We have now officially experienced the longest journey of our trip so far. Forget the 28.5 hour journey we did from Malaysia to Thailand... we have now embarked on a grand total of 30.5 hours! It's a new record! We left Vientiane at 5pm on Sunday night and boarded our 'VIP' bus (which is of even worse quality than good old Stagecoach) bound for Bangkok. The cross over into Thailand went smooth enough... as infact did the whole journey. None of us really got any sleep during the 13.5 hours we were on the bus and we arrived in Bangkok at 6.30am the following morning, tired, grumpy and in desperate need of a shower. But there was no stopping. We straight away booked another bus direct to Siem Reap and it left at 7.30am. So after a quick breakfast at the 24 hour McDonalds we boarded yet another VIP bus. We reached the border at about 2pm and just about managed to cross it. The whole process took about 2 hours and it was very badly organised. But just after four we stepped over the line and we were in Cambdia! A small bus took us to the bus station where we got on our third VIP bus. We only just about made it on the small bus as the roads in Cambodia are so terrible. Apparently Thailand refuses to let the Cambodes make their roads better as it means more people choose to fly with Thai Airlines to get into Cambodia. And so if the roads were better more people would travel by bus therefore decreasing Thai Airlines profits! Our coach bumped and bounced for 7 solid hours before we arrived at a dodgy, backstreet guesthouse at 11.30pm on Monday night. We were too tired to argue with them or to look for somewhere else to stay so we just fell onto the rock hard beds they provided and went straight to sleep!

The following day we woke up after a loooong sleep and immediately booked out of dodgy guesthouse before hailing a tuk tuk to take us into the centre of Siem Reap. We found a much more pleasant place to stay and spent the afternoon exploring the surrounding areas. Everywhere we went, young children would come running up to us trying to sell us postcards or small souvenirs representing Cambodia. And every single child we came across was just sooo unbelievably beautiful. They were so hard to turn away with their big, brown eyes and pearly white smiles and they really didn't understand the words 'no thank-you'. This is how a general meeting with one of the children goes...

Child: Hello, you want to buy postcard?

Us: No thank you 

Child : Only 1 dollar?

Us: No thank you

Child: Where you from?

Us: England

Child: England capital London. England part of United Kingdom. United Kindom have four country. England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales. Ireland capital Dublin. Scotland capital Edinburgh. Wales capital Cardiff. Prime Minister England is Tony Blair.

Us: Ooh well done.

Child: You want postcards?

Us: NO!

(We tried a couple of times to say that we were from France and Germany, but then the children began to talk to us in French and German so we had to scarper!)

And it also seemed that Siem Reap was very popular with the Japanese and Korean middle aged tour groups and although the bars surrounding the centre were plentiful, we thought a good nights sleep would be better than boogieing the night away with the said tour groups!

The next day we woke up nice and early and went in search of a tuk tuk driver who could take us to see the temples of Angkor. Luckily a charming fellow drove passed us shouting 'Tuk Tuk?' and as he was wearing a helmet we thought he was a very safe chappie so we sorted out a deal with him. After getting a three day pass to the temples he drove us to the biggest temple(which is one of the seven manmade wonders of the world!), Angkor Wat. Unfortunately as soon as we arrived the heavens opened, and a huge rainstorm proceeded to fall around us. Luckily a young boy was nearby selling raincoats which we quickly snapped up! However, they are not your average raincoats as you will see from the pictures we put up soon. They are like different coloured bin liners with a hood and arms. We proudly put on our new purchases and sauntered down the path leading into the temple, feeling like the next Kate Moss! We spent a few hours looking around the many corridors and chambers of the temple which was very impressive and grand. The Cambodes are very good builders! Unfortunately, because it was raining we didn't feel as though we experienced the true atmosphere, but nevertheless, the rain may have dampened the walls but it did not dampen our explorer spirits! One good thing that came from the rain was the fact that it seemed to have scared away all of the other tourists, and so we practically had the whole temple to ourselves to explore! The next temple we saw was called the Bayon temple (we think!). It is a temple with hundreds of stone faces carved into the rocks. Again we were very impressed with the detailedness of the designs. After this, as it was nearing the sunset time, our driver drove us to the bottom of a hill where people go to climb to watch the sunset. We looked up the steep slope of the hill with dread in our eyes. But we powered on and after 30 minutes of sweating and heavy breathing we reached the top of the hill where the temple was situated. But to get to the spot where the best view of the sunset can be seen a bit more climbing was needed. Up the steepest steps known to mankind. They were practically vertical. But our desperate wanting to see the sunset ensured we got to the top and settled down ready for the show to begin. It was 4pm and the sky was darkening so we thought the sun would be setting soon. But according to someone sitting near us the sun would not be setting until 6.15pm... so we were slightly early. We decided to hang around but after an hour rain clouds had formed over our heads and our thoughts turned to the steep steps - with the added horror that if it rained they would become slippery nightmares. So we though 'sod the sunset' and scurried/clung on for dear life down the steps. And as we safely touched down the heavens opened once again. So on went the raincoats. As we trundled back down the hill most people had umbrellas so it was a delight to spot someone in a raincoat too! We gave the thumbs up to those wearing the same garmentation as us... forming a unique raincoat bond with them! We found our little tuk tuk man waiting for us at the bottom and we jumped into it and headed homewards. That night we went for an Indian and it was the most tasteful meal we have eaten! We practically licked the bowl clean! However, once we had settled into bed later that night all three of us felt an uneasy rumbling in our stomachs accompanied with a slight feeling of nausea. Must be the excitedness of Marthas's approaching birthday...

Today (Martha's Birthday) we had arranged for our tuk tuk man to pick us up at 5am so we could go and watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Unfortunately 10 minutes into the journey Neem realised she had forgotten her pass to get into the temple so we had to go back to retrieve it. When we finally got to the temple it seemed that the sun had already risen, and the sky was rather cloudy so we didn't actually see that much! But still, it was nice to awaken so early to experience the atmosphere! After, we felt a rumble in out tummies and decided it was breakfast time! We invited out tuk tuk man to dine with us and becasue he was so lovely we bought him his breakfast! We had compiled a list of the temples we wanted to see to give to our tuk tuk driver, and typical us... we did not do our research beforehand. Two of the temples were about an hours drive away but wanting to look as though we had researched very indepthly into what we wanted to see we insisted we go! So our first stop was the "Lady Temple'. It is a temple filled with carvings of ladies, surprisingly! No one lady is the same, differing in hairstyle or clothing. In all of the temples we had seen so far, a new marvel had alo appeared before our eyes. The worlds tiniest frogs! At first we thought the movement at out feet was merely bugs slithering around. But on closer inspection we discovered they were tiny, tiny frogs - no bigger than a little finger nail! We gleefully spent a few minutes picking them up and letting them hop all over our hands! After, we hopped back into the tuk tuk and moved on to the next temple. This one was about 35km outside of Siem Reap and along a very potholed and dusty road. Our tuk tuk man told us that tuk tuks don't usually go down this road but he would give it a try. So for the next hour, his poor tuk tuk battled fiercly against the rickety wooden bridges, steep drops, torrential rain and giant craters! Thankfully we reached our destinations, the River of a Thousand Lingas, safely. Or so we thought. Our lack of research came back to haunt us. It turns out that the river was at the end of a 2km walk, UPHILL, through Cambodian jungle. Our tuk tuk driver laughed when he saw our faces and then offered to accompany us on the walk. 'Damn it' we thought, 'there is no way we can hide in a tree for an hour and then walk back out'. So off we went. A short way into our trek we passed a fellow climber. At first glimpse we mistook her for a boy - not hard seeing as she was wearing male clothing, had a mohican, stubble and very hairy legs. We got chatting to her and as soon as we had got over the EXTREME tomboyishness of her we disovered she was very funny and really nice! She seemed to take away the pain of the steep uphill climb. And then our tuk tuk man showed us a snake amongst the leaves. We stared deeply into the bushes but could see nothing. Until the tiny snake moved its tail slightly. It was flourescent green and sooo small. Our guide warned us to stay away because one bite from it was deadly! But it was very exciting to experience wild nature in front of our very eyes! We continued our struggle and eventually reached the temple. It wasn't a building, basically it was figures carved into the natural rocks in the jungle and on the floor of the river. The word Lingas roughly translates as phallic symbols or willies. So on the floor of the river were 1000 willies! After seeing this interesting temple we tropped back downhill, where we stopped and had a spot of lunch before departing. We said our farewells to Sally (a strangely feminine name for such a masculine lady!) and began the treachorous journey back into Siem Reap. On the way back our tuk tuk man asked if Sally was a 'ladyboy' and we explained to him that she was gay. He laughed so hard he nearly fell of his bike. Our final temple of the day was the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider temple. So called because it is featured in the Tomb Raider films. The temple itself is just a simple building but there are about 10 trees growing very oddly around it. They were literally growing out of the temple walls. Some were so huge you couldn't see the top. They wound all around the inside and outside of the temple and the roots just sprang out of nowhere. It really was quite phenomenal! We actually got lost inside because the trees just made it so confusing! Luckily we found our way out. The time was nearing 4pm and it was begining to sink in that we had woken up 12 hours previously and been on the move all day. We were extremely tired. Martha's birthday or not we needed an early night and so after a small meal we went straight to bed!

The following day we left to see the floating village. Basically the river that runs through the whole of Asia, the Mekong River, gets too full during rainy season and so backflows and forms a lake below Siem Reap. Sometimes the lake can get to 100km wide. The people living by the river have to build their houses so that they float. They literally make their houses out of bamboo as it floats, and when they float to a destination they like they secure themselves by sticking a stick of bamboo into the lakes bottom. We boarded a boat and set sail into the village in the middle of a lake. It is like a real little village and the people get from house to house via little paddle boats! And one year, crocodiles were discovered in the lake and so a crocodile farm was built! From previous experience with the little children trying to sell you stuff, we discovered that if you give them a sweet they get distracted. So the previous day we had bought a bag of lollipops. In the floating village there were yet more begging children and so we began to hand out our lollipops. By the time we had run out it seemed as if the villages entire population of children had gathered round us wanting a lollipop! We left the floating village at about 4.30pm just in time to head back and catch the sunset over Angkor Wat. We entered the temple and feeling the last few days catching up on us we sat down on some steps. We must have been looking unusually beautiful because a Cambodian woman ran over to us and sat down beside us giggling. Her friend, who spoke English, ran up and explained that she wanted to have her picture taken with us. We obliged and put on our cheesy grins. Our smiling faces seemed to attract more attention, and Cambodian ladies friends all ran over waiting in line to have their picture take. Their happened to be a photographer wandering around at that specific time and suddenly a rather large group of young, hormonal, Cambodian boys walked past. Spotting us posing, a photographer nearby and a great opportunity they formed a queue. One hour later our photo session came to a close. We literally posed for about 700 photos, each with a different individual, an entire group or single shots! We also have photographic evidence of our new fans... soon to be put up! And note that the picture only shows about half of them! On our way out of the temple, several of them came back for yet more photos! Our cheesy grins were wearing thin at this point! And we completely missed the sunset! We headed back for our final night and had a rather splendiferous meal at a restaurant, aptly named Dead Fish.

Our bus left at 12 the next day, heading for Phnom Penh, Cambodias capital! We will update from there! Bye Bye for now! xxx