Siem Reap! The town of John's birthday, and what a place to have a birthday with nice guest houses, all the western food we can eat and all the alcohol promotions we can drink! The day started with card opening, beer and malteasers in bed and it just got better from there... Pizza, beer, steak, new friends, cocktails, free t-shirts and stinking hangovers the next day! The only way the day could have been better is if all John's family and friends could have been there with us.
The main reason we've visited Siem Reap is to see the Temples of Angkor. We decided to purchase three day passes and cycle our way around - a whole 70km! We managed to do this in two days, an impressive feat (even if I do say so myself)!
The first day we visited the more remote temples which were fantastic. We had a couple of hic-ups, a punctured tire and being attached by monkies, but the day was a complete success and the temples were everything we hoped for. The ruins were fascinating and we got so many photo's of tree's growing through the temples.
The second day we made it to Angkor Wat for sunrise (just) which was a worthwhile experience even if it wasn't as 'amazing' as people claim. Angkor Wat wasn't as spectacular as I remember because it is being restored and the whole top level (the best in my opinion) was closed. Bayon (the temple with all the faces), on the other hand was just as excellent as I remembered and I think John enjoyed because he took about a million photo's. We pushed through the day and saw sunset as well. Like sunrise, it was a little anticlimactic but a worth while experience.
I would have liked to see more further afield temples in a tuk-tuk on the third day but we're pretty much templed out and our bodies couldn't have coped with any more bumpy roads so we decided to chill out instead in our very lovely birthday guest house!
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