SIEM REAP (Cambodia)

Having crossed the Laos/Cambodia border with ease early on the morning of the 29th, we set off on our 12 hour bus journey to Siem Reap. Arriving at close to midnight, we crashed in the first guesthouse we seen. It was cheap and, well, upon further inspection, not that cheerful. 1 pillow, no towels, uncleaned sheets and no windows was enough for us to move on early the next morning. We checked into a great spot afterwards where we would stay for the next 5 nights.

Our first day was just spent wandering the city and finding the hot spots for eating and drinking, and they are all very conveniently located on 'Bar Street'. (And we were very conveniently staying just off 'Bar Street'. Coincidence - i think not!!!)

We set out for the famous Angkor Ruins the following day. Now these are spectacular! Even though we walked a total of 8km's in the blistering sun (Distances look so much less on a map), it was well worth it. The highlights were Angkor Thom (a 3km sq ancient city that use to house 1 million people) and Ta Prohm (A ruin that has been left as it was found by french explorers over a century ago. This was also where the film 'Tomb Raider'was set. (And no lads, as much as i searched, i couldn't find Angelia Jolie anywhere)). The photos show it better. The next morning we returned to the famous Angkor Wat for sunrise (up at 4:30am) and visited any ruins we had failed to see the previous day (by tuk-tuk this time. Lesson learned).

We spent our evenings on bar street (Oh shock horror. Bet nobody saw that coming) and wandering around the night market. It is very difficult not to spend a fortune here..... so we did. Had a cambodian bbq where i had snake, crocodile and ostrich.... it was good. Also got a foot massage from a load of hungry fish. Its about 50 tiny fish basically eating the dead skin off your feet. (This tickles like crazy at first but becomes really nice after a while).

Our last 2 days here were spent relaxing and just enjoying the great atmosphere around this place before making our way south.

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Part of trip: SE Asia

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