Siem Reap

Woke up feeling fresh today; managed to sleep over ten hours last night even though I am in a room with thirteen other people, Emily and Lesha got a private room after a night sharing with 15 people. It was a chilled evening and we are not leaving until midday so just packing up until then. Once packed up we made our way to Bongs on the front for our buffet lunch and chilled until the speed boat turned up to take us back to Sihanoukville port on the mainland. The Intro group we played smash ball with the other night are on the same boat as us and are heading to Siem Reap, Cambodia’s second largest city, too. When we arrive at the port we clamber off the boat and wait for our luggage to be unloaded. We all watch in horror and some amusement as a poor guy from the other group watches his case being mishandled and fall into the sea below, I then see him unpacking the soaked bag, I hope for his sake he just had clothes in there! Once all our bags are safely offloaded we have just enough time to grab some drinks and a snack at the 7/11 before we drive to the sleeper bus station. At the station we head off for some food, but the place LB sends us to is so far away we have to get our food to go and I shovel my burger in while walking back to the station. Then it is time for another sleeper bus; this one is twelve hours but we will be waking in Siem Reap!

I luckily slept for pretty much the whole bus ride, probably aided by the Valium I took and I wake up in front of the Lub D Siem Reap hostel. After checking in I join India and Nicole on a trip to the nearby market. I need to buy some shoes having lost my flip flops and my Vans being pretty much destroyed at this point. Nicole and India help me choose as I have little to no fashion sense and, to be honest, I don’t really care but £20 for a pair of flip flops and trainers that are both fairly comfy is okay with me. After the market I meet up with the boys and we head to a breakfast place that Alex says has good reviews and it does not disappoint. I have an egg florentine with bacon and mushrooms, a good cuppa tea (a rare thing in Asia) and possibly the best banana milkshake I have ever had. As we pay, the cashier tells us about a beer festival/Christmas market that is happening in the local area. So of course we head on over joined by Poppy and Louis and spend the rest of our day sampling a wide range of lovely beers, my favourite being a honey mead, which I referred to as the nectar of the gods; maybe I’ve read one too many Greek mythology books! Once filled with beers and merry we head on back to the hostel for a few games of pool and another beer or two before heading to bed for what is a relatively early night for us!

Messing about on boats
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The early night was a good thing as we are up at 4:30am heading to Angkor Wat for sunrise. So up early and still foggy we load onto another bus. Angkor Wat is a temple complex located on a site measuring 162.6 hectares. Considered the largest religious structure in the world, it was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the 12th century as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. To be honest I find the sunrise rather shite; it is cloudy and we can’t really see the sun and the so called viewpoint isn’t that good a view of the temple grounds. Nonetheless the tour of the temple itself is pretty good. The carvings of the gods into the stone, the sheer size of the complex and Alex’s excitement (he has wanted to come here since he can remember) makes it a pretty awesome experience. After Ankor Wat we head to another local temple, Bayon Temple, also known as monkey temple which, you guessed it, is over run with monkeys. They are steal-your-phone and jump-on-you type monkeys. It is another cool experience although I do at one point lose the group and get myself completely disorientated just searching the place for the group, luckily managing to find them just as everyone is leaving.

After the temples we head to a restaurant for breakfast; this place clearly makes its living through tourist groups because it is full of them and it definitely isn’t the amazing food or service that brings in the clientele. The best part about the place are the hammocks Alex and I go and sit in after finishing our food to have a nap before we head off. Annoyingly we don’t get long in them though before the group is heading back to the hostel. The rest of the day is spent chilling in and around the pool at the hostel. Jon, Poppy, Alex and I have a swim in the pool filled with the balls you find in a kids pool pit and of course end up just lobbing the balls at each other over and over again. After the pool we want to play another game of smash ball like on the island and I am given the job of recruitment and manage to convince everyone who is available to come play, which actually back fires making the game very messy and very long but hey, what can I say, I am a convincing fella! After the game it is time for another pub crawl, this one organised by the hostel itself. It is a fairly messy night and my memory a little hazy but I remember karaoke and at one point dancing in the pouring rain with my friends. Other than that I remember climbing into bed!

Bayon Temple

Jenny and I partying

The markets

Leaving Bongs, and Koh Rong Island...

Angkor Wat

Chong Kneas floating village on Tonlé Sap lake

... back to Sihanoukville port on the mainland

The Christmas markets and beer festival

I wake up the next day late and a little sad, now you may be thinking well yeah that’s because your hungover Tom, well no actually it’s because its the final full day the group have together. Tomorrow we split, although the boys and I have some fun plans so not all hope is lost. I wake up and join some of the group on yet another bus to yet another boat. We are visiting Chong Kneas floating village on Tonlé Sap lake; it is a lovely day. The bus journey isn’t too long and the boat lets us sit on the roof and take in the sun, I love being on boats, the sound of the water and the smell, while one lays back relaxes and watches the world go by. Soon enough we start to see floating houses docked to the bank of the river. We work our way through the village eventually pulling up to a house and all of us unload. We find a kind woman, who has lived her whole life as part of this village, and her grandson waiting. We sit with drinks and snacks as the our guide translates her story and we have the option to ask questions. It is a simple life, most of the village fish for a living, the kids all in the same school and no one has much money. The village itself moves once a year with the seasons up river, a building at a time, which is pulled along floating on empty barrels. The buildings all look similar to a shelter one sees in the movies built by someone deserted on an island.

After the village we head to a local crocodile farm, another floating building which has a wood made structure that houses about five crocodiles that people can come and see. It is a rather odd experience but it is always cool to see a crocodile or two, along with some water buffalos along the way.

After the village we head back to the hostel and the group goes out for a final meal together, I order about three main dishes as I haven’t eaten all day and enjoy them all, to be fair I do share one of them with India so its not that bad. The food is so nice some of us decide to order sandwiches for our bus ride tomorrow back to Bangkok. I end up walking back with Elain, Charlotte and Louis. Elain and I have a nice chat about her plans, she is doing something similar to me, a work holiday Visa but in New Zealand instead of Australia, so are Zara and Lydia, they all plan to meet up. Once back at the hostel the plan was to go to bed but Jon, Poppy, Lars, Scott and I end up having a few drinks with friends we made last night and end up joining them back on a night out on Beer Street, where we had our pub crawl. It may have been me pushing for a night out but, hey, it is our last night in Siem Reap and on the tour, so why not.

Rush hour
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Farewell Get Together

Ordering our last meal together

Jon rides Rudolph
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I wake up a little later than I should to the noise of the rest of the room packing and getting ready to leave and rush to get ready and pack all my stuff up. Once we are all packed and in the lobby we load into tuk-tuks to the bus station. It is a long bus journey back to Bangkok and one that is a little confusing. None of the staff speak any English and are no help when it comes to border forms or explaining why we are given a sheet with three different destinations on it. Apparently you can get off at any of the three stop offs and the boys and I are a little confused as to which is the closest to the airport our flight is taking off from. We get conflicting answers, but finally figure it out. Once over the border we stop off for lunch – annoyingly I am not given one, but luckily I’m not that hungry and am able to buy a SIM card so not a complete waste of time. It is not long after we are at our first stop and are saying goodbye to Lars and not long after that most of us are getting off and it is time to say goodbye to the rest for the group, a bitter sweet feeling. It is sad to say goodbye, but I am excited for my plans with the boys! So after our goodbyes the boys and I are in a taxi to the airport for our flight to Phuket, Thailands largest island. It is a fairly straight forward journey and flight, internal flights always are easier. Once we land we are all knackered so we hop in a taxi straight to our new accommodation and head straight to bed ready for the next chapter in our adventure. I am sharing a room with Alex and he very kindly gives me the double bed for tonight and I am out pretty much as soon as my head hits the pillow. It has been a fun but exhausting tour and I am happy to be in a double bed in a room with only one other person!