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Another early start, 630 aboard our bus to Cambodia. By now we've become pros at travelling by bus, craning our necks in a suitable position to sleep and no longer feeling guilty when we recline the seats and crush the legs of the person behind! We arrived at the border a few hours later, a surprisingly painless experience compared to Vietnam, and continued on to Siem Reap stopping briefly in Phnomh Penh for lunch.
Got to Siem Reap about 8pm and after escaping the many tuk tuk drivers and hostel touts pulling us every which way we set about finding ourselves a hostel and ignoring all the offers of help. Our stubborness worked against us as every hostel was full with those who had arrived earlier by tuk tuk, so we ended up with a very over priced room. Zak sampled some street food while Nikki and Leanna opted for the safety of Italian, the price of which demonstrated how touristy Siem Reap has become.
Next morning started with a search for a cheaper hostel. Nikki and Leanna used their newly acquired bartering skills to negotiate a good deal for 3 nights and 2 tuk tuk rides around the temples. They didnt bank on the driver being so nice and helpful so soon began feeling guilty for arguing with him over 2 dollars. We decided we'd give him a good tip instead so he ended up with more than he'd asked for in the first place! We still have a lot to learn about deal making. ur driver did add to our experience though as he spoke good English and recommended the best way to see evrything we wanted. That afternoon while Zak played footie with the locals, Nikki and Leanna headed out with their new friend to visit a floating village. On our own private boat we got to see how the cambodian people live as we witnessed a community working, sleeping, going to school and church, and catching food all along the river. We stopped at a crocodile farm, apparently a local delicacy here but not one we wished to try! Here the local children threatened to introduce us to their friends, but realising the snakes around their necks were in fact real we sought refuge in the gift shop. We hurried back on to the boat (Nikki in possession of a nice new bag!) and back to the safety of our tuk tuk.
A brief stop at the hostel to pick up zak, via the petrol station where 2 litres of johnnywalker black label whisky were poured into our tuk tuk. then off for our first glimpse of the famous city of Angkor, a huge collection of temples and monuments that were home to the Khymer civilisation from the 9th century onwards. We arrived there at 5 and headed up the hill to Phnom Bakeng where we watched the sunset with hundreds of other tourists. Was a brilliant experience and the views were stunning, the pictures do not do it justice. Back for dinner and an early night.
After not much sleep at all we were back in our tuk tuk at 5am and heading back to angkor. Im sure most of you find it hard to believe we were actually up at this hour and we began to think ourselves that maybe all this travelling has turned us a bit mad as we sped across town with the stars still out aove us. Was all worth it though as we watched the sunrise over Angkor wat, the largest religious building in the world. Spent an hour exploring the temple before meeting up with our driver for some breakfast. Onto the next temple Bayon (the other famous one with all the heads carved into the stone) and a walk along the terrace of elephants, the terrace of the leper king and the royal palace. We were all a bit taken aback by the size of these buildings and the time it must have taken to construct and carve all the detail into the walls, but mostly by how fit they must have been to climb up all the stairs! Although Zak soon got bored of the conventional way up, trying his hand at being spiderman and finding his own way up to the top. Saw the reconstruction project of one of the temples that had collapsed, probably the largest jigsaw puzzle in the world!
Out in Siem reap in the evening, meeting up with fellow travellers who all seem to be heading the same direction as us for xmas and new year so should be a pretty good party! The highlight of the night was a dance off in the street between an English girl and a Cambodian boy of about 6 years old, who won hands down after an impressive break dancing display! Not sure what the cambodians make of these crazy travellers drinking, dancing, falling off tables and smashing glasses, reminded us of a typical night out in England!
Our last day in cambodia was saved for catching up on some well earned sleep, Zak recovering from a hangover, Nikki and Leanna exploring the market, and preparing ourselves for the next 13 hour bus journey on Sunday morning. 4 countries in 4 weeks and now back to Thailand for xmas....
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