The trip up to Siem Reap was another typical 8 hour minivan journey on changeable quality roads!
As the bus drove up the road to the bus station in Siem Reap we saw hoards of tuk-tuks and motor bike taxis racing ahead. When we got of the bus there was about 100 guys all around trying to get us into their tuk-tuk and to their hotels. It was absolutely manic. Our group got broken up as we were getting our bags and theyn try to keep you separate. You have about 20 people around you all the time shouting to get you to go with them. It was the most surreal thing I have ever seen and very funny (which is a better reaction than getting angry!) It was the closest I have come to being famous! It makes me appreciate how the stars get so frustrated with paparazzi every day.
We got to our guest house and straight away arranged with out tuk-tuk driver to take a tour of Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples the next day. We had heard that sunrise was particularly spectacular over Angkor Wat, so that meant a 5am start! I don’t think I have been up at that time in the last 7 months!!
The tour of the Wats was a fantastic day. I thought it would be really tiring because it was scorching hot and there was to be a lot of walking around looking at temples. As it turned out, it wasn’t as bad as we thought. We were out for about 12 hours in total, but decided not to see the sunset as the clouds had come over and it started to rain. I was a little templed out by the end of the day as well!
The quality and size of the temples is a sure sign of just how advanced the Cambodians were back in the day. When London had a population of only 50,000 Angkor was around a million people. And they were massively advanced for their time and were a controlling force of the majority of SE Asia.
By getting all the temples done in one day I have been able to get out of Cambodia and down to the Thai Islands a day or two earlier than I expected.
I have rushed through Cambodia very quickly, but I have seen everything I wanted to see, so don’t feel too bad about it.