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Crazy early time on Monday 10th November we embarked on a long old trip to Bangkoks Don Muaeng airport through the busy Monday morning traffic. Mopeds with whole families on were everywhere, slowly weaving through the traffic to do the school run. The flight from Thailand to Cambodia was very short and on approach it looked like we might need our swimming trunks to get to our hotel but luckily we had our armbands at the ready! After a long old wait in a queue for our Cambodian visa we could set off on our Cambodian adventure! A quick taxi to the accommodation and even after our first encounter with the local driver it was obvious they want to scavenge every penny they can from you, scrubbers (not their fault really). The whole journey he was trying to force himself on us as our driver for the Angkor Temples for the next two days barely before our feet had touched the ground, and even though we said no to his taxi services he then went on to explain that he had a private tuk tuk to make it cheaper over and over again for practically the whole journey…oh my god mate give it a rest! After checking in we headed into town via a cheap as chips tuk tuk, I think we paid him some chewing gum and a bit of pocket fluff but he seemed happy enough with that, he probably sold it at one of the night markets for 'whan dollaaaar Sir' it would have been 'good pwi for yu' no doubt about it (this was the ringing sound we were to hear for the next few days in Cambodia of local women and children trying to sell their 'cold dwiiinks' and 'coconut' and general tat to every western looking tourist in sight!) After sweating like a beaver looking for an ATM we decided to go local and have a Hard Rock Cafe lunch (a much needed break from the local Asian diet that's for sure). Our eyes lit up when we saw 'normal' food…burgers, fries, onion rings…O…M…G! But our eyes were well and truly bigger than our bellies after we ordered enough to feed a family of four forgetting our bellies had probably shrunk to the size of a prune after a two week diet of rice and noodles! After the waiter had tried to con us into the shop with some classic charity mugging (he has clearly never met Sam 'ducks arse' Doyle before) we headed to the 'lack of information centre' to try and organise our next leg of the trip, Siem Reap to Phnom Penh but instead recieved a quick f***ing off of any sense what so ever. It's not much of a task finding transport here, it literally is offered to you by the minute (not an exaggeration you can actually buy 'I don't want a tuk tuk t-shirts from pretty much every shop as well) so back to the hotel to plan our adventures for the next few days. We booked a tuk tuk driver for the Angkor Temples and while Sam knuckled down with some education crap Lou sat down and picked her nose for a bit. Then decided to slam some photos on the blog! Today has been a much needed chill after the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. Laura was a poorly pants as well, but no sharting just plenty of attention needed and an early night before our 4am alarm! Sweet dreams!
Wakey wakey eggs and freakin bakey! We wished…no eggs and bacon for us…just a 4am alarm clock on Tuesday 11th November and with our designated tuk tuk driver for the next few days by 5am headed for the Angkor Temples. On arrival we could not believe how many folk were already here, re-dick-you-larse mate! After a few weeks in Asia the cutting sound of shouting Chinese people's voices, their clicking cameras working over time and their other hustle and bustle attributes was starting to cause temperatures to rise, so from here on in they will be referred to as 'locusts' (please don't take this as us being racist but you would understand if you'd spent over two weeks around their loud, spitting up gob fulls of phlegm whenever and wherever they want generally annoying selves!) Anywho where were we, that aside we started at the magnificent Angkor Wat Temple, it really was quite something. Despite the locusts, the locals putting their sales skills to good use at every opportunity, the odd bit of litter and the restoration that is going on at the site it is still out of this world. The pair of us were in complete agreement that this temple alone was more impressive than The Pyramids in Egypt. Just huge with never ending intricate work on the sandstone walls dating back to the 12th century. We then moved into the walled city Angkor Thom that was home to the Bayon Temple. In its day the city housed a million people at the same time the population of London was about thirty thousand! Again huge, it took us 3 hours to navigate through and around this beast! We then headed off to the Ta Keo Temple before we landed at Ta Prohm. This was the temple used in the Tomb Raider films and it was easy to see why, stunning for different reasons completely. Sparing the history lesson, this temple was the nuts! Unlike a lot of the others it had undergone very minimal restoration so was pretty much just ruins amongst forest backdrop…beautiful! Whilst exploring the temples we came across some weird and wonderful creatures…elephants, monkeys, crazy colour changing chameleon bad boy lizards, mean looking multicolored spiders the size of your hand, the most stunning coloured butterflies and crazy giant sized wasp like buzzy things to name a few. I guess that's what happens when you're in a jungle! To finish the day we checked out Banteay Kdei and Prasat Kravan. Between us we took over 250 photos! The tuk tuk driver who had been carting us round all day from 5am until 4pm and acting as our guide for a whopping $20 (try getting a taxi back from Derby for that!) dropped us off at the hotel aaahhh and relax! We grabbed a much needed shower and then a cheeky power nap after 10 hours up and down steps and in and out of huge maze like temples in 36 degrees and >80 humidity! Rested we headed into town for some grub where we got to sit on a hanging double bed with a table in the middle for food, the novelty soon wore off when we were swinging all over the place whilst trying to eat! Before long the locusts found there way into our little hide away and we made an exit just as 'Cambodia's Got Talent' was kicking off on the stage in the form of a bit of live music. We braved the night markets briefly but soon threw the towel in after the millionth 'good pwi for yu Sir' of the day. Hotel….bed! Another successful day ticked off!
'Yu wan cold dwink sir? One doooollar!!' was rattling round my head when I woke up on the morning of Wednesday 12th November, and it wouldn't be out of it for long before it was getting shoved back in again! Back at the temples, first up today was Ta Som, a ropey looking thing but still impressive. Our tuk tuk driver then started on the 37km trek to our next temple of the day. On route we went through the local village of Angkor where the roads were lined with local families living in shanty looking houses surrounded by a bit of land, most with their own veggie patch, anorexic looking cow, chickens and rabid looking dog that looked like it had recently given birth to a huge litter of puppies. By now we were both starting to feel quite sorry for these local kids, a few of them were trekking the long journey to school, most on foot and the more 'well off' kids on battered old push bikes or on a moped with the rest of their family. Other less fortunate ones were being educated in how to best harass tourists (i.e. teaching them the bare minimum English that we had had repeated to us in song for the past few days). The majority have no means of getting to a school, rarely have shoes and I doubt have ever or will ever leave Siem Reap the poor things, we can both now understand why 'Brangelina' adopted a baby from here. Just over an hour later we landed at the 'finest temple' Banteay Srei…it really was stunning, not as grandiose as some of the others but in much better condition. Locusts were everywhere again! We headed back and stopped to check out Preah Khan before a spot of lunch cooked by a local family. Even despite two days solid of temple spotting these places really are incredible, it begs the question what the inhabitants of Cambodia have been doing the last 800 years and what the rest of the human race would be up to without mod con distractions such as iPads, the internet and TV! A few more sights were seen before we got dropped off by our trusty tuk tuk driver. A quick shower and then some dinner in the hotel before we began the gargantuan task of sifting through the now 600+ photos and videos of the last two days. We really have had a great time here exploring and learning about these beautiful temples. Now all edu-macated we are going to pack our bags and hit the road tomorrow for the next leg of Sam and Lou's bogus journey! That's all for now folks!
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