Hi everyone

I'm afraid i haven't been able to upload any photos yet so excuse the totally irrelevant one!!

Our last couple of days in Cambodia were very busy and eventful, it really is so different to everywhere we've been to, its so untouched in so many ways and also so completely dominated by us travellers and tourists coming in to visit the various sites of interests- you get pestered and stopped and grabbed at every given opportunity!

We arrived into Siem Reap around lunch time after an amazing journey from Phnom Penh- we travelled through mainly countryside- where there was absolutely nothing there other than rice fields and these amazing wooden houses (huts) on stilts surrounded by water with a few skeletal cows hanging out in the garden and the families all farming and fishing. It was so basic but completely stunning at the same time, its very wet in Cambodia at this time of year so everything looks so green and lush.

Siem Reap was a different story- before we arrived in the bus station we were warned about being hassled by tuk tuk drivers etc and that tourists have been mugged so we were going to be shuttle bused into town- i have never seen anything like it! We literally got surrounded by about 50 men all grabbing you and pulling you and shouting at you- it was horrendous, i got hit in the face and claire got pushed about- thankfully we only had our tiny day packs with us!!

Siem Reap is pretty basic too, the roads seem to be churned up with huge ditches and rivers of water and puddles everywhere. Its#s prettier than Phnom Penh, but we got a lot more pestering from children and beggars which began to drain us after a while!

We hired a tuktuk for the day to take us round to all the temples, it was absolutely baking hot and 90%humidity- lovely, but the tuk tuk was perfect and it was such a brilliant day. The temples were amazing, we saw so many throughout the day so we weren't expec ting to be that amazed by Angkor Wat but it was unlike any of the others- totally amazing, so stunning and huge and the grounds and moat around it are just unbelievable! Definitely worth the trip!! I can't say much other than wait for my pics- and even they don't do the temples justice.

We are now back in Bangkok to have our final week- i can't believe it! The journey back was probably the worst we have ever had- typical for the last one! We got some sort of mini bus/ van with the worst seats ever for 7hours of our 12hours travelling- everyone was crippled by the end because Cambodia doesn't have roads- and what they do have was waist high in water- its was unbelievable! But the final one needed to be eventful!

Glad to be back in Bangkok- headed to the market again today for present buying!! Off to some tourist bits and see the rest of the city tomorro!!!

1wk to go- aaaak where have 7months gone!!!

tasha

xxx