From Thailand to Cambodia

Last week we flew from Bangkok to Siem Reap in Cambodia with the excellent budget airline Bangkok Airways to tour round Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and many of the other ancient Khmer Empire ruins that are in the surrounding area. It is a very beautiful and interesting place, full of over 1000 years of history, and I really enjoyed seeing it all. Here are some photos we took during the trip (click on the pictures to see the original large size versions):

























Here in Thailand there are also some wonderful ancient Khmer Empire ruins, in Phimai Historical Park near the north-eastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima (also called Korat). The ruins are very similar to those at Angkor in Cambodia, and were built around the same time. The temple ruins at the Phimai complex were actually built a little before Angkor Wat. At the height of the Khmer Empire a now long-lost road linked Phimai directly with Angkor. The two sites are only about 250km apart in a straight line, much closer than many people realise.

James Cameron's Avatar

I went to see Avatar in Bangkok with my husband last week in IMAX 3D and it was fantastic. We saw it twice in the Siam Paragon IMAX cinema because we enjoyed it so much. I was never really a fan of science fiction before, but after seeing Avatar I am now a convert.

I also now really like seeing movies in 3D because of it, it's much more fun than normal 2D. It took me a little while to get used to wearing the dark glasses and focussing on the giant IMAX screen through them, but now I will try to see more 3D movies in future.

I like having nice wallpaper backgrounds on my computer at home, and here are some great Avatar ones that I am using: James Cameron's Avatar Wallpaper Collection

Movies and games to look out for in 2010

My husband has recently written some articles in his blogs about New Hollywood movies of 2010 and New Mario and Sonic games of 2010, which you may find interesting to read.

For myself, I agree with him about the movies, as I am also looking forward to seeing many of the ones he mentions, especially Iron Man 2, Shrek 4Ever After, Prince of Persia, Toy Story 3, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Tron: Legacy.

I would also like to buy a Nintendo Wii this year with the new Super Mario Galaxy 2 game once it has been released. However, it is very expensive to buy the Wii here in Thailand (it costs about the same as in England when I recently checked internet prices!), so that may not be possible.

Never mind, there are always lots of nice free Mario and Sonic online games that I like to play, and here are some of my favourites from the MarioSonicGames.com website:

  Super Smash Bros. Flash

  New Super Mario Flash

  Super Mario Sunshine 64

  Super Mario Kart Xtreme

  Ultimate Flash Sonic

  Sonic Rivals Dash

  Shadow the Hedgehog

Happy New Year 2010 from Thailand!

สวัสดีปีใหม่ ปี 2553!