Siem Riep

Siem Riep

10th APril

So we arrived here after a very long journey, and reside in a hostel that jen recommended to us - garden village hotel. This had a rooftop bar and restaurant and another floor where you watch the sunset... our rooms were $6 awesome, were big and very nice we even had a balcony. We shared a tuk tuk with a swiss couple who werent planning on staying where we were but eventually did. We then had some dinner met a Canadian guy (alex) had dinner and chilled as we were getting up at 4.40 am to leave at 5 am to get to Angkor what for the sun rise.

11th April

So waking up was hard as we were shattered but was well worth it in the end. Alex came with us and we had hired a tuk tuk for a day. We got to Angkor what in time for the sun rise, which to be honest was a little disappointing because it was a bit cloudly but still amazing, we have some awesome photos. So we stayed there for a while looking around the actual temple which was cool as when we went inside there was some ceremony going on which seemed like a little kid was getting initiated into monk hood - very interesting. Left Angkor what with great photos.

We then headed through a set of gates called Angkor Thom that consisted of loads of gargoyles all ina row pulling on i assume to be a rope to open the gates - very cool. The next temple Bayon which was amazing! it was a temple of which every stone pillar had faces on it in such great detail and is something you will only understand when you see the photos, it was very impressive. There were a few more around this area that we looked at but we were starting hang due to the heat and lack of sleep plus they weren't as impressive. Although in saying this there were long stretches of walls which had carvings all along the wall but 3d consisting of elephants - terrace elephants - and some really weird stuff - it would be a very scary place if you were on drugs.

we briefly stopped off at this random little place where the tires roots were crazy wahoooo and got some pics.

The next stop was a strange temple - Ta Keo - as apparently it never got finished. However it was huge and to climb up to the top the it was one of the most steepest stair way i had ever seen was hard work.... again we got some great photso of us here , where i was at the bottom of the temple and josh was at the top etc you can hardly see him and therefore represents the sheer size of the place.

Our last stop was the long awaited temple from tomb raider - Ta Prohm. Now Angkor what and the face place were amazing in their own right, but this place was spectacular. The temple that existed had basically been taken over by nature and all the trees had grown over the temple splitting the bricks apart and to be honest was just crazy. Imagine the base of the tree starts at the top of the temple wall and then the roots which numbered several just sprouted out everywhere till they reached the ground - crazy. After this we were knackered and went back to the hostel for a well earned 4 hour sleep.

We awoke ready to go out and see what siem reip had to offer us crazy kids, alex came along with us. we had a few cheeky drinks in our hostel as it was 50cent a beer :) and then went to temple bar. Was a cool bar decorated in temple stuff aka the name. As we were drinking I invited two gorgeous Swedish girls to join us ( sarah, olivia ) which was to prove the move of the night haha... so we continued drinking with them and randomly there were a group of westerners next to us which then started into a full scale dance session on the chairs where ones bottoms would be placed on... was fun until management chucked us down. After this bar the 5 of us went to Angkor what bar... although it wasn't busy this was the bar everyone talks about so we thought we at least owed it a drink. To our dismay it turned into a whisky bucket which was horrific and by the end of it josh was throwing up - haha

I then asked the bar women where was good to clubbing... she named two places one i forgot very quickly and the other was 'Zone 1 ' a locals club but all the same we thought we should sample it. as we got there and just about to walk in ... two uni Freinds of mine ( katie,ollie) and mine and josh friend from home jo gordon walked out with her bf - sooooooo random as we had discussed schedules but unfortunately we didnt seem to cross over any where. So we go the others and brought them outside to have drinks with us all it was really cool to see them. We then proceeded to buy a bottle of absolute vodka ooooops.... our friends from home called it early and we went back in clubbing, by this time i was already with my swede - awesome and josh was still working his magic which was unfortunate for alex but all is fair is love and war :) we continued to dance there till it closed lost alex and me josh and the girls went home, separating at a certain junction. So by the time me and josh got back it was 5.30 am and we had to pack and get our bus at 7 am so we obviously never went to bed :) As we were waiting for our bus alex randomly turned up haha he stayed at the guys we danced on the chairs with which was also random.

12th April

SO our bus turns up considerably late... me and josh have not slept and pretty much still drunk... and then our worst nightmare happens. SO the bus turns up and is more a mini bus type thing - there is no room for the bags so the are shoved on seats and in the aisle... no air con and all the seats are broken. Everyones opinion was that this is a transit bus i.e it will be taken us to our coach - how wrong they were!!!

So everyone is picked up the bus is rammed and i mean rammed!!! no room for your legs - and me and josh haven't slept in 2 days - so we were so excited for our adventure!! oh yeah i also may have mentioned there was no air con , seats were broken and the close proximity of everyone together meant that we were dripping with sweat - AWESOME! haha

Before i explain the journey, one needs to set the scene... Now there is a myth going around that the airlines deliberately pay the Cambodia government not to lay roads running up to the borders so the everyone chooses to fly instead. This was completely true.... everywhere in Cambodia had tarmac roads than all of a sudden the 6 hour trip to the border consisted of dirt tracks, terrible bends, rocks everywhere and no smoothness at all... now we were subjected to this in the worst possible vehicle. So everyone was getting very pissed off apparently me and josh fell asleep for a period of time to which everyone was well pissed off about, however once our situation was explained they accepted it. So a special mention of a certain french prick needs to be made. What a dick head... he is a full grown man screaming about these conditions - what does he expect after paying $16. anyway at one point the argument between him and the driver got so bad the driver stopped the car - which is very dangerous in these parts of the roads due to holds ups involving guns occurring regularly. He starts shouting about how the guys was on the phone and driving etc in england this may have been a cause for concern but we are in Cambodia and this guy had driven along this road hundreds of times. Basically another guy on the bus had to calm down the driver whilst we all hurled abuse at this french guy. We eventually got to s a stop and chilled out for a bit before starting the torment journey again. We eventually arrived to the border where our bus dropped us off, nightmare 2 begins. It was boiling hot in the middle of the day and the Cambodians in their true style only decided to have one desk open. There were around 4 coaches of our size and a few Chinese contingents so we were here for hours getting sunburnt wahoooo. Once this was completed we had no idea where to go for the thai entrance, no directions and no help. We walked through no mans land where there were loads of casinos - interesting - and then finally found the place. We got another free 30 days visa - ridiculous they are only meant to issue one and this was my third haha. Went to the bus stoop and was told our bus was going to be late surprise surprise plus there were loads of people who were promise this bus to bangkok who then found people telling them they weren't on it and had to pay another $10 - cheeky - however me and josh were fine! So we got on a lovely coach with air con , tv etc and chilled out for 4 hours unitl we arrive in bangkok around 7 pm where the new year celebrations had already began!

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