Siem Reap

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Caro - Our journey to Siem Reap was pretty bloody horrendous. First the air conditioning on the bus broke down and just as we had all gotten off and a new bus was on the way for us to change it started to work again. We were a bit dubious of the fact that they were fiddling with the engine at lunch when we stopped but we were helpless and unable to do anything. It broke down fully about half an hour later and we were stuck at the side of the road for 2 hours in the blazing sun. They managed to get it working and drove for about an hour with no aircon. I believe that ladies do not sweat, they meerly glow, believe me I was perspiring with the rest of them. In the meantime the bus that left 4 hours after ours, had gone to Siem Reap and was on the way back so it stopped to pick us up, all in all the 6 hour journey took 10 hours. Joff did comment that I am getting better at travelling as I didn't moan once. As a woman this is part of our genetic makeup, so I'm having to try really hard.

We had booked into the Happy Guest House and believe me, nothing - I repeat - nothing, was happy about the first room that we were shown to. It was a little bit like how I imagine prison. Que: first moan of the day. Joff asked if they had a nicer room and we were lead to a building at the back of the guest house which is the "posh part. I was much happier with the new room, natural light and aircon - as a result Joff was too. We headed out for some dinner and had a walk around the market. Siem Reap is lovely! Well kept, quiet town and the people, especially the lady at the guest house are lovely.

Early start the next day to go and see the wonderful Ankor Wat. One thing that had happened when we were picked up from the bus staion in a tuk tuk was that the driver asked whether we wanted to see Ankor Wat. We said that we would probably book through the guest house and when we arrived he said to the owner, "I'm taking them to Ankor Wat." It is a bit childlike, as in I bagsy them! Anyway we went with it and he agreed to pick us up at 5am to be there for sunrise. We had to wake up the guy in the guest house who seemed to fall out of a hammock from the middle of nowhere. On arrival at Ankor we picked up a guide who said that he would take us to the area where we could get the best pictures. The our grroups tend to sit by the entrance but there was no one around where we were so we got some great pics of the temple. We spent a good few hours going round The Ankor Wat, the Ankor Thom which was the administration centre, the Royal Palace and Ta Prohm. Amkor was the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire and is one of the archialogical treasures of asia. It is the biggest religious monument in the world. We weren't disapointed by the visit and were glad that we got up early.

We spent the aftternoon wandering through Siem Reap and the market and booked our bus to Kratie for the 3rd.

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