Tomb Raider

This is the famous Ta Prohm and was a great place to see.  Our guide picked us up at 6.20am and when we arrived the place was absolutely deserted apart from some parrots.  At this time in the morning the atmosphere is amazing as the sun gradually got up, bathing the temples in orange light.   

The roots are gradually tearing the place to pieces so there was quite a lot of restoration in progress but it was possible to avoid the crane in most shots.

Angelina Jolie wasn't available when I took this shot so I took some of Jane instead.

I have a load of other pics which I will put on Flickr when I get a chance.  Unfortunately the internet is very slow and unreliable here.

Last night we had a most interesting evening.  We went to a free Cello 'concert' at the local childrens hospital.  The quote marks are because it was mainly a fundraising presentation interspersed with some excellent cello music played by the medical director Dr Beat Richner.

He gave a most interesting presentation about the state of the childrens health services in Cambodia.  He is pretty much responsible for setting up the system of free health care for children for which he gets next to no support from the government or global health organisations.

He is the first Swiss person I have met with a sense of humour and his presentation was very funny but also quite harrowing.

He was working as a junior paediatric doctor in Phnom Penh at the time of the Khmer Rouge takeover.  Since then he has worked for the children of Cambodia and has raised funding and built 4 childrens hospitals.  The hospitals are over 80% funded by private donation and have state of the art facilities including MRI imaging and top class surgeons.  He has also founded a paediatric medical school.  He's an amazing man.  I worry how the system will continue when he retires.

What was shocking was that the WHO refused to provide any funding because they only support health systems where the patients pay.  They also stated that the facilities were 'too good' for a developing country.  Scandalous!  The childrens health system is also the only organisation in the country free from corruption.

More here