As luck would have it, the same thing happened again and we lost a whole blog post to a dodgy internet connection, again. This one will be a bit of a long one as it's on our whole month in Cambodia, apologies! So, after trying the local whole deep fried catfish and venison Luc Lac (saucy stir fry) we left the lakes of Ban Lung and headed South to Kratie.

Not too much to say about the town itself, partly because we were ill (had to happen sooner or later!), wasn't all bad though, we helped our friendly guest house owner with his food menu! We managed to make it over to the nearby island, Koh Trong, where we took a lovely bike ride (Im a pro now!) around the farms, pagodas and villages. We tried to local specialty, Pomelos, (big sort of grapefruit) and Simon had a ball with the kids pretending to be a horse pushing them round on a cart.

After an unnaturally red sunset (see photo) and a 'Khmer volcano' BBQ we left Kratie and headed to Siem Reap to be proper tourists at the temples of Angkor. We opted for the three day ticket and although tiring, it was an incredible experience. Of course we took too many photos and of course we went to the temples were they filmed tomb raider and Indiana Jones but it had to be done! The huge trees that have grown and twisted into the temples were as amazing as the temples themselves. Battling your way through the sea of bracelet, postcard, cold drink, coconut, t-shirt and whatever else you can think of sellers is all part of the experience too! Tip for anyone that's thinking of going, go in the quiet/rainy season and see the temples in the opposite order to what the tours do, and it's not so busy.

Whilst in Siem Reap we also saw an Apsara (Angkorian dancing ladies) show and went further afield to a river and waterfall where ancient carvings had been made in the riverbed. Its amazing how defined the intricate carvings on all of the temples still are after so long. We tried snake, crocodile and frogs legs on a DIY BBQ, which disappointingly, all tasted pretty much like chicken! We also treated ourselves to some western style food, we've really been enjoying the local food but I have to say the fajitas and margaritas I had tasted so good after so long!

We decided to go by boat from Siem Reap to Battambang, over the Tonle Sap Lake, through winding back waters and past floating villages. They have everything a usual village would have, schools, chemists, shops, restaurants, but they're all floating! and the villages get from place to place with paddle power. We only ended up staying in Battambang for a couple of days, it's a pretty busy city and I think after 3 months of traveling now (!) we were really looking forward to some beach time.

We made our way to Phnom Penh first which is surprisingly a very up and coming capital, considering what it's been through. We visited the palace, treated ourselves to cocktails on a rooftop, weaved our way through the Russian market, and Simon got his hair chopped by a street side barber! Which was all great. On the other side of the spectrum we visited the killing fields and Tuol Sleng prison where the graphic photos and 1000's of skulls really brought home the horrific and very recent history of the Khmer Rouge.

Koh Kong was the next and first beach stop of the trip. Although unfortunately we're in the peak of the rainy season now so it wasn't possible to go to the island and the boat trip around the mangroves was a soaking wet affair! It was still amazing to see the mangrove forest coming out of the water and we even saw dolphins and hawks so can't complain! Still desperate for a bit of sun lounging on the beach we traveled along the coast to Sihanoukville, Cambodia's resort area.

We managed to get about 3 hours of sunshine and found out its actually quite fun to swim in the sea when it's raining! Our guesthouse owner made the mistake of letting me behind the bar to make cocktails so needless to say we still had a good time. The seafood is incredible too, huge portions of shrimp and squid for next to nothing. On the last night we had a somewhat unnerving meal at 'the snake house', a restaurant where there are snakes inside your table and all the way to the loo's. Not to mention the crocodile farm out back, which was very dark, so you would just catch the glint of a crocs eye or teeth with a flash light - spooky!

Next stop was Kampot, a riverside town close to the coast, famous for its peppercorns and old shells of colonial architecture. We took a cooking course here as we felt we hadn't seen the best of the Cambodian cuisine (there are a lot of western and Thai style restaurants). After an early morning trip to the already bustling market to pick up some live crabs, squids and fresh veg we rustled up fried crab with kampot pepper sprigs, fish balls, a local pork curry with powdered rice and some tasty stir fried squid ready for lunch.

Before heading into Vietnam, our last stop has been in the charming seaside town of Kep. There's a great crab market with a row of restaurants next door so the crab jumps straight from the sea onto your plate!

Farewell for now, we're off to book a tuk tuk to the border, planning to be on the island of Phu Quoc for Simons Birthday, weather providing! We'll try not to leave it so long until the next blog post so it's not such an essay!

Miss you all, Rachel and Simon xx