Siem Riep - Cambodia

Here we are in Siem Riep - gateway to the millennium old temple ruins of the Khmer Empire, "whose artistic and archaeological significance and visual impact put it in a class with the Pyramids, Machu Pichu and the Taj Mahal", (pulled from tourist information!) Naturally a UNESCO World Heritage site. Angkor literally means 'capital city' or 'holy city', and Khmer refers to the dominant ethnic group in modern and ancient Cambodia. At its height, the Age of Angkor was a time when the capital area contained more than 1 million people and Angkor's military, economic and cultural dominance held sway over the area of modern Cambodia, and much of Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. We spent one and a half days in air con taxi luxury looking around the temples here - and the very impressive Angkor Wat. Suffer to the others on the back of motorbikes and in tuk tuks. Had they not worked out that a taxi was only US$5 more than a tuk tuk? HOT, SO HOT! Sweety, very sweety! I got burnt even after over compensating with three 50+ sun screen applications. Now that's not supposed to happen! We saw sunset, sunrise and loads of temples. We bought a three day pass (as it's the same price as a two day). Some of the more popular temples were firstly Angkor Wat - constructed in the form of a massive 'temple - mountain' dedicated to the Hindu god, Vishnu. It is surrounded by a moat (which looks more like a river) and has an exterior wall (1300mtrs x 1500mtrs). The temple itself is 1 km square. Just be warned that there are a lot of walking up really high stone steps when visiting the temples. If you have a heights issue, or are really old, you may struggle somewhat. The other ones were Ta Prohm, which is where they shot the movie Tomb Raider, and has these enormous trees growing out of the stone structure. Banteay Srey which cost a little more to see because it was further out (38kms), but is known as the women's temple and has intricate carvings. Preah Khan which is the most fallen down. And The Bayon in Angkor Thom which has huge stone faces. Once again I came in contact with a snake, which Ian reckons I was going to stand on, and for some reason although the panic in his voice suggested I be careful and watch where I was walking, I choose for some reason to not look down and then I wouldn't be able to see it. We also took a very short balloon ride (10 mins), which was attached to a long cable (200m). Although it gave you a good distance view of Angkor Wat, you could not see any other temples due to the trees and the fact they they are quite spread out. We stayed at the Jasmine Hotel for 4 nights, and for the first payed the smallest amount for a nice room - US$4, for the two of us! Good really, considering we paid US$50 for the taxi for two days, and US$40 each for our temple passes. Some of the nice restaurants we went to included Soup Dragon and The Red Piano. A great cafe was Blue Pumpkin. We bumped in Jen and Jez (UK) who we first met in Hoi An in Vietnam, and got dressed up and had a couple of bottles of wine at the posh FCC - foreign Correspondence Club, before moving onto dinner (elsewhere of course!). Ian bought himself a hammock and had been going on about wanting one for ages. We both had Seeing Hands Massages, meaning from blind people. I really enjoyed mine, since my last few have been terrible. Poor Ian had the lady with iron fingers and absolutely hated his. We only ended up spending 7 days in Cambodia unfortunately. We initially hadn't planned on it being so rushed and had wanted to spend some time on the south coast. Because we had spent much longer in China and then our full 4 weeks in Vietnam, and wanting to spend 4 weeks in Thailand and a week with Cyndi in Penang Malaysia before our flight to Oz........., it just meant it had to be short. We chose to take a flight to Bangkok and then Ko Samui in Thailand. We didn't fancy the long bus trip on not great roads and didn't want to waste too many traveling days, having decided to stay on Ko Phangan (south island paradise) for a month. Ian is going to scuba dive flat out for this time, and me, well sun, sand, sea, reading, eating nice food, and maybe not much more!