Siem Reap

We arrived in Siem Reap around 1.30pm after an early start on a 'VIP' bus. They definitely talk up 'VIP' way more than is justified! We had no air con as it had broken and when we asked for some water (we were told we would be given) we were handed it after 5 minutes of grunting! We got into a Tuk Tuk and headed to our hotel, we soon realized that Siem Reap was a very beautiful place and knew we were going to enjoy it here. Our Tuk Tuk driver was lovely and took us around several guesthouses for no extra cost until we found one at a reasonable price which we liked. We booked with him to take us around the temples the next day.

Later that day we had a wander around town and you could see that Siem Reap is benefiting greatly from the tourists it receives and has adapted accordingly.

The next morning we got up early(5am) and went to watch the sunrise atAngkor Wat temple. It was magical!! We had breakfast by the pond and watched the sun come up over the amazing angkor wat, the temples took our breath away. Angkor wat was built in the 12 century and is one on the man made wonders of the world, the detail of this amazing temple just messes with you mind as you cant believe people could build something like this in the 12th century. In order to build these great temples the Angkors sourced rock from mount Kulen 40km away. They carved each boulder to shape and pierced holes in to put spears into then tied the boulders to elephants with the spears and rope and took them to the temple site for building. They most likely also used the Mekong river to transport these huge boulders. When you see the size and volume of all the temples in Siem Reap area you would understand what an amazing feat this must have been. Especially when each temple is so intricately designed. Each temple could take a century to build. And if that wasn't enough, integrated with the architecture of the building, and one of the causes for its fame is Angkor Wat's extensive decoration, which predominantly takes the form of bas-relief friezes. The inner walls of the outer gallery bear a series of large-scale scenes mainly depicting episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata Higham has called these, "the greatest known linear arrangement of stone carving".

After our day at the temples we had a little siesta and went out for a bite to eat we found this amazing French restaurant, Mich had this amazing carbonara and I had my favorite lasagne!
After our meal we went to a cambodian spa I had a Khmer massage for 6usd this was nothing like the others I have had it involved no oils, it was very painful as he stretched me into positions I didn't think my body would go into and she cracked my back which I loved. After it though I felt I had a new body and was thinking I needed a massage like that before I played my tennis matches!
Mich had anther pedicure and foot scrub which she loved. We would never really treat ourselves at home but out here you just can! My massage cost me £3.50 for an hour its rediculous!!

After our treatments we we found a bar selling beers for 50 cents!! We got talking to this couple Lauren and Paul and had bit of a session! Paul was a legend and we had so much in common we hit it off and I was loving the lads banter as I miss it from the lads at home! I convinced the guys to go to a club, first this tuk tuk driver took us to one a few miles away and the locals didn't like the look of us so we went to another club in siem reap, we bought a bottle of vodka and kept chatting and having a right laugh, then I saw a karaoke sign and my eyes lit up, we got a private karaoke room for 5 usd with people pouring all our drinks and a staff for the karaoke machine! We were treated like celebs! In a club at home you are looking at about £10 per person for a karaoke booth. We got in at about 4 or 5 in the morning so we had been up for 24 hrs not including our siesta.

The next morning we got up at about 11 and I was woken with 'adsy my head hurts'!!!! Mishee had a real bad hangover a real bad one, to make it worse for her we had to get the 6 hour bus back to phnom pehn. You really don't want a hangover on these busses as the roads are so uneven and mich had to concentrate all the way not to be sick I was laughing my head off but at least the air con worked this time.

After all these bus journeys we waned to treat ourselves to a flight back to Thailand and also you can get a 30 day visa by air and only a 15 day one arriving my bus. The flights from Phnom Penh are half the price of siem reap flights and the bus back was only 6usd. The flight was £ 40 each and you have to pay 25usd to leave Cambodia don't ask me why!! If anyone is traveling in Cambodia don't bother to change you money into riel, everywhere accepts dollars and you can even get dollars out of atms.

We crashed for a night in Phnom Penh and tomorrow we are catching a flight to Bangkok then getting the night train down to Serat Thani and then get to the full moon party hopefully and also do some island hoping, the beaches in Thailand are meant to be the best in the world and I have been dreaming about the crystal clear water and the golden white sand.