Hello.....Cambodia update is here - if not a little late!

Once we'd recovered from our horrendous bus journey we thoroughly enjoyed the little part of Cambodia that we got to see. Again, we wish we could have stayed longer but time did not allow! We stayed in a lovely guesthouse in Siem Reap and explored the town and of course the Temples of Angkor. We decided to hire bikes for 3 days to explore the temples instead of hiring a tuk tuk driver so that we could really experience the surroundings and take our time. We were very lucky with the weather as once again the sun shone for us and the rain saved itself for the late afternoon/evening - we didn't fancy getting stuck on a bike in one of the storms that we experienced there! It was boiling hot though so a great deal of sweating was the norm...lush - we've pretty much got used to it now! The bikes were a tad rickety but they did the job, although Dave did have to change his bike because the seat broke on the 2nd day. His second bike was squeakier than the first one! We loved the serenity of cycling around the temples as the surroundings were beautiful with little traffic or people - bliss! Angkor Wat itself was impressive but busy with tourists which was to be expected however once we were inside meandering around the nooks and crannies it was peaceful. We wandered out the back of the temple and were lucky enough to see the local monkeys playing around - the baby ones were tiny and so cute. Our favourite temple was The Bayon in Angkor Thom with its faces in the pillars and carvings on the walls - amazing. We did a fair bit of cycling and saw a lot of temples including Ta Prohm of course where they filmed Tomb Raider and where the roots of the trees have pretty much taken over the buildings - very impressive!

Anyway - apart from visiting some amazing temples we explored Siem Reap itself and were pleasantly surprised by some of the cool side streets with lovely restaurants and bars to enjoy very cheap and tasty food and drink. We also wandered through the markets and endured the interesting smells from all the fish, meat, spices and fruits! Not for the weak stomach!

We were due to get a bus from Siem Reap to Bangkok to get our flights to Laos but after hearing not so good reviews about the bus journey we decided to spend a bit more and save a bit of time by flying instead - a much nicer journey! We stopped overnight in Bangkok and then flew to Laos early the next morning. In hindsight we should have just flown from Siem Reap to Laos but at the time of booking we went for the cheaper option before we knew the stories of the buses! Nevermind - we still got there and loved our Laos stop!

Laos update to follow soon too!

Lots and lots of love and hugs home xxxxxxxxxxxxxx