After our last week in Thailand we were really looking forward to Cambodia and the new adventures on offer there. The border crossing was our first obstacle, and it from our reading it looked like it might be a pretty big one, with corrupt officials, long waits and expensive taxis on the other side. On this trip, we seem to find that when preparing for the worst, we have a really good experience and this was the case here too! We weren't hassled too much and the crossing was one of the smoothest we've had so far! Thats more than can be said about the "roads" on the other side though, that were just dirt tracks through the countryside. After 4 hours jiggling and jangling (terms not used lightly) we arrived in Siem Reap, stopping point for the Temples of Angkor.

We found, after quite a bit of searching, a nice place to stay and sorted out a tuk-tuk to take us round the temples the following day. That evening we explored the centre of the town, which offered a really good selection of bars, shops and all kinds of restaurants. After sampling the local Khmer Curry both Sheona and I are big fans (nothing to do with blowing out air!)

The next morning we were up early and raring to go (though our photos on our temple passes suggest otherwise!) We headed straight to Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world. "Getting up early is the way to go!" we thought, as the complex was pretty quiet in a kind of eerie way. Adding to the atmosphere were the clouds up above, and in the almost complete darkness we found our way to the entrance just as it started to rain... a lot! It didn't last for too long (the time was passed quickly by admiring the rainbow of poncho colours people seemed to be wearing) and before long we were walking along the entrance causeway with the temple looming large.

Although the top tier of the complex was closed for restoration (thus meaning no spectacular views of the other temples) the lower levels were pretty amazing. It was really good walking round and exploring all of the different corridors, chambers, stairways etc. Surrounding the inner chamber are the bas reliefs a very long set of carvings depicting many different religious stories. It was quite a challenge to translate them and work out whats going on, not helped by the fact that we started halfway through!

When Angkor Wat got a bit busier with tour bus arrivals we headed to Ta Prohm, a temple smaller in size but larger in character. Ta Prohm has been deliberately left in the condition that the first explorers found it, with the jungle running riot among the structures. Because it was so quiet there we had a great time clambering over all the rubble, tree roots and feeling like proper explorers! It had a really good feel to it, and we spent a lot longer there than we thought we would.

Ta Keo offered yet another style: The Mountain Temple. Meant to be intimidating, Ta Keo is about 50 metres in height but very steep on all sides. So, by the way, are the steps! Going up was alright, not too bad apart from the steep climb. The view from the top was good too, but coming back down was like looking over a cliff face! We must've looked pretty silly going down backwards but it was the best way to do it!

Our faithful tuk-tuk took us to a couple more temples, Thommanon and Chau Say Tevoda, which were also nice before taking us back to the city. The afternoon is far too hot to be walking around the park and the biggest mistake is trying to see too much in one day.

-B