Finally made it to Cambodia, after various bus rides from Bangkok and a slightly nervous border entry for our tour guide (recent turmoil between the two countries means border crossing on the Thailand side was pretty nerving for him) but we got through and arrived at our, eerrmm very basic hotel, large insects included. The first day in Siem Reap started at 4.45am!!!! Headed to Ankor Wat to see sunrise at the temple but due to the monsoon season wasn't too great. We soon got into the templing spirit and by the end of the day I was all templed out (after I made an extremely specific request to our tour guide "I wanna see the Tomb Raider temple." At this point I couldn't have sounded less cultured or common.) To my prevail we went to see Ta Prohm (yeah now I'm cultured haha) and can honestly say it is amazing. All the temples our so stunning and have so much history. We ended the day off with going to see the sunset at Ankor Wat, overcasting still made it impossible to see the sky, let alone the sun, but we still enjoyed it! Well until I stacked it down the wooden stairs in front of the temple, monks and the rest of the hundreds of vistors.... DAMN FLIPFLOPS.

Thursday we asked our guide Komphak to take us to an orphanage as we'd seen so many Cambodian children begging on the streets. We went shopping in a local market for food, gift and school supplies and took it to them. They were soooo beautiful and we all totally fell in love with them. I know why Angelina Jolie adopted one now haha. After that we headed up to the Great Lake to a floating village and went for lunch at a Cambodians house. The food is all made fresh as they all live off of the land. Because these people live on the outskirts of the lake in stilted houses, they can just fish off of the front porch, its crazy. And when I say live off of the land I mean it, they eat EVERYTHING...including ants, lizards, scorpions, cockroaches, spiders...you name they eat it!!!

The next couple of days were filled with travelling, a bicycle ride round an island to see local life in Kampong Cham and an overnight stay in Takeo which is in the middle of the jungle. We arrived here with no expectations which was lucky. We were entertained by the local women as they cooked a gorgeous meal for us and then headed to their houses (when I say houses I mean a wooden shack). We all walked up excited but a little nervous to what we would be sleeping on/in, but to be honest they had made so much effort to make sure we were comfortable it really didn't matter. Although this did mean going to bed at their time, 8pm and getting up at 5am. Because this time of the morning is so unheard of for us, they kindly employed a morning wake up call for us by the rooster, dogs, cows, ducks, pigs and chickens. After out lovely introduction with the farm yard animals who lived below the stilts on the house, we did a 3 hour trek into the jungle to a pool below a waterfall for a refreshing dip. We then headed back on the road to Sihhanoukville. When I say road I really mean dirt track with huge pot holes or river running through them (except for the major cities). There are NO RULES on these roads either, no indicators, no traffic lights, no roundabouts (this applies everywhere). Basically it goes the bigger you are, the louder your horn, the more right of way you have!! Pretty fair I suppose but not if your an 80 year old man riding his 40 year old motorbike down a dirt track with 4 family members on the back+ their shopping for the next couple of weeks and he has to dive out of the way as a bus comes through and his life flashes before his eyes....I swear they are crazy out here. Sarah Garnett you would not last 5 seconds on these roads haha!!!

So at the moment I am in Sihanoukville on the coast.....yes people this means beaches!!!!!!!!! WOOP!!! We've been out on a boat trip today snorkelling and then chilling out on a deserted beach, AH the life hahaha. No to be honest we all needed a bit of break from travelling as its a little more tiring than you'd expect. Really it is!! There's still more to come from Cambodia so watch this space...we're heading up to the capital Phnom Penh for my birthday so hopefully that'll be pretty crazy (I mean sensible amounts of fun).

Lots of love, hugs & kisses

Pippa xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx