Angkor Wat was one of main draws of me making the trip to SE Asia and I was excited to finally be making my way to Siem Reap.
We left Phnom Penh early the next day, catching a minibus to the bus station then the public bus to Siem Reap. The four hour journey was interrupted only once for a brief lunch stop during which a few of our group took advantage of the opportunity to sample some roadside cooking - cockroaches, grasshoppers and other assorted insects deep-fried in chilli.
We finally arrived in Siem Reap late in the afternoon and checked into the hotel. Dinner that night was at a local restaurant near the hotel where the service was attentive and polite and the food simple but delicious. Tomorrow we were off to Angkor Wat and it would be an extremely early start.
Next morning at 4.30am, as the rooster was crowing, we left the hotel while it was still dark to make the short trip to Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise. Walking over the moat and bridge that surrounds the temple and into the main complex, we could see the distinctive pineapple-cone towers of Angkor Wat silhouetted against the pre-dawn sky. Quite a few tourists had made the early morning trip too and local people, canny to the potential of making some money, had laid out blankets to sit on and were selling drinks, guide books or scarves and cheap jewellery. Sadly, it detracted from the experience somewhat that every five minutes you were being asked to buy something.
The sky began to change colour and the towers of Angkor Wat became more distinctive as the sun rose higher in the sky. The chatter of people around was distracting so I found a tree to stand under, put on my iPod, found a suitable song and watched as the sun rose fully over the temple, revealing it in all its glory (let's gloss over the scaffolding). The combination of music, the view and the setting was one of those magical, goosebump moments. I tried to make it last for as long as possible but eventually the spell was broken and we were called away to head back over the bridge and off to breakfast.
Following breakfast, we headed off in search of more temples. Although it is the most famous, Angkor Wat is only one of a series of temples in the area. Our next destination was Angkor Thom and other smaller temples, Phnom Bakheng, Ta Prohm (where Tomb Raider was filmed), Preah Khan and Preah Neak Pean. Embracing the genius of the Khmer civilisations a thousand years ago, the temples are an intoxicating mix of Hindu Buddhist statues and carvings, towers and terraces. Some are very much intact and some are in a state of disrepair and little more than piles of rubble while some are enveloped in jungle-like creeping plants. Wild monkeys roam the grounds or, like one we saw, sit atop one of the towers and survey the crowds below.
After an extremely long morning in increasingly seething heat and humidity, we returned to Angkor Wat to explore it by daylight. By now we were beginning to grow tired of temples and of clambering up and down steps but Angkor Wat really is an incredible feat of architecture. Built in the early 12th century by Suryavarman II, the man who unified Cambodia and built up the Khmer dynasty, it stands as a symbol of his devotion to Vishnu, and also as a modern day source of Cambodian national pride. We spent an hour there exploring and marvelling at the stunning towers and intricate carvings then hot, tired and finally templed-out we returned to the hotel to rest aching feet.
I had had a recommendation about a vegetarian restaurant and that night a few of us decided to check it out. Chamkar is a modern, fusion-style restaurant in The Passage, near Pub Street in Siem Reap. It's a small blink-and-you'll-miss-it place that serves interesting and well-conceived dishes. Between us we enjoyed some traditional Cambodian cooking with a veggie twist - spring rolls and dipping sauce, an incredible aubergine dip, a red curry with potato and tomato (and one of the best dishes I've eaten on this trip) and stuffed tofu. It was a fabulous meal and the equivalent of about £6 each, including drinks. At that price it was a steal.
After a quick drink with some of the others, a small group of us decided to check out the night markets. We wandered through stalls selling anything and everything: t-shirts and other clothing, jewellery, books, souvenirs, trinkets, Buddha statues, fake Rolex watches. You could have a massage for the equivalent of a few pounds or have your feet nibbled by fish, including a free beer for $1. As the clock nudged 11.30pm and as stalls began to close up we caught a tuk tuk back to the hotel after a long but extremely memorable day.
Our final day in Siem Reap was a relaxed affair. After breakfast at the restaurant next to the hotel, I took a stroll around Siem Reap, down to the river and along its banks then into the main town and another market area where the stalls were similar to the ones at the night market. I bought gifts for family and friends then wandered into the food market with its heady sights and smells - meat laid out on slabs with flies flying around, fruit and vegetable stalls, fresh noodle stalls, stalls selling tea and herbs and spices and curious remedies.
I stopped for lunch for the princely sum of $1 then after a final purchase of two original oil paintings for $30, I caught a tuk tuk and headed back to the hotel.
All too soon our time in Cambodia was coming to an end and tomorrow we'd be on our way to Bangkok to say goodbye to some people and say hello to yet more people on the tour. I didn't know what to expect from Cambodia but the country and its people had really charmed me. Despite the fact we were only there a matter of days, I had seen and done a lot and grown very fond of a country that had survived such an horrific ordeal and, rather than emerge cynical and hardened by it, had emerged with a beautiful spirit of kindness and complete lack of guile in its dealings with foreigners. I wanted to reach out and put my arms around the whole country. I left Cambodia really hoping it wouldn't be the last time I'd see it. Still, ever onwards, tomorrow we were off to the Kingdom of Thailand.