Desperately seeking sunset

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Day 112

Today was a travel day. We left Kampot on the bus at about 7am and arrived into Phnom Penh around 11.30. Our next bus was to leave at 1.30 so we found a little cafe and had some iced coffees while we waited. We got into the cafe just in time as at around 12 it filled up to bursting point with local people on their lunch hours coming to watch the Thai Boxing on TV - obviously a regular daily activity.

After another bus journey we arrived in Siem Reap at around 7.30pm. The bus station is around 3km out of town and absolutely packed with TukTuk drivers offering free lifts to town in the hope that you'll book their services to take you around the temples for the duration of your stay. We opted to pay our driver so we weren't obligated to use him again as we weren't sure exactly how we wanted to get about during our time in Siem Reap.

Over dinner we planned how we were going to tackle the vast array of temples over the next few days. There are two major circuits - the short route and the long route and then some outlying temples to visit too. We were planning to get a three day pass and our basic plan was to do the short circuit on the first day ending in sunset over Angkor Wat, sunrise at Angkor Wat and the long circuit on the second day and the best of the outlying temples on the third day. We found that in Siem Reap you are unable to hire a moto for yourself so most people go for a tuktuk. They drive you around the circuit, drop you off at each site and then wait for you to take you to the next place - chauffeur driven sight-seeing - superb!

Day 113

We picked up a tuktuk driver, Mr Nom, outside our hotel and made the journey out towards the temples. So many people have raved about their visits to Angkor and it's a place we've wanted to visit for ages so we were excited to get started but also a little concerned that it might not meet our huge expectations, we needn't have worried!

We began the short circuit with a visit to the small ruined section of Prasat Kravan before moving onto to the larger Banteay Kdei. Whilst we enjoyed exploring this section we felt that it would be better if we had a little more information so we bought one of the many books that are sold by small children around the temples. This was excellent and really enriched the rest of our days at the temples. We next moved on to one of the most popular temples, Ta Prohm. This is the one with the trees and roots growing through the ruins and was used in the Tomb Raider film. We had a brilliant time wandering around and this was to become one of our favourite temples.

We had a spot of lunch and then visited the pyramid like Ta Keo climbing up the extremely large and steep steps all the way to the top. Following this we headed towards Angkor Thom City which contains several different sites. Firstly we visited another popular temple, Bayon. This has dozens of small towers and on the four faces of each tower are faces! As you stand in the main enclosure at the top you are stared at by hundreds of faces - cool!

We explored the other sights of Angkor Thom as it started to rain, the Baphuon, Phinmeanakas and the Terraces of the Elephants and the Leper King. Our last stop for the day was Phnom Bakheng a popular spot to see sunset over Angkor Wat. We walked up to the temple at the top of the hill and were actually a little disappointed by the view as Angkor Wat was very distant and we'd expected to be able to see it more clearly. We waited for the sun to drop and create a stunning view for us but sadly the earlier rain had left the sky cloudy and overcast and we didn't get our sunset.

After an amazing first day we headed back to town to get ready to go out for dinner at the Red Piano, the bar frequented by the crew of Tomb Raider when they were filming here. Our great friend Katey Evans is also on a bit of a summer tour around south east asia with her fella Danny and after many itinerary discussions it looked like we would not be able to manage to meet up. However, after a few plan changes on both sides we excitedly realised we would be able to meet up in Siem Reap. It was fantastic to see Kate and we had a great evening catching up. We've met some fab people on the trip so far but sometimes you just can't beat a chat with someone you really know and love! We were reluctant to leave but at around midnight had to go back for bed as we had planned on a sunrise visit to Angkor Wat to start the next day and this would mean a 4.30am get-up - yuck!

Day 114

After what seemed like 5 minutes of sleep the alarm awakened us and we hoped that the view would be worth it! We hit the road in our tuk tuk joining plenty of other traffic heading to the temples.

This was our first close-up sight of Angkor Wat and as we crossed the moat and entered the main gate it didn't disappoint. We found a great spot where the temples were reflected in the water and just settled in to watch the spectacle. It was one of those breathtaking moments where you can't quite believe where you are.

There were probably around 100 people who had braved the early morning but they quickly dispersed and we were able to wander around Angkor with barely a soul in sight, fantastic for such a huge tourist attraction and impossible later in the day. We walked around the lower galleries first learning the stories of the superb bas-relief carvings that run the full length of each side. As we finshed this section we caught our first sight of the monkeys that roam around, very entertaining. We next explored the inner enclosures and made our way up some more extremely steep steps right to the top.

We left Angkor just as the crowds were arriving for the day and were glad that we'd made the effort to get up early, not just for the sunrise but for the peaceful time we'd had exploring.

We headed out with Mr Nom on the grand tour visiting a large temple at Preah Khan, a smaller temple, Neak Pean, which was originally surrounded by pools that are now empty and another temple, Ta Som whch had an entrance gate almost entirely covered with roots.

Our final two temples of the day were East Mebon and Pre Rup which were different in style to others we had seen and nice and quiet to visit.

Around 1.30 we started to feel pretty sleepy so we got Mr Nom to take us back to town for a snooze and arranged for him to pick us up again at about 4.30pm for another sunset attempt. It rained pretty heavily again in the afternoon but when we left town again there were large patches of blue sky and the sun was shining through so we thought a sunset would be possible. Sadly we were wrong! We went into Angkor Wat again and found a good spot in case the skies decided to perform for us, being entertained by some more monkeys on the way. We didn't get our sunset but you can never tire of looking at Angkor Wat so the journey wasn't wasted. The sunset was proving elusive, mainly due to the fact that it rains regularly at around 4pm each day and this leaves the sky a little too overcast to get a good sunset. Well, we can't say we didn't try!

Having been chased out of the grounds we went back to town again to meet up with Kate and Danny for tea. We went to a place called the Dead Fish Tower where the tables are all on platforms at different levels around the restaurant and they actually have a live crocodile pit. We had a great meal of traditional Khmer dishes and then hit the town on the originally named 'pub street' for some excellent cocktails.

Day 115

We had loved sunrise so much on our previous day that we decided that it was the only way to begin our last day at the temples. We were rewarded for our lack of sleep by a sunrise even more spectacular than yesterday's. Just beautiful.

We then headed further out to visit a couple of the more distant sites. After a lovely drive we arrived at our first stop, and we decided to get breakfast before any more temple seeing. Looking through the menu of our potential breakfast tent, we wanted something cheap to keep us going. Everything was really expensive so we asked how much a baguette with cheese (well Laughing Cow triangle really!) would be as they are usually around $0.25 - $0.5. Our lady said she could do one for a cool $3! Considering that 2 of them would be more than what we were paying for a room for the night we decided to get some on the way back from seeing the temple in a small town we had seen.

The temple we had come to see was the Banteay Srei, the site had some really intricate carvings on a range of buildings that looked like they had been designed for children they were so small. It wasn't the biggest or boldest of the temples we had visited but when you got up close the detail was incredible - well worth the journey out there!

After stopping off at a restaurant for noodles and coffee we went to another temple called Banteay Samre which had a really extravagant causeway leading to a small but well-preserved temple.

Having 'completed' three temples already and the time only at 10:00am we were on our way to meet Kate and Danny for a drink and to set plans for the rest of the day as they said we were being 'kidnapped' for the afternoon as a wedding present. We planned to meet at a cafe just outside Angkor Watt and then we went to some of our favourites again including Ta Prohm and the Bayon where we had a leisurely walk and did some drawing.

Meeting Kate and Danny at the cafe we said goodbye to Mr Nom and transferred to their TukTuk destined for town and a mystery afternoon. Before going anywhere we stopped off a the Red Piano for lunch and then we were taken to a posh spa - we were going to be soaked, scrubbed and massaged for the afternoon!

Starting with a foot wash we were sent to our room whilst Kate and Danny went to theirs. Given a robe and asked to get ready we had our first dilemma (as posh spa virgins) how far do you strip off? Not wanting to embarass both ourselves and our Cambodian masseurs) we kept our under-crackers on ... only to be asked to remove then 2 mins later when they returned. Using a number of towels to keep our modesty, we first had a body scrub. This involved our ladies massaging in the scrub mixture and leaving us to dry before we had to wash it off in a posh outdoor enclosed shower.

Next we had an oil massage - this was really relaxing apart from when they found the muscles that were feeling a bit tight from all or temple walking and stair climbing. Next it was the foot treatment. We've done a lot of walking over the last couple of months and your feet suffer some what. They buffed them up a treat for us! This was followed by a Thai Massage. Our masseur pulled and pushed us, walked up and down our bodies and used her weight to put pressure on points of the body to relieve muscle stress - it was amazing and we left feeling more relaxed than ever. We finshed off with a Bath of Milk, a huge tub filled with creamy water and petals floating on the surface - real luxury. Thanks a million Kate it was a treat we will never forget!

Feeling thoroughly healthy after our spa experience we all went for a chinese and a couple of beers to finish off the evening.

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