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Morning or Afternoon here.
I know its a quick update since my last. Two blogs in as many days but often I have written my blog but have to find somewhere with a good internet connection to be able to upload it. So I now have my Shinokville blog and this one for you to catch up on if you please.
So my sleeper bus was pretty good. I slept on and off which is the best I have ever slept on a night bus and we arrived in Siem Reap at about 6am. Lauren has given us a good recommendation for a hostel and we tried going there first. Had a problem with the tuk tuk driver as he wanted to take us to his friends hotel and yadda yadda yadda. After we found out this one was full, the annoying tuk tuk driver tookus around a few places till we found a good one. It's got quite a good location not too far from the old market, Ankor Wat or Pub street which are the main things to do whilst here.
After checking in we all went back to sleep for a bit and then spent a couple of hours checking out where we were and what there was to do. We are about a 2 min walk from pub street which is where a lot of restaurants are or they are on the streets near it. We are just over the river and I have already spotted a bakery that the girls had been telling me about. That afternoon we had decided to go and see the sunset near Ankor Wat. The pass last 24 hours from when you buy it so even though we were going on Saturday, we could also use it Sunday and do the whole trip. We were also going to do it by bike, we all thought it would be a fun way to do and see it!! SoAmiee, Nadia, Roman and Manuel headed off on our bikes to go and get our passes to see the sunset.
It's not too far to get there probs about 30 min at a decent speed and you obviously see a lot. Sadly my bell didn't work on my bike and I didn't have a basket to put my water in. Tomorrow I had to get a bike with a basket because they look so cute! We arrived at the Ankor but had gotten wrong information and were in the wrong place for the sunset so we then had to rush on our bikes and then run up this steep hill (which took forever) to make it just in time to see the sun setting. There is a temple up there and everyone sits all over the ledge and rocks to watch. I must say we were all disappointed, we had seen far better sunsets in Cambodia. I guess we were unlucky and didn't get a good night, it was pretty but not as amazing as others I have seen. As a group we decided that we were going to do the sunrise as well tomorrow! Sounds crazy but you might as well, we had worked out which temples we wanted to do on our bikes and they were all on a route which is good. There is a small or big route. The best temples are on the small route and we figured if we had time we could also go and do a few of the ones on the big route. I have heard it does take a while to go round each temple as some of them are massive.
When we got back I could already feel I had a sore bum and knew tomorrow it was going to be painful. The bikes we had weren't exactly new or had any sort of suspension to them but that was half the fun. That night we were all a bit tired from the journey still so it was off the pub street for dinner and then get a few hours sleep before sunrise. I ordered a chicken curry for dinner but I think I have had too much rice and noodles for me to want to eat it anymore. I always think I want it but when I start to eat it, I don't want it any more. I think it's time to switch to salads and pasta for a while to get rid of all the rice!!
Waking up the next morning was a killer, it felt like we had had no sleep and were half asleep stumbling around trying to get ready. The boys and I were in the dorm as it was cheaper than a room but the girls had gotten a double room and even though we knocked to wake them up, they had not gotten up when we were ready to go.
It was safe to say we had to cycle like crazy people to get there. We were meant to leave at 5am to give us a nice slow journey to the temple. Cambodia is known for not having many road lights so when we hit the bumps in the road we hit them hard. Thankfully I had a bike with a bell to ring when crossing roads but the roads aren't full of cars mainly bikes so it's quite safe to be riding a push bike. We made it in time but were all shattered and sweating- yummy. A lovely chap called 007 told us where to go for breakfast and the best spot and places to get pictures. He even got us chairs to sit on, my legs were like jelly after that bike ride. It's amazing after all those spinning classes I did at home how quickly it all goes :( The sunrise was pretty cool, rising behind Ankor Wat and there was a lot of people there. We were glad we did it as it's not something you get to every day and then once it had risen we had some brekkie.
On our tour we saw Ankor Wat, Ankor Thom and Bayon, The Terrace of Elephants, Ta Keo (by accident we thought it was a different one and had insanely high stairs), Ta Prohm and Pre Rup. So I think these were the ones we went to but it's hard to remember as some of them look the same. My favorites were Ta Phohm, this was were some of Tombraider was shot and it is amazing. Some of it is falling apart but the trees that have grown within as so impressive, their roots growing down the sides of the temples and they feel like they wouldn't budge for anything. I spent quite some time wandering around here and just marveling at how fantastic it was. I loved the jungle that was all around it and it felt like a proper ancient temple hidden by the jungle. It was brilliant my other favorite was Pre Rup for the same reasons. I love temples that have ruins inside them were you get to imagine what it was like in its former glory. Some of the temples are so huge you can imagine how amazing it must have been to wander round them all and how peaceful they would have been. These two one temples especially impressed me and I had a great time wandering down all the little passages and climbing up the rocks to look at the trees. You can see from my pictures how impressive some of them looked. It also amazes me the intricate detail in the carvings and statues that has survived all these years. The restoration teams must work so hard to preserve them. Ankor Wat and Ankor Thom were good and huge, it took ages to walk around them but the looked slightly similar and were very well preserved. I like temple ruins or temples that have ruins within them- they always look much more historic to me. Don't ask why, I just like them. Also some of the steps are crazy high, like Ta Keo. Oh my life the stairs were almost vertical and you there were lots of them you really had to concentrate to not fall down.
The day was a tiring but really fun day. We had lunch halfway round and I had potato soup, it was think and creamy that half a bowl was more than enough before we set off again. Amiee sadly had a fight with a rock and lost, it feel down and hit her toe and cut her quite badly but she was ok. That night I gave her one of my special Disney princess plasters which made it feel all better. We were all pretty sore by about half way round, but we all managed to keep going with our sore butts to see these awesome temples. I missed Darren and my Dad a lot today. I know they both would have loved seeing the temples, Darren would have been in photographic heaven with his camera and Dad would haved loved learning all about the temples. Í know that if Dad was with me, we would of have a tour guide and I would have found it really interesting to learn it all with him. Even Josh would have liked a couple but would have got bored shortly after. I got some great photos but kept thinking it would have been amazing to get some pictures with Darren's camera. I still had a great day with the others, it was a laugh and when we got home we all collapsed on the chairs and didn't move for a while. The journey back was a long one, even though the route was in a circle it is quite a way to get back. Roman said that the route and all that we cycled was about 20- 25 miles. It was a brilliant day and I am so grateful I am not going anywhere tonight. The others are getting a night bus at 2am and I was planning on being fast asleep by then. I felt sorry for them because night buses are a killer. We went out for our last meal together and had a quick chat when they came in later after the night market back at the hostel. After that however, I was out like a light.
So this morning, I woke up to a lot of singing wasn't really with it so I have no idea where it was coming from but I refused to get out of bed until 11am. I went out for lunch and then to the market, I got myself an Í Love Cambodia' t-shirt and a pretty bag. I always see things and never get them and I loved this bag so decided to treat myself. Right now I am hanging out in the hostel until I have to head to the airport, and then it's Hanoi to meet up with Jackie. I am very excited; I really have loved traveling with other people and don't think I could go back to doing it on my own again. I loved being on my own in Thailand but now I have seeing Laura and Lauren and spent time traveling with others, I don't want to be on my own. Luckily I get to see Kim in Singapore and in 20days my man will be back with me.
I will definitely be coming back here at some point. It is an amazing country, the people are so friendly and it's so beautiful. The islands and beaches are stunning and very tropical, they felt like a proper exotic get away and the cities aren't too built up. Cambodia still has so much of its roots that haven't been touched and westernized by tourism. I was fine getting food etc but I didn't see any brands of shops (like tesco, boots etc), it was all independent Cambodian Chains or shops. Such a wonderful chilled out vibe, so sad to leave could stay and explore so much more but it's time to hit Vietnam.
Much Love xx
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