Today I've been playing Tomb Raider for real.

In search of adventure, Cords and I headed out to the middle of nowhere (there isn't a KFC for miles) to see some ancient ruins. We weren't disappointed...

We'd heard about a cluster of remote temples called Banteay Chhmar, quite far North near the Thai border, so headed North to Sisaphon which is the nearest town. Sisaphon is the fourth place now which has a name we can't pronounce - it also has A LOT of flies. Pretty horrible in all honesty - we went to gather supplies from the petrol station for dinner (yes, really) and there were swarms of thousands of flies everywhere. So this evening we're in hiding in our hotel to avoid the plagues of locusts!

After a lot of haggling and hassle we managed to arrange a taxi to take us out to the temple site, about 60km out of town. The tourist office staff at Banteay Chhmar don't get many visitors, so were quite surprised to see us, but were really lovely and welcoming. We spent the day learning about Buddhist and Hindu culture, the intricate carvings which adorn the ruins, the bad luck which befell the crew on the Tomb Raider film when they were at the site, and of course hopping around on the ruins! Built in the 12th century the complex boasts some incredible carvings, including two multi-armed Avalokiteshvaras and a bas-relief that dramatically depicts battle between the Khmers and the Chams. I was in awe of the plantlife which has managed to displace some of the stones - trees grow up out from between the rocks so it looks as though the bark has been poured over the temples, and the overgrown jungle aurroundings made it all seem very atmospheric. It was great - despite the precariously balanced stones you can amble around to your hearts content. The sad thing is that the temples now all lie in ruins, after damage from the Khmer Rouge, theft of the sculptures and significant damage as recently as the 1990s. There is a restoration project in progress - but its due to finish in 2012 and it looks as though there is a lifetime's work left to do.

In the afternoon, our guides took us out on their motos to another temple, Banteay Thom, about 10km away. We're getting used to being stared at here and had quite a few double-takes and stares from the local farmers. We went past a huge paddy which was dug during the time of the Khmer Rouge; we've noticed that there are hardly any middle-aged people around which brings home the extent of the scale of loss during that time.

We arrived back in Sisaphon dusty, exhausted but thrilled to have had a day's adventure and lucky to have seen something so special. Headed back to Siem Reap tomorrow, Angkor Wat beckons...

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