Wat's up in Siem Reap?

Thanks Kelvin for reminding us that we have been a little slack updating the blog lately. Just over a week ago we flew from Laos to Cambodia to spend our last days in Asia. We arrived in the quaint French colonial town of Siem Reap to see the world famous Angkor Wat and the myriad of other ancient ruins in the vicinity. Used as a backdrop for many movies including Tomb Raider this site was abandoned some 800 years ago to the jungle and rediscovered a little over 100 years ago by the French. Exploring these ruins is like walking through another world. Huge stone faces stare down at visitors while massive banyan trees persist in rearranging the temples millimetre at a time, sending their invasive roots down through the crevices.
I came down with some sort of bug that had almost all the symptoms of every imaginable tropical disease, the worst of which was severe aching in all my joints. Given our recent high risk activities of mingling with mosquitos, chickens, leeches, and raw meat whilst trekking along with the fact that I was sporting a pretty good fever, Jen was quick to whisk me off to the “International Clinic”. With no physical exam and a few questions, the physician quickly came up with the hunch that it was probably gout…. Yes, of course... gout throughout my whole body accompanied by a fever. "Most certainly not an infection or parasite"… yes he actually said that!
Jen was hilarious as she attempted to keep her cool at this ludicrous diagnosis, and quickly put an end to the consultation before questioning his qualifications. Fortunately 24 hours later I was well enough to get out and see the ruins before our bus ride to Phnom Penh.