During our stay in Phnom Penh we decided that we couldn't miss out on visiting Myanmar (Burma) so we applied for our visa's at the embasy. The whole process takes around four working days, but as we went on a Thursday we ended up having to wait a day short of a week!
What to do with six spare days in the capital of Cambodia. We headed down to the coast on a relatively short bus journey to Sihanoukville. This is what can only be described as the party town of Cambodia and is full to the rafters with young travellers. We stayed here for one night and decided to quickly move on to what we thought was going to be an idilic island, Koh Rong, but what it actually turned out to be was "So Wrong" (Lots, 2013). Back to basics, limited electricity and beach bungalows, mixed with a huge hippy population. We stayed at a place called Coco Bungalows, otherwise known as "Nono Bungalows" (Lots, 2013).
Koh Rong did have one very cool feature. At night, if you went swimming about fifty meters from the beach, you were then surrounded by bio luminescent plankton. If you thrashed your arms and legs around the water would light up around you. It was one of our favourite experiences.
After a two night stay we decided to head back to the mainland, to a place called Otres Beach and stayed in some bungalows in the shape of Mushrooms. It was a great place, but unluckily lots had food poisoning so we didnt get to make the most of the beautiful beach.
Next it was time to head down to Siem Reap to explore the temples of Angkor Wat, a must see if your visiting Southeast Asia. We enjoyed our time here the most as the town has a great night life, with good food and places to drink, as well as having a wonder of the world on its door step!
We decided to explore the temple sites for three days and hired a tuk tuk driver named Walter. He was great and made the trip a sensational success. We started off the first day visiting the temple that was used to film the first Lara Croft film. Unluckily it was under reconstruction and there was scaffolding in places. The temple directly nextdoor was beautiful, we spent the better part of an hour wondering around and soaking up the atmosphere. For the rest of the day Walter took us around stopping off at interesting sights, including the Eastern entrance to Angkor Thom. This is where you pass over a moat on a bridge covered in statues of dragons and guardians, then you pass through an ancient gateway, theres no gate anymore but it is still a beautiful sight to see.
We finished the day with a walk along the Elephant Terrace, at the heart of Angkor Thom, along past the Palais Royal and the beautiful Baphuon, finally ending up at the jaw dropping Bayon Temple. Seeing the level of detail in the carvings, the shapes of the spires and the sheer magnitude of Bayon Temple makes the visit to Cambodia in itself worth all the effort!
That evening Walter took Nat to play football with the other local tuk tuk drivers. The game was played on a full size pitch where Nat was the striker, netting a top right hand corner finish. Playing in the same team was our Belgian friend Tom, who was the main force in midfield. Standing at a cool 6 ft 5" he was the tallest on the pitch by at least 5 inches.
The next day we got up for sunrise at Angkor Wat. We arose at 4.30 in the morning and were outside Angkor Wat at around 6 am. Sadly it was cloudy which obstructed our view of the sun rising, although it didn't take any of the beauty out of the temple. The sun shone off the clouds and created a deep purple and blue background to see the temple against. Angkor Wat is the seventh wonder of the world and even though it doesn't quite boast the beauty of Bayon or the serenity found at some of the smaller temples, the complexity of the inner and outer buildings, the moat system and the outer walls, mean the temple of Angkor Wat deserves the title Wonder.
Later that morning we went and visited some of the smaller temples to the North of Angkor Thom. Here is where we actually found our favourite temple of our three day visit. Ta Sohm temple was not the most impressive in size or skill of construction and it hadn't been fully renovated, but it felt more rustic and untouched. Coupled with the feeling of serenity and the fact that we were almost the only people there, the experience of walking around this ancient ruin was unforgettable.
That night we stayed up until 2 in the morning to watch the champions league final. Watching it on a big screen in the street along with plenty of German tourists made for a good atmosphere. But we only made it to half time as it all became a bit too much for Nat and fell asleep in his chair!
The final day was spent mainly enroute to our final temple of the trip, Banteay Srey. Its 37 km out of Siem Reap, but decided to make the effort as we heard it was a 'must visit' if you had the three day temple pass. The temple itself is fairly small, but still very pretty and is surrounded by a moat enclosed in a stone wall. Just outside the temple was a small exhibition highlighting the work undertaken over the decades to restore the complex to its former beauty.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Siem Reap. Our next stop is the island of Koh Chang for a short break and then on to Bangkok. From there we fly to Burma to experience something that we hope to be life changing.
What to do with six spare days in the capital of Cambodia. We headed down to the coast on a relatively short bus journey to Sihanoukville. This is what can only be described as the party town of Cambodia and is full to the rafters with young travellers. We stayed here for one night and decided to quickly move on to what we thought was going to be an idilic island, Koh Rong, but what it actually turned out to be was "So Wrong" (Lots, 2013). Back to basics, limited electricity and beach bungalows, mixed with a huge hippy population. We stayed at a place called Coco Bungalows, otherwise known as "Nono Bungalows" (Lots, 2013).
Koh Rong did have one very cool feature. At night, if you went swimming about fifty meters from the beach, you were then surrounded by bio luminescent plankton. If you thrashed your arms and legs around the water would light up around you. It was one of our favourite experiences.
After a two night stay we decided to head back to the mainland, to a place called Otres Beach and stayed in some bungalows in the shape of Mushrooms. It was a great place, but unluckily lots had food poisoning so we didnt get to make the most of the beautiful beach.
Next it was time to head down to Siem Reap to explore the temples of Angkor Wat, a must see if your visiting Southeast Asia. We enjoyed our time here the most as the town has a great night life, with good food and places to drink, as well as having a wonder of the world on its door step!
We decided to explore the temple sites for three days and hired a tuk tuk driver named Walter. He was great and made the trip a sensational success. We started off the first day visiting the temple that was used to film the first Lara Croft film. Unluckily it was under reconstruction and there was scaffolding in places. The temple directly nextdoor was beautiful, we spent the better part of an hour wondering around and soaking up the atmosphere. For the rest of the day Walter took us around stopping off at interesting sights, including the Eastern entrance to Angkor Thom. This is where you pass over a moat on a bridge covered in statues of dragons and guardians, then you pass through an ancient gateway, theres no gate anymore but it is still a beautiful sight to see.
We finished the day with a walk along the Elephant Terrace, at the heart of Angkor Thom, along past the Palais Royal and the beautiful Baphuon, finally ending up at the jaw dropping Bayon Temple. Seeing the level of detail in the carvings, the shapes of the spires and the sheer magnitude of Bayon Temple makes the visit to Cambodia in itself worth all the effort!
That evening Walter took Nat to play football with the other local tuk tuk drivers. The game was played on a full size pitch where Nat was the striker, netting a top right hand corner finish. Playing in the same team was our Belgian friend Tom, who was the main force in midfield. Standing at a cool 6 ft 5" he was the tallest on the pitch by at least 5 inches.
The next day we got up for sunrise at Angkor Wat. We arose at 4.30 in the morning and were outside Angkor Wat at around 6 am. Sadly it was cloudy which obstructed our view of the sun rising, although it didn't take any of the beauty out of the temple. The sun shone off the clouds and created a deep purple and blue background to see the temple against. Angkor Wat is the seventh wonder of the world and even though it doesn't quite boast the beauty of Bayon or the serenity found at some of the smaller temples, the complexity of the inner and outer buildings, the moat system and the outer walls, mean the temple of Angkor Wat deserves the title Wonder.
Later that morning we went and visited some of the smaller temples to the North of Angkor Thom. Here is where we actually found our favourite temple of our three day visit. Ta Sohm temple was not the most impressive in size or skill of construction and it hadn't been fully renovated, but it felt more rustic and untouched. Coupled with the feeling of serenity and the fact that we were almost the only people there, the experience of walking around this ancient ruin was unforgettable.
That night we stayed up until 2 in the morning to watch the champions league final. Watching it on a big screen in the street along with plenty of German tourists made for a good atmosphere. But we only made it to half time as it all became a bit too much for Nat and fell asleep in his chair!
The final day was spent mainly enroute to our final temple of the trip, Banteay Srey. Its 37 km out of Siem Reap, but decided to make the effort as we heard it was a 'must visit' if you had the three day temple pass. The temple itself is fairly small, but still very pretty and is surrounded by a moat enclosed in a stone wall. Just outside the temple was a small exhibition highlighting the work undertaken over the decades to restore the complex to its former beauty.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Siem Reap. Our next stop is the island of Koh Chang for a short break and then on to Bangkok. From there we fly to Burma to experience something that we hope to be life changing.
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