Thursday 5th July

We were in our hotel reception at 6am today for our bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia. We reached Poipet which is the border town at about midday and once on the Cambodian side took a short ride to the tourist bus station. It started to rain and we had to wade through ankle deep water! As we booked a tour we were given a private taxi to take us the 4hour journey instead of the beaten up old bus. We were thinking what a result! Unfortunately we were not thinking that for very long! First thing we picked up some local women, stopped so they could shop for veg on the roadside then dropped them off at their house. We saw the bus go past us, so much for the taxi being the quickest option! The worst part however was still to come! Going along an extremely bumpy part our car hit a big rock which tore open the petrol tank. Our driver pulled over, stripped off and grabbed his tool kit. He tried for ages to fix it and after a while we started of again. We didn't get far so the two of us tried to hitch a ride with a coach that had loads of seats but the guy flatly refused. We managed to get to a garage and the four of us managed to get a ride. We squeezed into the car which already had 2 passengers and drove the final 2 hours to Siem Reap. We saw the coach that had denied us a lift, it had also broken down - Karma baby!!

When we arrived at our hotel it was gone 9pm so we had to skip the trip to the lake and head straight to dinner at a local restaurant. We then went back to the hotel and straight to sleep, after all it had been a very long day!

We had an early breakfast and were at Angkor Wat by 7am. We spent the day at the temples with an excellent guide that told us so much about the history of the area. There are hundreds of temples surrounding the world's largest religious building, Angkor Wat. It is protected by a huge moat and is absolutely stunning. We visited the Terrace of the Elephants and Bayon which has 216 Avalokiteshvara staring down at you!

Our favourite and most stunning looking temple was Ta Prohm. It has been left to be devoured by the surrounding jungle and parts are crumbling to the ground. Many roots and branches are entwined through the structure, you may have seen the setting in Tomb Raider. Another temple, Ta Keo, is a 50m high pyramid which was never finished due to the death of the King. The steps were incredibly steep!

We also visited several smaller temples and were so lucky to have a sunny day! Late afternoon we managed to squeeze a swim at the hotels gorgeous pool before heading out to The Jasmine Restaurant for dinner and a traditional Cambodian show.

Saturday we started our journey back to Bangkok and luckily had no problems along the way! In the evening we met Stuart and Ruya from our China tour and had a lot to drink in several bars around the Khao San area. Chelsea got a hat from the street lady and wore it all night much to the annoyance of Bradley! We had a great night with some great friends just a shame that they are off home soon!

We spent Sunday recovering from some major hangovers and booked our bus to Laos.