Day 5-7

A couple of days ago we piled in the car and drove the 300+ km to Siem Reap which tool 6 hours or so. The hotel we are staying at is relatively new and normally costs $200 a night but Gwen got us a good deal. The place is called Sojourn and has 9 villas. The staff are wonderful and I would recommend this place to anyone coming here. It is a short trip out of town but still close to everything. The rooms are lovely and airconditioned too. After a swim in the pool we went into town to a buffet restaurant that had traditional dancing. I managed to get some video so hopefully it will upload here.

Yesterday Gwen and I went to Bayon. We actually rode in on an elephant, one each. The men guiding them sat up behind their ears. My guy decided to try and race Gwen's elephant at one stage.

Bayon is the Temple with all the pillars of faces. It was very hot and the stairs in the temple were so steep. A photo would not do them justice but lets say each step was only 10-15cm in width and the height to the next step would be close to 50cm. Despite the moist moss growing on them it was relatively easy to get up ... it was the going down I was not sure about.

From there we came back to the hotel for some brunch and in the afternoon we set off to a floating village. I will tell you more of that when I get the photo's up. It is too hard to explain and the photos do better talking.

Last night Gwen and I went to the night market and spent way too much money. I also had a fish massage. I have seen it on documentaries where fish will eat your dead skin. Apparently it is very therapeutic. Gwen didn't want a bar of it so I gave her some money for a massage of the human kind around the corner. Anyway for US$3 I got 15 mins of little fish nibbling at my feet. In fact I started a fish fight. Two fish wanted the same place so while they were arguing over it another fish got to it. It actually felt like I had put my foot in a foot spa. The nibbles didn't hurt or tickle, they were very gentle. My feet felt so smooth when I got out. In fact while I was there I had the fish to myself but as I got out a lot of Americans turned up and asked me if I would recommend it. Suffice to say there were 10 pairs of feet that went in after me. Thank God I was there first.

This morning James and I went out to Ta Prohm (better known to most westerners as the Temple where the first Tomb Raider movie was made). There were so many people there I am surprised I managed to get the photo's that I did. After this we asked our Tuk Tuk driver to recommend one. Now most of the Temples are within about 10 minutes of each other but our driver took us a long way out through the country side to Banteay Srey. This temple had a lot less people there and was really old. It was still in relatively good condition to as far as ruins go.

Well I must sign off as James and I are heading out to Angkor Watt for sunset and hope that we can beat the tourists to the balloon flight.