(Photos will follow soon... I still have to sort through them and stuff. Check back in a little while! They should be good.)

Phnom Phen was an excellent place, as was Kep. But now it was off to the place that everyone that comes to Cambodia comes to Cambodia for... one of the new "7 wonders of the world" Ankor Wat. After having met a lot of people coming to Phnom Phen from the west, I had heard a lot of really good stories. Which made my anticipation for a visit to the temples even greater. I booked a bus and left the capital city at 07:45 sharp. The ride to Siem reap is about 6-7 hours so I got comfy. As you do in a bus that takes most of the day. Book and Ipod are the way forward.

Next to me was a guy called Daniel and next to him on the other side of the ilse, two girls (Ilse and Dieuwertje). It turned out they were all dutch, 2 seperate travel parties, but dutch none the less. As I later discovered, Holland must be having some sort of special air fare to Siem reap, as in the last 2 days I have met a disturbingly large amount of dutch people. They are everywhere, around every corner, up every rise. So many in fact that I almost start adressing new people in dutch... and 9 out of 10 reply in dutch too! Amazing, kinda creepy though. Im at a city boasting the world wonder of Ankor wat, and its swarming with my people! I guess we know where the good spots really are! Haha

Anyway, enough of my amazement at the sheer volumes of native Nederlanders and back to the story of Siem Reap. On my delta cruise, Marcelo and Maca had mentioned the possibility of eating deep fried tarantulas in phnom Phen... I was intrigued, and scoured the streets together with Becky, but came up empty handed. A little dissapoited I had put it at the back of my mind, as it seems pretty gross anyway. Well, guess what was on display and sale in their hundreds at the first bus stop of the trip to Seam reap? yep, heaps and heaps... mounds rather of crispy fried, shiny black hairy spiders. I couldnt resist the urge, paid my $0.25 and... well ate, first a leg or two, then a bite of the thorax, leaving the abdomen alone, and finishing on the last few legs. It was another case of mind over matter... It was interesting... OK at best, I wouldn't say... good. Another thing that I can cross of the list. I ate a deep fried big black hairy spider. yep. really not as bad as it sounds. Kinda fishy, crispy, with a strong salty flavour.

The spider

Spider legs

So back onto the bus, with some sour mango to wash out the roaming taste, and off for the last 4 hours of the trip. Daniel, the guy next to me was just done with his studies and was over here for 2.5 months and the two girls were in a similar situation. When we finally arrived at the bus station of Siem Reap... we were, attacked! I have never experienced so many touts. They were in their hundreds, armed with laminated tuc tuc/hotel price sheets. All shouting and offering a ride to anywhere we wanted. Hundreds. I salvaged my bag in all the commotion and while fighting off the commission hungry touts, was saved by Ilse who called me over to their selected tuk tuk (selected... as the driver had proceeded in taking the initiative of loading their luggage on his wagon). We rode to the popular choice guest house - Smileys. A really chilled out place, got my room and then we read up on the best approach to the temples.

Monks at Ankor

Sunset Ankor

We heard that if you buy a ticket after 17:00, you can watch the sunset over Ankor Wat and use the ticket the next day. That is exactly what Ilse, Dieuwertje and I did. The sunset was swarming with people, but due to the sheer size of the place it didnt take anything away. A worldly site! Well deserving of its newly acquired title. We chilled until the sun was all gone and then went in search for a deserving meal. Siem reap, as I mentioned earlier is swarming with travellers (with an abnormal amount of Dutch), so the places to go are suited accordingly. A street of awesome restaurants, bars, clubs and everything else you need to make you feel at home. After a scrumptuous dinner we ambled over to Temple bar, ordered some drinks and did what we probably shouldnt have. getting home rather late, we had only a few hours to rest before the predetermined pickup time by our tuk tuk at 05:00.

sunrise crowds

Sunrise

Ankor wat

Getting up was easier than expected, and there was a brief moment where we almost rented bikes. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but after spending the sunny hot day wandering the temples, with tuk tuk rides in between, there was no regrets. At all. Bikes would have been cool, but not today. The temples are amazing! After watching the sun rise over the Ankor Wat, we rode over to the (in my opinion anyway) even more impressive Ankor Thom. A temple that boasts a massive amount of stone faces, and has the option to climb atop, and wander the maze of tunnels below. Besides the many challenging climbs up to the tops of the temples, all three of us agreed that the tomb raider temple (where they shot part of the movie) was awesome too. The temple, or rather ruin, has massive silver trees growing all over it, with the roots working their way down, through, along and over walls.

To the top

walk way

Bily the tripod at work

Ankor temple

face

Ankor Thom Entrance

Ankor Thom

After 11 hours at the temples, and only having seen the most popular ones we were all "templed out" as they say here. I had a brilliant day, content, happy and exhausted. Much to the disgrace of some, but praise of others, I have decided that one day at the temples has been enough. I saw all I wanted to see, had great weather, watched sun rise and sun set, took ample photos and have some excellent memories. From here, another early start to catch the slow boat through the most scenic water way in Cambodia to the old French colonial town of Batambang.

Illse and Dieuwer at the ne dof a long Temple day in the tuk tuk