On the 12th January we were on our way to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat. We arrived at the bus station and booked our tuk tuk driver to drive us round the temples the next day - with an eye wateringly early start of 4.45 to be there for the sunrise!

We had a nice surprise to find out that Herbert (Hue Santa from a few weeks back) was also in Siem Reap and would come along with us the next day. So at 5am off we set, not realising that you have to have a photo taken for your ticket - cue me looking very bleary eyed! Stright to Angkor Wat we went for the sunrise, which was chilly in the pre-dawn but soon warmed up! For a while we were concerned we wouldn't be able to see anything as cloud had been forecast and the sky didn't seem particularly clear - at one point we were ready to leave as the promised sunrise time had passed (6.30am) and all we'd seen was a gradual lightening of the sky! BUT we persevered and were well rewarded with a gorgeous orange sun creeping over the spires of the temple and turning everything in its path a burnished gold. Simply breathtaking.

The sunrise over and having nearly burnt off our retinas we were swiftly driven over to Angkor Thom to miss some of the crowds we would inevitably meet later in the day! The entrance to Angkor Thom is just amazing - four massive stone heads stare out at each point of the compass over a huge arched gateway, all flanked by a row of demons on one side, and Gods on the other. They knew how to build back then I'll tell you.

The first place we saw in Angkor Thom was the Bayon Temple. We arrived at a perfect time to see the sun striking the towers - again this temple has giant stone heads on top of each tower, 216 to be exact - which also gave us a brilliant view of the bas-reliefs carved into the walls. It was a magnificent sight, it's hard to believe these buildings were built in the 12th century.

From Bayon we attempted to enter Baphuon, but Nina and I had shorts on so weren't allowed to enter as it's a proper temple, so we contented ourselves with wandering round the perimeter. Baphuon is a temple which was taken apart to rebuild as it was so unsafe, but during the Khmer Rouge era all the records of what went where were burnt, so it's now pretty much the world's biggest jigsaw puzzle...

Next we went to the Terrace of the Elephants, a 350m long terrace decorated with sweet stone elephant statues...yeah it's pretty much exactly what it says on the tin...by now it was only dinner time so off we went for some chicken fried rice and fruit salad.

After food we had a quick peek at the Chao Say Pagoda, nothing exciting to report, then tuk tuked it over to Ta Phrom, my favourite place, and where they filmed some of Tomb Raider. Ta Phrom has largely been left as they found it, with only minimal strengthening to stop it falling on the tourists (and Angelina Jolie), so it represents what the rest of Angkor Wat looked like before it was made tourist friendly. Tree roots grow through the buildings, and in many cases hold them up I'm sure, stones are fallen to the ground in disarray, and generally it just makes you feel like Indiana Jones - funnily enough one of which was also filmed around Angkor Wat.

The worst part of the whole Angkor Wat experience was the women trying to hawk cold drinks "hey laydee you want cold drink", and the little children trying to sell postcards and bracelets "we no go to school cannot afford, laydee you buy postcards 10 for 2 dollah" - you have to just walk through them and it's difficult to say no in many cases. I had one particularly tenacious girl who followed me for around ten minutes before running off. It's not pleasant, and a recurring theme in Cambodia sadly.

After a long, hot and dusty day we finally went back to Angkor Wat to see the world's largest religious building in the full daylight. I would recommend anyone to visit this place, there is just so much to see and one day just isn't enough to see all the surrounding temples too. The best part of Angkor Wat, apart from feeling like you're looking at the Cambodian flag, is the massive number of bas reliefs detailing various battles and histories and stories of the Gods. The work that went into them is unfathomable and that they have survived so long - from the 12th century - with tourists touching them and walking around with very little prevention from climbing all over everything is nothing short of a miracle!

We got back to the hotel shattered and starving so had a shower and went out for some food. As usual for me and Nina we ended up having a bucket at Angkor What? bar (very clever) and coming home at 5am, 24 hours after we'd originally left, Nina having eaten crocodile, me having had an indepth conversation about scifi and fantasy books and tv series with a Kiwi ( I am so cool) and a free t shirt each! The bus ride later that day was going to seem looooooong!

Becca