Hello, hello from a whole other country. Today we arrived in Cambodia, in Siem Reap to be precise home of the famous Angkor Wat. We arrived here bright and early this morning after a very early (4am - see all this travelling can be hard work!) wake up. At our hostel/hotel in Hoh Chi Minh we crept downstairs so not to disturb anyone - a bit tricky in stocking feet in marble spiralling staircases when you are barely awake and carrying a backpack filled with clothes for the whole trip and a stash of souvenirs which really you don't have the room for! We crept into the lobby and the guy who runs the hotel (Chaun) was fast asleep on the hard-wooden bench in the hotel lobby. We felt as mean as hell waking him up and would have crept out quiet as church mice (we'd paid the bill the night before!) had it not have been for the impressive metal shutters between us and the driver ready and waiting squatting on the steps ready to take us to the airport. Bleary eyed Chaun woke up and let us out with his ever-cheery goodbyes, now this hostel wasn't flash (but way above Ah Chew style!) but his amazing friendliness and kindness more than made up for it!

Outside in the inky darkness we jumped into another cab (we have seen a whole lotta cabs and airports in this trip!) and made are way through the streets to the airport. Now it was about 4.45am at this point and yet the roads were still fairly busy, but nothing on rush hour. People still sat at the side of the roads selling their wares and there were many enjoying pho (the traditional Vietnamese breakfast which is beef noodle soup). When people describe New York as the city that never sleeps, I think that forevermore my answer will be, 'have you been to Vietnam?'

We arrived at the airport in good time (mini mike strikes again...sorry Dad!) in plenty of time to get our rucksacks shrink-wrapped which means they are more secure for us and also help our bulging bags contain their loads. Despite being brand new, Bee has had to repair his bag in Vietnam, we think someone lifted it using the hood and it tore the straps nearly clean off. Wrapping them means the only way to pick them up is to carry them in your arms like an overgrown baby, which means not only are our contents safer, but our bags may last til the end of this trip!

We meandered through the airport til boarding time, and then jumped on the bus to take us to our plane. Now when we were on the bus, I was deeply in DS mode, head hunched over 'Professor Layton's puzzles' and had my back to the plane. Lee pre-empted my reaction when I turned around, as a number of expletives emerged from my mouth (potty mouth that I am) when I saw the plane to take us into Cambodia was a teeny tiny double propellered little squirt of a plane. I am not a nervous flyer, in fact I love it, I love the films, the teeny tiny food packages - pretty much all of it but tiny planes freak me out. Even better I'd read the guidebooks that morning which helpfully said, 'safety first on flights in Cambodia as a number have crashed over recent years' - helpful? not! As you can imagine it was a nerve wracking flight for the formerly Baker girl, it was a totally textbook flight in a small plane according to Lee (all those years in air cadets paid off as he explained to me all the noises and bumps usually unfelt in big planes!) the roles were reversed as the Billy boy became counsellor as I pretty much hated take-off and landing as every buffet and bump felt like it was rattling us. I think I overplayed it in my head though as Lee said it was a smooth flight for a wee one. The stupidest thing freaked me out, I dutifully turned off my iPod and DS for the take off and Lee said that I didn't have to do that on a small flight as there were no computers to interfere with - that did not help my impending doom and I made him turn his off as well - just in case!

It was very happy and relieved feelings that we landed into Siem Reap airport, we are travelling back on a jet, so I feel slightly better about that. Now we were expecting all sorts of visa palaver on arrival as despite our organisation on our way into Vietnam we had to go through the rigmarole (pay again! If anyone's planning a trip to Vietnam, don't bother pre-arranging visas and paying for the pleasure you just have to repeat both the application and the payment!) in Cambodia however - as smooth as! We had our e-visas and were waved through solemnly (as all passport dudes are - no room for smiling!) and the gods were smiling on us and our clingfilmed bags followed us shortly after.

Now we had tried to arrange a transfer from the airport to our hotel (15 mins away - Siem Reap is tiny small!) but we'd left it to the night before and had not heard back from them so we figured we were on our own. Until we saw a sign with Lee's name, so we thought great, that's us. We loaded our bags and jumped in the car heading towards our hotel (the guy knew our hotel without asking!). All the way he was doing the hard sell, 'I take you to Angkor Wat, you check in and then we go' when we said no thanks we're tired he was like 'OK 8.30am tomorrow I will meet you in the lobby' despite our polite (and increasingly firm) refusals his understanding of English seemed to mysteriously disappear when we said no thanks! We arrived at the most beautiful, grand hotel I have ever stayed in. We were greeted by cold towels (a god send at 37 degrees) and fresh sugar cane juice (kind but neither of us like it but in typical brit politeness we downed it so not to offend!). Now we have stayed in a variety of places in this trip, some big and grand and others traditional and local however this is as big and as 'western' if you like as we have stayed (although maybe it's on a par with the Renaissance in KL). We were shown to our room (deluxe if you please - well done Mr B!) and we ran around like excited children, on and off our own balcony, jumping on and off the softish bed (the traditional mattresses across south east Asia seem to be hewn from the hardest rocks) and exclaiming at the sparkly black tile in the bathroom, which I instantly declared we should use at home!

After a quick refresh we went and booked a tour through the hotel, it's more expensive but we get to go at 5.15am to see sunrise over Angkor Wat, and get to dictate our own itinerary rather than following a tour which includes some cheesy 'traditional' dancing and a strict routine! We've been warned that the weather ain't promising tomorrow so sunrise may be a damp squib, but we thought we'd take our chances! We also get our own guide which would be great as I want to learn about what I am seeing! After this we took an hour or two to thoroughly test the immense courtyard pool and played in the hot sunshine and warm as you like swimming pool for a wee while (not too long I crisped my forehead in Hoi An and am peeling much to the effect of a Palomino pony - in spite of copious sun cream)

We then headed into town, the only way in this town, by tuk tuk. Muchos fun racing through the streets on the back of the little trailers hoyed along by motorcycles. Tis much, much quieter here than Vietnam, where I was a little afeared of the cyclos in the manic traffic, so I was glad to have a bash at it somewhere a little less hair-raising! So, we arrived in Siem Reap town centre, the strangest place we have been on our travels. Siem Reap is the closest town to the Angkors which is what everyone comes to see (it's the must do of Cambodia), hence Siem Reap seems to have developed along a mass of contradictions where the developments are purely to suit a western traveller demands. Lots and lots of bars, lounges and restaurants to rival those we see so frequently in Leeds, contrast with this the bamboo houses that many locals live in, the run down and smelly sections of town which don't boast 'western' menus and tours. I just read this blog to Lee and he coined how it was in a simple sentence, 'it's developed western amenities, for western people, not for the benefit of the people that live here' succinct or what? I am so making him write the blog soon, he'll get the point across without all the rubbishy ramble that I produce! He also just wrote an email to work where he described a stay in the Vietnamese hotels we have been fortunate enough to stay in as, 'quite remarkable, the people have treated us like guests in their houses rather than as tourists in hotels' - the guys a poet!

Again, the scars of their history are highly visible, people with missing limbs and war wounds use ingenious methods to traverse the streets using all sorts of contraptions, many selling books which tell the tales of the torrid times in the non to distant past. Again I have had my head in the guide book and have read up on that chap, 'Pol Pot', now he's a nasty, nasty man if ever I read about one and there are many books available telling the Cambodian people's first hand experiences. I bought a book recommended to me by Rhiannon (Lee has banned me from opening it til we reach Tioman tho!) It's called 'they killed my father first' and tells the tale of a young girl who survived the war and the work/prisoner camps. I know it's going to be a bit of a heavy read but I reckon it'll be interesting too. I bought it off a guy using a cart to ride the streets as he had lost his legs, he was a lovely funny man and I found myself bargaining up rather than down. There are also many children on the street touting postcards and trinkets, one was so attached to Lee she followed him for at least 5minutes. It's a bit of a different world it feels, but not too far away from Vietnam where on our last night in one restaurant an 8yr old offered to sell us cigarettes!

We had traditional Khmer food in town, which was delicious but filling and then we hauled ourselves into a tuk tuk home. It feels a world away sat here, in this very luxurious hotel typing this from the mix up of a town centre. If we had more time I'd like to venture further into Cambodia to get a true feeling of the culture which is lost in the myriad of travellers cafes and bars here, but to be honest going off the beaten track is not recommended, there are still mines and un-exploded bombs across some remote parts of the country (nowhere near here Mums - promise!) so I think journeying to the 'real' Cambodia would take a braver soul than I. Still we will content ourselves with the Angkor's tomorrow, these are temples and palaces (some in ruins) from kingdoms gone by which are meant to be beautiful! We'll update on our adventures tomorrow or Sunday and let you know whether the weather held up for us!

Big hugs

Love the Bilbroughs - Cambodian Style!