Blogs from Siem Reap, North, Cambodia, Asia - page 215

I woke up at 4.30am, and went downstairs to meet my driver and guide. My guide was only 22, but had great knowledge of the area. We went to Angkor Wat first, which was so beautiful. I felt like I had stepped into another world. We stayed there for a while, and I was hoping to see the sun rise, but it was overcast, so I was a little disappointed. After that we went to a lot of the surrounding temples. They were all so beautiful, and each one had its own special thing about it. After spending hours looking around at the other temples, we went back to Angkor Wat. When we were inside the temple, I decided that I would climb the really sleep stairs. Once I had got to the top and turned ... read more

Mark here!! Lynne's been doing all the entries so far, so I though I would jump in with a quick one. Unfortunately I only have about 3 minutes to do this, so no pictures and please excuse any typos!! We've been in Cambodia for a couple of days now, seeing most of the major temples in the area. My favorites so far were Angkor Thom (with the famous smiling Buddha images everywhere), and Angkor Wat, because I was able to climb quite high up and get a good view. This will probably be our last weblog entry until we get home, as we begin the trip home tomorrow evening after a full day here. Once home, we'll upload a bunch of pictures (takes way too long here!!). Until then! ... read more

Well since last writing we have been to a place called sukothai to breajk up the journey from chang mai to bangkok, this was another old capital city with polenty of temple ruins, alot like ayyuthaya but much better laid out. Again we hired bikes but this time remebered sunscreen, Stayed in a lovely guesthouse. An old teakhouse on stilts over a frog pond. It was beautiful. We then made our way back to bangkok to arrange our coach to siem reap in cambodia. We spent plenty of time shopping in khao san road. The journey from bangkok to siem reap was incredible. For anyone who has ever done it you will know what i mean but for those who havent: You get picked up from bangkok in a lovely vip bus ours was half empty ... read more

After a relaxing stop off in the four thousands islands in the far south of Laos, I was headed for Cambodia. After some issues at the border over my dual-nationality, I was in and after bartering myself a spot on a speedboat (wooden boat with huge engine and propeller strapped on back - not luxury sports toy!) I arrived in the first major town Stung Treng. Here the journeys started to get really interesting as Cambodia has some of the worst roads anywhere in the world and we were about to follow one that hadn't seen attention in a long time. Lonely Planet had this fitting description: "the last of the major highways which hasn't been upgraded. 141km of pain and torture". Which it was! The road, or series of interconnected craters which I think would be ... read more

Stef's alarm clock went off at 05:00, Japan time. This meant that it was 04:00 in Beijing. She'd forgotten to change to local time! We realized the time mistake after a while, when we looked outside and it was still dark. We got up, I showered and got ready, then took it easy for a while. I killed the time by being cheeky and playing on the internet, without paying for it…naughty me! There was a good reason for us being awake at this ungodly hour! Michael, Stef (Boober) and I were going to the early morning Tai Chi practices in the Temple Of Heaven Park. When Stef and I went downstairs to the boys' room to collect Michael, I left a note for Allie and the rest to let him and them know what ... read more