’t make it into the book).

On-top-of-wall — The walls around the Angkor Thom temple complex are so wide there are trees growing on them. You forget you’re on top of a wall.

Roo-at-the-bayon — Roo found plenty of picturesque places to perch, with the benevolent faces of the Bayon watching over her.

Roo-on-side — In the book I waffled on a bit about the scale of these temples. Here’s a good example – Roo is standing on the PLINTH, on which the Baphuon temple is built. This is just the base, remember… and it’s solid. With a temple on top.

Infamous-shot — Ta Phrom, the temple where Angelina Jolie filmed the first Tomb Raider movie.

Photograph-of-the-reuilding-process — This is a fantastic example of the reconstruction work that they do on places like Ta Phrom. EPIC improvement!!

Roo-inside-giant-tree — The jungle has completely reclaimed the temple at Ta Phrom, and it’s a visually stunning place – bordering on creepy.

Trees-over-doorways — Such an extreme setting made it almost impossible to take a bad shot.

landmine-sign — The only thing keeping me from exploring further into the jungle – sadly, the history of Cambodia is one of decades of civil war.

Tony-on-causeway — The causeway leading across the massive moat to Angkor Wat. I was so excited, I swear a little pee came out.

Tony-fondling-lion — One of the first things you notice on entrance to Angkor Wat is the door-guardian beasts – specifically, how muscular their buttocks are. No, really!

Roo-jumping-in-front-of-angkor-wat — There are mirror-lakes which form in front of Angkor Wat in the rainy season. Mirror-puddles may be a more appropriate description! But they are a favourite amongst photographers.

Long-wall-carvings — The lowest level of the temple is covered with bas-relief carvings – hundreds of metres of them. Still in perfect condition, they have been worn shiny – and black – by the rubbing of thousands of hands.

Lunch-time-view — Up a level, and you enter a grassy courtyard, with the inner section of the temple towering above you. This is where we stopped for a break, sneaking out onto a ledge. If you look really closely at Roo, you might be able to tell that she’s eating her sandwiches…

Lunch-time — See! With no crowds and no-one around, the perfect picnic stop is halfway up the walls of a thousand-year-old temple!

side-temple — Placed anywhere else, this temple would be amazing. It’s massive, solid, in excellent condition… but in Angkor Wat, it is one of a matching pair, known as libraries, that sit in the outer courtyard between tiers of the main temple. They were so ‘ordinary’ by comparison that I think Roo and I were the only people who even bothered to go into them!

After we came out of the central part of Angkor Wat, it was closed for a rather camp-looking religious ceremony.

Tony-on-rubble — Beng Mealea was my favourite of the Angkor-era temples by far. It was a complete ruin – which meant we could CLIMB ALL OVER IT! Well, no-one tried to stop us, at any rate.

Roo-taking-pic-in-rubble — The ruined nature of the place, combined with the encroaching jungle, gave it such a delicious ‘undiscovered’ atmosphere.

Ruined-walkway — If this was in England… well, there is absolutely zero chance anyone would be allowed anywhere near the place! Much less left to roam and climb it at will.

Tony-climbing-on-tree — Trees and vines grew through the middle of the ruins, much like in Ta Phrom. Only here… yes okay, I climbed EVERYTHING! I’ll stop talking about it now, I promise.

Tony-hanging-on-vine — Oh, except to say… well, I climbed this bit, too

Kids — The kids who lived near Beng Mealea, and played around the ruins, were cute as hell – and hilarious, as they followed us like a flock of birds, only with hands out instead of mouths. “Cheap, cheap, cheap!”

Cambodia Sleeper Bus — The smallest, most cramped sleeper bus of all! To be honest, I was kind of glad it was our last.

Sihanoukville-Hotel-pool-in-rain — Our last week in Cambodia was spent in a hotel near the beach. We hardly went to the beach though, because a) we had a pool, and b) this is what the weather was like…

Sihanoukville-wild-beach-weather — We did make a few brave attempts to hit the beach though – mostly because Roo was determined to go home with a tan! Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t very successful…

Sihanoukville-Roo-in-cute-car — This has to be my favourite mode of transport from the whole trip! A homemade chop job, we never saw them anywhere else. But HOW cute!?

Beach-sunset — On our last evening at the beach, we were finally rewarded with a bit of good weather. Too late to work on our tan, but perfect for Roo to practice her sunset photography.

Tonys-haircut — Almost the last thing I did in Cambodia was get my hair cut. Roo had made a bit of a mess of it, and I didn’t want to pay Perth prices to fix it. This guy was certainly cheap – and I got a lot more than I bargained for! The perfect end to our adventure.