TK - Our bus was leaving was leaving for the airport at 10.20am and our 3 day pass for the Angkor Temples was still valid so Nik, Ruth, Jules and I took the opportunity to visit one more temple for the sunrise. Bakong temple is one of the oldest and another representation of Mount Neru which is an east facing pyramid with outlying temples and a moat. When we arrived at Bakong Temple it was still dark and there wasn't a single person around. We found our way t...

JK - this morning we woke up at 4.45am in order to get to Angkor Wat for the sunrise. When we got there our guide Kinal found us the perfect spot to witness this amazing spectacle. As the sky got lighter the more beautiful the sight (and site) became. It took a while for the sun to rise above the trees, but when it did it was amazing. Luckily Tom had positioned himself near the water so got some great shots of the reflections on the water (along with 100's of...

TK: today was the day that we saw the world heritage site that is the temples of Angkor. Our first stop was the jewel in the crown, Angkor Wat itself. The profile of the central building appears on the national flag, that is how much it means to the Cambodians. It is a temple built in the 12th century in the height of the Khmer empire. It is a hindu representation of mount meru, the abode of the ancient gods. We crossed a huge hand dug moat and went through ...

JK - A rather uneventful day in which we took a long bus journey from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. It was estimated that it would take 8 hours, but due to a driver that was heavy on the accelerator and horn, we made it in under 7! The only point of interest was when we stopped to buy and eat tarantulas - a Cambodian delicacy. Originally they were eaten because during Pol Pots reign Cambodians had very little to eat so reverted to eating what they could find. They...

JK - After lunch we headed to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. Much of the Palace is currently closed because the king died recently. You can still see people mourning his death outside. We did however get to see inside the Silver Pagoda. It got its name from the 5000 silver tiles weighing 1kg each that were used in its construction. It's other name is Wat Preah Keo - Pagoda of the Emerald Buddha (another one) due to the 17th century statue made of Baccarat ...