As soon as we arrived in Siem Reap we knew we would like it, the centre was really beautiful on the river and it just had a really nice feel to it.

We arranged to go to Angkor Wat the following day by tuk tuk, this involved a full day as there are many temples within the archeological park. The scale of it is immense and the temples completely blow you away, we won't bore you with the details of all of them (our pictures can do that) but it's definitely a must see place if you ever get chance.

Casson was sulking when we first got there though as he had his pristine white North End shirt on and he'd been carrying the rucksack we use in the day (which is minging from sweat and suncream) and it had stained both shoulders a dirty brown colour. It's never fully recovered!

Our tuk tuk driver wasn't the one we'd booked, he'd been sent as a replacement so I was a bit miffed at this as his English wasn't as good as the one we thought we were getting. Then he took us somewhere expensive for lunch even though we said we didn't want to go there and finally he didn't tell us that if we wanted to see the sunset (which he knew we did) we needed to be there for a certain time as they only allow 300 people up the mountain so we couldn't get up to see it. We'd booked a 2 day tour so we were glad when we got back to our hotel that the original driver was there and he promised he would pick us up in the morning.

He said to Casson to make sure we were ready at 4.30am as we wanted to see sunrise, in fact he stressed the time at least 4 times so the next morning we were ready and waiting bright and early. Unfortunately 4.30am came and went and there was no sign of him so at 4.45am we asked the hotel to phone him. At this point we knew it was unlikely that we would make it to Angkor wat in time so we were really annoyed. Casson then came up with the genius idea of just paying him for the day before, not going with him today and booking another driver the next day. The question was who would tell him when he arrived? Well it was never in question really, it was always going to be me! He rocked up at 5.05am and started apologising saying his bike had a problem, more like his alarm had a problem as he looked like he'd just woke up. I just handed over $15 (I'd taken $5 off as we didn't get the sunset as promised the day before) and explained that we wouldn't be coming with him as he was so late. He tried to say we'd still make it but we knew we wouldn't so rather than standing there debating it after I gave him the money I walked away back into the hotel but not before I'd heard Casson say this:

"I'm really sorry, its not me, she's made her mind up" It was his bloody idea in the first place!!!!!!

Honestly we were crying with laughter, apparently he loads the gun and I fire the bullets, it's like wind her up and watch her go and he gets to be Mr nice guy! I would have been annoyed at him if it hadn't been so funny.

The following day we booked a driver through the hotel and he was great, we were there in plenty of time for sunrise (it's just a shame there was no sun). As part of our trip that day we went to the landmine museum which was so interesting. The founder had originally fought as a child for the Khmer Rouge and laid 1000's of mines but he later defected. For years he cleared landmines on his own until he gained support and funding from overseas aid agencies and came to England to learn how to clear the mines safely, now he has a team of trained individuals who work closely with the remote village communities to clear mines, it's a slow and dangerous job.

At the museum is a home for children who have either been affected by landmines or who are from poor villages. They are looked after and educated there. Its a brilliant facility but really sad at the same time. There are loads of letters on the wall from the kids themselves and a lot of them start by saying that they didn't want to go to the home as they wanted to stay with their parents but their parents made them go so they could have a better life. The letters always end positively with them saying they love it there but it's so sad that to get an education and to be fed properly these children have to be separated from their families.

The legacy of 3 decades of war had taken its toll on Cambodians with approximately 40,000 amputees and estimates of 4 to 6 million mines and other pieces of unexploded ordnance in Cambodia alone. The clearing of landmines continues.

We stayed in Siem Reap for 5 days as we loved it, next stop Kratie.

General points
1) we've taken to trying to find a decent Indian everywhere we go, Siem Reap didn't let us down, we had 2 here

2) Casson has finally admitted to liking curry more than Chinese, my work here is done :-)

3) The next time we have to say no to someone it's Casson's turn!