19^th January

Today we are off to the next place on our tour, Phnom Penh.  To get a bus will cost $10 each plus a $5 taxi at each end…..  so we catch a private cab for the 4 hour journey (which is quicker) for $40….  (A no brainer!)  and arrive at about 10:30am and check into our $15 a night room!

We waste no time when we arrive and get straight into seeing the sights, as we are only planning to stay for one day.






First off, a rather sobering trip, to the Notorious S21 museum.  Previously a secondary school, it was converted into a prison during the Pol Pot Regime.   Thousands were tortured and ultimately executed within this complex.

After a time to reflect, we head off to the Royal palace and check out the lavish interior and pagodas.

We end the day, in the reputably, best restaurant in Phnom Penh……  to be honest, a bit of a disappointment.

20^th January

So, our brief stay in Phnom Penh has come to an end and we again jump in a cab for our 5hr journey to Battambang.   Thank goodness we decided on getting another cab, as no sooner had we set off, I needed the loo….  This sets the scene for the rest of the journey……  every 15mins or so, having to stop….  That f’in fancy restaurant, Doth poison me!....  worse was to come…. I will spare you the details but needless to say the vomiting started and continued for the rest of the journey.  Exhausted we arrive in the hotel, Lozza checks in and I go to bed  to continue, as described…..  over to you Lozza!....

Hello!...  right, so, I leave Will doubled up in bed, do some emails and head out for a look round Battambang…..  spent about an hour looking for some rehydration sachets and looked around the town…. That’s it really???.... I came back to find Will, feeling a little better……..  back to you, Will….

So, in the evening, I felt a little better, but couldn’t eat anything and was asleep by 9pm..... basically, today is a right'off!

21^st January

We awake and find I feel much better, still not right, but we will press on with our plan.  Originally, we wanted to stay in Battambang for one day, so we have extended everything by one day. 

First off, the Bamboo train…..  that’s right, bamboo!  Some enterprising locals have been using the virtually diss used train tracks for transporting locals and goods at breakneck speeds for years!....  Very clever!  So what happens when they met another bamboo train coming the other way, I hear you say?  Simple, the train with the least people on, all get off, lift up the train and put it to one side, they pass each other then they return it to the track and continue!  Great!!  I slip the driver a $1 and he lets me have a go! 

We spend the rest of the day looking round various temples, caves and ……  a disused Pepsi factory?...

abandoned 25 years ago when the Khmer rouge took control of the country.

22^nd January

Continuing or original plan, we get up early and get on a long speed/riverboat to embark on our 6 hour journey to Siem Reap.  However, this being the dry season…..  it is more of a riverboat, than a speed boat.  Still we trundle our way downstream, looking at villages and local life as we go.

At one point we pass a boat, stuck on the riverbed (mainly because it carrying too much!) and our boat with its MASSIVE 75’000 horsepower engine tries for 45 mins to pull the stricken boat free (you can just make out the owner of the boat trying to help, waist deep in water!)
Eventually we pull it free and drag it down stream to the next village.

Once in Siem Reap we go for a massage…….. a fish massage…..

Apparently very popular in turkey, many shops have taken the opportunity and bought a paddling pool and stuck some skin munching fish inside and charge tourist $2 for a beer and a 20min feeding frenzy!....  all the fish that were nibbling my feet all looked quite satisfied by the time I took my feet out!!

23^rd January

So, it’s time for the main reason we have come to Siem Reap.  Angkor Wat.  However, the kingdom of Angkor is VAST!! Following 400 years of successive kings trying to “out do” their predecessor.   We decide that we will not see the main Angkor temple till the last day (if we see that first, all the others just won’t cut it!) so we jump in a cab with a guide and head out 100km away to a complex called Koh Ker.
Very cool, this place has been cut off for years and is soooo far away that there is no one there and we have the place to ourselves!  Many of the building have succumbed to the forest in the 800 years of being abandoned and are covered in fig trees that are both holding the masonry together, whilst slowly destroying them.  5 different temples later and we are back on the road. 

On the way back, we stop at another vast complex, Beng Melea, covered in twisting vines.   The never-ending onslaught of the forest has pretty much reduced this place to rubble, but there are lots of the thick walls remaining. 

Back in Siem Reap and we go out for a traditional Khmer meal and a beer!

24^th January

Ooooo  we have a big day today…..  We have decided to sack off the guide, cos he was rubbish! And jump into our Tuk Tuk for the day.   Pretty boring to read so I will just go through and list the temples we checked out….

1^st           Banteay srei, a small temple, but with some amazing, pristine carvings

2^nd          Kbal Spean, a 2km walk from the road, a small river and waterfall covered in carvings, in and around the river bed.  The khemers believed that when water ran over a Lingus (a falic object) that the water became holy, by carving over a thousand lingus into the river bed, this made the river holy and therefore they would have a good harvest!

3^rd           Ta keo, a multilevel complex that was never finished….   We have lunch on the top!

4^th           Ta prom, this is an amazing temple, overcome by massive fig trees, it’s like something out of “Tomb Raider”…. (because it was used as a location in……  that’s right…. Tomb Raider?!)

5^th           Banteay Kdei, another big temple with a huge lake out the front!....  pretty nice swimming pool for the king!

6^th           Ta Som, another temple….  With a fig tree over the door

7^th           Meak Pean, a manmade lake with a temple in the middle.

8^th           Preah Khan, our favorite of the day, huge complex with an Athens type structure, loads of ornate carvings and fig trees taking over……

As you can imagine, we were pretty “temple’d out” by the time we get back to the hotel, but we can’t be too bored yet because……..

25^th January

4:30am and we get up to see the great Angkor Wat at sunrise.  5:10am and we pull up outside the main gate……. It is complete darkness, we can’t see a thing, but we can make out some torches in the distance so we head over toward them.  We find a spot, next to a lake and sit and wait.  Eventually the sun begins to rise and we are treated to an amazing sunrise with the silhouette of the 5 towers of Angkor in the foreground!  Very special…..  it’s so special that when we look round, we are surrounded by hundreds of other tourist, doing the same thing! 

We have learnt that the norm is to go back to the hotel for breakfast, so we decide to beat the crowds and stay and explore.   It’s hard to convey, just how big this place is…..  the square moat around the complex is almost 1000ft wide is over 4km in length.  Let’s just give it its official title of “it’s the biggest religious structure in the world”.  What most surprising is that the whole thing is in amazing condition, no fig trees here, because it was never abandoned to the elements, monks have been here since its creation.

After 3hrs of wandering round the grounds we move on……. That’s right, there’s more to see.

If Angkor is vast, Angkor Thom (the next temple on our visit) is Monumentally immense!!!!.....  The 40ft high wall surrounding this 10 square km area is 14km in length!!!!  In its centre is….  Well loads…..  a palace, several temples, a parade wall, more temples….. the list is endless and by 4pm we call it a day and head back.

In the evening we meet up with a guy we met on the boat to Siem Reap and head out for a traditional Cuzza!!!

26^th January

Up we get… were off to Laos! The penultimate country on our epic adventure!  I ask for a seat on the left hand side of the plane because…..  that’s right, we fly over Angkor Wat!!.... Its pretty hard to see, but you can just make out the main complex in the middle.   Incidentally, the square lake in the background….. is manmade!!!!.... I thinks its 5km long!!!!   and I thought the Incas thought big, these guys predated them by 300 years!

We arrive in at our hotel and we pretty much have the day free…..  no plans!!!  So a lazy lunch and few beers whilst we plan the next 7days as……

27^th January

Today we are picking up our motorbike for a 7day tour around southern Laos….  But this time, without a guide!!!...

Until we get back……  see you later!!

W&L