Sun sets, sunrise and Siem Reap

Alison: Siem Reap is the jewel of Cambodia with the temples of Angkor Wat being the most recreated image you will see through out the whole country.  It has to be said that they are very right to be so proud of such a stunning example of architecture.  As many of you know I am a bit of an italian architecture fan but Angkor Wat at sunset, which is when we first saw it, totally blew me away.

Angkor Wat is a series of temples that were built between the 9th and 13th centuries when Cambodia itself controlled much of what we now think of as South East Asia.  The Temples rise out of the surrounding jungle in such a way that they seem so natural yet so breathtakingly spectacular at the same time so it seems hard to believe that we humans were capable of creating such beauty so long ago.  Indeed many of the temples are being reclaimed by nature with trees often growing round entrances and walls and becoming their own natural buttresses.

Visiting the temples is like being on a pilgrimage as we started by travelling to the highest point to watch the sun set on our first full day here.  Our tuk tuk man dropped us at the base of the hill where we saw elephants that could be ridden to the top and then we followed all the other locals, tourists and monks up the trail through the forest to the ruined temple at the top.  The sunset lasted about 45mins and we took lots of photos (although we fear they will not do it justice) and then we got to trek back down in the darkness before returning to Siem Reap for a quick dinner.

Our next day started at 4am as we wanted to catch sunrise over the main temple (also called Angkor Wat) which is actually the world's largest religious building.  The minimal sleep was worth it although for the rest of the day was shattering and we quickly gave up looking at our watches as it always felt that it was 4 hours later than it actually was! By 9am we had explored the two main temples, Angkor Wat and The Bayon and the heat was already getting intense.  Luckily we had our own personal tuk tuk driver to transport us from temple to temple so we were able to sit back and let the warm breeze slightly cool us while we reflected on how all the physical discomfort we had gone through in Cambodia up to this point was definitely worth it to get the chance to experience Angkor Wat.

Outside of our visit to Angkor the last few days will also be remembered for some dodgy meals and awful accommodation.  On our hot 6 hour bus ride here we stopped off for food in a random town and we promptly bombarded by locals who wanted to try out their local delicacies.  Consequently Dion ended up having a can of coke, some mango, a cricket and a spider for his breakfast!! Needless to say the rest of us decided to pass on the spider but Duane and I tried the cricket which was chewy yet crunchy at the same time.  (Gemma, you may note, did not join in the gastronomic delight - apparently bugs aren't really her thing!)

Our accommodation that we used for the first night in Siem Reap seemed fine when we first arrived in the afternoon however by the time we went to bed we discovered that we were now sharing our beds, our bathroom and our backpacks with an army of ants, mozzies, beetles and god knows what else.  After being bitten to shreds in Phnom Penh Gemma and I decided this simply wasn't funny anymore and so after minimal sleep we checked out of the hotel by 8am.  We decided it was time to upgrade and are now consequently enjoying the delights of air con, a swimming pool and, most importantly, sealed windows!

However our new found comfort is due to end at 7am tomorrow when we embark on our 11 hour bus journey to Bangkok.  We get to spend the first 6 hours covering one of the worst roads in Cambodia and to top it off the bus won't have air con as the road is so bad all the buses air cons are broken - what joy!  Wish us luck....