Day 18 - Luckily not such an early start as yesterday as we'd booked the tuk tuk for 08:30. Sam duly arrived and we set off for our mammoth 2 hour tuk tuk ride. Bit hair raising at times as the main road was really busy and large trucks were thundering past at speed, not sure our little tuk tuk could have taken much of an impact! Sam is quite a sensible driver though which helps.

Arriving completely wind swept at Beng Mealea which is a temple that has just been left as it was discovered. The temple is a complete ruin and you have to climb in and out of the stones that lie all over the place. No one knows who built it or who it was built for as no inscriptions have been found. As we scaled the first set of steps and followed a couple of people in, we seemed to sort of pick up a guide as I think she could see we were getting frustrated behind the really slow couple. She showed us a route around that involved some quite tough climbing but was good fun with lots of photo opportunities. Very hot and humid though as no air in the ruins so sweat was aplenty but we weren't the only ones feeling the heat by the looks of things. After about an hour we had finished around the temple but weren't sure whether we had to pay the guide or not as we hasn't specifically asked for her help. Was really useful though as would have easy to get lost so $2 was handed over. The temple is outside the Angkor site so you have to pay $5 each to get in at the start so guess they are paid out if that as well.

Leaving Beng Mealea we started off on the long road back to Siem Reap we were to stop at the Roluos group of temples on the way back. About 25 minutes down the main road, Sam took a little detour off onto a dirt track but we didn't know why, he had mentioned looking at rice fields on the way back but we assumed these were the one near Beng Mealea - obviously not! This dirt track went in for miles and miles, passing through tiny little villages where all the young kids would smile and wave, not like in the city. After a while we came across a large lorry in the road which we could not pass. Sam took one look at it and swerved to the right, basically into someone's front garden and through, round the obstruction. When passing we could see that another lorry was actually in the ditch and was being craned out at the time. Seemed to be the centre of attention as most of the village had come out to watch and they all took great pleasure in watching us scoot through someone's garden. Bad news for the car behind us, no way was he getting through. If we had to turn back I'm sure there would have been tears from both of us as the road had turned into one big pothole and we were getting shaken up like a washing machine.

Finally reaching the end of the track, we made it back to the main road and we seemed to have come a long way as Siem Reap was now only 18kms away. We visited three temples as part of the Roluos group, Lolei, Baking and Preah Ko but temple fatigue had definitely set in again. A few climbs (for one of us!) and back to town for some lunch.

Back at the hotel, we basically jumped straight out for lunch as it was now 15:00. Found a small restaurant in the old market for some chicken and rice with fried eggs and a couple of drinks all for $5. All fed and 'watered' we returned to the hotel to have a shower and change. A bit of relaxation at the hotel, double checking tomorrows flight again in case they had changed it again without telling us. We also tried to purchase one of the cool t-shirts on sale at the hotel but unfortunately they only had a small or a medium which was optimistic to say the least!

We ventured out for dinner at about 19:00 firstly trying to hunt one of these t-shirts down at another outlet with no joy. Also purchased our first Xmas present for someone, no names mentioned! Had dinner at one of the roadside restaurants just down from the hotel. The girls outside the restaurants had worked quite hard for the last 4 days attempting to get us to eat there so we felt we should at least try one of them. When you walk past them you get accosted by 4 or 5 women or girls showing you their menus which can be off putting for some. To be honest you get it at every turn, tuk tuk, food, drink, massage......cocaine!! Despite the reservations, it was actually a really good meal and was great fun watching the staff try to attract people in, could of sat there for ages. Back to hotel for some sleep before leaving the hussle and bussle of Siem Reap for Sihanoukville down on the south coast..........and it's Alice's 30th birthday tomorrow :)