These 2 countries were not on my radar. However, when a group of photography friends invited us, we jumped at the chance. The ancient ruins of Siem Reap and Angkor Wat are some of the most unique in the world. It would have been more enjoyable had there been fewer tourists on holiday. Students of the Phare Circus performed body-bending acrobatics as part of their training and therapy for generational trauma from the Khmer Rouge genocide. Laos, on the other hand, was quiet, pleasantly simple and low key by comparison. The town of Luang Prabang, renowned for its French cuisine, textile art and its monks, was an unexpected treat. We met up with young photography students there and spent the day with them riding down the Mekong River. The ‘monks-in-training’, lined the streets early each morning to ‘request’ their morning sustenance from willing providers.