Apologies to Angkor Wat....

Trip Start May 03, 2008
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Trip End May 02, 2009


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Flag of Cambodia  ,
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Right, so we got the bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and it was actually quite a smooth journey. We were pleasently surprised! What wasn't pleasent was the hord of tuk tuk drivers that swarmed in once we got off the bus a few miles outside Siem Reap. It seems the big coaches can't go any further in and so you need to get alternative transport the rest of the way. There were so many tuk tuk drivers crowded around that I couldn't get off the bus for a bit and when I did they were all shouting at me and getting in my way. It's definitely the worst we've ever seen so far. We had a free transfer with our bus company and they dropped us to our pre-booked accommodation (after a detour to view their hotel in case we changed our minds!).

We stayed in the Siem Reap Hostel which had a really good location as it was just a few minutes walk from the main social area. We had a quiet first night as we had booked our driver for 8 the next morning to bring us around the Angkor temples Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat
 . We did visit the Angkor What? bar which is a Siem Reap must and had a jug of beer while Simon watched some soccer on the TV. Euro 2008 I think.

Next morning our driver arrived bright eyed and ready to go. We weren't so much in the mood and didn't get time for breakfeast. I decided we should take out malaria tablets anyway as we wouldn't be having lunch either on our action packed temple trail of a day, so we took them without food in our bellies - I'll get to the reprocussions in a bit!

Anyway, off we went with Solo, our driver for the day. You need transport of some variety as there are a lot of temples in the Angkor area - Angkor Wat being the most famous, and we've already established that I'm not a big fan of the cycling! Angkor Wat was our first stop so we hopped out and walked in the large causeway to the entrance. There were some people about but as it was early enough it wasn't too busy thankfully. There are a lot of towers and it's a bit of a maze to get around. There are some beautiful wall carvings - bas reliefs - with great detail that would have looked amazing when they were painted. It's difficult to explain Angkor Wat in how it looks. It's definitely impressive and I hope the photo's (to be uploaded) will do it some justice.
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat
To get back to the malaria tablets - it's not a good idea to take them on an empty stomach! The result was that I threw up on Angkor Wat..............

I hope this doesn't affect any international relations!! To be fair, it was just water and the half digested malaria tablet and I wasn't near any monuments, just a conveniently placed puddle of water! And for anyone worried about my health, I took another tablet, with food, when we decided to have lunch afterall.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
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