A rest day ?

Well, we've been waking up at 4am every morning to get our templing done before the heat kills us. So a late lie-in was enjoyed and followed by some research on how we we tackle the next week or two.

We had hoped to go to Tmatboey, one of the great birding sites in Cambodia where one can possibly see Giant Ibis as well as White-shouldered Ibis. Alas, the conservation area in which Tmatboey is located is controlled by the Sam Veasna Centre, an NGO that has a tight grip on the best birding locations in Cambodia and access is not cheap. They wanted to charge us $590 per person for a two night stay in a wooden dormitary hut. They have their reasons and I don't want to suggest they don't do a great deal for avian conservation but surely birding can be made more inclusive than this ?

Anyhow, we decided that, as we had on our previous visit to Cambodia, birding is not easy or cheap here and it might be best to spend our efforts and money on birding once we get back into Thailand.

The result is that we now intend to spend the next two weeks slowly making our way through northern Cambodia and then returning to Thailand where we hope to get some birding done at the Khao Yai National Park before heading down to Bangkok. This means we will end up sepnding ten days in total in Siem Reap (one day more than we did last time) before heading north-east to Beng Mealea, Koh Ker, Preah Vihear before entering Thailand again.