After a fairly comfortable bus ride from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap, we arrived at the bus station at around 6am. Eager to find a hotel quick to dump our stuff and shower we jumped on a tuk tuk in search of a cheap place in a good location, and maybe with a pool...

The tuk tuk driver produced the goods and found us a nice hotel with an awesome pool. bonus! We were shattered, so caught up on some much needed sleep. After recharging our batteries we went for a walk around the town centre to get our bearings. Its a really nice small town with a lively market in the centre and a large choice of restaurants and bars, as we discovered later :-)
Hot and sweaty from walking around the market we headed back to the hotel pool for some rays and a welcomed dip.

That evening we hired the same tuk tuk driver to take us in to the Angkor national park so we could buy our tickets for the following day and watch the sunsetting from the top of one of the hill temples. It was quite a bizarre scene as we rounded the corner at the top... hundreds of tourists clambering up an ancient temple to get the best view of the sunset on the horizon behind. Finding a good perch we sat in awe of the spectacular sunset and our surroundings.
That evening we were also eagerly awaiting the arrival of the girls from Sihanoukville, in their private taxi - due in at 6pm but didnt arrive until 9:30pm!! Apparently the taxi wasn't so private after all as the driver decided to bring his wife and two young children with him... he also wasnt very good at navigating his away around his native country having got lost on a number of occasions. ooops! Ah well, although very annoyed and tired, they made it here and we met them for a drink.

The next morning we were up at 4am and back on the tuk tuk heading to the national park again to fit all the temples in in one day. We got dropped off at Angkot Wat first and watched the sunrise behind the temple, perhaps even more impressive than last nights sunset. Amazing!

The day was then taken up with us darting around the park viewing all the major temples - from Angkor Thom the last walled capital city of Angkor, to the infamous Ta Prohm - featured in the Tomb Raider film. All were equally incredible in their own right.
That evening we visited the night market where steph decided she needed, not one, but two hammocks?! (i will be using it if it goes up at home though) and went for dinner.

The next morning we had our bus booked back to Phnom Penh in order to fly back into Thailand for a 30day visa. Was slightly awkward but would save us having to get a visa extension or do a visa run later on.

Thailand part 2, here we come!