We arrived in Siem Reap early evening to a few tuk tuk drivers desperatly wanting our custom. This one guy, a young lad, wasn't desperate and was not being agressive, so we decided to give him our money! Wasn't much he was asking as he was honest with us and said he would like to be our driver.

As Siem Reap is where all the Angkor temples are he knows that we would be needing a driver for possible the next three full days. His trailor was nice enough, and he had a powerful motorbike, and he was just genuinley a nice guy. Tuk tuks in cambodia are basically a motorbike pulling along a little trailor with 2 seats in (like a cycle rickshaw but motorised).

Theres sooo much to see and do in Angkor so that evening once settled into a decent hotel, we planned a schedule. Even though the guy was nice, he could have just taken us where he thinks is best and what saves him the most petrol. We decided what we wanted to see at sunsets and at sunrises.

We went out for a little walk and to get some food. Siem Reap is a lovely little town. Touristy but how can it not be being on Angkors doorstep. Hundreds of restaurants of every nationality.

The following morning at 8am we set off, decideing to give Angkor Wat a miss (as its what we've been looking forward to most, we wanted to see it at best light), and headed straight into Angkor Thom to Bayon. Angkor Thom is a huge place, a 3km sq walled city. It contains so many different individual temples/ancient cities, it took us all morning just to see Angkor Thom temples. Bayon is in it's centre and now all the other ruins are scattered about among the woods.

Bayon is one of the most famous, proabable second to Angkor Wat. It has faces carved on stone on all the upper levels, it was an incredible sight, despite the herds of Japanese/Korean tourists that took over the whole place. The stone faces all had the same all-knowing smile, but they were amazingly preserved.

Later we moved onto Preah Khan, a huge ruin, and then Neale Pean, Ta Som, and East Mebon before ending with Pre Rup.

We ascended this huge mountain temple and watched the sun sink below the horizon, a rewarding end to an exhausting day.

Day two and we were up at the horrific hour of 5am in order to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. It was a bit too cloudy, but still a beautiful sight. A nice atmosphere too, there were thousands on one side of the causeway as there was a reflecting pool there, but only 20 or so on our side. The place was so crowded that we decided to leave it for later to actually go inside and look around. Instead we went to Phnom Bakheng. Every sunset 5000 people watch the sunset from here, but at 6.30am it was deserted. A long climb up a hill was rewarded with incredible 360degree views; Angkor Wat a km away, and all around fields and wood shrouded in patches of mist. Such a sight!

Later we visited Ta Prohm. The French Archeologists who discovered Angkor decided to leave this place as it was, to show how all the temples were when found. It's quite a sight, everywhere huge trees grow all over the walls and roofs, their giant roots slowly strangling the bricks. Very impressive place, you can't help but be overawed by the sight of nature reclaiming such a huge place. Later that afternoon we visited the Rolus group.

Day 3 and we were up at 5 again. This time we went to Sras Srang for sunrise. This is a sort of temple/jetty with no walls on the bank of a large rectangular baray or reservoir. Well it was definatly worth getting up early for. We have never seen anything like it, the colours in the sky before dawn, reflected in the water were amazing, it was absolutley magical.

We then went to Banteay Srei, 38km away. It's one of Ankors finest, small, but almost every surface is covered with such detail, and it's in great condition too. On the way to Bantray Samre afterwards, we were stoppped by the police. Our lad, who we thinks called Morri, told us that someone important is coming, "big men", and within 5 minutes a police car came screaming passed followed by 3 blacked out cars, then a truck holding 10 suited up police men (like a swat team), and then another police car and then a police bike! Must have been someone very important.

After a little afternoon siesta we returned to a far quieter Bayon, which was even more amazing in the late afternoon sun. Then we went to Angkor Wat for the third time, and again, the warm sunlight made the place seem more magical, it seemed almost to glow. We spent a happy couple of hours just wondering around and admiring it. As the sun set opver the horizon we felt really dissapointed that we wouldn't be coming back again.

Our last day in Siem Reap we slept in recovering from the early starts, and later visited the land mine museum. It was just a few huts; the owner, Aki Ra, used to be a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge, now he clears mines where as he used to have to lay them. I was suprised to find it only cost $2 to clear 3 mines; apparently proper agencies charge $1000 per mine!!! We bought some t-shirts and made a donation also.

We are now back in Bangkok after a very bumpy bus journey! Twelve hours, the airport company pays the Cambodian government to not improve the road through to the border as they get a lot of money from the airfare. As soon as you hit the border the roads are fine, smooth as anything and the change of bus, from a tightly squeezed in ramshackle of a bus, with our luggage all piled up on the back seats, to a double decker type VIP bus with a legs lentgh of room infront and aircon, that not only works but is left on throughout the journey! The small things matter!

Its so shocking how different Cambodia is to Thailand. Just crossing two hundred metres which must have been the lentgh of the borders, there is such a difference in standards. We were glad to be back in Thailand (although it's not been our favourite country).

We have spent the last few days before our flight shopping shopping shopping. Getting ready for Australia. We sold all our books, (as we were a walking library), and stocked up on eveything we need. This includes a haircut too!

Tomorrow we fly out. We are looking forward to Australia, but sad to leave Asia, we have seen so much more than we had first thought, so happy we got to put our flight back.