Emma – Page 10 – Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure

Cambodia Day 11 – to Kep and the Crab Market

Saturday 23rd October 2022

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day, so I took a few pictures of our little treehouse in the jungle before we checked out.

Sabay Beach, where we stayed in a beautiful treehouse in Kampot.

We caught a tuk tuk from Kampot to Kep, as it’s more convenient than the bus and also worked out cheaper (the bus was $5 per person, but we’d also need to get a tuk tuk to the bus station, whereas a tuk tuk on the Pass App was $11).

We arrived late morning and dropped our bags off at Jungle House, where we were staying, and then walked to the crab market.

It was fascinating to wander around the market – at the end closest to the sea were all the fresh fish and seafood vendors, and further in were lots of small stalls grilling and barbecuing, or deep frying tasty looking snacks. We bought a freshly fried crab cake which we shared – delicious and piping hot!

We shared a crab cake which we bought from one of the vendors at the Crab Market in Kep.

Away from the market, it was much quieter- very peaceful and relaxing with a lovely view of the fishing boats out to sea.

It was very peaceful and beautiful walking between the Crab market and Kep beach.

It was a very hot day, so when we came across a small cafe, we decided to stop for a beer and admire the view. While we were drinking, a random (and very noisy!) herd of geese suddenly appeared and walked down the road – no idea where they were going!

Beers with a view – and a soundtrack of geese.

We then continued walking along the coast towards Kep beach. They have loads of hammocks along the waterside, it seems you can just rent them for (I assume) a few hours or a day.

After a while, however, the view out to sea is obstructed by construction hoarding. It seems there’s loads of new building works going on around here, no doubt tourism related.

Past the construction works, we soon came to Kep beach. It’s a very small stretch of beach, but very beautiful. On the promenade is a big strip of covered, shaded area where large groups of families and friends sit around huge shared meals. It all looks very sociable, and a great day out.

Kep beach – it was smaller than I was expecting, but still beautiful.

It would have been a nice place to sit and sunbathe, but as we’re not beachy people and didn’t have any swimming stuff with us, we continued on to the statue of the blue swimmer crab.

I can’t say it was the most impressive or exciting statue, but there were quite a lot of people swimming out to it.

Past the swimmer statue, Kep had a bit of a deserted feel to it – lots of buildings that looked they were once upon a time fancy resort hotels but are now run down or derelict. Either that, or they are half finished. There was very little to see or do on this section of the walk, and not many people around.

As we neared the ferry terminal, it seemed to get a bit busier and we found a small cafe to grab a beer (and observe another gaggle of geese crossing the road!)

More geese wandering down the road – there seemed to be a lot of them in Kep!

By this time it was late afternoon, so we grabbed a tuk tuk back to the crab market. The sunset out to sea was gorgeous!

We’d not eaten, expect for sharing a small crab cake at the market, so had an early dinner at Holy Crab. We picked this place because not only did we think the name was cool, but it also gets great reviews on google. Plus we had a table directly overlooking the sea, so were able to enjoy the remains of the sunset.

We shared a crab appetiser (flavour very similar to the crab cake we’d had in the market, but served in the shells), a crab Amok and some barbecued tiger prawns. The food was definitely as good as the reviews suggest, probably my favourite Amok I’ve tasted in Cambodia and the tiger prawns were excellent – very succulent and juicy with a nice barbecued flavour.

The crab market was meant to close at 6pm, but when we walked past (a little after 7pm) there still seemed to be a few people milling around. So we went inside and bought a few fresh prawns! Jungle House, where we were staying, has a semi- outdoor kitchen area, and a charcoal bbq. Which we took full advantage of to grill our prawns as a little evening snack, to enjoy with a couple of beers we picked up. A perfect end to our day in Kep.

Cambodia Day 10 – another wet day….. this time in a Kampot tree-house!

Friday 21st October 2022

This morning we caught the 9am bus from Phnom Penh to Kampot. We went with Pacific Express rather than Virak Buntham for this journey.

It wasn’t the most relaxing start to the day. The day before yesterday we’d dropped our laundry at the hotel, they’d told us it’d be ready the following day. Yesterday that changed to 8am this morning. At 8.20am it was finally done (though still damp) – so a mad rush to pack and get to bus station on time!

Unlike Virak Buntham, Pacific Express didn’t have a dedicated waiting room, so we sat in a couple of chairs in the general office area until the bus departed. This one was also clean and comfortable, although there was very little room for luggage. Fortunately it was very empty (just one other passenger when we departed) so our rucksacks got their own seats.

We arrived in Kampot around lunchtime, and were dropped off by the quirky looking Durian Roundabout.

We found a money exchange to change some of our GBP into riel, then went to Marina Italian Restaurant & Deli for lunch. We shared a sausage sandwich and a piadina (kind of like a very thin margarita pizza) between us. The sausage sandwich was especially tasty! We shared a chocolate cake thing for dessert, which was also pretty good.

Lunch at Marina Italian Restaurant & Deli.

We were staying at Sabay Beach, a few miles outside of town. We were originally going to climb the mountain about 30 minutes walk from the hotel, but we’re slightly put off by the guy at check-in telling us we’d need to take big sticks to beat away all the dogs. Apparently they all chase after you barking, but won’t bite if you have big sticks to scare them off with!

Shortly after check-in, it started to rain – the beginning of a thunderstorm. That made up our minds for us. I read my book in the treehouse in which we staying (the middle floor was open to the outside, but sheltered, so a pretty cool place to observe the storm!), while Pete got a tuk tuk to the money exchange in town (annoyingly, despite being a bit more of a high end hotel, Sabay Bay only accepted cash so we wouldn’t have enough for dinner – we’d only changed £60 earlier as tomorrow is our final day in Cambodia and we don’t want loads of riel leftover when we leave).

Watching the storm from our treehouse.

When Pete returned, we went to the bar for a couple of beers before dinner – it was a beautiful view over the river.

We had a drink whilst admiring the view over the river.

For dinner, we ordered a beef lok lak and a chicken with honey and ginger between us. As we finished eating, the torrential rain resumed, so Pete used this an excuse to order banana fritters for dessert (it was a massive portion!) and I had an Amaretto. The food in the restaurant was very good, and worth the slightly more expensive prices (mains were around $8, or more for western food).

Our lovely dinner at the Sabay Beach restaurant.

We waited for the rain to ease slightly, before heading back to our treehouse, where we chilled out for a bit and video called both our parents before going to bed.

We waited for the rain to ease before going back to our treehouse

Cambodia Day 9 – a very wet day in Phnom Penh

Thursday 20th October 2022

Today we woke up to the sound of pouring rain, so spent the morning chilling by the pool in our hotel and planning the next stages of our travels (including buying a tuk tuk to traverse the length of Vietnam – sounded like quite a cool mode of transport, but disappointingly a quick google search revealed you don’t actually get motorised tuk tuks in Vietnam)

A very wet start to the day – but it was relaxing watching the rain by the pool.

We took a tuk tuk to Sambok, a fancy restaurant where we had a leisurely lunch. The set menu had 2 options for each course, so we of course went for one of each and shared them between us.

Our meal at Sambok – expensive for Cambodia, but great value at $19 for amuse bouche plus 3 courses.

The main courses were definitely the stand out components of the meal – with the red ant served, served with the duck, exceptional.

After lunch the rain had eased and it looked as though it’s stay dry for a few hours. So we decided to take a walk to Chroy Changva, just over the river, to see the Golden Temple and Mongkol Serei Kien Khleang Pagoda. After all, it’s a pretty picturesque walk along the river. Or at least the first bit is!

However, about half way along, they appear to be doing a load of building works right next the river, so it’s basically busy road one side and hoardings the other.

But not for long…. For the last part, the river view is blocked by building works hoarding

No matter, it’s not long until we cross the bridge over the river (which I later learn is the Cambodian-China friendship bridge)

At the other side is a lovely park with a big statue in the middle – at the centre of a busy roundabout!

រង្វង់មូលព្រហ្មបាយ័ន – A lovely little park – in the middle of a busy roundabout!!

I was expecting (or maybe hoping for) a nice leisurely walk across the island. But nope, another busy road with no pavement. It actually looked like they were building the pavement- lots of big diggers and piles of rubble at the side of the road.

Not quite the relaxing walk I’d hoped for!

We did however pass a pretty cool garden centre, with rooster shaped sculpted hedges and some fancy trees.

The Golden Temple itself was pretty impressive – perhaps, one of the most ostentatious, gaudy temples I’ve come across. As the name suggests, the outside is very, very gold, and inside are a load of gold Buddha statues with brightly coloured flashing lights. The light inside wasn’t brilliant for photography, so the pictures don’t do it justice!

The neighbouring Mongkol Serei Kien Khleang Pagoda was similar in style, but we didn’t go inside as there was a big group of chanting monks in the middle of prayer and we didn’t want to interrupt.

The rear of the Pagoda backed into the riverfront overlooking Silk Island, so we took a few minutes to admire the view.

The view towards Silk Island from the back of the pagoda

We weren’t too far from the Mermaids Fountain Roundabout. It’s marked as an attraction on google maps, so though it must be worth a quick visit! The route from here was much nicer – a quiet little street, lined with local shops and stalls, so very pleasant to walk along.

A much more pleasant walk down a small local street

Back to the main road, and we stopped for a beer at a cafe just before the roundabout (or rather a supermarket with a few chairs and tables)

The Mermaids Fountain Roundabout, looking beautiful just before sunset.

Just across from the roundabout was a small park, with a slightly scary looking elephant statue.

I also captured a picture of what seems to be a quite common mode of transport round here – basically a big truck with a load of people standing in the back!

Doesn’t look the most comfortable (or safest!) way to travel.

We caught a tuk tuk back into town and had a couple of beers by the riverside before going to Phnom Penh Kopitiam for dinner – pan fried noodles, steamed prawn dumplings, and a chicken dish to share. All very enjoyable.

The tuk tuk to our hotel went past the Independence Monument. We’ve been past it several times, but this time I got a photo of it looking nicely lit up in the dark.

Cambodia Day 8 – Phnom Penh and the killing fields

Wednesday 19th October 2022

In the morning we went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, an old school that was converted to an infamous prison during the Khmer Rouge terror reign.

We debated whether to get the audio guides (an additional $5 per person) but I’m very glad we did. It wasn’t easy listening, but the museum would have had nowhere near the same impact on me without the accompanying commentary. I found the most poignant part was hearing from the brother of Kerry Hamill, a New Zealander who accidentally sailed into Cambodian waters whilst travelling and was captured, tortured, and killed by the Khmer Rouge. The brother’s testimony was heartbreaking to listen to, and will remain with me – just one of so many tragic stories from this dark time.

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, not an easy place to visit but so worthwhile

It took us a few hours to walk around the museum – it was much bigger than I expected, with three large buildings. By this time it was lunchtime, so with somber moods we headed to Kengkong Restaurant, a nearby restaurant. We shared some pork fried rice and morning glory with minced pork. Like most of the food we’ve had in Cambodia, it was delicious, with the morning glory exceptionally good.

The stir fried morning glory with minced pork was excellent at Kengkong Restaurant.

After lunch, we got a tuk tuk to the Killing Fields using the Pass app. We’ve found this so useful during our time here, and the rates are much cheaper than hailing a tuk tuk from the street.

Disappointingly, there were no audio guides available, and I found because of this, the Killing Fields did not have the same emotional impact as the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The grounds are beautiful to walk around, it’s so hard to believe the atrocities that took place here.

Thx Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, otherwise known as the Killing Fields.

We again used the Pass app to get a tuk tuk back into town, and got dropped off by the riverside where we had a couple of pre-dinner drinks. We then walked past the night market – much more lively that when we were there yesterday (as it was later in the evening)

We cheated a bit for dinner and went to the Amazing Happy Pizza Pub Restaurant for dinner. They do both western and Khmer food. The pizzas were actually pretty good! Much better than the Khmer dish of yellow noodles with pork that we also shared, which was a bit disappointing.

The pizza was actually very good, and way better than the Khmer noodles.

On the walk back to our hotel, we passed a cool looking building with bright flashing lights. No idea what it was (most probably a hotel), but it looked pretty so I took a photo.

Cambodia Day 7 – an introduction to Phnom Penh

Tuesday 18th October 2022

We had a bit of a slow start to the day, due to not getting to bed until close to 2am last night. I was excited that the Eco House Boutique (the hotel we’re staying at) actually has a proper full bathroom – with a separate enclosed shower cubicle! That excitement however was short lived, when I realised the drainage was rubbish, the cubicle isn’t watertight, and the whole bathroom still gets flooded! I guess it saves on washing the floor….

We didn’t have a specific plan for the day, so went out exploring and in search of lunch. Unfortunately we couldn’t visit the Royal Palace as it’s temporarily closed at the moment, so instead we walked past the Independence Monument, and the neighbouring Statue of Sihanouk Norodom, and continued through the park.

Statue of Sihanouk Norodom, with the Independence Monument visible in the background

We ate at Sophath, a restaurant that seems to pretty much do Nom Banh Chok Samlor Khmer, a traditional Cambodian noodle dish. I wasn’t a huge fan of all the greenery that came with it, but did enjoy the noodles (tasted like a creamy, cocunutty curry), although Pete wasn’t convinced.

We continued our walk to the riverside, where we came across a cute little flower market.

It was very pleasant walking along the river, and we carried on to La Croisette Phnom Penh which had an impressive array of ice cream flavours – including the elusive banana (which Pete had with a bright purple dragonfruit flavour, whereas I opted for pistachio and vanilla brownie). It was very good ice cream, if a little pricey, but they had a lovely upstairs seating area overlooking the river.

Delicious ice cream at La Croisette Phnom Penh, with a lovely view over the river

After relaxing with our ice creams, our next destination was the SOSORO – Preah Srey ICANAVRMAN Museum. The name doesn’t tell you much, but it’s basically a museum of Cambodian history told through it’s money. It was utterly fascinating – I had no idea that the ancient Angkor civilisation (responsible for the famous temples) didn’t have any form of money, which is thought to be a reason for its eventual downfall. Nor did I realise that the Khmer Rouge abolished all forms of money – which again (amongst other things) didn’t help their economic viability.

The museum told the history of Cambodia via its money

We next had a wander through the night market. They had mats laid out, where people would sit to eat the food they just bought at the stalls, which was kinda cool.

It was still a bit early to eat, so we continued to a pub on the riverside for a few beers. We had dinner at David’s Restaurant Homemade Noodles. All their noodles are homemade, and a guy at the front of the restaurant hand stretches them – which involves quite a lot of throwing them around!

It was cool watching the noodles being hand-stretched

Needless to say, they were awesome noodles. As were the shrimp dumplings which we also shared.

Delicious dinner of shrimp dumplings and duck fried noodles

After dinner, we returned to the hotel and had a cocktail by the pool before heading up to bed.

Relaxing nightcap on beanbags by the pool.

Cambodia Day 6 – The long train to Phnom Penh

Monday 17th October 2022

Today we had a long journey ahead of us, so this morning went into town to get supplies for the train – bakery, then supermarket, then Lan Chov Khorko Miteanh for lunch. We had dumplings and pork noodles to share. It was tasty enough, but the hygiene wasn’t the best – we saw owner drop a dumpling on the floor, pick it up and put it in the counter, then just add it to the plate he was serving. Luckily not the one we received!

Lunch at Lan Chov Khorko Miteanh – fortunately our dumplings didn’t include one of the ones dropped in the floor

We went back to the hotel to pick up our bags, and messaged DJ, who had kindly offered to take us to the station. We still had a bit of time to kill, so relaxed outside with a couple of Cambodian beers.

The train station itself was pretty deserted. We sat in the waiting room until we could board the train, which left promptly at its scheduled departure time of 3pm.

The train itself was comfortable enough, and very empty so a lot of room.

We travelling very slowly and it wasn’t the smoothest of journeys – a lot of jerking from side to side. It also loved the sound of its own voice, with long blasts of the horn a regular occurrence. This is because the train line runs straight through the middle of quite a lot of towns, roads, and even busy markets – so I guess they need the horn to warn people to get out of the way.

View out the train window

The scenery we passed was stunning, and we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

I was slightly suprised though that there were no lights on the train during the night. We were sitting in pitch black for a lot of the journey. The plus side of this was that we had an incredible view of the stars, and Pete pointed out the Milky Way to me. We were also lucky to catch a lightning storm, way out in the distance beyond the mountains. It was impressive the way the whole sky would light up, just beautiful to watch.

The main disadvantage of the train was how incredibly long it took! I was expecting it to arrive at 10pm (a 7hr journey), but it was actually after 1am when it finally pulled up at Phonm Penh station. By the time we got to the Eco boutique hotel, where we were staying, I was very glad to go to bed!

Cambodia Day 5 – bats in Battambang

Sunday 16th October 2022

Today we did a full day tuk tuk tour with DJ. I found him online (which is where I think you find all the best things in life – including my amazing husband!).

DJ picked us up at 9am, and off we went to Wat Samrong Knong, a Buddhist temple and our first stop. DJ explained to us that during the Khmer Rouge reign, it was used as a prison. It’s weird to think a place of worship was put to such horrific use.

We then continued down the road to the Samrong Knong Killing Field, a very sobering experience. When you get close to the memorial, you realise the windows are completely filled with skulls and bones – all victims of the Khmer Rouge. Around the outside of the memorial are grisly bas reliefs, documenting the torture that occurred. DJ shared his own personal story with us. He’s only a few years older, but was born in a Thai refugee camp and only moved to Cambodia at the age of 11. It made me realise just how recent the history is, and I felt very privileged to hear his fascinating stories.

The windows are filled with skulls of the Khmer Rouge victims, very sad to witness.

Our next stop was to learn how rice paper is made, such a manual process but really interesting to watch. We also got to sample them, in the form of freshly fried pork spring rolls – delicious! Definitely one of the better spring rolls I’ve tasted.

Watching rice paper being made, then enjoying the fried pork spring rolls

Our next stop was another food related one. This time to see how dried banana is made. We got to sample some, and also bought a bag to take with us tomorrow as a snack for the long train ride (we’ll be heading to Phnom Penh).

Making banana chips – great knife skills!

Then on to another temple – Preah Mhakunthkut. It was quite an idyllic setting and we enjoyed a leisurely wander around.

On the way to the Bamboo train, DJ took us past the Lok Ta Dambong Kra Nhoung Shrine – it’s a bit crazy as it’s basically a shrine where people to go worship, in the middle of a roundabout!

The Lok Ta Dambong Kra Nhoung Shrine is in the middle of a roundabout

The bamboo train is basically a bamboo platform that they balance on two sets of wheels (to turn it around, they literally pick up the platform and rotate, the put back on the wheels!), with a removable engine at the back. Very fun to ride, and a great experience.

Turning the bamboo train around basically involves lifting it up and rotating

Riding the train was awesome!

By this time we were getting hungry, so very happy when DJ suggested taking us somewhere for lunch. On the way, we came across a very narrow, rickety bridge. He told us to walk across and he’d meet us on the other side – I’d assumed via some proper roads! But no, after crossing by foot (and admiring the beautiful views over the river), he followed us straight across.

DJ driving across the narrow, rickety bridge – I’m impressed the tuk tuk fit!

We continued to a little restaurant at the side of the road, where we shared a Khmer dish of beef fried noodles that DJ recommend (not sure of the name, but it was delicious – slightly like sweet and sour, but nicer). We also had to order a beer to share – the name (Krud) just had us too intrigued not too.

Clearly DJ thought we were in need of some exercise, as our next stop on the tour involved a LOT of steps. At the top was Phnom Banan Temple. Nice enough, but not sure it was worth the climb – although it was satisfying reaching the top!

Phnom Banan Temple involved a lot of steep steps

Next it was further into the mountain, to the killing cave. The name comes from the fact that the Khmer Rouge would blindfold people and push them over the edge of the cave entrance, down the steep drop to kill them. Utterly horrific, and ever so sad.

We continued to the top of the mountain, where we were rewarded with beautiful views and some nice temples. There were a lot of monkeys around here, which made me slightly nervous, especially after there was a lot of commotion (am guessing they were fighting)

Temples and beautiful views on at the top of the mountain

The route back down was much easier than the climb up. At the bottom, DJ pointed out the huge Buddha under construction (not that we could miss it!), and we settled down at one of the tables on the street for a cold beer, while we waited for the bats to emerge from the caves.

It was an awesome sight – I was stunned by how long it goes on for (an hour, apparently!). We watched for about 30 minutes, then DJ took us to another viewing point, where we saw bats emerging from another cave – we were further from the cave entrance, but if anything this one was more impressive (seemed to be more bats)

Watching the bats fly from the cave was absolutely stunning

Our final stop was a beautiful location overlooking rice fields to view the end of the sunset. From here, we could see both columns of bats from the two caves we’d just watched – slightly surreal, but amazing.

DJ dropped us off at the night market by the river, and we wandered around it before heading up along the river to grab dinner.

We ate at Japan Bai, and I must say it was exceptional. A little pricey (our bill was $40, but that included a few cocktails) but definitely worth it. we ordered a few small plates to share – bigger than we expecting, so we left very full! For me, the corn fritters and pork bao were stand out dishes, the crispy pork salad and chicken satay were close runners up!

Dinner at Jaan Baj – a great end to a great day

Cambodia Day 4 – a bumpy bus from Siem Reap to Battambang

Saturday 15th October 2022

Today we travel to Battambang. Pete booked the tickets yesterday, and we’re getting a bus with Virak Buntham. I’m slightly apprehensive, as a quick google turns up very negative reviews and a dubious safety record. I am prepared for the worst, and it doesn’t help that when we get to the point on the the google map with the started location that they’d included in the booking confirmation, there’s no sign of a bus station! Keep walking, and turns out it’s about another 10 minute walk down the road. At least we’d allowed plenty of time. We get there and are directed to a waiting room – luminescent green and filled with what looked like posh bus seats from the 70s! They were comfortable enough though, so we settle down for the 30 minute wait until our bus departs.

They call us for boarding a couple of minutes before noon (the scheduled departure time). We’d pick seats in the back row, and got the whole row to ourselves – in fact there were more empty seats that filled (6 passengers for about 18 seats).

The bus departed on time, and was very comfortable, if a bit bumpy! We’d gone to the supermarket to stock up on snacks and enjoyed our “lunch” of pizza Pringles (they seem to have every flavour here!), cashews, and biscuits.

The driver must have been driving fairly speedily as we arrived a whole hour ahead of schedule (maybe that explains why it was so bumpy!). As soon as we pulled up to the stop, a huge swarm of tuk tuk drivers were clamouring at the door. I was very glad that the Lotus Blanc Homestay, where we were staying, offered free pickup (and they were already waiting despite the bus arriving an hour ahead of schedule), so we didn’t have to deal with the tuk tuk onslaught.

We dropped our bags at the hotel, the went out for a walk. The owner of the Homestay was ever so friendly, and the room was nice and clean (the bathroom wasn’t great, smelled a bit musty and was small with limited toiletries, ie just soap, provided – but for $12 a night, you can’t complain)

After walking along the river, we went to the Central Market, which was quite an interesting place.

The part we entered was full of small hairdressers, with people having their hair washed and cut in front of passers by. A bit further along, there were a load of jewellery stalls, with people actually making the jewellery next to the display counters – very fascinating to watch!

I liked the big cooking pots in the street

We then continued a short way to Pub Street – very different to the one in Siem Reap! A lot quieter, and not quite so packed with bars and eateries.

Pub street was way more low key than the Siem Reap namesake

We had a couple of beers (more expensive than Siem Reap, $1 each and that was happy hour prices), before having our first taste of western food in Asia. We went for burgers at KC burger lounge, but to be fair they were exceptional burgers. It’s owned by a French guy who makes his own bread, needless to say the buns were amazing.

After dinner we went across the road to Vintage Wine Bar Mezze for a glass of wine, and were also tempted by the cheese and charcuterie plate. A nice end to our first day in Battambang.

Wine and charcuterie platter at Vintage Wine Bar Mezze

Cambodia Day 3 – Angkor Wat at Dawn

Friday 14th October 2022

It was an early start this morning (4.30am!) as we were going to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat, which we were very excited about. Unfortunately it was a bit of a cloudy day, and so it ended up being a little disappointing – it basically just went from being dark to being light with no pretty colours. So definitely not worth the very early start – it’d have looked just as beautiful if we’d got there at a more reasonable time of day!

Despite the sunrise letting us down, the temple itself very impressive – I didn’t realise just how huge it was! There were some very detailed and ornate carvings in the galleries which our tuk tuk driver bought to life with his stories about the history (involving lots of fights between monkeys and demons!)

The next temple on our tour was Banteay Kdei, which was opposite the Srah Srang lake. It was very peaceful so we spent a bit of time just relaxing and watching the world go by.

Banteay Kdei, which was opposite a beautiful lake

We then went to Ta Prohm, which apparently featured in the Tomb Raider film. I’ve never watched the film, but loved this temple as it had quite a lot of trees growing throughout it, which looked pretty cool.

We stopped off at two quite small temples opposite each other – Chau Say Tevoda Temple and Thommanon. We got a bit lost on our way out as the direction of visit signs seemed to direct us straight through the middle of Takeo Temple Nursery, and then past a huge water wheel. It was a pretty cool detour though!

Chau Say Tevoda Temple and Thommanon, with a detour past a water wheel.

Our final temple stop was Bayon temple, which is big with lots of towers (and four faces on each one of the towers).

We got dropped back at our hotel, where we chilled for a little while, whilst we planned some of our future travels (at this stage, we’ve nothing booked beyond Siem Reap). We then walked into town, where we saw a couple of tuk tuks transporting trees!

We crossed the river, then had dinner at lovely restaurant called Sambo. I love a good spring roll, but often find them very disappointing. This place, however, did awesome pork spring rolls – very crispy and flavoursome, and not at all oily. The Khmer sweet and sour and chicken with holy basil and lemongrass were also pretty good.

Cambodia Day 2 – exploring the temples of Angkor Wat

Thursday 13th October 2022

We bought a 1-day pass, which allowed us entry to see the sunset last night, and then 2 full days (they have temporarily extended the time you get on the pass from one to two days).

We decided to get a tuk tuk tour for the two full days, which I’d pre booked with Sopheap, a guy I’d found via the internet. He wasn’t available the first day, so said his brother would take us that day and pick us up at 8am. Our first temple stop was Pre Rup. Upon entering, the temple a French girl immediately came up to us and asked if we could take her photo at the top of the steps. She bounded up the steep flight of steps then posed with her hands out wide. Photo taken, we expected her to come back down. But no, she instead started bending over and sticking her leg out, which we were a bit confused about…. until she did a handstand / upside down splits. At which point a guard came rushing towards her, clearly to tell her off. Another guard came to tell Pete (who was the one taking the photos) to delete the pics, as we tried to explain we didn’t actually know the girl and the phone was now locked so they’d have to get the girl to delete them.

Pre Rup – our first temple stop of the day

Our next stop was Banteay Srei, which was quite a big tuk tuk ride away. This temple was very intricate, and also had a very informative exhibition which told us a bit about the history and how the temple was constructed – fascinating.

Banteay Srei with its very detailed, intricate carvings.

Our next stop was Eastern Mebon, which to be honest didn’t really stand out all that much to me. It was kind of similar to the first temple we’d visited, but with elephants on each corner

Our tuk tuk driver had given us cold water out of an ice box when we’d started the tour (which seemed to be an endless supply, we later realised that each time we visited a temple he replenished it with bottles from the secret storage compartments under the seats), and now got out a huge Tupperware box filled with melon (and what we later figured out to be dragon fruit) for us. The purple dragonfruit was amazing (the white dragonfruit and watermelon were also pretty good – so juicy and refreshing!)

Our next stop was Ta Som. After visiting this temple, I could definitely understand how so many of the had see become lost in the jungle. This one had a cool tree growing through it. And also faces carved about the entry gate. I very much enjoyed this temple.

We then went a short way to Neak Poun, an island in the middle of the late, so we had to cross a long footbridge to reach it.

Our final temple of the day was Preah Khan which was huge – it just seemed to go on and on! You could definitely have an awesome game of hide and seek here. Our tuk tuk driver had said he’d meet us at the other side, so we didn’t need to double back. It still took us a while to walk through it though.

The immense Preah Khan Temple – it’d be easy to get lost in it.

After our temple hopping, we got dropped off by pub street. We went in search of a money exchange to break down a $100 note (we’d withdrawn cash from an ATM, but it very unhelpfully only dispensed $100 notes, which obviously no shops or restaurants would accept). We managed to find somewhere, and as an added bonus we happened across the ever elusive banana ice cream (something we seek out in every place we visit) – result!

We found banana ice cream! Although it was a bit weird and had a chewy jelly like coating (a bit like Japanese mochi)

We strolled back to pub street for a couple of $0.50 Cambodian beers (how could we say no?!?) then got a tuk tuk to Changkran Khmer Restaurant. I was expecting great things – 4.8 rated on google, with a $20 (cheap for western standards, bit pricey in Cambodia) tasting menu. But we were sadly disappointed. It wasn’t bad food, just very underwhelming and most of the savoury dishes were lukewarm. At least we got a free tuk tuk back to the hotel though!