Siem Reap & Angkor Wat

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With our Thai visas in hand and having seen all we wanted to see in Phnom Penh we caught the bus to Siem Reap to see Cambodia’s Temple Angkor Wat. The bus journey was confortable and upon stopping for a toilet break we got to finally see Cambodians snacking on deep fried crickets and locusts from one of the vast number of street sellers. They are eaten in the same way as we would much on some popcorn, just a little crispier I would imagine. None of us travelling together were brave enough to indulge in this delicacy but it made the journey much more entertaining when the woman in front of Carrina on the bus casually chomped her way through a bag of crickets and kept holding one in Carrina’s face.

We arrived in Siem Reap a few hours later and got taken to a guesthouse recommended by Claire & Gav, owned by an incredibly helpful Swiss guy who gave us a thorough overview of Angkor Wat and what to see there and when. After much discussion and telling the disappointed tuk tuk drivers who had followed us into the guesthouse we wouldn't be needing their tour the 6 six of us decided to cycle to the temple at 5.00am the next morning to see sunrise.

So in preparation for our hard day of templing we headed into Siem Reap for dinner and a couple of beers. Set in a dusty wasteland Siem Reap was a very pleasant city - well laid out with numerous restaurants and bars. The food, although more expensive than elsewhere in South East Asia was very good.

4.30am the next morning the alarm clocks went off, so bleary eyed we had our breakfast and picked up our 1980's shoppers to cycle to Angkor Wat. It was a little scary cycling along the pot holed main roads of Siem Reap in the dead blackness of night without lights, but arriving at the temples and witnessing the sun rise over the majestic ruins was completely worth the cycle, which was a lot harder work than we had anticipated, it meant we reached the temple before the many hoards of tourists arrived.

By 1 pm we were a little templed out. We headed back to Siem Reap to our guesthouse to drop off our bikes and pick up a tuk tuk and driver to take us back up to Angkor Wat for the sunset.

Angkor Wat had the same fantastic impact that Machu Picchu had on us and is a truly splendid sight and definitely a highlight of South East Asia. That evening happily exhausted from the really enjoyable day, we had a bbq at the guesthouse and made plan to head back to Thailand. The following day we spent at the guesthouse hanging around so Tash could get her CV up to date. That final evening we spent wandering around Siem Reaps night market to pick up a few bits and bobs, 2 hammocks actually. Tash had the dead skin eaten off her feed for $2 by placing them into a fish tank where the fish nibbled them for 20 minutes - an interesting experience. We decided to leave Cambodia the following morning and although we couldn't wait for the beaches of Thailand we were sorry to be leaving Cambodia so soon.

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