Sunday, 15th November

Early bus to Phnom Penh, Tom rushed off and got our passports which were ready with our Laos Visas getting back in time for us to get the next bus to Siem Reap. The Tuk Tuk driver from Phnom Penh had emailed his friend here to meet us from the bus, we got off the bus and saw a sign 'welcome Mr Tom'. Tum Sukhon is our Tuk Tuk driver for the next few days, he took us to a lovely hostel for $7 a night with everything we need and great staff. We had a wonder into town, (much nicer feel to the place than Phnom Pehn) had some supper then went to 'Dead Fish Bar', I'd heard there were crocodiles pit so wanted to check it out. We met Ed from England, Matt from Oz and Lassa and Sebrina from Hungary, all really nice. Long story short Ed put his hand into the crocodile pit and tapped it's head, it obviously wasn't impressed and bit his hand pretty bad, he had to have 11 stiches. The hospital was pretty basic and they had no problems with us drinking cocktails and smoking. Eventful 1st night!

Monday, 16th November

Bit of a moochy day, Tum Sokhon took us to get our tickets for the temples, it was a bit of a mad dash when everyone had their tickets because it was nearly sunsetand Phnom Bakheng was the place to go. It was so busy that we took a few pics then headed back down, Tom had found a short cut through the woods which was much more fun and obviously much quicker. Went with Tum for a traditional Khmer supper with Ox liver, beef and veggieswith a fishy peanutsauce to dip everything in. It wasn't too bad but the fish was too potent for both of us. Tom had a KFC later on and found a great bakery so had pud and got brekkie for the morning.

Tuesday, 17th November

Up fairly early and off to see the Temples. Angkor Thom was our first stop off, the entranceis topped by four headed/faces of Avalokiteshvara (the Budda of compassion). The Bayon Temple was one I'd wanted to see with so many of the faces and still in amazing condition, they're expressions do make you wonder what the sculptors must have been thinking, each one with a smile or smirk but all different. The Elephant Terrace was smaller than I'd thought from photographs I'd seen but gave the impression of home many of them were around and what an important part they played. The terrace itself is raised about 7ft up so the processions could be seen. Another group of Temples I'd been looking forward to seeing was Ta Prohm, now overgrown with enormous roots and trees towering over it. Our Tuk Tuk driver wanted to take us out to 2 more Temples then go to Angkor Wat for the sunset but we'd seen all the Temples we'd wanted to so went to Angkor Wat then back into town. Part of Angkor Wat was closed off for restoration but it was still impressive, lots of detailed carvings and bas-reliefs of the 'Churning of the Ocean of Milk', the Demons and Gods churning the ocean to produce an elixir of immortality. Back in Siem Reap we were having luch and talking about Koh Ta Kievwhen we spotted Jamie and Shona, we had lunch with them and enough beers to build up the courage to have a fish foot massage. Shona couldn't stand the tickling but the rest of us stuck it out, very smooth feet now. Poured with rain so had a few drinks and went to the Mcdermot gallery, they had lots of photos of the Temples and a few sculptures, benches and a really good lazy Susantable all made from gun parts, bike chains and glass. Met up with Jamie and Shona again for fondu supper at Soup Dragon then took them to Dead Fish, no dramas this time though.

Wednesday, 18th November

Had a very lazy morning around the guest house, went into town where it took me 2 hours to upload katie's wedding photos, hoping to find somewhere quicker. To de-stress we had a foot, leg and arm massage and supper in a lovely restaurant in the town centre then rang John and left a Birthday message.

Thursday, 19th November

I got up early to check out when and where we were heading to Laos, the bus leaves at 6:30am so we'll go tomorrow also found out where the 4000 Islands are so we'll head there first. Had a wonder along the riverside to the FCC (), saw the galleries and checked out the pool then headed into town for lunch. Watched Spiderman 3 and packed.

Friday, 20th November

Turned into a very strange day. What we thought was a simple 9-12 hour bus journeychanged when we got half way through the journey to Kompong Cham, there was a guy waving a sign with our names onit so we got off and our bags were loaded into a car with loads of other bags and boxes and 3 people and 2 babies plus the driver and us, bit of a squash but the little boy next to us kept us amused. A few hours up the road we pulled over in a very quiet village where we were moved into another car with 10 of us init, 6 in the back, 2 on the drivers seat and us on the other. We drove past a police car and our driver was more concerned that he had his seat belt on than the fact that there were 10 of us in the car!! Another hour futher on a car pulled up next to us and 5 of the others got out so the rest of the journey wasn't so bad. Arrived in Stung Treng and found a guest house for $5 a night and a post office for the postcards.