Angkor Sunset

Recipe for an Angkor Sunset:

1/2 shot of Grenadine
1 shot of white rum
1 shot of Malibu
top up with pineapple juice

Pour 1/2 shot of Grenadine, 1 shot of white rum and 1 shot of Malibu into a long glass with ice, then top up with pineapple juice. Yummy!!!

Well that's one type of Angkor Sunset - the other one was a bit more elusive!!  With it being rainy season in Cambodia it usually rains between 4pm and 6pm, so the sunsets have been a bit disappointing. Sunrise at Angkor Wat on the otherhand was beautiful, defintely worth waking up at 4am for!

Angkor Wat during the day....

Bayon Temple....

We've spent just over a week in Siem Reap - plenty of time to explore the temples.  We went on an organised tour of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom and it was worth having a tour guide if only for his ability to spot this photo opportunity!!

After our sunrise at Angkor Wat we visited Ta Prohm, made famous by Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider.

We then visited a beautiful temple called Banteay Srei, which is about 35km outside of Siem Reap.  This was probably our favourite temple - the carvings were so intricate.

We decided to take a break from the temples and do another cooking class.  It was good fun.  Jon made a banana flower salad, while I made fresh spring rolls.  For our mains I made the traditional Khmer dish of Amok and Jon made Khmer chicken with bok choi - really lookimg forward to recreating these recipes at home.  As with Vietnamese food, the food in Cambodia tastes so fresh.

A highlight of our time in Siem Reap was our fish massage on the first night!! A really strange sensation - I'm still not sure whether it was nice feeling and they didn't seemed to get rid of any dry skin as was promised but it was an hilarious experience!

Phnom Penh

After our speedboat journey and border crossing (the easist so far!), we arrived into Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.

We had heard lots of stories about the Tuk Tuk's here, and sure enough as soon as we arrived we were greeted by "Tuk Tuk Sir Madam?". After initially refusing, we realised that the Hotel was a little bit too far to walk, especially in 34 degrees and carrying our worldly possessions on our backs!

We decided to go with one of the quieter drivers, and within no time (and only $2) we were at our hotel.

We arranged for our driver to meet us the next morning and take us to see Tuol Sleng and the killing fields of Choeung Ek. We had not been looking forward to seeing these areas, but knew that it was something we should do.

Tuol Sleng was a school that was taken over by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge and turned into a detention and torture centre. We learnt that out of 20,000 people detained here, 7 survived. Only 4 are alive today. It is estimated that up to 3 million people were killed during the Khmer Rouge ethnic cleansing, out of a population of 9 million.

After visiting the school we went to Choeung Ek, known as the Killing Fields. This was a mass execution area. Our guide had lost most of his family during the regime, but still managed to comfort Steph when things got too much.

Altough the past events in Cambodia are ever present, time, as ever moves on. 

The next day we visited the oldest monumet in Phnom Penh called Wat Phnom. This is where the name of the capital comes from. However, the most excitement I (Jon) got from the day was not the oldest monument, but seeing monkeys in the wild for the first time!! This one was admiring himself in a shiny piece of stone before i rudely interuppted him!

It hasn't felt that we have been slumming it at all - particularly not in Vietnam and Cambodia.  In Phnom Penh we stayed in a 4 and a half star eco-boutique hotel on the riverfront!! Got inspiration for our dream bathroom as well. Not sure we could have sustained the cost for any longer but it was definitely worth it!! Our evenings in Phnom Penh were spent drinking cocktails (Rosie and Vicky were a bad influence!!), whilst looking out on views over the river! 

The joke in Vietnam and Cambodia is what you see on the backs of motorbikes (e.g. whole families).  The problem is we haven't had our camera out to capture most of these but did manage to snap this one!!

Saigon to Phnom Penh in style!!

To get from Vietnam to Cambodia we decided on a bit of luxury. We booked a tour and cruised along the mighty Mekong river before catching a speedboat into Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
 
Our boat, the 'Mekong Eyes' was an old rice barge. With only 4 of us on board it was more than adequate!!

We stopped along the way to visit some local families and taste some delicious fruit. This girls family were very friendly, Steph even received a tap on the bum and a squeeze on the arm (perhaps this was payment for the photo!!).

The food, again, was amazing, and even after polishing off a few bottles of wine with our new travel buddies, Rosie and Vicky, we still managed to look out of our cabin window at 5am for the sunrise!

Later that day we visited a floating market, where the sellers displayed their wares on a flagpole. It was amazing to see the hustle and bustle of river life, whilst we glided past on our motorised fishing boat!

After this we stayed in a really nice hotel in Chau Doc before catching a speedboat for the 5 hour trip to Phnom Penh!