On the 8th June we took an early bus to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh, it was a long and dusty journey but arrived under 8 hours. We found some lovely accommodation that did great food and the chef would never hesitate to make us breakfast or lunch even if he was having a siesta!! We instantly loved Siem Reap, it felt much more tourist friendly than Siem Reap, with an abundance of cafes, bar, spas and colourful markets. The next day we went to see Angkor Wat at sunset, although it rained as we drove out in our tuk tuk and all the tourists appeared to be leaving, it cleared up when we got there and we pretty much had the temple to ourselves for an hour or so!! Our tuk tuk driver failed to tell us where the sunset spot was, so we missed seeing it from the hill (maybe not a bad thing as it would have been a muddy climb in the rain) and watched it from inside the temple instead. And although cloudly there was a glimmer of sun, however, typically we made the mistake of leaving before the sun was fully down and we we were driving back to the town centre the sky lit up in a fiery red colour - listen learnt - never leave before the sun is fully down!!

The next day we did Angkor Wat at sunrise - so it was an early start at 4am!! We decided to avoid the masses of crowds and stay outside the temple for the sunrise, this itself made it very peaceful and we were not disappointed with the views! Our tuk tuk driver (same guy as yesterday) was a little more alert today and brought us to five temples in total! Admittedly I have forgotten the names of most but we did see the Bayon temple - the one with all the faces, and Ta Phrom - the temple that Tomb Raider was filmed at, this was very mysterious as the trees were literally growing over the walls, this was def one of my favourites! We did go to another one -The Baphuon.

While I can't recall the details of each one now, it was such an interestin day, with so much to appreciate, However by 2pm our legs refused to carry us anymore and we headed back to the town centre to get some lunch and enjoy a relaxing evening.

The next day we did a cooking course, it was in a great location (in the grounds of a nice guesthouse) We were shown a local house and gardens where there were lots of fruits growing. In the garden we cooked spring rolls, curry and waffles for dessert. It was fun to cook and more amazing to get served the delicious food at a nice dinner setting. Surprisngly there was a powercut in Siem Reap in the afternoon, but we made the most of it and enjoyed writing postcards in a cafe (with a power genator - so at least the fans worked) while watching the rain! Unfortunately this seemed to be the start of a bad week of weather and the novelty of rain wore off very quickly!!

On the 11th we decided to take a night bus to Sihanoukville in the South - we were extremely of taking a night bus as heard so many bad stories but we got a recommendation of a company which is more expensive than other ones, and after being promised it was a new bus, with a/c, wifi, water and toilet etc we went with it - big mistake! Our pick up was two hours later and then we arrive at bus stop the bus is broken down so after another hour of waiting and watching the driver trying to fix the bus they gave up and this other bus rolls in.. first if all it wasn't a sleeper bus and had no comforts except some sort of a/c!! Oh dear...so set off an what was a bit of uncomfortable journey to say the least and 14 hours later arrived in Sihanoukville - our bad luck continued as the magic monkey hostel was booked out (altho you cant make reservations online!) so our driver recommened another cheap place!! basic but fine until the rats crowded around at night time - yuck yuck - couldn't get out of there fast enough!!!

The next day we took a ferry to Koh Rong (recommended by so many to go there as it was meant to be paradise) however it did rain for most of the two days we spent there!! The accommodation was beautiful, we picked a bungalow high up (to avoid any unnecessary visits from rats). There was a balcony with a hammock and little ensuite - all very nice! We didnt let weather put us off too much and did walk along the beaches and enjoy great food! It dried up on the second night and wer were able to sit on the beach and eat bbq'd fish which was delicious!

So on the 13th We took the ferry back to Sihanoukville and caught a two hour bus to Kampot!!