Feb 25 - We could barely move this morning. Sitting on your butt in a 4-wheel drive might not sound like hard work, but the all-day driving marathon to Preah Kahn had given us a bit of spinal compression! Today, we had it easy, though, as it was only an hour's drive to Sambor Prei Kuk - our next set of temples (and last, horray!). To be honest, I think we overdid the temple-spotting a bit, and we were starting to feel a bit jaded.

We planned to meet Roehn for breakfast at 8. He wasn't around, so we started about fifteen minutes later, feeling remarkably clean from the previous night's hot shower, and just enjoying the first decent cup of coffee in days! Roehn came rushing in at about 8:40 "Sorry, sorry! Slept through my alarm!" I guess the previous day must have been even more gruelling for him as the driver. We weren't in any hurry today, and planned to be back for lunch. This would give our driver time to get back to Siem Reap, and to spend two nights with his family before disappearing off for another week with the next group!

We set off from Kompong Thom, crossed the river bridge, and paused at a roadside stall on the way to clean out the air-filter. Every kilometre or so on Cambodia's roads, there's a little stall with a compressor, tyre repair tools, and spare parts for the ubiquitous Honda Dreams which populate all parts of the country. As Roehn used the compressor to blow Preah Kahn's dust out of the filter, we wandered along the banks of the river for a bit. We heard some raised voices, and saw our first real altercation at a food stall down the road. Still not sure what it was all about, but someone had clearly lost their temper and tried to attack the stall owner. The crowds moved in from all around to separate the parties, and it was actually a real shock to see - we'd become acclimatised to how peaceful and laid back everyone is in Asia, and particularly Cambodia. There's a real loss of face associated with losing your temper, and so you hardly ever hear voices raised in anger. Anyway, it was all over in a few moments, with much tut-tutting and head-shaking from the surrounding people, so we put the Pajero back together and moved on.

The road to the temple complex was fairly pretty (although more tree-chopping going on ...) There was a lot of driving through dried out river beds, something like the Zambezi valley in Zimbabwe, and the whole area must be virtually impassable in the wet season. In the end we got to the main set of structures at about eleven. Sambor Prei Kuk was the 9th century capital of the Angkorian empire (before Angkor itself), and the construction is slightly less developed, but still amazing. The main building materials are brick and laterite, although there are bits and pieces done in sandstone - but nothing like the full scale cladding seen at Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. The carving has been done into the brick itself, and 1200-odd years has left it fairly weathered, but you can still see expressions on the faces of the gods, heroes and demons - particularly on the leeward sides of the buildings, and the intricacy of the original carvings must have been amazing. There's a couple of perfectly preserved lion guardians at the eponymous 'Lion Temple', which are also beautifully constructed and preserved.

A local policeman came along to act as our guide, and brought a young boy from the village with him, who spoke excellent English, and had a pretty good grasp of the temple history. Although this area wasn't really looted like some of the sites around Siem Reap, one of the saddest things is that it was heavily bombed during the Vietnam war, as it was located in the middle of a communist-sympathetic area. B-52 bomb craters were scattered around, and only about twenty temples remain, from the hundred-odd that were still standing before the carpet-bombing of the early seventies.

We finished our tour, and went to have a drink at a local stall before setting off. We bought a couple more scarves from some of the persistent kids at the entrance (no surprises what any of you will be getting for Christmas this year!) and tipped our guides. There was a bit of hand-wringing and moaning, and eventually we had to ask Roehn what we'd done. We'd tipped the young English-speaking boy the same as the policeman; leading to a huge loss of face because of the age difference. Anyway - that was quickly remedied with an extra couple of dollars, but it was a reminder of how important status is in Cambodia - the social structure here is pretty complex, with race, age, background, gender and money all playing a part.

We were practicing Cambodian (or Khmer) on the way back to Kompong Thom, and this gave another insight into the social hierarchy. Men and women have different words for yes (baat for men, jaa for women). There are also about 15 words for 'you', depending on how important 'you' are relative to the person talking. Taa for a very old man, bong for an older guy, lowk for a man, lowk srei for a woman, sii for a child, animal, or a hill-tribesman. Luckily if you're a barang (foreigner), you're just allowed to use niak, and anyone will answer!

We got back to Kompong Thom about 1:30, and had a farewell lunch with Roehn at the grandly-named Stung Sen Royal Garden Hotel (It was actually a bit of a dive, but the food, like most places in Cambodia, was excellent). We'd got to know him quite well over four days, and were sorry to say goodbye - he's a great guy, and obviously working all the hours God sends to support & educate his family. He left at about 2:30 for the long drive back to Siem Reap, and we climbed the stairs to our air-conditioned room for a bit of blogging and a nap.

That evening, we ate in the hotel restaurant again, and got the receptionist to book us a bus trip to Kompong Cham - a city further south, which was our routing point to Mondulkiri province. This is apparently one of the least developed provinces in Cambodia - we're hoping to get away from people for a bit! Dinner was good, as always - we had a couple of beers, made a solemn vow not to see any more temples this year (although we agreed they were amazing and wonderful) and set off upstairs for another hot shower (just because we could!) and bed.