Cambodia

So, after our interesting journey to Sihanoukaville we dropped our bags in our hotel and went for the best mexican meal I have ever had, which struck me as bizarre considering I was in Cambodia of all places. We then went for a few well deserved beers and games of pool in the evening, scoping out the bars as to where we were spending St Patricks Day the next day (as I am travelling with 2 Paddy's, I also needed the extra training). We read about an Irish bar in the town and so the next morning, after a quick swim and chill out on the beach, we arrived at the bar at midday ready to rock, to find that it was the opening day, all beers were 50 cents, all spirits were a dollar, the food was free and they had real homemade chips and an entire roasted pig (absolutely delicious) and that it was run by a man from Sligo which is where Claire works. Claire and Gary are constantly bumping into people that they know from home or that they know through other people - one woman in the place even worked with Claire's uncle in Ireland, she is a Phillipino lady married to an Irishman. It was a fantastic day, I outlasted the Irish, and I don't even know what time I got home but it was the best Paddy's Day ever. The day after was pretty much a write off, I took myself off to the beach to sunbathe my hangover away and had a thoroughly lovely day, apart from when I was surrounded by about 100 (ok, it was only about 7, but it felt like loads more) little boys of about 10, who stole my water from my towel and tried to steal my shoes! I stopped them and walked quickly off down the beach, it was quite intimidating and the only time I have actually been really scared about losing my possessions.
The next day we left very early for a better bus journey than the others that we have had back to Phnom Penh and managed to get a connecting bus to Siem Reap for the same day, but this one was a luxury bus - air conditioned and with a toilet and it actually only took 5 hours, which is what they told us it would take - this really threw us. Siem Reap was boiling hot, even at 6pm, and we found a nice little guesthouse where I stayed in an actual log cabin (well, it was kind of wicker really, but minor details!) under a mosquito net. I loved Siem Reap, especially the Blue Pumpkin cafe - they sell the most amazing pineapple fruit shakes and wonderful cakes, I went there at least once every day that we were in Siem Reap. They also had an air conditioned lounge which had massive sofas and they put little tables over your legs for your food - absolute heaven. We got ourselves day passes to the Angkor Wat temples and managed to get up there to see the sunset, which was a bit of a washout as it was so cloudy! The views were stunning though and the temple we watched sunset from was just amazing, and not even one of the main ones. There were people riding elephants up to the temple to watch the sunset, but we preferred to take a little exercise and hiked up to the top - I have never sweated as much in my life, it is so hot in Cambodia you sweat just standing still. We were up at 4.30am the next morning to see the sunrise over the main Angkor Wat temple but again we were unlucky and it was so cloudy we didn't see the sun until about 7am. We did a tour of the main temples, which were just incredible, the way they have survived the last 1000 years is just beyond belief, and they seem to be taking steps to preserve them as well as they can. I can't even begin to describe them, so I'll just have to put the photo's up, I have lots! We were slightly templed out by the end of the day though.
I also visited the silk farm just outside Siem Reap, I took a motorbike taxi (I am loving riding the motorbikes here!) for 30 minutes to reach it, and was a little worried as my driver was a Cambodian guy that we had been playing pool with at our guesthouse the night before and he was enjoying some very large 'cigarettes' which made his eyes close. We almost made the journey unscathed, but I think he got caught up in just driving, as he missed the turn to the silk farm, so stopped suddenly and another motorbike bumped into the back of us (don't worry though, I was fine). The man jumped off the bike and just kept asking if I was ok, and I remained scarily chilled out and for some reason it didn't even faze me - this travelling lark is changing me quicker than I thought it would. The silk farm was really interesting and if I'd had the money and lots of extra room in my bags I could have done some damage in the gift shop. We took the cheats way out and flew from Siem Reap to Pakse in Laos, as travelling around Cambodia is pretty awkward, we couldn't get a bus from Siem Reap across the country to the Laos border and we couldn't face going back to Phnom Penh just to head right back up the country on another magical mystery tour that are the bus rides.
As before, I am loving reading your comments, and I will upload some photos in a few days.
Missing you all, take care
Love Hayley xx