Goodbye Cambodia, Hello Laos! March 19, 2014.

About 40 minutes after the sun we got up as well.
We enjoyed breakfast at Ponika's Place again, after which we went back to our hotel to check out and headed towards the Cambodia-Laos border.

The road to the border crossing hugs the border: the road and left of it
is Cambodia; somewhere in the trees to the right runs the border with Laos.
Tell-tale of de-forestation in one country?

Just before heading to the border we took the turn-off to a river ramp where we rented a small, narrow boat to go in search of the rare and endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin on the Mekong River. The boat trip on the river was pleasant but we did not meet any dolphins. There are only about 85 of them left.... and it looks like they are about to be extinct. Which will be a sad day for Mother Earth.

We technically crossed the Cambodian and Laos border during this boat trip, as the dolphin viewing spot is in Laos. Of course there was no border control formalities as we planned to come back. But as we were on the Mekong during the crossing, we claim to have been at the lowest point in Laos at moment in time. Laos is a land locked country and it's low point is about 50 meters above sea level, depending on the height of the Mekong which obviously varies. 

On the Mekong River.

Guess which vessel was ours... yep... the small one.

The border crossing was a breeze, the easiest and quickest to date. Click for details on exiting Cambodia and entering Laos.

Shortly after entering Laos we spotted a sign towards Khone Phapeng Waterfalls, so we decided to take the detour to have a look-see. And what an amazing site it was! Volume wise it is the largest cascade in South-East Asia, according to the sign. And I had my first decent cup of coffee since Phnom Penh!
We then continued to Muang Khong, our destination for the day.

Khone Phapeng Falls.

The ferry to Muang Khong.

Sterlin didn't hesitate once and drove straight on it.
One would think he actually enjoyed it!

Stung Treng. March 17-18, 2014

Monday, March 17th

Guitar Milk Garden Cafe.

The hotel selection here was very limited, so that made it easy to find the best hotel in town, Gold River Hotel. Tripadvisor recommended a cafe located on the outskirts of town, and that is where we had lunch. A very cool garden cafe/pub/restaurant 'Guitar Milk', lovely spot to unwind. Pity they started to play corny old music followed by rap music, no doubt to 'please' us Westerners, but not too sure why they would think two older people like us would enjoy that...



Just relaxed in the afternoon before taking dinner in town. The town is not the prettiest thing around, as is often the case for these border towns. So we were very pleasantly surprised to find 'Ponika's Place' which serves very decent food in a clean and welcoming environment. The Khmer 'amok with fish' was probably the best local meal I've had in Cambodia; Stephen loved the 'green curry with chicken'. During our 2 days in Stung Treng we had all our meals here (breakfasts, lunch and dinners), except the one lunch at Guitar Milk.
We purchased some Laos Kip (currency) from a traveller who had just come south and was forced to exchange a large US note into Kip, which he was now trying to off-load. Needless to say we got a pretty good exchange rate and will have Kip when we cross the border in a few days. So, all good.

Tuesday, March 18th

Last full day in Cambodia. We got a bit of a late start but had a good day. First up we headed to Mekong Blue Women's Development Center where they grow silk worms, extract and spin the silk, wash and dye the silk and then hand weave the silk into items for sale. All very impressive really. More importantly the project has been set up to help 'vulnerable' women by teaching them skills so they may be able to provide for themselves and their children. Alongside education the project also provides housing and medical care from the proceeds of the small shop (offering gorgeous handwoven silk products) and foreign donations. The project does not get assistance from the Cambodian Government. We picked up a very nice cushion cover for not a lot of money considering how it came to be.

28 day old silk worms ready to cocoon.

Cocoon produces silk on the outside (not so good stuff) and
the inside (good stuff)

Hand weaving on a wooden loom.

After a late lunch, and as the heat of the sun was starting to fade, we took the ferry across the Mekong to visit a 7th century pre-Angkorian Khmer ruin. It was nice to stretch the legs, something we haven't done much of late. We had to ask several locals (with sign language) how to find the the temple, but it was not long before we stumbled upon it. A small but nice temple ruin. And much older than most of the temples we had seen in Cambodia. It seemed fitting to visit just one more before we left the country. As part of the process we sort-of got our own private self-guided village tour as we wandered around getting lost and talking to locals who didn't speak any English except "hello". It was fun. We returned via a very over-crowded ferry as the sun was setting over this massive river.

Prasat Preah Ko. 7th Century.

Our ferry, with cars, motorcycles and people.
No chickens.

Is that the Google Car with the camera thingy?
I do believe it is.

Magical sunsets.

Kratie to Stung Treng. March 15-17, 2014

Saturday, March 15th.

We had rain and thunderstorms overnight, which was a little exciting. We got a late start, but the plan for the day only called for 3 hours of driving. And the plan was right for once. The road was in excellent shape and we made good speed to Sen Monorom. The drive was very pleasant and it was very nice to see the forest and jungle again. The plains of central Cambodia are not nearly as pretty.

We soon checked into the number 1 rated hotel on trip advisor. Although this town appears to be on the move with lots of fancy new buildings and other construction, our hotel (Mondulkiri Hotel) was not. But it had adequate Internet (only in the lobby though, which unfortunately was constantly occupied by smoking guests) and the bed was not too hard. We did find a great cafe/bar/restaurant (Sovannkiri Guesthouse and Restaurant') where we had both lunch and dinner. The place is run by an Australian/Cambodian couple and seems to draw in many of the western tourists. The burger was awesome and we washed it down with a $13 bottle of Chilean wine. We talked briefly to the Aussie owner, and he confirmed the northern road is bumpy and dusty but doable. Always nice to get the local information. So game-on tomorrow.

Between lunch and dinner we managed to get to a
sunset viewing spot.

Sunday, March 16th.

We had breakfast at the same cafe where we had lunch and dinner the previous day. Over breakfast we met and chatted with 2 trail bikers, part of a group of 4, from Belgium. They were riding rented bikes and exploring Cambodia. Like us, they were taking the back road to Ban Lung. We left before them, but knew they would soon overtake us. At the 40 km mark they did.

With the 2 Belgians - I hope to get an email from them to confirm their
names; they told me but I didn't take note and forgot.

The 179 kms of the back road was under construction. But actually, it was in pretty good shape all considering. Having a high clearance 4WD helped, but it was passable in a regular car (would be a tad more challenging though). The road itself was fine, it was the temporary bypasses around the construction sites that were bumpy and dusty. In the end we completed the journey in around 5 hours.

After a little searching we found a clean and comfortable $15 hotel (Lakeside City Guest House) which was an upgrade from the previous night. During our early evening walk we stumbled upon the flash hotel in town: Terres Rouges Lodge. Although we were not going to change hotels, it did provide an excellent location to watch the red sun set over the lake and wash away the day's dust with a few drinks.

Monday, March 17th.

Before setting off we enjoyed breakfast at Terres Rouge.

It was a short drive to Stung Treng. We almost stayed an extra day in Ban Lung, but in the end decided to push on. Our exit date from Laos is set for April 17th (because of the fixed Chinese itinerary), and, as we will get a 30 day visa upon entry, the earliest we can enter Laos is March 19th. Therefore we had a few days to kill in Cambodia, and we were running a few days ahead of schedule anyway. We couldn't decide if Stung Treng or Ban Lung would be a better place to spend our 1 extra day.

The road was fast and completely pothole free so we arrived in Stung Treng just after lunch.

Kratie. March 13-14, 2014.

Thursday, March 13th.

After having picked up our Chinese visas, we headed off to Kratie, the long way around. Ok, we got lost, but only twice. I think our GPS got confused; actually our GPS got confused twice. Once it thought there was a bridge, when in fact there was none and the second time it could not find the route between where we were and where we wanted to go as it did not think that there was a road there when in fact there was a ferry. But we got there in the end.
Part of the problem was that our GPS kept wanting to route us via National Highway 6 out of Phnom Penh (no matter what we tried to deter it). Having come in on that road and knowing its dismal state, we wanted to avoid it at all cost.

So once our GPS and we were on the same page, and we got on the National Highway 1 out of the city, the road to our next stop, Kratie, was fine.
We arrived in town just after 4pm and by 5pm, after looking at a few accommodation options, we'd checked into to the one we liked.

Red Sun Falling

There's not much to Kratie. It's a sleepy town on the Mekong River - so yes, we were reunited with the river - but not much activity on it here. It's one of the places one might see the Irrawaddy Dolphin. We weren't that lucky. The heat (35-37 C) was not conducive to much activity. In fact, we spent most of the time in our hotel room (Santhepheap Hotel) where even the A/C had trouble keeping up. We found a nice place for food and, more importantly, a cold pitcher of beer just next to our hotel, so we were happy :)



Friday, March 14th.

Amazing how quickly one adjusts to 'sleepy hot town mode'. We slept in and then went in search for and found breakfast at the cafe of You Hong Guesthouse. And just when I thought I had the whole coffee ordering thing sorted out (and I mean in the small towns without the coffee shops) - 'coffee with milk no sugar' - I get coffee with sweetened milk....
Back to our airconditioned room to cool down. Some time later we ventured out for a walk and some lunch, but again the unrelenting heat had us back in the room after about 35mins. A good time to start plotting our high-level route in Laos.

Later that afternoon we went out for a another coffee.... When I saw coffee with 'sweetened or fresh' milk I thought 'yes'! Until I sipped it.... the milk was right, but don't ask what they did to the coffee but it was very sweet and just about the worst cup I've ever had. Better luck next time.

Dinner that night was at 'Le Bungalow', also on the riverside and not far from the hotel. Decent meal. Over dinner we decided to add a little detour to our trip. Instead of heading directly north to the next town before the Laos border, we decided to head east, then north and west. This adds 400 kms and about 8 hours driving to the trip, but means we will see some mountains and forest scenery. And it should be cooler (at least for one night). There are mixed reports about the road forming the northern leg of this detour. In the past this was apparently nothing more than a goat track which only the very ambitious motor bike rider would attempt. But now it is a fully fledged road, albeit still under construction.

Sunset on The Mekong River.

Phnom Penh. 7-13 March, 2014.

Friday, March 7th

The road to Phnom Penh.

What a long day. After we left the temple and regained National Highway No. 6 we had only 180 kms to go to Phnom Penh. We had heard the road was in bad shape, but we did not expect the journey to take 5 hours. There was construction almost the entire length, maybe the last 10 kms as we entered Phnom Pehn were finished.  It was a dusty and bumpy ride.

Once we found a hotel, the real drama started.  We couldn't get the rear door of Sterlin open. The dust from the last few days had somehow jammed the mechanism. This is a bit of a problem, as the shelving is designed to prevent the luggage from being stolen unless the rear door is open, so although we could access the car, we could not get to the luggage. I broke out the toolkit and started doing things, but it is very hard to access the back door to grease it if it is jammed shut and the "secure" shelving system is in the way. Anyway I started to dismantle the shelving system, knowing this would be a multi-hour job and would involve breaking or sawing through things to regain control of our luggage. About 30 minutes in, the door magically opened. I think the WD40 that I sprayed into the rear door seal had somehow worked itself into the locking mechanism and freed things up. Another 30 minutes later I had returned everything back to the correct place. I was very relieved.

Later that night we found a wonderful Japanese restaurant were the attentive staff could not do enough to please us. To be fair, we were the only people in this section of the restaurant. Our first choice of wine was not available so they offered Craggy Range Sauv Blanc as an alternative. Very nice food with a very nice bottle of wine to wash away the day's dust :)

Saturday, March 8th

After 8 days straight of visiting temples, today we rested. Our hotel has a very nice English Breakfast and Lattes. What a great way to start a day off. I (Stephen) did spend an hour or so giving the rear door of Sterlin a good old clean. There is a bit of a design flaw in Land Rovers and the inside of the rear door fills up with dust. I flushed the dust away with water and greased anything I could find. The rear door has never worked so well. Also made a failed attempt to do our 2013 taxes. I thought I could get everything I needed on-line. Apparently not. So sent out an emergency cry for help to our trusty administrator in America who is already ahead of us and has been keeping our tax documents to one side.

We did do a little wandering of the streets and found a very nice cafe/restaurant/bar/shop where we had a mighty fine burger with white wine (Caroline) and Sierra Nevada beer (Stephen). We have not really explored that much of Phnom Penh (yet), but what we have seen appears very cosmopolitan, very lively and the french colonial style buildings are very nice. We see about 30 Range Rovers an hour and even more high end Land Crusiers. Clearly there is some money in this town. There are also western style coffee shops so of course we got ourselves the type of latte that we are use to.

Otherwise we spent the day relaxing in the hotel a catching up on email and the news. The situation in Ukraine is not looking very good.


Sunday, March 9th

After breakfast we headed to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. A former school was used by the Khmer Rouge to house the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21).  From 1975 through 1979 approximately 17,000 people passed through the prison, which can hold around 1,000 prisoners at one time. The prison was used to torture and obtain false confessions, which in turn enabled the Khmer Rouge to arrest and repeat the process with others. After being interrogated and held for a few months, the prisoners and typically family members were killed and buried locally or were taken to the Choeung Ek extermination center. The Genocide Museum provides a really good overview of what happened so recently here in Cambodia and is a grim reflection of the atrocities that occur during acts of genocide, wherever they occur. We were both moved and humbled by the visit.

In the afternoon we spent several hours just walking the streets and the banks of the Mekong River. Waking is a nice way to see a city. The only real challenge is crossing the street.

Inside one of the former classrooms at Tuol Sleng

Looking out.

Walking the streets of Phnom Penh

Monday, March 10th

This morning we headed to the Chinese Embassy to lodge our application for an entry visa. There were no lines and we had prepared our forms earlier, so the entire process took but a few minutes. We will be back on Thursday. Over coffee we worked out some logistics for our planned trip to the Sea of Okhotsk later in the year (August/September).

Sterlin got a much needed wash. Although around here cars do not stay clean for very long. Caroline went to do a little window shopping while Stephen worked on our taxes. Quite a few hours later the window shopping was complete and the taxes were filed. So, quite a successful morning and early afternoon. We celebrated with a walk around the neighborhood and a burger and drink. I so love that one can get Sierra Nevada here in Phnom Penh. During our walk we conducted a highly scientific survey of the number of Range Rovers. I am glad to report, that one is likely to spot around 100 Range Rovers every hour if you are just randomly wandering around. Which is in stark contrast with the obvious poverty lots of people live in.

Much needed wash

Tuesday, March 11th

We decided to spend two extra days here in Phnom Penh and skip Sihanoukville. It is a long day to drive there and another long day back, and we are enjoying Phnom Penh. We had planned to visit the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek on our way to Sihanoukville, and we did not change this plan. We headed out after breakfast into the worst traffic conditions so far in Cambodia. The 12 km from our hotel took well over an hour to complete.

Choeung Ek is one of the most visited 'Killing Fields' in Cambodia. In total more than 20,000 mass grave sites were found in the country. It is estimated that 1.7 to 2.5 million people died (including of disease and starvation) at the hands of the brutal Khmar Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979.
There is a memorial at the site. The audio tour of the site provides an amazing history of this site and what terrible acts happened in the late seventies. Close to ten thousand people were killed in this tiny site. Quite horrific. The memorial displays around 5,000 skulls of victims recovered from the graves.

We took the back streets back to Phnom Pehn. Only had to backtrack once due to a low bridge which we couldn't get under. There is a lot of poverty in the backstreets.

Stupa. Memorial to the victims of Choeung Ek and
other Killing Fields 

Ribbons left at the site of a mass grave.

Skulls on display in the Stupa.

Wednesday, March 12th

Today we planned to see the Royal Palace. After a late breakfast we jumped in a Tuk Tuk and headed for the Royal Palace getting there at 10:30am. Well, they had already closed for the morning, darn. On the walk back to the hotel we found the shopping street selling all things silk, and picked up a few nice things. After lunch we attempted the Royal Palace, and this time was successful. Unfortunately there is not a lot going on in the Royal Palace, and within an hour we were back on the streets. Maybe we should have gone to the National Museum.

We raided various cash machines around our hotel to restock our US dollar pile. In the process got some US$100 bills that I have never seen before. They look pretty high-tech, so assume that they are legit. Dinner at Ocean Restaurant. There was a little confusion between Spaghetti Bolognese and Spaghetti Vongole, but ended up with the correct dish in the end. Tonight was our last night in this wonderful town and definitively our favourite town in Cambodia.


Thursday, March 13th

First things first. We headed to the Chinese Embassy to pickup our China Visas. Tick. It is only 33 days until we enter China.
And then it was time to say goodbye to Phnom Penh. We liked this city a lot and hope to be back sometime.

Sambor Prei Kuk Complex. March 7, 2014.

We had an early dinner yesterday and went out in search of a bar for a few drinks, which we found just around the corner from our hotel. At the first place we walked into (open air) we got quizzical looks and there was confusion whether the place was open or not. Bit strange as this one (Novotel pub, nothing whatsoever to do with the hotel chain) was actually mentioned on some travel sites. But on the alley just in front of it we noticed some more colorful lights and this place was not only open for business but also very welcoming. We believe they actually changed the music to English stuff when we sat down. Never could figure out the name of the place, pity as it has a good ambiance (also outdoor).

Cambodians party a lot - and loud - and the music is awful to say the least. Apparently there's this 'saving face and keeping up appearances' thing in the national psyche that has people throwing big parties (costing a lot of money to the point of being ruinous). So everywhere we go we see these big colorful tents, set up on the road. And last night there was one just in front of our hotel (Stung Sen Royal Garden) and it was horribly loud. I don't think earplugs would have been adequate but thankfully the racket stopped around 11pm. So we did get a good night's sleep as the hotel was set back slightly from the main road.

Ruins of a gate.

In the morning we headed to the Sambor Prei Kuk temple complex, about 30km out of town. This time we used the services of a local guide. Part of the fee goes to the surrounding community, which is always a good thing. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable (not just on the standard stuff but Stephen asked quite a few questions on construction matters and got to the point answers) and had very good English which made for a very interesting tour. These were the oldest temple ruins we've seen, dating from the 7th century, with one small structure from the 6th century.

Prasat Preah Vihear Temple. March 6, 2014

Thursday, March 6th.

Up early again to beat the late morning heat. We were only 40 kms from the temple entrance, so also planned to beat the other tourists. The drive to reach the temple was a bit challenging, as the road was quite steep near the top. Nothing Sterlin could not handle. We got our free entry tickets and were in the temple grounds by 8 am. We had the entire temple to ourselves and enjoyed this greatly. After 30 mins we finally noticed two other people also wandering around.

Intact Gallery at
Preah Vihear Temple.

The site itself was very impressive and very well preserved without significant reconstruction. And it was quite vast for being on a mountain top, so we had lots to visit. We were lucky enough to hear and see the morning prayers of the local Buddhists in the half collapsed main temple.

There were many soldiers at the site, as the ownership of this site is disputed between Thailand and Cambodia, to the point that each side has on occasion shot at each other. There are active fortifications and bunkers where the Cambodians keep an eye on the neighboring hill where the Thai soldiers are. Apparently the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague very recently ruled that the temple is on the Cambodian side of the disputed border. So hopefully this will help ease tensions.

Preah Vihear Temple.

Preah Vihear Temple.

Preah Vihear Temple.

Fortifications in the area surrounding the temple.
While we were there the situation was quite relaxed.

We then headed south to Kompong Thom where we stayed for the night. It was too far to drive to Phnom Penh, and we have one more temple in this region and before we call it a day on Khmer style temples.

Beng Mealea and Koh Ker Temples. March 5, 2014.

Wednesday, March 5th

What a great day today. Alarm went off at 5:30 and we took breakfast just after 6am. We had a big day ahead and wanted to get a good breakfast and still get away early. At 7am we were on the streets, which is quite impressive for us. The plan for the day was to head in the direction of Prasat Preah Vihear, which is about 180 kms north of Siem Reap. We knew we would arrive too late to visit Prasat Preah Vihear itself, as we visited two other temples which were conveniently located along the way. The road was sealed for the most part, although we managed to find (accidentally) 20 kms of unsealed road, of which 1 km was particularly bad as it was under construction. As we passed over this stretch I think the locals were very confused and wondering what we were doing there.

Intricate root-weaving at
Beng Mealea

The first stop was Beng Mealea. While not a UNESCO World Heritage site like Angkor Wat, it is from the same period and the same architecture. It is however on the Tentative List. But unlike Angkor Wat, the site has not been restored, so the temples have collapsed and nature has had its run of the place. Which of course makes the place all that more desirable. On arrival a local guide attached himself to us, but he did a good job helping us around the site. Taking us places not every tourist gets to see. The only negative aspect of the site was the "other tourists", there were just so many of them. Buses disgorged people at an alarming rate and the site was quickly over-run. And although the walkways became choked, we managed through.

Sign on entering the Beng Mealea site.
Best not to stray from the marked pathways...

Beng Mealea.

Beng Mealea.

The second stop was the Koh Ker temple complex. Although there are some 180 sanctuaries in this protected area, only 20 or so can be reached from the road. Many of the others lie in areas that have not yet been demined. We visited a number of the temples, but the main event was a seven‑tiered pyramid. A staircase was installed in the last few months so now it is possible to climb to the top. And to the top we indeed climbed and were rewarded with nice views of the surrounding area. The midday heat however soon drove us back down into the shade.

Koh Ker Complex: Prasat Pram.

Koh Ker Complex: Prasat Thom - 7-tiered pyramid.

After completing a circuit of the historical complex we plotted our onward course to Prasat Preah Vihear and nearby hotels. We struggled a bit to find the hotels on our GPS that we had researched on Tripadvisor, but we just followed the sealed road and hoped for the best. And as luck would have it we found a brand spanking new motel with brand spanking new rooms for $17 USD per night, amazing. It was not long before we were checked in and soaking up the air conditioned air. We are located 40 kms from the temple and should get an early start tomorrow.

Angkor Wat and Siem Reap. March 1-5, 2014.

Saturday, March 1st.

The road from Banteay Chhmar to Samraong was, despite being under construction, quite a bit better than the road under construction from the previous day. And from Samraong to Siem Reap it was fine - apart from the occasional unannounced pothole - never get complacent.

Arriving in Siem Reap, the gateway town to Angkor Wat, we headed straight for our afternoon caffeine fix at the Blue Pumpkin (Lonely Planet), were we also had access to wifi, allowing us to look for a place to stay.

We kinda had decided to go for a place mentioned by others, but, with Tripadvisor, Google Maps and our GPS putting the place in totally different locations we had a helluva time finding it. By then I was getting a tad frustrated as Siem Reap has hundreds of hotels and which one do you stop at?

But then another search on Tripadvisor brought a Boutique B&B 'The Rose Apple' to my attention. I clicked through to their website (mind you, this is all parked for the 3rd time in front of the earlier mentioned coffee shop where we had access to wifi) and not only was the website in 3 languages (Nederlands - Francais - English) but one of the names was Tim Blondeel. Now that, as a Belgian, surely had my interested piqued.. So off we went to find it. Believe it or not, by missing a turn into their alley we actually also found the first place we had been looking for. I walked over to The Rose Apple, met Tim and promptly was sold on the place. Only pity: we can only stay 2 nights as they are fully booked for the 3rd (and possibly 4th) night we want to stay here. But then we can move to that other place we looked for which is literally just around the corner.

Meanwhile The Rose Apple has been a lovely little oasis of friendliness. And we haven't even spent the night yet :)

Lovely common area at 'The Rose Apple' - yes that is a pool on the right.

Sunday, March 2nd

(By Stephen until further notice)
Up early-ish, well early for us. First up, we purchased our three day temple pass from the very friendly and efficient ticket office. We were all set for a big day of temple visiting.

The first stop was Ta Prohm. When you see this temple, you immediately think Lara Croft, and indeed many scenes were filmed here. This was definitively our favourite temple of the day. Banyan trees growing in, around and over the ancient temple ruins. All in a beautiful forest setting with the occasional butterfly to make it all magical.

Ta Prohm.

Ta Prohm.

Victor Gate.

Next up was the ancient city of Angkor Thom via the Victor Gate on the eastern wall. We spent many hours in this 3 km by 3 km walled city taking in numerous temples, including Baphuon, Royal Palace, Terrace of the Elephants, Leper King Terrace, Deads Gate and ultimately the mightily impressive Bayon. The Bayon contains 216 buddha faces, just like the ones Lara destroyed when she went to recover the first piece of the Triangle of Light.

Baphuon.

Leper King Terrace.

Smiling faces galore at the Bayon Temple.

We left the walled city via the South Gate, an extremely impressive gate and bridge over the ceremonial moat. These guys knew how to make an entrance.
The third stop for the day was Phnom Bakheng, a great place to watch the sun set. Well, in fact not - or... depends what one thought one was going to see. Depending on what section of the LP one reads... 'Watch the sunset from the top of Phnom Bakheng' (1) or, the other section (which we kinda missed) "... stop by Phnom Bakheng before savouring the sunset at Angkor Wat" - don't ask. So we were at the top of Phnom Bakheng and spent an hour or so baking in the sun and the heat so we (together with a couple of hundred others) weren't going to leave until the sun had actually set.
(1) So we actually interpreted that as: you'll see the sunset over Angkor Wat. Nah. It was simply the sunset, over a lot of trees. Now, don't get me wrong, the sun was bright red so yes, still rather nice... it just was not what we'd expected.

Waiting for sunset at Phnom Bakheng.

It was a long (10 hour), wonderful and quite exhausting day. But we were glad to be back at the hotel and into the shower. We were famished and the Rose Apple did not disappoint us with dinner.

Monday, March 3rd

Another big day of temple viewing. First up was Angkor Wat, since we had managed to miss it the first day. While hugely impressive, Angkor Wat is much more restored than any of the temples of the previous day. Not too sure "restored" is the right word, as many of the original stones and artwork have been replaced with new stones and reconstructed artwork. But the restoration work certainly leaves one with a great sense of the architecture of the original buildings, even if the heritage link is somewhat broken. We spent several hours wandering around taking it all in. It is the pride of Cambodia and it is easy to see why. Unlike the previous day, when we made the mistake of skipping lunch and just snacking, we took out time for proper lunch today, and were much happier for it. Temple viewing in the heat is hard work.

After lunch we headed north with the next stop at Preah Khan. Another site like Ta Prohm where the ancient stones intertwine with trees, giving the place an authentic and untouched feel. The stacked piles of ancient stones is a little overwhelming. And this complex is vast, it just keeps on going and going with lots of hidden chambers to discover. As you might tell, we enjoyed this temple.

Preah Khan.

Preah Khan.

But this was just a stopping point before the 25 km drive to Banteay Srei or the 'Citadel of Women'. A much smaller site but with the most amazing and intricate carvings. Our guide book claims this site was the "... instigator of the Khmer art movement". It certainly was beautiful. We headed back south in the direction of Angkor Wat to catch the sunset. Unfortunately we were running late and weren't going to make it. So instead we stopped at Pre Rup to catch the last rays for the day. Maybe tomorrow we will make it to Angkor Wat - at sunset that is.

Banteay Srei.

Another long (9 hour) and enjoyable day of temples. After freshening up in the hotel, we ventured out to the tourist district of Siem Reap for a 'authentic' Khmer meal and a few non authentic margarita drinks.

Tuesday, March 4th

Yet another day of temples. But an easier day than the previous two days. We started at Bakong Temple. A much older temple, made of brick and in a slightly different style. We didn't stay too long before heading north to Phnom Bok. Much to our surprise we arrived at the foot of a 212 meter hill, with 630 steps to the top. It was touch and go if we would ascend given the lunchtime heat, but we decided to see if it would go. And it did. We were rewarded with lovely views of the surrounding basin and a fine 9th century temple. The local temple guard gave us a private tour, which was very nice. Last up was smallish Neak Pean temple.

Phnom Bok.

In the late afternoon we headed to Angkor Wat for the sunset photo, which we had managed to miss the last two days. Well, that was a bit of a bust. And we did not get the classic shot. Oh well, will have to come back in the wet season I think.

Angkor Wat.

By this time we were suffering from the heat and decided it was time to head back to the B&B for a swim in the pool.

Due to a last minute cancelation we were lucky to be able to stay at 'The Rose Apple' our 4 nights here. Very happy about that as we loved the place.