Friday 28th November 2008

Our final night in Siem Reap after 3 long days of temple exploring. We are just about all templed out but have had a great time. Our first morning saw us get up at half past four to see the dawn at Angkor Wat; along with several hundred other people. It was incredibly atmospheric with the light breaking in the sky, the sounds of the jungle all around, the flash of a thousand cameras and the Japanese obstructing the view whilst they took photos of eachother. The best bit about the morning was when the coach tours departed back to their hotels for breakfast and we had the place virtually to ourselves. We hired a tuk-tuk driver for the three days, a necessary option if you were to have any chance of covering all there was to see in the time available. Great fun nipping around the roads on this. We made our way around many of the key sites on the first day, running the gauntlet of the hawkers and food stalls at each site. I think that children are born knowing how to say 'postcards one dollar' here. Although we'd expected to be wowed by Angkor Thom (the most wellknown site after Angkor Wat) we found it rather a disappointment and much preferred the Ta Prohm site (featured in the film Tomb Raider). This was left much as it was found originally with the jungle bonding with the stone work. More sites followed during the next two days - we didn't manage to get a sunset though which was a bit of a shame. The highlights were definitely the smaller, more remote sites (no Japanese coach parties). You half expected Indiana Jones to come racing through the trees (pursued by a thousand camera clicking tourists!). Siem Reap is rather touristy but we like it. The food is fab and you can drink yourself into oblivion for about ten dollars. There is a Khmer curry called Amok which we've rather got addicted to. Up early tomorrow to catch a boat to Battambang.