Llandudno sundowners

Probably my favourite beach in the whole world, I always love coming here to watch the sunset.  It was as beautiful as ever.  We also had an invigorating dip in the ocean.

 

Llandudno sundowners with The Herds

Always wonderful to spend time with Brandon Warren.  It was a lovely, still evening.

 

Llandudno with friends

It looked like it would rain but it held off. Nothing beats sunset at Llandudno even on a cloudy evening. A great way to say farewell to Russel, Lisa and The Herds.  

Sydney Botanical Gardens

After visiting the NSW National Art Gallery, I went for a stroll in the Botanical Gardens.  It was a beautiful spring evening and the light was sublime.

Sunset from my balcony

Sunset from my balcony

What a glorious view.

Ratanakiri

Situated in the north east corner of Cambodia, this region is famous for its natural beauty.  I spent 4 nights here.  The highlight was a stunningly gorgeous crater lake and getting to see wild gibbons.

Local waterfalls

Boeng Yeak Lom 

This is a beautiful emerald-hued crater lake set amid the vivid greens of the towering jungle.  It was most peaceful and beautiful place I visited on my whole trip.  The water is the perfect temperature for swimming and so clear.  I spent half a day here lazing and swimming and becoming friends with 3 lovely German backpackers.

Image taken from the internet.  Such a beautiful place.

Hans was a master with this device which I had never seen before.  He's planning to teach the local kids how to use it when he does volunteer teaching.  A wonderful, friendly guy.

Getting to know the locals

I spent 2 fantastic days with Sok (Mr Free), my local guide.  He drove me around on his motorbike and his English was good so we got to know each other very well.  Such a beautiful guy and devoted Buddhist, so very interesting to hear about aspects of the religion.  This was probably my closest connection on the whole trip.

Sok (aka Mr Free )

Sok introduced me to some of this friends.  They were very friendly, but didn't speak much English except for the expression "I'm single and available!"  If I ever need a wife, this is the place to come !!

Sok paying respects at the local temple, up on a hill.

The beautiful sunset from the hill

Tree Top Ecolodge 

This was yet another wonderful hostel with a great deck overlooking a lush valley.  Great food and atmosphere.

Gibbons

After crossing the river on a rickety ferry and a wonderfully hair-raising motorbike trip into the jungle through swamps and rivers, and over narrow bridges, I arrived at the jungle camp.  Here I met up with 2 friendly female zoologists from Australia who are studying the gibbons.  

I chilled out at the camp, drenched in mosquito repellant and the next day, after waking at 4.30 am, we hiked deep into the jungle to where the gibbons live.  It was hard to get good photos as they stayed high up in the canopy but they did their wondrous territory calls which sent goosebumps down my spine.  

It was fascinating to watch the zoologists work.  Every second of their sightings are recorded in a notebook including exactly what the gibbons are doing and eating down to the very last detail.  This is then fed into a computer later.  I loved the morning but don't think I could do this everyday for 6 months.  I've always kind of regretted giving up my Zoology degree after a year so this was actually a wonderful realisation ! 

It was an absolutely unforgettable experience and I'm so glad I did it.

How is this for a car ferry !!  

Trekking deep into the jungle.

Male Yellow Cheeked Gibbon (source: Internet)

Female Yellow Cheeked Gibbon (Source: Internet)

My photos of the male.

My photos of the female

Listen below to their amazing calls which I recorded with my phone.  Amazing !!!