October the 10th

We both felt a bit ropey when we woke up ready for our 6 hour bus journey to Siem Reap - perfect timing. Paul was sick after eating what we assumed to be a dodgy pork and ginger meal the night before so we played it safe and were effectively nil by mouth for the rest of the day until we arrived.

The bus left at 8.30am and was packed full of a mixture of tourists and locals, but there was air conditioning which was a godsend. Everything was pretty chilled out until the bloke at the front decided to put on some Khmer karaoke hits on the DVD player which was pretty loud. Luckily no-one sang (although we both cried internally) and we both had our ipods to hand to drown out the tunes. There was one stop on the way, but the 6 hours went pretty quickly, despite us not feeling the best.

We got picked up as planned when we got off the bus and got a tuk-tuk to our guest house. It was pretty hectic when we got off though as the local moto and cab drivers were desperate for fares and were literally shut out of the front gate of the bus station until all the tourists were off the bus. We could see their feet under the gate and hear them banging on it and shouting and when it opened all hell broke loose. Luckily our driver led us trough the melee, but at one point I thought we might get torn to pieces.

Babel, our guest house was 10 minutes across town and was great - full air conditioning, very clean and the sweetest smelling guesthouse yet. After a quick change of clothes we left pretty much straight away ready to see the sunset over the jungle. It was a bit of a crush getting up the steps of our chosen temple viewpoint as we fought our way through loads of other rabid tourists all competing for the view, but it was worth it to see a great sunset. We were expecting it to be over some of the temples, but we had to settle for the jungle instead which was equally good to be fair although it was bloody hot.

After a quick trip back to town we headed out to a cool local street called 'the alley' (oo er) for dinner. It was packed with loads of different restaurants and we got some really cheap, great tasting Khmer food to round off the day.


October the 11th

Up and out early today for a busy day of temple viewing. We decided to start with the 'big tour' and do the smaller one the day after and worked out an itinerary with our ever present tuk-tuk driver that meant we worked our way up from smaller temples to big ones at the end of the day. We'd heard that 1 day was nowhere near enough to view all of the Angkor Wat so were glad we had a couple of days to check it out.

The site is unbelievably huge and it's no surprise this is supposed to be the biggest religious site in the world. We started off with the Banteay Srea temple which was a 30km drive away and which took about an hour and a half in our tuk-tuk come motorised lawnmower. We'd expected each of the temples we saw to be a bit much of a muchness, but were glad to find that each has its own character to keep you interested. Some of the smaller ones were a bit quieter as well which was good.

We followed the first one with Banteay Samre, Preah Rup, Ta Prohm (where they filmed Tomb Raider, though no sign of Ms Jolie) and then finished with Preah Kahn. My favourite was Ta Prohm as it had loads of big tree roots and huge trees growing all over it, gradually breaking it down. Cue many photos of said roots Mum and Dad McBeath - remember our trip to Whipsnade safari park when all i did was climb on the trees - it was a bit like that...

It was hot and the local wildlife was out in force so we saw a fair few lizards and one massive spider which looked intimidating / about to pounce on someone. Sarah took a photo while I stood a safe distance away and had a word with myself.

Later that evening we headed out for a curry, carefully unpacking our waterproofs from the rucksack... about 5 minutes into our meal, the rain drops started. It proceeded to chuck it down all through dinner - our first proper taste of Rainy season, Asian style...

We sat having another beer, contemplating our options - sit it out or make a dash - we decided to dash, but fortunately were saved by some very enterprising tuk tuk drivers dressed in full length waterproofs with massive umbrella's for the idiot westerners in flip flops and shorts... Hurrah. although felt sorry for the poor driver as he made his way through the flooded streets so we doubled his fare (to a massive two dollars)...

Oct 12th - the big one

We had decided to sack off the dawn temple raid the previous evening and fortunately this was a good thing - still raining a little bit the next morning as our tuk tuk made its way through the flood waters to Angkor Wat - the biggest temple of the lot.

It didn't disappoint, although Paul didn't quite have to pick his jaw up off the floor as Lonely Planet had promised.

After that, we pootled off around Bayon - lots and lots of the king's face from every imaginable angle - egotist, moi? then Baphou - major restoration, and a bit of a wander around Angkor Thom - the city, including a stroll on the Elephant Parade.

By this stage, we were seriously hot, and getting a bit templed out if we're being honest. Stopped for lunch, and decided to call it a day. Our tuk tuk driver didn't look too shocked by us throwing in the towel - but we'd done almost 2 full days. God knows how people keep going for a week here...

So overall, temples were pretty amazing - the space is just crazily big. The "you want one water, one guide book, one scarf" women can get a bit much at times, but they're tend to chill out when they realise you ain't buying - the kids are like a swarm, and much more insistent - as we saw from the table next to us at lunch, when one girl made the mistake of showing interest in one of the kid's bracelets - red rag to a bull. we saw them scurrying off, with a long line of kids brandishing various tat following behind. They have got quite funny chat though..."You want one scarf?" "No, i don't want one thanks" "You want two then?!" "No i don't want two either" "You don't want for yourself, you give your friend as lovely present"... and so on.

Heading to Kampot tomorrow, via PP again. Haven't managed to book any accommodation online, so fingers crossed....