Last year had been a stellar traveling year for me. I decided to take a break from filmmaking in the Philippines, packed my backpack and travelled to well... work, eat, pray and almost love.

I didn't have much time to blog about my (mis)adventures and I do hope to find enough time to do it lest they get stale in my memory. Even the thousands of photos dating back 2010 are already rotting in my harddrive. Aside from working on the documentary "All You Need Is Love" (in Dubai and Bangkok), which is by the way still unfinished, I grabbed the opportunity to go to other countries and beyond. And 'beyond' means 8 countries!

I fell in love with Bangkok the first time I went there in 2011 with the lovely people, cheap and delicious food and a better infrastructure system than the Philippines so I came back during the last week of January.

At one of the temples in Wat Po, Bangkok, Thailand.

Then I travelled to Cambodia by land, first in Siem Reap to see the Angkor Wat for the first time and experience the eerie feeling of being in the mass graveyards of The Killing Fields in Phnom Penh.

Breathtaking sunset in Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

 By February, I travelled for 12 hours to Ho Chi Minh City by bus to celebrate the Chinese New Year there.

New Year's greeting at the Flower Festival in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

I went back to Thailand in March, to Mae Sot this time to shoot for "All You Need Is Love" and I met wonderful Burmese people there. 

"All You Need Is Love" Producers, Staff and Crew with the Burmese kids in Mae Sot, Thailand.

I thought of going to Myanmar after the shoot but decided not to pursue it and went to Laos instead.

In Vientianne, Laos.

By the 2nd Quarter of the year, my editing work for "All You Need Is Love" would take to the Middle East and back to my favorite city, an amazing adventure to Africa with my brother and discovering culture in Central Asia. More in Part 2 of this entry.

Of the two times that I've been to Angkor Wat, I realized it's not as picturesque in real life as in the pictures. Though I love the experience of biking from the Old Market going to the temple, one visit to the temple would suffice.

So I tried something different on my second visit there. I took a picture of the temple using my iPhone 4s using the its Panorama feature and here's how it looks. 

This one is the entrance to the main temple, the lake really looks beautiful in the photo.

Taken on September 2012.

This photo of the road along the tail end of Charles de Gaulle going towards the main gate of the temple is a serene place to chill at side of the lake, watching locals fish or children playing. I haven't seen tourists stop by this side of the lake but locals, especially lovers and families, spend time here during late in the afternoon or at dusk.

Taken on September 2012.

Taken in Siem Reap, Cambodia. January 2012.

A group of Khmer school girls on their way home from school. 

Photo taken at Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia. September 2012.

Saw an old Japanese couple watching the sunset together. What a romantic sight at one of the world's well-loved temples.