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\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWe are officially\ntempled-out after exploring the temples of Angkor Wat and Vietnam is lingering\nin our sights.\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\n15th, 16th\n& 17th Feb\n\n\n\nWe apologise for the\ntime between posts, but it is purely due to the few days after our last post\nnot warranting any real report. Unfortunately, we had our first run in with\nsuspected food poisoning. We were too fearful to leave the room in Siem Reap and\nwere living off a bare trickle of food, including tiny croissants, cheese\nbiscuits and wagon wheel like biscuits called \u201cchoco pies\u201d. This resulted in\nthe Choco pie incident of 2013\u2026\u2026 Even so, we were still in pretty high spirits\nand did enjoy the time relaxing (if you can call it that) even though the guilt\nof being so close yet so far to the temples was occasionally evident. In a way,\nwe were lucky that we were both impeded by this illness at the same time.\nSharing such a small room with a bathroom that seemed to amplify everything,\nhas definitely cemented our friendship pretty solidly, unlike our bowel\nmovements. Needing a reason to test our health, we felt it was necessary to\nvisit \u201cPub Street\u201d for a few drinks.\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n18th Feb\n\n\n\nAfter feeling up to\nthe challenge, Casey decided to ride west of Siem Reap to visit some small\ntemples that are older then the temples at Angkor, yet due to their size, don\u2019t\nreceive the same level of relevance of the larger, newer temples. Unfortunately\nfor Casey, the tickets to the temples were not sold in this general direction,\nso the ride towards the temples was partially in vain even though he did get to\nenjoy an introduction to the Cambodian countryside. I, however, still not\nfeeling up to the task of endeavouring too far from the safety of the\nroom/bathroom, stayed behind.
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\n\n\n\n19th Feb\n\n\n\nWe both seemed to\nhave recovered and decided to venture out towards the north-eastern temples,\nand following the suggestions of the Lonely Planet guide, would see the older,\nsmaller temples first and leave the awe inspiring Angkor temples for the final\nday. After jumping on bikes and enthusiastically stopping off at every temple\naround the circuit and enjoying the individuality of each, the temples slowly\nstarted to morph into one, signaling an end to the day. After agreeing to meet\na friend that we had made in Battambang on \u201cPub Street\u201d that night, we again\nventured out in to Siem Reap for a well-deserved Angkor beer.
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\n\n\n\n20th Feb\n\n\n\nThe day had finally\narrived! We were going to visit the Lonely Planet acclaimed eight wonder of the\nworld! Angkor Wat definitely deserved this title. The sheer size of the moat\nthat surrounded the temple of Angkor Wat was mesmerizing, as was the land\nbridge that was in place allowing tourists to cross the threshold. Obviously\nweathered through age, it was incredible to think about what these temples had\nbeen through on both a cultural and political level, and you couldn\u2019t help\nwondering what the marvelous structures would say about the folly of man.\nUnfortunately, restorations were occurring at the entrance to Angkor Wat, which\nplayed a very spoiling role in the majority of the photos that were taken.\nHowever, we continued to traverse the highly preserved temples admiring the\nintricacies of even the smallest detail. We, unknowingly, had worn singlets and\nshorts that did not cover our shoulders or knees. This almost obvious point\nnow, was the reason we were not allowed into the main temple. This prompted us\nto leave Angkor Wat at this point vowing that we would return to complete this\npilgrimage we had charged upon ourselves. With a slight loss of spirit we\ncontinued onto the Bayon temple complex, which was a wonder in it\u2019s own right. After\nwatching sunset from this temple, we rode our bikes back to our hotel past the\nmonkey-laden grounds and ruins that speckled the heavy foliage along our route.\nLooking forward to a dish I had seen in a menu the night before, a Khmer curry,\nCasey and I decided to spend a little more on dinner ($3.50 each) and try this\ndish that proved to be the most enjoyable we\u2019d had in Cambodia thus far.\nFinding out that the bus to Kampong Cham City (Our next destination, designated\nthe \u201cGateway to the North\u201d by Lonely Planet) left at 7.15am the next morning, we\ndecided to spend an additional night (taking us to the morning of the 22nd) so\nwe could go back to Angkor Wat at sunrise and finish what we\u2019d started.
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\n\n\n\n21st Feb\n\n\n\nAfter hearing Casey\u2019s\nalarm go off at both 5am and 5.30am and observing Casey consider getting up\nboth times and then returning to the fetal position, I was provoked to wake him\nup knowing I wouldn\u2019t hear the end of his disappointment if we had missed his\nbig opportunity for a photo shoot. We again hired bikes and raced to Angkor\nWat, where we both got briefly separated as I took a slightly different turn,\nhowever, we both got there and got to enjoy a rather overcast sunrise. Of\ncourse we now had our shoulders and knees covered, determined to enter the\ntemple that we had been denied entry the day before. The temple didn\u2019t open\nuntil 7.40am so we decided to source ourselves some breakfast. Seeing a man selling\nbread, we decided to buy two incredibly fresh bread rolls and two coconut buns.\nNot such an interesting fact, but the comments we got from two locals must have\nbeen one of the highlights of our trip thus far. The first man said, \u201cHello\nsir, you want water, another bread?\u201d (It was yet to occur to us that this man\ndid not sell bread) and then a woman that shouted, \u201cHello Mr big bread!\u201d before\nentering into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. This made our day and\ndefinitely gave us something to raise our spirits even though we were both\nexhausted from the early wake up. We finally had an opportunity to see the\ntemple, which definitely reinforced the beauty of this almost mythical site.
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\n\n\n\nOne thing had crossed\nmy mind over the last few days was where was the tree that Angelina Jolie was\nin front of in Tomb Raider. Unbeknown to us both, we had missed one temple! Ta\nProhm was the temple that we had been imagining this whole time, a temple that\nhad almost been lost in forest. This temple was beautiful and it was obvious\nwhy it was so iconic. Obviously this fact was known by about half of the\ntourist in Siem Reap, who were there in droves. Otherwise this place was truly\nmagical, it was incredible to see the roots of trees intertwined with the\ntemple structure, which had been so physically altered that each seemed\nsymbiotic of the other. Feeling like we had finally seen every temple in the\nSiem Reap area, we called it a day and triumphantly returned to the hotel where\nwe recuperated from our early morning and prepared for the journey we would\nundertake the following day. It would be sad to leave the hotel we had grown so\naccustom to, yet it was time to leave the room that hadn\u2019t been cleaned since\nour arrival and was harbouring our filth. We\u2019d also left a lasting impression with\nthe hotel staff\u2026\u2026
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\n\n\n\n22nd Feb\n\n\n\nAgain, sleeping past\nthe alarm, we were late to leave our hotel and reached the bus with a comment\nfrom the bus driver saying, \u201cCome on, the party\u2019s over!\u201d Feeling a little\nguilty, we said our goodbyes to Siem Reap and prepared for our arrival in\nKampong Cham City. After about a 7 hour journey we arrived in a town that was\nour first destination by the Mekong. It was completely empty and without much\nattraction, which was reflected by the single paragraph dedicated to the town\nin the Lonely Planet. We decided to go north the next day, which we were told\nleft at noon.\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n23rd Feb\n\n\n\nWaking up leisurely\nat 9.30am and leaving the hotel room at 10.20am, we decided to go and book our\nbus trip and then have a quiet breakfast before we boarded the bus for 8 hours.\nWhen we arrived at the bus company we were quite shocked to realize that the\nbus arrived at 10.30, which was, at the time, two minutes away. Running back to\nthe hotel, paying and then running fully loaded with our packs and other items,\nwhich we lacked time to pack, we arrived at the bus stop and waited for a bus\nthat was luckily 10 minutes late. The bus was very nice, enjoying the Cambodian\ncountryside as we headed northeast to Ban Lung. Exiting the bus at a very\nbizarre bus stop a few kilometres from town, we, with some friends we had made,\ncontinued to walk down the main street until we eventually approached the\ncentre where we found accommodation in a nice guesthouse.\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n24th Feb\n\n\n\nFinding out there\nreally wasn\u2019t much to do in Ban Lung either, except to see a large volcanic\ncrater lake called Boeng Yeak Laom. We set out to this lake with the two\nfriends we had made the night before by foot (it was about 6km). It felt quite\nrewarding when we reached the lake and were able to enter the beautifully clean\nand refreshing water whilst marveling at the incredible formation of this\ncrater. Casey decided to run back to the hotel from the lake as I returned with\nour evidently unfit friends, who really struggled with the elevated slopes\nreturning us to the main road that returned us to town. We then organised a 6am\nbus to Phnom Penh, which is going to be our final destination of Cambodia\nbefore we progress into Vietnam. \n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\n25th Feb\n\n\n\nThe bus to Phnom Penh\nmust have been the most enduring so far. Not only was the bus not properly\nair-conditioned, but we both felt that they were employing some form of torture\nin the form of a Cambodian comical singing duo or Cambodian soap operas that\ninvolve someone either getting run over every few minutes or love triangles. We\nhave, however, arrived in Phnom Penh in high spirits. It is completely\ndifferent to any other Cambodian town we have visited and definitely has a high\ndegree of western influence. We were elated to know that the room we booked\nactually included an air conditioner, a luxury usually declined due to the high\nprice mark up of the room. And that brings us up to now. We officially feel we\nhave seen enough temples to do us for a while and we are ready to leave\nCambodia and experience a slightly different country. In saying that, we still\nhave found the Cambodian people incredibly friendly and have definitely enjoyed\nour time here. We will spend the next day exploring Phnom Penh and seeing what\nit has to offer in contrast with the other Cambodian towns.\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019ll be in touch\nsoon. Our love goes out to our family and friends, please let us know how new\njobs and moves are going via Facebook, you\u2019re all never far from our thoughts.\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nKeep posted.
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