On our last full day in Siem Reap, we had another early start and grabbed some breakfast before calling Vanna to use his tuk tuk services again. We were a bit worried as the flooding was even worse than the day before, but Vanna made it and we were soon on our way, bouncing through the flooded streets in and out of hidden potholes until we got out of town and were able to cruise out to the temples.

Our first stop of the day was back at Angkor Wat, where we walked back across the causeway and through the flooded plain of the main compound within the walls. On our last visit, it was cloudy to begin with and ended with torrential rain, but on this morning it was lovely and sunny and it was great to see the temple in this more flattering light.

The objective of our visit was to spend some time wandering around the remainder of the bas-relief galleries which we had missed on our last visit. We walked from the west entrance south, then along the south side of the temple before checking out the east side as far as the east gate. The carvings were uniformly beautiful and fantastic to look at, covering the length of the walls 3m in height.

Along the south side we saw one long panel detailing a royal procession, followed by an imaginative rendering of the 37 heavens and hells of Hindu mythology. This particular section contained depictions of sinners suffering various gruesome fates. The best scene of all was on the east side, the Churning of the Sea of Milk. This depicted two groups, gods and asuras or demons, working together pulling on the body of huge nagas which in turn rotated the mountain Mandara in the sea of milk, to produce an elixir of immortality. The scene was so well carved, with all the characters brilliantly realised and lots of little details like fish and other sea creatures being chopped to pieces by the mountain as it churned the waters.

After spending ages looking at the carvings, we had a walk out from the east side of Angkor Wat over to some trees. Here we found a group of monkeys playing around which we watched for a while, in particular one small group which was clambering all over two parked scooters, fascinated by the moving parts and the mirrors.

After watching the monkeys we wandered back through the grounds of Angkor Wat, skirting around the main temple, then back out through the west entrance and across the causeway to meet Vanna.

Back in the tuk tuk, we drove up through the incredible Angkor Thom again, and followed the 'big circuit' road through the trees passing the temples we had visited on our first day, until we arrived at Ta Prohm.

Along the way we had to pass a bus which had become stuck in mud at the side of the road, leaving its passengers to walk to the temples.

At Ta Prohm, we parked at a busy area of roadside food stalls amongst other tuk tuks and buses, then walked through the large stone gateway at the entrance to the temple. Because of the flooding we had to walk across planks laid across some gigantic puddles, before following a long muddy track through the jungle until we reached Ta Prohm.

We found the temple to be much like Preah Khan, the impressive overgrown temple we had explore on our first day at the temples, in that it was a maze-like monastery complex with interconnected shrines. However, this temple spread out over a larger area and also had some utterly phenomenal trees growing out of it in various spots, making for some incredible photo opportunities.

We walked around this wonderland for a while, looking at the tumbled and overgrown ruins from all angles, taking loads of photos, and soaking in the incredible aged and eerie atmosphere of the place. A little rain which decided to fall as we looked around didn't impair our exploration at all, and only added to the atmosphere.

After looking around the temple we walked back out the long path and found Vanna at one of the food stalls. We ordered some lunch and paid for Vanna to have something too, which we ate before hopping back in the tuk tuk for the journey to the last temple we planned to visit, Banteay Srei.

To get here we had to drive first along a rather flooded stretch of road with some bad potholes, before getting away out into the countryside, which was a great journey in itself. The weather cleared up beautifully as we drove out through the lush paddies, some flooded and with people swimming in them for fun, and basic villages of wooden houses along the roadside populated by as many skinny cows as people.

We eventually reached Banteay Srei, after falling asleep for a bit in the tuk tuk. Vanna parked up and we approached the temple, out in the middle of the beautiful countryside, in the blazing sunshine. On the way we were approached by a girl with horrific burn scars who shambled around the car park area smiling and repeating 'ba-na-na' over and over then laughing to herself. She was obviously a permananent feature of the site as all the other staff we saw around addressed her with their own 'ba-na-na's which seemed to amuse the poor creature no end.

We found the temple site, occupying a relatively small area of the picturesque countryside. Apart from some of the outer walls, the majority of the temple was built from beautiful red sandstone which had been carved into the most intricate and stunning designs. The temple was on a very small scale, almost like a shrunken version of some of the other temples we had visited. Even the doorways were small and the gaps between some of the towers were tiny.

We explored this wonderful temple for a while, admiring the carved doorframes, lintels, pediments and wall panels. In most cases our admiration was performed from a distance as a cordon had been erected around the central towers and 'libraries' of the temple. We were still able to get a decent look at the carvings, which looked great in the bright afternoon sunshine.

After checking out the full extent of the temple, we walked back to the car park via some souvenir stalls where we got somme cold water and got back in the tuk tuk for the journey back to Siem Reap. I mananged to stay awake for most of the journey, somehow. We entered Siem Reap only to find the floods at their worst, with the river burst all over the main roads running near it.

We were dropped at Pub Street where we paid Vanna for his services over the past few days, then went to the Temple Club again for a jug of G&T (and another free t-shirt). After having a drink there, we decided to wade across Pub Street to Angkor What?, another bar on the other side of the street.

We had no sooner sat down in Angkor What? than I spotted a familiar face at a table in the corner. I walked over and discovered that it was David, the New Zealander we had met in Hoi An who was cycling around Southeast Asia. He was with his sister, Andrea, who had met up with him for part of the trip. Lucy and I joined the pair and between us we finished off a few beers and some more cocktail pitchers before going for a game of pool inside the bar.

We played a few closely-fought games on the table, managing even though half of the balls were missing, and after yet more pitchers, this time of cuba libre, we decided to get some food together. We nipped to a restaurant next door which offered Cambodian BBQ. This turned out to be just like Lao BBQ in that a domed, holey pan thing was placed over a pit of coals in our table and then filled with broth and used to cook meat and vegetables. However, the selection of meats was what set this particular BBQ apart from those we had eaten before. We had chicken, beef, fish, snake, frog, and crocodile, all of which we cooked up and devoured in a slightly drunken but fun feeding frenzy.

After dinner it was getting quite late and we had an early start for our bus to Kampot the next morning so we said our goodbyes to David and Andrea and then tried to find a tuk tuk driver prepared to brave the floods to take us back to our hotel. We found one chap who was up for the challenge, and hopped in his vehicle. Our driver made a valiant attempt to get us back to our hotel but in the end took a poor route and we ended up being abandoned about half a kilometre from our hotel in the middle of the flood.

After explaining why we wouldn't pay the full amount we'd agreed on since the guy hadn't taken us all the way to our destination and had instead dumped us in a dark, flooded street (something it took him a while to understand) we set off to get back to the hotel. Luckily we had our head torch with us and this, combined with a good mood thanks to the numerous cocktails we had imbibed, saw us getting home with damp knees but high spirits a short while later.

Since we had to leave very early in the morning we had to pack our things before going to bed, which we eventually did very late. After a few hours sleep we were up again and carried our stuff downstairs to the hotel lobby to wait for our pickup. Since we were too early for breakfast but had paid for a room including breakfast, the hotel staff gave us some water and bananas as a substitute.

Soon a minibus emerged from the flooded street onto the driveway of the hotel. We hopped in and were driven out to the bus station where we had arrived, where we transferred to a big coach for the trip south to Kampot.