Siem Reip and Ankor Wat Made it downstairs for breakfast, which was pretty yuk, then went back to bed since we were both knackered from the manic journey. Finally got up to go in search for the main part of town. We passed a nice jewellery shop and got chatting to the English guy that owned it. He informed us that we should only take a tuk tuk to Ankor if they charge less that $12 for the day and we told him that our bus driver told us that we couldn't use US$ in Cambod. But that is supposedly b******s and it's pretty much all they will take in Siem Reip! Soo, off to the ATM to get out some dosh, only to discover that we were, yet again, broke! Luckily Darren had some travelers cheques so we cashed some of them in the mean time. We checked out a bit of the indoor market and I purchased a couple of sexy Cambodian silk scarves, before heading for a bite to eat at the "Red Piano" restaurant. A typical western meal, then back to the hotel. After much coffuffle with tuk tuk drivers at the entrance to our hotel, we finally arranged for one of them to take us around Ankor Wat for the Day for $10. So the next day, we had to get up bright and early for 5am, so that we could catch the sun rise. Twas so refreshing sitting in the back of a tuk tuk as dawn was breaking, breathing in crisp air (while trying not to inhale in dust of the road) and enjoying a lovely breeze. We arrived just in time, as the hoards of tourists followed on behind us. Our friendly tuk tuk driver parked along side the other taxi men and we made our way across a beautiful bridge over the lake, towards the magnificent "Ankor Wat". I didn't realized it was across the water and it initial set of walls reflected spectacularly in the water. We followed the entrance path, up through a couple more arch ways, until it opened out- with meadows either side of the walkway and the breathtaking ruin in front. There were horses grazing and little Cambodian children playing in the additional ruins situated to the side of the path. Countless tourists had taken their spot either side of the walk way, behind 2 separate ponds, which again, reflected 'Ankor Wat' beautifully. Darren and I stood to the right of the path and watched as the sun broke over the towers of the ruin and lit up the rocks in a glaze of orange. It was hard to catch such a vision on camera, since the light was so intense and the sun was obviously in front of us, but it was just beautiful. Once the sun had risen, we continued on to the main entrance of the 'Wat'. Inside we needed to climb ridiculously steep and deep steps to reach the key part of the temple. There was no other way to get in except to clamber up this sheer accent. 'Don't look down' was our moto and it seemed like everyone else had the same idea. I was amazed to see numerous elderly people hauling themselves up and was slightly worried as to how we were all going to get back down again. It was a bit of an experience that everyone endured together and once at the top, we were rewarded with the most spectacular view over the grounds. The main temple was closed in on all 4 sides by adjoining temples connected in a square shape. We could see the lengthy walkway which ran under 2 or 3 archways before reaching the first entrance at the lake. We were stood high over the various ruins and I had to clutch to one of ancient walls to calm my nerves from the vertigo. We ventured in to the walkways around the temple and got "snap happy" (as Sarah would say), with the camera. There were 4 core towers at each corner of the ruin and fantastic engravings throughout. To be honest, being the highlight of the ruins in Cambodia and one of the modern "Wonders of the World", I assumed it would have been kept in better nick. The walls were literally crumbling and there was no one supervising the area to make sure no body was climbing on the rocks of grafetiing. We saw evidence of Thai graffiti on some of the stone and unfortunately some of the engravings were wearing away (which was understandable due to the age of the ruin). However, if would have been nice to see some evidence of restoration or even preservation of the temple. In saying that, you couldn't help to be fascinated by the ruin and astounded by some of the intricate carvings and stone work. We spent a couple of hours walking around the elevated part of the temple before sussing out how on earth we were to get back down to ground level. We stupidly assumed there must be some easier way out, seeing as there were numerous elderly people needing to get down also and unless we intended on abseiling, it looked pretty impossible. We stood at the top of the steps looking doubtful, when a Chinese man came past and began edging his way down slowly. It was clear there was no other way, so, onto my bottom I got, and edged down step by step. I was genuinely crapping myself and a group of crazy "Saga holiday" wifies overtook me! I blatantly underestimated the OAP. Finally back on solid land, we made our way back to Mr Tuk tuk driver for our next ruin. Now that the sun was up, the heat was failry beginning to blast down on us. Twas a nice break to be riding along with the breeze in our faces again. Next we visited a temple with 50 or so towers to it. These were to represent the states in Cambodia at the time. We were lucky to have a fab tuk tuk driver that spoke great English and knew his stuff about the temples. We watched American geezers going around with their private tour guides telling them a whole load of irrelevant stuff (although I'm sure they found it very interesting) and probably costing them a pcket! Whereas Darren and I were happy hearing 5 minutes worth about each temple from Mr Tuk Tuk at no extra price! In each temple there were Buddhist shrines where we could light an incense stick and pray for good luck. We did so once, then realized it was just a ploy for them to get money. After being stung for $2, we decided to decline in future. Next we visited the temple of the reclining Buddha. Unfortunately in was in restoration so we were unable to see it at all but the rest of the temple was cool and at least some restoration was going on. We then wandered along the side of the temple to see the "Elephant wall" where as you can imagine, there were numerous stone elephants lined beside one another to make a wall. Then there were the "Lepor Kings", which were gruesome stone figures depicting the Kings that caught Leprosy. As we walked around this specific temple, we were ambushed by little Cambodian girls selling flutes, bracelets and scarves. They played beautifully on the flute but then stopped to shout "1 for $1" and gradually better their offer for "4 for $1!" I felt awful since these were hand carved and painted flutes, probably made by these girls and they were selling them for like 15p. We also passed a elderly mine victim begging beside the temple and initially we passed him by but then I couldn't help feeling like- why does everyone say it is wrong to give money to beggars- when it is obvious that this man with an artificial leg in awful condition and children in rags need it badly? So in the end we gave to the elderly man and continued on to the next ruin. The next set of stones overlooked the lake and Darren and I were enjoying a peaceful breeze and break from walking about in the sweltering heat, when we were shouted at from three sides- "T-shirt- $5!" 'No thanks' says Darren. "Ankor Wat Book $7"- 'No thank you', "Ice cream $2"..'No' and so on until we had pretty much been offered everything from their stalls. Just as we were beginning to turn to go and the shouts were getting desperate, one woman shouted - "What do you want?!" I just thought- 'oh dear, they obviously rely so heavily on each passing by tourist to buy something'. During all of this chaos, there was a teeny little Cambodian girl near us, must have only been 5 years old. She had little black bits in her teeth and was grubby all over but still the cutest little thing. She tried selling me some bracelets. I wanted to take them, but I didn't think I'd wear them. She then handed me a piece of paper and said- "this for free". I opened it to find a little drawing of flowers and pictures of what I think were supposed to be ruins, and at the top was written- "Hello, my name is umm". She then gave a similar one to Darren. Sarah told me the kids in Cambodia were the sweetest things ever and this had just proven it. I wanted to pick her up and take her home, she was just too cute and had a little sweet smile. Some people would say- 'the kids have obviously been tought to capture the hearts of tourists to get their money'. But I don't see how any child at 5 years old can be taught to make someone feel the way she made us feel. So of course, I bought the bracelets! Finally, we were off to the Lara Croft Tombs, where the scenes from the film were taken. Mr Tuk tuk loved this place and said it was his fave out of all of the ruins- twas just a shame that we left it till last since by this point we were oober heat exhausted and would happily jump in a cold shower. But I'd been looking forward to this specific temple all day and was chuffed to finally reach it. It was indeed exceedingly coolio. There were absolutely enormous trees bursting through the roofs of the temples, with their roots entwining through the bricks and taking hold of the surrounding walls. It looked (obviously) just as the scenery in Lara Croft looked and was breath taking to see. We took a walk around the ruins and I absolutely loved the powerful sight of these trees intertwined with the rocks. As we began to leave the temple and were walking down a path shrouded in trees either side, we were approached by a guy selling little instruments made from wood, which made a noise like the didgeridoo. We bought a couple since we genuinely knew some of our friends would like them. After a very long morning and feeling literally weak at the knees after our escapades, it was time to head back to the hotel and get a well earned lunch. We couldn't believe it was only 1pm- since we had been up since 5am, it was becoming a long day. We went for lunch in a lovely café attached to one the poshest hotel in Siem Reip. It felt so luxurious, sitting in air con, sipping on a freshly squeezed orange juice, with a variety of pastries and cakes to choose from. We decided that we had pretty much rattled through the parts of Ankor Wat that we wanted to, so thought we ought to book our flights home for the following day. To do so, we had to take a tuk tuk into the Bangkok airlines office and buy our tickets there. They were ridiculously expensive but were the only airline flying from Siem Reip to Bangkok since it is a spanking new airport, and we were not up for taking the bus again! Once we had sorted our flights, we thought we'd treat ourselves to a traditional Cambodian Massage. We found a place in the centre of town and were 'escorted' upstairs. This is when we began to get a bit dubious as to what kind of massage this would be. We agreed that if there was anything dodgy- we'd be out of there in a flash. But it was all ook and we started with a surprisingly cold food bath with various leaves and flowers. The poor women had to scrub our worn out feet with the leaves, then leave them to soak. We were then led through to a separate room and told to change in to Cambodian shirt and trousers. Each cubicle had a mattress on the ground and curtains either side. Luckily they pulled the curtains back so that we were together. It was a slightly uncomfortable massage, to say the least. They started off by placing both hands over our bowls and pushing down with all of their body weight (lucky I went to the toilet before hand!) They then continued to press their fingers into the pressure points in my temple and neck- gradually increasing the pressure until it was damn painful. They pulled and cracked every bone possible- and not really in a good way, stretched our muscles and bend my wrists so far back I thought it may indeed snap. Towards the end of the 'massage', my masseuse put pressure on my face- over my nose and mouth and for a moment, I considered that I may actually e in the process of getting suffocated. But thankfully she released the pressure in a few seconds. Once the massage was over, we both felt a sense of relief- but I think that was purely because the pain was over! We said it was an experience, but one that we would not be in a hurry to do again! It was now time to sit down for a nice meal and have a few well deserved drinks after an exhausting day. A few drinks and a fantastic meal later and we started a game of pool with a few more drinks. We met a random American guy who we taught some Scotts to since all he had previously known was some un repeatable Scottish comments. A few drinks turned in to one to many, so we headed back to the Hotel. Along the way, a few kids tried to sell us books, so Darren came out with- "I can't read" since they wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. But one of the girls was either exceedingly sharp, or she had heard excuses before, replied "I can read to you". She was only about 8 years old and we were both taken aback. Finally back at the hotel, we got the rest we most definitely needed.