The bus to Siem Reap was one of those which just seemed to take
forever (playing Mr Bean didn't really help the time go any quicker),
though we were pleasantly surprised when our pick up guy was actually
there holding his little sign up.

When the tuk tuk pulled up outside this hotel with a grand entrance we
figured he was stopping for something but it was actually our Okay
Villa guesthouse. Only open for 4 weeks, it was easily the nicest
place we have stayed it yet and gave us a little bit of luxury for a
few days and we all hit the wall (Em: that's the tiredness wall)
pretty quick and went to bed.

We got ourselves organised on Tuesday morning and along with Rob set
off to the Temples of Angkor withal guy who must have been the best
tuk tuk driver in the whole of Siem Reap, Yim - the guy was an
absolute legend! We were literally just getting into the tuk tuk when
the worst thing possible happened and it started raining, and as we
set off driving in turned in to a torrential downpour - to the point
where stood outside the ticket office we were contemplating whether to
just abort mission and come back another day.

We decided to go for it though, and after Yim had stopped to buy us
ponchos we got our fist sight of the majestic Angkor Wat - the largest
religious building in the world which is surrounded by a moat and
enclosed by a high wall. By this time the sun was actually peeking
through and because of the rain and the time we actually got to
explore it with a relative lack of crowds which was nice, and walking
around the vast complex looking at all the intricate inscriptions on
the walls was brilliant.

After a stop for lunch we then went to Hutch's favourite temple, Ta
Prohm - the one where 'nature has taken over' and where scenes from
Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones were actually filmed! This place was
just amazing and in many ways better than Angkor Wat, and huge tree
roots grow seamingly up out of the tops of the walls and all round you
the temple crumbles in amongst the jungle, meaning you kind of felt
like you were discovering it for the first time.

After exploring there for a good hour, and a brief stop at Em's
favourite temple Ta Keo where she ran all the way to the top in what
must have been record time, Yim dropped us off at the Bayon temple.
This is one of the ones inside the massive Angkor Thom compound which
is like it's own walled city. This one was probably my favourite of
the lot, as there are 54 conical towers each with four faces smiling
in every direction meaning you felt like you were being watched every
step of the way, and since the sun was starting to go down there was
quite an eerie feel to the place.

We tried to catch sunset but it had turned a little cloudy and so we
had to settle for reflecting on what we had seen and how pleased we
were that we decided to stay, before Jim Bob dropped us back home. In
the evening we hooked up with Rob again and got something to eat
before making our way to Pub Street and some buckets & beers at Angkor
What? bar and Temple Bar well into the early hours, which capped off a
brilliant day.

We allowed ourselves a lie in and a leisurely day on Wednesday, as we
did a bit of shopping in the markets and then getting a fish pedicure
to help with the effects 9 months travelling has has on the old feet!
In the afternoon we sizzled on our quality roof top pool area at the
hostel as it got seriously hot - April is the hottest month of the
year in Cambodia and even the locals struggle to cope so we had no
chance!! In the evening the highlight was the Cambodian BBQ that I
had - complete with kangaroo, ostrich, snake and crocodile, and then
early to bed to get some sleep before sunrise at Angkor Wat!

Yim was dutifully waiting for us outsde at 515am (he was willing to do
this for us even though it was Khmer new year!) and we sped off to get
a good spec. We were lucky in that it was a clear morning and the sun
rose up as a big clear ball of fire in the sky behind the 5 towers to
make for an awesome sight and the lack of sleep worthwhile!

After a quick brekky we then set off on the big loop to see other
temples. The first stop was the rest of Angkor Thom, and since it was
so early we literally had the Baphuon to ourselves which amazing, and
after checking out the Elephant Terrace we continued for another 3
hours to check out Preah Khan, Prasat Neak Pean (which Yim described
as "just a little bit beautiful") and Ta Som.

One of the other highlights was one of the little girls who are always
pestering you to buy something, but this one in particular was just
too cute and by rthe time she had counted to 10 in her fifth language
(one of which was Chinese!) I was sold and just had to buy some
postcards off her for $1! Another girl's tactics was to challenge
unsuspecting tourists to a game of noughts and crosses, and she
somehow managed to outfox Hutch and then told her she "wasn't nice"
because she wouldn't cough up a dollar!

It was good that despite seeing temple after temple, they were all
somehow so different to each other, and the size and detail in each
one meant that even after two full days it wasn't as if we felt
totally templed out, though we were pretty tired after a full days
work already by midday, and very very sweaty!!!

After another session chilling by the pool in the afternoon, Em and I
went for a blind massage which was definately an experience and
although the setting was somewhat rustic the massage itself was very
good, even if he did stop half way through whilst on my back to answer
his phone!

Our final evening in Siem Reap was spent sweating at one of the food
stalls whilst getting served by the youngest waitress ever and then
heading back to get some sleep before yet another early start in the
morning!