Red Lodge Guesthouse Siem Reap

Sooo, here we are in Cambodia! We decided 2 days was enough in Bangkok and were keen to get to Cambodia so we left bright and early this morning and made it across no worries (it was kind of an adventure...) We spent yesterday checking out some of the temples in Bangkok - for those that know, the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Keuw (sp? the emerald buddha temple anyway!) and Wat Pho (the one with the massive reclining buddha). They are all close to Khao San Road so we decided to take a stroll and mus...

Greetings from Phnom Penh... Our fourth and final day in lovely Siem Reap was spent relaxing in a couple of cool cafes (one of them even had pet crocodiles inside, just sitting around...) before heading out in the late afternoon for a final look at the temples - the third time was just as impressive as the first, despite the non-existent sunset. We bought some postcards from a little guy who then gave me a bracelet, "free free" he insisted, which I was skeptical about but accepted anyway. He ...

Angkor Wat. One of the seven wonders of the world. What more can we say...this place is simply stunning. Jenny and Benny spent the better part of three days exploring this archaeological park by bike, by foot and by tuk-tuk. Day one was a late start, so we set off on our bicycles to visit the grand-daddy of them all, Angkor Wat. WOW!

We hopped on the bikes again to explore some of the other sites of Angkor. These included: Sras Srang, Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom and Phnom Bakheng. This place continues to amaze us....

We decided to visit some of the more remote temples on our last day. These were between 1-1 1/2 hours by tuk-tuk from Siem Reap. The temples we visited were Kbal Spean (which included a 1 1/2 hour hike in the jungle), Banteay Srei and Banteay Samre. These proved to be some of the most impressive temples we saw during our visit. The day after, we got on the bikes again and headed south without knowing exactly where we were headed. We ended up at another temple called Phnom Krom and enjoyed ama...

On arriving in Siem Reap we struck a deal with our tuk tuk driver to collect us in the morning for a tour around the Angkor Wat temple complex. So we headed off into the burning sunshine to view what is touted as the eighth wonder of the world (or one of them at least). It was not long before we were hiding from the blistering sunshine and wondering why we had ever left the temperate climes of dear old England. The temples were, however, amazing and it was possible to wander around the shaded...

Today is my father's 50th birthday. I decided to celebrate this by waking up at 4am (for the second day running) to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. Rob has promised to buy me some birthday cake in reward for my efforts and I'll further celebrate by flying to Laos this afternoon. Thinking of all those partying in Bedford today so much and looking forward to receiving some party photos in exchange for these! Have a great party, and Robin, have a very Happy 50th Birthday! From standing face to...

Saturday the 16th of December 2006. Return to Siem Reap. I really can't believe how behind I am getting with my diary. Too much happening to be sitting around on the computer I guess. I was up at 05:30 to pack my final things together and then waited over breakfast for the bus at 07:00. No one seemed to believe that I wasn't coming back as I said good bye to the staff. I guess I've been and gone so many times. It was the usual thing of a small minibus that goes around the guest houses to pick...