Sometime in May this year, a friend and I got on a plane to Siem Reap for a five day vacation. I left my kids behind in my husband's able hands. I've never been anywhere much, and I felt I really needed this breather, with just someone unencumbered by the demands of living a partly-slaving life with children, a spouse, and a day job. Whinnie is the best one there is. It was a good decision all in all. The place reminded me a lot of my Vietnam trip some ten years ago, ancient in its edifice and teeming with history. To me it doesn't matter if it's good or bad, or both. Every place is bound to have a past, and soon enough, a future. 

Siem Reap, a province in Cambodia, and gateway to the famed Angkor Wat temples, was as remote and exotic as I would want a place to be, with people just as gentle and almost untouched by the contraptions of a modern world. Here are some images I took of the place, but this is a work in progress,  and I need to find time to organize the hundreds of photos I've taken. I will keep adding images in the next few days. Needless to say, Cambodia is now etched in my mind, for life.

my travel and best bud, whilma

all smiles at the Angkor Wat entrance

អរគុណច្រើន. Thank you, Cambodia.

Sunshine Saturday

The rains had finally let up. Many an afternoon, I looked outside of my office window, longing for a dry pavement that I could jog on---but no such luck. I only had one opportune day last week to go down and run. Even then I could feel that I have missed out on my regimen and noticed how laboriously I had to heave my legs off the ground. I was careful not to get my knee injured, so three turns at the oval was all I could muster. I must get my act together and make a purposeful start next week. As the kids' exam week also lurks just around the corner, I welcomed anything to relax us before then. Sophia and I hopped on the jeepney to Sunken Garden yesterday. Armed with my camera and my only prime glass, a bottle of ice cold water and some biscuits, we were off for a few snaps. I am quite happy with how it turned out. The sun and its warm, magnanimous self was smiling down on us. And dear Sophie? She loved the grass on her feet....