Welcome to the Siem Reap blog entry. Loads to talk about. Siem Reap is a small town which is probably supported solely by the tourists coming to see the 11th Century jungle temples recently listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.

Day 1 was arrival day with the afternoon spent shopping in the market, and having a spa. Lins had a foot pedicure, and after much encouragement, Ian agreed to an all over (almost all over!) oil body massage with hot herbal compress for an hour. Surprisingly enjoyable as was the shower afterwards which was like something from a 6* hotel bathroom with sandstone walls and floor. Lins walked away with french polished toes and Ian walked away smelling nice. Dinner was at the Singing Tree Cafe, down a side road and away from the hustle bustle of the town. A vegeterian retreat, it served fantastic food and is a little oasis of chilled-outness. Followed by a bear of 2 in Angkor What bar and a few games of pool (I won't say who won).

Day 2 was the start of temple tour day. The company we are travelling with organised a tour guide for the day and we toured a major temple (name forgotten) followed by a small one out in the countryside. See the pics. We won't go into detail because there are so many temple that it'll mean little unless you have a map in front of you. In the afternon we went to a Landmine museum, run by a ex-Vietnam war NVA soldier who used to lay mines and then spent his post-war years de-mining for 1% of the cost that commercial comapnies cost (however, he did seem to use slightly questionable standards! - bit of a bustmans holiday for Ian). On the way back to the hotel, we climbed another temple to watch the sunset, but unfortunately due to haze and cloud, the sunset was just like a dimmer switch being operated, and not the glorious sky colours we had seen before.

Day 2 was a visit to Angkor Wat, the most famous of the temples and the one time Capital. We got there before sunrise (04:45) and with our headtorches we looked like Welsh miners walking to the pit. We found a spot to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat and but again, haze and cloud prevented the build up of colours in the sky. Pictures still look good though. We had some loner photographer taking pictures in our direction; we weren't sure if he was taking pics of us or the temple. In the end, Ian went and asked him and it was us as a group, so watch out for us in advertisements for Siem Reap! Slightly un-nerving all the same - I have told Lindsay not to wear her Hollywood VIP sunglasses anymore - it draws too much attention! Touring the temple was great; even though we were getting templed-out (having visited about 10 in the last 4 weeks) it was still the biggest and most ornate temple seen so far.

In the afternoon we went to a temple which used to be covered by the jungle and has been only partially restored. Apparantly, it was used in the Tomb Raider films, but I didn't recognise it. Lots of trees growing out of buildings - again see photos. Dinner that night was in a classy tourist restarurant (Soup Dragon in Siem Reap) with really nice food, and a great chilled out night.

We are off to Bankgok tomorrow which is a 12 hour bus ride on bad roads, not looking forward to it.

Thanks for the messages on the message board. We don't often get a chance to reply, but the more messages we get, the more we write. Take care all...