Finally - we arrive at Ankor Watt

It was another early morning, rising at what has become known as stupid o'clock to catch our "express" boat to Siem Reap.  It was due to leave at 7am, but in the end left at 7.30.

The boat was a long, low power boat which our bags were strapped onto the top of.  We filed down into it, to find the cabin filled with the smell of diesel.  We hoped that it would fade during the journey, but were sadley mistaken.

At first it seemed we would have the boat mostly to ourselves, but more and more people arrived and soon it was very full, however once we got going, people quickly began to exit the cabin to sit on the bow or the roof.  The choice was not great, sit in the diesel filled dark cabin on the uncomfortable seats with no leg room, or sit on the hard metal deck and face getting sunburnt.  I think we all bounced between the two.

Being almost the end of the dry season, the Mekong is currently quite low and as a result we couldn't go as fast as it normally does.  As a result the usual 5.5 hour trip took 7.5 hours.  Towards the end the river got so low they had to transfer us to a smaller boat to get up the tributary.  It was an interesting boat ride though.  Compared to Vietnam the banks of the river are almost deserted, and the villages we passed seemed much poorer.  However the people who waved from the banks or their fishing boats all seemed to have massive smiles on their faces which was lovely.

The Mekong opens out into a massive lake before you get to Siem Reap and on it were whole floating villages of fisher people.  When we slowed they would row out to sell us drinks or bananas.

But at last we arrived in Siem Reap.  We were met by our guide Som, who took us to our hotel, The Angkor Holiday Hotel.  It is great.  Among the things that immediately endeared it to us was the presentation of mixed fruit cocktails and damp hand towels on arrival, shower heads that us tall people can actually stand under, large and comfortable rooms and a pool - more on that later!

We dumped our gear and headed for a very late lunch as we were starving.  Ever since I said I was coming to Cambodia people have been telling me I need to try fish amok, a type of soup.  We finally managed to have it for lunch and while we were starving and anything would have been good, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it is fantastic.  The closest thing I can equate the flavour to is a green curry, but it is a much more subtle flavour.  It was served in a coconut, and you poured it over rice.  Just what we needed.

We were too late to see the first temple complex on our itinerary, so instead we headed straight to see sunset from Phnom Bakheng.  It is a temple that was built to honour the Hindu god Shiva in 1002.  It stands on top of a hill and once you have climbed the hill, you still have to climb the very steep and narrow steps to the top.  However once up there, the view is amazing and the temple ruins are spectacular.  It is the place to watch sunset so there were a million tourists and it was interesting to watch them.

So many dress inapporpriately.  This is a very modest culture and everywhere there are girls in tiny short shorts and strappy tops.  There were a group of monks (who were taking pictures themselves) and a bunch of scantily dressed Japanese girls came up to get their photos with them, like they were the tourist attraction.  It is all a bit embarrassing.

We stayed till after sunset when most people had left and the temple got quiet and that was beautiful.

From there we headed to dinner and a show.  Dinner was a buffet of lovely Khmer food however having only had lunch 3 hours earlier none of us were very hungry.  But the show was of traditional dance and it was really great.  Again annoying tourists kept standing in our way but we really enjoyed it.

We came back to the hotel and finally got to enjoy that pool I told you about earlier.  After such a long, hot, uncomfortable day, a refreshing swim was just bliss.  Now Petra, Kieran, Mikey, Oren and Rob have gone in search of a massage to top it off.

It has been an amazing day.