ok, im aware i have about a week to update you on, and honestly iv no idea where to start!!!
The last blog left off on our first night in Siem Reap, which was fantastic. The next day, we planned to head to the awesome ruins of Angkor Wat and stay to watch the sunset. Angkor covers an absolutely massive area, and tickets in are $20 for one day or $40 for two or three days, so you may as well have three and do a sunset, sunrise and general meanderings. Got up that morning and decided that at $25 a night, our hostel, Shadow of Angkor, although out of this world, was just too expensive so we packed up and went hunting for new digs. The others we'd met at the border were doing the same and on our way across town we met Nic and Andy who'd reserved us a room at the same hostel as them, a triple room for $9- just $3 each! Get in! Went back to shadow, picked up our rucksacks and checked out, then all five of us headed to the new hostel. Settled in, we went to buy some long dresses and shawls for Angkor at the market. After spending over an hour choosing a dress and shawl each, we discovered that the stall owner wasnt budging on her price of $27 dollars for the lot, despite it being a massive sale. Realising that we could get a cheap dress and scarf in Primark for less, us savvy ladies walked away leaving a very disgruntled Cambodian. Empty handed and empty stomached we headed back to our new hostel to grab some pancakes for breakfast and commandeer a tuktuk for the whole day for $10. Headed to Angkor, erin having decided to screw the dress code (too darn hot) in favour of shorts and a vest top, purchased our tickets and headed in. Spent the whole day wandering around the ruins of this ancient city, built in around 1100 AD and a source of constant and fierce national pride for all cambodians. The whole place was very impressive and the photos (if we ever manage to get them up) will speak for themselves. It got to about five o clock and we were exhausted. Well, Erin and Lou were exhausted, Steph was still scampering up huge flights of steps for photo opportunities with boundless enthusiasm. Sunset was due around six o clock, so we made our way out to the front of the Wat with cameras in tow. By this stage, having planned very effectively (not), Stephs camera was dead and erin and louises were both on their last legs, battery wise. Managed to get a couple of good shots before they packed in, and due to cloud cover, there wasnt much of a sunset anyway. We resolved to recharge (selves and cameras) and come back for sunrise, which we would watch from the top of a massive hill nearby. Assaulted on all sides by kids trying to sell us water, books and bracelets, we eventually managed to make it back to where our tuktuk driver was meeting us. We headed home and decided to meet up with Nic and Andy and the Kiwi noys Mike and Murray for dinner, since our last one had been such a success and the backpacker banter was flowing. We headed to a place called Khmer family BBQ to try a traditional meal, which involves cooking your own dinner over a coal fired hotplate at your table from a selection of meats including snake and crocodile, which you eat with noodles and soup. It certainly was interesting, and everyone tried something new- crocodile being a clear winner and snake agreed by all to be one to miss in future. After dinner, we headed out for icecream and then to the market, where we haggled sellers into oblivion for some nice fabric bags to make us less of a target for thieves (who go for locked daypacks first). Wandered around the market a bit more and then said our goodnights and back to the hostel intending to get up for sunrise at four!
Who ever said travelling runs smoothly.....