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Day 28 - 30 Siem Reap (Angkor Wat)The bus journey from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap takes the whole day.The scenery of buffalo, sugar palm trees, and rice fields float by.Cambodia and especially the people grow on you and it feels more isolated from the rest of the world than Vietnam.Siem Reap is famous for the temples at nearby Angkor Wat.We are staying in a small resort in a wooden bungalow out of town with its own swimming pool.We wanted to make sure we could cool off after a hot day checking out the temples!There are frogs everywhere including in our shower and we have an enormous gecko on mosquito duty.We arrive in a torrential storm and during our stay the thunder and lighting are never far away, and it is very hot and humid which makes walking around the temples a pretty sweaty experience.Some people spend up to three days visiting the temples, however we do not have the stamina or appetite so we opt for the greatest hits in one day.A tuk tuk driver takes you between the various sites and back to the resort for lunch and a well earned dip in the pool.All the temples are about 900 years old and were originally Hindu temples which were either converted for Buddhist use or fell into various states of disrepair.We first visit the temple at Angkor Wat itself which is surrounded by a moat with five magnificent towers, followed Angkor Thom which has 216 faces carved into its towers.After lunch we made our way to Ta Prohm which has been overwhelmed by gigantic tree roots.Angkor Wat is the national symbol of Cambodia and Angelina Jolie put them on the map in Tomb Raider and they reckon that without the tourism that they created, the Cambodia economy could never have recovered from the devastation of the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970's.Day 31 - 32 VientianeWe take a Laos Airways flight from Siem Reap to Vientiane which is the sleepy capital of Laos.The longer we are away, the more remote and quieter the places we visit are which is saying something coming from Cambodia.Laos was part of the French empire along with Vietnam and Cambodia but it feels like their influence made less of an impact here, although the baguette has certainly made their mark.I guess it was just too much effort for the French to govern as Laos must be one of the most isolated countries in the world.Over the last 300 years Laos has been invaded by the Burmese, the Thais, the Japanese, and the French, who united the 130 different people that make up Laos before leaving.There is not too much to keep you in Vientiane apart from the relaxed atmosphere.The sights are limited to one or two temples (which is no bad thing) and a mini Arc de Triomphe replica built with concrete donated by the USA in the 1950's to build the airport.On both evenings we find ramshackle bars over looking the Mekong river which borders Thailand.The contrast between the two countries is evident - Thailand on the southern bank is built up and the infrastructure is plain to see; Laos on the northern bank is lined with numerous beach huts perched precariously on the unsupported banks.The first bar we were looking for had actually fallen into the Mekong the week before because of flooding caused by the Chinese opening dams further up stream.The sunsets are amazing and we watch some local youths belting up and down the river on jetbikes.The Lao people really believe in karma and trying to stay chilled out, although the man who rented us one of his brand new mopeds had his karma tested when I returned it with a broken mirror, broken brake handle, and scratches on the paintwork down one side.Lil's first attempt at riding the moped in a large car park was not too successful and she has the scars to prove it!!!Anyway USD15 reinstated the moped rental man's karma and I made a quick exit after he branded me an "inexperienced driver".In an effort to make the most of our days in Laos (and saving the cost of a night's accommodation!) we decided to take the overnight bus from Vientiane to the royal historic capital Luang Prabang about 300km to the north.I think the journey can best be described as being driven on a double-decker coach through a night stage from the RAC rally.Even worse was the requirement for local pop music karaoke style to be played so loud all night that ear plugs and ipods were useless.I don't believe that I slept 10 minutes all night but at least we don't need to get up in the morning to go to work.Despite being the primary road in the country, the lack of basic infrastructure such as paved roads really brought home how remote and under developed Lao is.Day 33 - 35 Luang PrabangWhen Laos was not being ruled by its neighbours it was in fact two countries with Vientiane in South Laos and Luang Prabang in North Laos.Luang Prabang only has a population of 26,000 and in the 1990's, only 300 people a year visited due to its remoteness and the restriction of tourists.This is the kind of place you come to chill out, have massages, eat at very good restaurants, and watch more sunsets over the Mekong.Our first day was spent recovering from our bus trip which involved having a massage, eating, and watching the sunset.We also managed to get all our clothes washed which was great as we were definitely recycling our clothes one too many times.On our second day we joined an all day cooking class where we visited a local market before cooking such delights as Laos fish curry in banana leaves; buffalo salad; sticky rice and salsa; a pork and spicy wood soup; lemon grass stuffed with chicken and herbs.Most people do not have gas or electricity to cook with so the cooking was done on small stone stoves.Even though we cooked it ourselves the food did taste surprisingly good, although getting some of the ingredients may limit the usefulness of the course back home.After another massage, we joined a couple from San Francisco for dinner where I was introduced to dark Lao beer and my first hangover of the trip the next morning.The only other major event of our stay was my new haircut which is probably best described as practical.Day 36 - 38 Luang Prabang, Laos to SingaporeHi, it's Lil here - I finally get the chance to blog!Our route out of Laos sees us take to the mighty Mekong and onto a two day cruise up towards the Thai border where we are coming to the end of the SE Asia leg of our trip.Boarding the boat at 6:45am (we have had plenty of early starts on this trip!), we join eleven other guests of which half are from the Netherlands, a couple are from Australia and the rest are from the UK.As predicted, Si and I are the youngest on the boat.The route upstream is 332 km, broken up half way at Pak Beng where we will spend the night in a lodge, before continuing towards Houysay/Chiang Khong on the Laos/Thai border.Along the way we make a few scheduled but very brief stops at local villages where we see the production of whisky and have the opportunity to meet local school children who start going from the age of 7/8.As there are no through roads, these villages rely on the Mekong as their mode of transport.They are very poor and have no electricity or gas, and are given free water by the government.However, we do see huge satellites and we are told by our guides that most of the villagers have tv sets.On the banks of the Mekong, we see people trying their luck panning for gold, and we also see the odd log farm.Now and again, a longtail speed boat flies past us carrying a couple of passengers tightly belted up with crash helmets and wet weather gear which we're told is the most dangerous way to travel on the river as they can sometimes cause fatalities.The numerous rocks in the shallow Mekong make us thankful that our boat is being steered by a very experienced and careful captain who knows the river like the back of his hand.These two days on the Luang Say cruise are very relaxing for us.We get the chance to catch up with fellow travellers and swap stories and chatting to the Aussies from Adelaide prove to be really valuable as they pretty much map out a two week itinerary for us for when we arrive in Darwin early next week for the start of our campervan journey through the outback.They also provide us with some useful 4WD tips!!This prompted us to start reading up on the next leg of our journey as we realised how relatively little preparation we had done for Australia.We reach the border just before it closes.A tuk tuk meets us off the boat to take us to the Laos immigration, and then we board a longtail boat to take us across the river to the opposite side where the Thailand entry point is.Our fellow passengers are all met by their various taxis to take them onwards; Si and I have missed the last bus to Chiang Rai where we have booked to stay the night.Luckily, we meet two Thai girls on their way home from a backpacking trip to China and, after some negotiating with the driver, we share the costs of a private taxi with them to get to our destination.Our one day in Chiang Rai is spent relaxing by the poolside in the morning, and then spending some time in the afternoon catching up on some admin and checking details for the next leg of our trip where we are to spend five weeks in Australia, via Singapore.We also spend time trying to re-arrange all our luggage so that our checked bags meet the strict 15kgs limit imposed by Air Asia for our evening flight to Bangkok, resulting in very heavy carry on bags for us!!This flight is delayed so we do not arrive until after midnight and then it's back to the airport the next morning for our onward flight to Singapore.
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