Day 2.

Had to rise early as we were on the boat to Siem Reap at 7 am. We organised with the hotel to get there early so we could actually get a seat and not just sit on the roof for the entire 7 hours, but surprisingly we were late and ended up there anyway. The roof meant that we were in the open sun for 7 hours, and some fared worse then others (Lins). Actually, much to the surprise of many who would read this i am the only one that has not been burnt yet! Although it was not all the comfortable, the boat trip was a real highlight. The fishign villages with the huts on the river on stilts were amazing, as was the landscape. It was especially fun when we were going down these little canals that were thinner then the boat so the people on the roof were getting hit by branches. When we arrived in Siem Reap we were attacked by the tuk tuk drivers that were like a pack of hyenas and actually boarded the boat trying to get your patronage. Luckily we knew where we wanted to stay so it wasn't a problem. After dropping off the bags we had a look around town and were hassled by all the kids trying to sell us postcards and crappy bracelets. Saying "no thankyou" apparently means "please hassle me more, i might change my mind" because the would just follow you for minutes saying "maybe you buy my bracelet" over and over again! They also had been taught some sales techniques, the favourite being asking where you were from and then reeling off the capital of the country and some things about it, "canberra", "g'day mate", "kangaroos" and so on an so forth.. Amazingly, this didn't translate into sales.. It wasn't all that bad however, I got some entertainment from them, testing them, and playing them in naughts and crosses (they were damn good, almost as good as me). Had an adequate meal and an early night because we had another early morning coming up.

Day 3

4:30 am, no wait, 1 snooze, 4:40am! Ouch. But it was worth it, we were off to see the sunrise at one of if not the most famous temple in the world Angkor Wat. It was amazing, the photos don't do it justice, has to be experienced. After that we walked around looking at the most amazing temples in extreme heat. The temples were brilliant, both for the sheer size of the structures but also the intricate detailing in all the carvings. For one of the temples the carvings stopped suddenly, because the man doing them died. He had been going for 50 consecutive years, and still didn't get finished, which can give you an idea of the size and detail of these temples (or that he was very lazy). The favourite temple overall was more for its natural beauty then manmade. It had been evergrown at many places with these huge trees and roots. All the rock for the temples (and there is a very substantial amount) were taken from the mountain 75km away and transported by elephants. We saw about 10-12 and were exhausted by noon, so went back for naps. There were only 3 of us for dinner that night because Lins had a bought of sunstroke and was chucking all afternoon.