Amazing temples

We had come to cambodia to see the temples of angkor wat with the main one, which is actually called angkor wat, being one of the 7 modern wonders of the world. We had no idea how big they were and knew very little about them so i bought a book to read up a bit on the history. The area of angkor wat is 50 km with loads of temples that were built in the 12th century. They were lost for centuries until explorers cut down the surrounding forest and rediscovered it. Apparently they took 700 years to build and when you see them you can certainly understand why. We bought a 3 day pass which cost $40 and started exploring. We decided that the first 2 days we would explore the smaller temples and then on the final day explore angkor wat and angkor thom as these are the main ones. The first day we went around 3 temples which were mainly ruins but still breathtaking. One of them had massive trees on the temple with roots so big, i have never seen anything like it. The temple with all the massive trees is where tombraider was filmed and it is amazing. Also indiana jones was filmed in one of them. Theres not much to write except they were amazing with sculptures and carvings in the walls that were so detailed you could see how long they had taken to build.

The third day we went to angkor thom first and it made all the other temples fade into insignificance. It is beautiful and you are amazed at how something so impressive could have been built so many centuries ago. Bayon temple in angkor thom has over 200 massive faces carved into the walls looking in all directions which really are a sight to see. You have to go there to appreciate it and i never thought i would like exploring temples but it was incredible and we just couldnt comprehend how they were built. Our last temple was angkor wat and it is fucking massive. There were loads of statues and then you walked through an archway and reached some stairs, well i say stairs but they were basically vertical and i shit myself climbing up them. At the top of the stairs was more statues etc but i cant work out how they got all the stuff up there it is ridiculous. It took me and jason absolutely ages to get the courage to go back down the stairs because it is basically a vertical drop with little foot holds and it is so high up. The surrounding walls are all carved depicting a massive battle and the death of the king. You start at one end and walk round and the carvings tell the story of it all. The walls are massive and every last bit of wallspace is carved in immense detail. There is no way you can describe it but i would recommend going there because it is breathtaking.

Besides the temples the other funny thing there were the kids. You get out thetuk tuk and there are loads of them all armed to the teeth with scarfs, t-shirts, bracelets and lots of other stuff and they just surround you trying to sell you stuff. It can be very frustrating but you have to understand they have no money and selling 10 bracelets for a dollar will feed them and there family for the night so you feel really bad saying no. We have a really funny video clip that shows how bad it gets with me, jason, luke and stephan all surrounded by about 25 kids shouting buy my bracelet, do you want a drink, do you want a t-shirt?. There english is incredible and some of the kids are so cute. One drew me a picture and we chatted to others and they are hilarious. When you say i have a bracelet, they say buy for your girlfriend, your mum, one even said buy it for your country, they are very persistent. Another favourite of theres is to say to you "if i can name the prime minister of your country and the capital will you buy?''. We tried tricking them and said we were from the most random places but it didnt work, one girl told us the capital of around 18 different countrys we said we were from so we ended up buying bracelets off her. By the end of the 3 days between us we walked away with a drum, 4 flutes, about 20 bracelets, 3 bits of wood that make a noise, about 70 postcards, a buddha statue, 6 mini assorted god statues including buddha, vishnu etc, loads of fags (13p a pack, how much does the english government rip us off?) and god knows how many drinks.

Another sad thing is the people who have been tragically injured by land mines. Its heartbreaking to see and there was a  band that were playing music with a sign saying what had happened to them. Most didnt have legs or arms as they had been blown off by  land mines and the people were left in a condition unable to work. They formed the band as they didnt want to just beg as they still had dignity. It was heartbreaking to see and made you realise just how lucky we are having what we have.

Besides the temples the nights were spent in siem reap in a street originally called 'bar street' with our favourite bar called the temple. The first night luke and jason almost got bum burgaled looking for smoke. They were taken by bike to a marajuana field and they said it was cool but there was a bit of trouble and the driver tried taking them off in a different direction but they got back and lived to tell the tale. We all had an amazing time going out with lots of random stuff happening. We met up with the two american girls, tasha and summer from laos and spent the third night with them. The second night a girl was really freaking out and we took her with us back to our guesthouse and tried to think of a way to get her home. She didnt know where she lived or anything and kept switching, it was like she had multiple personalities. We decided the best thing was she stayed with us as there were a million cambodian taxi drivers outside all saying they knew where she lived but we didnt want to send a girl off on her own with a tuk tuk driver at 4 in the morning. I topped and tailed with luke and she had my bed then we noticed her arm was fucked with shit loads of needle marks, she was a scag addict. Then we realised she wasnt even asleep she was pretending and had listened to where we had hid our valuables and she was going to nick them when we were asleep. We got her up and told her in the nicest possible way to fuck off and she did, walked outside and jumped on the back of a bike instructing the driver where her home was. It was a close one, we were so pissed we would have never woke up once asleep and she would have nicked everything, lesson one, never trust a scag head.

The nights were all good and i think we are slowly teaching the world how to play the drinking game ''ring of fire''. The third night i got in at 9.30am and had to get to get the bus to phonm pegn at 12. Not good, i have to learn dont drink the night before a journey. But what an amazing 3 days if you ever go to cambodia definitely do angkor wat.