Another long day of travel - about 71/2 hours - as we headed for Siem Reap for 3 days. The journey was livened up by a stop at a village market where they serve fried crickets and spiders. We had set Eron a dare - she hates spiders - and so she had to eat 6 spiders. They were huge!! And, to her credit, she ate them although all the legs kept sticking in her teeth!!

After relaxing by the pool at our hotel for a while we went on an orientation tour of the town and soaked up the very laid back atmosphere. As Eron had completed her dare, Tony had to have his chest waxed...it was hilarious when we all piled in to watch him go through the torture. But, to his credit, he completed the task!!

During dinner we watched the traditional Angkor dancing - Apsara- which is extremely graceful and intricate. Then we all had a fish massage along the street whcih involves placing your feet in a large tank full of little fish. They then áttack'your feet and eat away the dead skin. I think my squeals could be heard over town but I did survive it and actually quite enjoyed it!!

Day 2 in Siem Reap was a full day of temple hopping. We spent the morning at Angkor Thom - a vast sprawling temple full of rock carvings of Buddha, the elephant walk carvings and the royal residence. We then visited another temple (will spare you all the details here) before lunch. After lunch we visited the beautiful Pre Rup (the woman's temple), went to the landmine museum and then a local village where they make palm sugar sweets (think fudge or tablet).

After all that walking and climbing we had an easy evening and finished it off with another fish massage (for 60p!!). Early night as 4.30am start..

Today was the big one - Angkor Wat. We left the hotel at 5am to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. This is known as the centrepiece of Angkor and is absolutely stunning. We sat along the moat wall across from the temple and watched the sunrise - beautiful! After breakfast nearby we then spent 21/2 hours wandering around inside with our guide explaining the meaning of some of the friezes carved along the walls - often 200, in length. The temple itself is a massive 3-tiered pyramid covered by 5 lotus-like flowers rising 65 metres from ground level. The temple was built in the 12th century and is dedicated to the hindu god, Vishnu. I enjoyed today much more than yesterday - each turn provided something more stunning and the views from the upper temple were breath-taking.

A short walk and bus ride took us to Ta Prohm - a sprawling monastic complex intentionally left unrestored from all the jungle overgowth. So, trees hundreds of years old appear through parts of the structure and roots have destroyed many of the buidlings. It was an amazing sight but a bit over-run with vietnamese tourists so we felt a bit rushed and pushed around.

We've had a few hours free to rest and catch up on travelblogs etc and will soon be off to a floating village.

Never a dull moment on this trip