Top 20 Most Dangerous Places to Visit

... from a British perspective. :)

1. Iraq
2. Afghanistan
3. Chechnya
4. South Africa
5. Jamaica
6. Sudan
7. Thailand
8. Colombia
9. Haiti
10. Eritrea (what's this?)
11. Congo
12. Liberia
13. Pakistan
14. Burundi
15. Nigeria
16. Zimbabwe
17. India
18. Mexico (oh no, there goes my trip to visit the Maya)
19. Israel
20. Lebanon

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/3534072/In-pictures-worlds-most-dangerous-places.html

Angkor Wat - the definitive guide?

Planning now for the trip to Siem Reap to visit the Angkor Wat temples. There are obviously many sites on the Internet that tells you about Angkor Wat but one of the most useful sites are theAngkorGuide.com which contains part of Maurice Glaize's popular guide to the Angkor Monument.

Published in 1944 in Saigon, republished in 1948 and again in Paris in 1963, "The Monuments of the Angkor Group" by Maurice Glaize remains the most comprehensive of the guidebooks and the most easily accessible to a wide public, dedicated to one of the most fabled architectural ensembles in the world.

One of the topics I liked in the above website is the proposed itineraries for a 1-day, 2-days, 3-days, 4-days, 5-days and even 6-days visit to Angkor! The 6-day itinerary is what I'm going to do for this upcoming trip in mid-Nov.

first day

• AM The Bayon, the terrace of the Elephants and of the Leper King, Tep Pranam, Prah Palilay, the Royal Palace. Distance - 20 kilometres
• PM The Baphuon, the Kleang and Prah Pithu, the Victory Gate, Thommanon, Chau Say. Distance - 24 kilometres

second day

• AM Takeo, Ta Prohm (crossing from west to east), Banteay Kdei(crossing from west to east), the terrace of Srah Srang, Prasat Kravan. Distance - 28 kilometres.
• AM The Bayon (to study the bas-reliefs), Phnom Bakheng.

third day

• AM The Grand Circuit, with a visit to Pre Rup, Mebon, Ta Som, Neak Pean, Prah Khan, (passing from east to west). Distance - 37 kilometres.
• PM Angkor Wat. Distance - 12 kilometres.

fourth day

• AM Banteay Samre, Banteay Srei. Distance - 70 kilometres.
• PM Siem Reap river, Phnom KromDistance - 25 kilometres.

fifth day

• AM The Roluos group (Bakong, Prah Ko, perhaps also Lolei). Distance - 28 and 30 kilometres.
• PM Angkor Wat (to study the bas-reliefs), western baray (swimming). Distance - 38 kilometres.

sixth day

• Tonle Sap

Crazy Hours?

Ever heard of a watch where the hours are not organized from 1..12 as in the watches we now?Apparently a prestigious watchmaker - Franck Muller - does produce this type of watch!

waiyan related this to me when one of her karate-mates told them of this watch (he actually bought a replica for rm200+, the original itself probably going for USD10k+) at their recent gathering.

If you want to see how the "hour" jumps, catch this vid in YouTube.

Nicol on her quest for "10"

After having won her 9th Wispa titles this year in the Qatar Open. Now she's gunning for her 10th title in the upcoming HK Open!

If she does win that, it'll be 10th titles in this year for her, better than her record of 9th titles last year. Go go go!