Coming up...

My liver is getting prepared for a bashing as my brother Tim will be flying over from dear old Blighty in the middle of next week for one of his regular visits and brotherly-bonding sessions. We normally get out and about and this trip will be no different. His visit at the end of March saw us take in Kratie, Preah Vihear and Banteay Chhmar amongst other highlights, as well as that 11-hour arse-numbing moto ride from Stung Treng to Tbeng Meanchey. I'm not sure my rear end has fully recovered from that experience. This trip will be a two center affair, split by my birthday celebrations back here in Phnom Penh. 1st up will be a trip to Koh Kong, my first, to suss out a few things to do with my day job at Hanuman. Not sure that October is the best time to be visiting Koh Kong but we shall see. Then its back to the city to celebrate my 5oth, yes you did read that right, my 50th birthday. Yes yes, I know I don't look older than say 35 but its my half century on 15 October and I'd better get used to it. After a day or two to recover, we are heading for Thailand, but rather than do what everyone else does and high-tail it for the beaches, we'll be going in the opposite direction to the Isaan region in the northeast specifically to hunt down the Khmer Angkorean temples at Phimai, Phnom Rung and so on. It's been on my wish-list for a long time and I'm finally getting around to doing it, with a 1-night stop-over in Bangkok on the return journey. To say I'm looking forward to it, is a massive understatement.