Cambodia - Love at first sight

Still a little shaken, we arrived at the absolutely stunning Siem Reap airport, to a guard directing us through the Visa application process with perfect English. We waited for (not kidding) 12 Cambodian men to process our Visa’s very efficiently, all again with great English. The four of us then continued through outside to await our pick up, it was nice feeling to see our man there with my name on his board. But he and 12 other drivers looked pensively at us (4 adults, with 4 large packs), then laughed and smiled. One said ‘don’t worry he brought his tank’, to which we replied ‘a what?’ and he laughed ‘you know a T. A. N. K?’. We laughed at his cheeky joke, nodded and collectively thought ‘I already love this country’, to then sight the real joke - our free transfer was (not kidding) a scooter with a little cart attached. The driver put his spatial talent to the test and managed to fit us all in, on and around the 4 bags taking up the little cart. 
 

 The airport and the Cambodian style Tuk Tuk

He said 3kms, we probably went 10km, to arrive at the friendliest guest house EVER. Everyone crowded around, asked how our flight was, sat us in a lounge, brought us cold water and chatted in wonderful English while we registered for check in. They then carried our bags up 3 flights of stairs, to our cosy room with a million English channels on Cable, a fridge and soft bed. We later ate a delicious meal and headed out down the road and bought fruit, bootleg books, yogurt and beer, feeling drunk on the excitement to be in this new country.

Angkor Wat

The next day we got up at 4.30am to see the famous sunrise at Angkor Wat (we took a 20 min chilly dark tuk tuk ride) which was a temple built for King Suryavarman II in the 12th century. There were hundreds of people there to take pictures and we jostled to get a spot. We then moved onto Bayon, which is the temple built in a distinctive Buddhist style, with faces carved into all the walls. It was absolutely mesmerising, we ended up spending over an hour here just exploring and gazing. Next was Ta Prohm, which is recognisable from the movie Tomb Raider and is extremely stunning due to the trees which are now growing through the ruins.

A picture tells a thousand words, but in this case not even the pictures can be of justice to these sites. You really need to see them to believe the beauty and the overwhelming intricate detail carved in the stone they are constructed from. Finally it’s hard to believe the immense size of (and distance between) each temple. Please visit! 

Angkor Wat at sunrise

leaving Angkor Wat after sunrise, a little tired and delirious

Outside the incredible Bayon Temple, at Angkor Thom

One of the faces carved into the stone

Dave meeting some faces

Dave, sitting on the edge

The Trees and Temples competing at Ta Phrom

Dave, Katie and Neil - on our way back to see Angkor Wat during the day

Inside Angkor Wat

Dave contemplating life, not working.....