Angkor Wat, Bangkok and Tiger Temple

Our journey from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap was slightly faster than anticipated thanks to a very fast driver and at the expense of a couple of local motorbike drivers who were edged into a ditch at the side of the road! The main reason for visiting Siem Reap is that it is located very close to the temples at Angkor Wat. We woke up early on our first day to get a good morning of sightseeing the temples in before heading over to a nearby butterfly farm and then looking at a couple more temples in the afternoon. The temples at Angkor Wat were amazing, especially when you consider how intricate the detailing is considering the huge size. Our tour of the butterfly farm was very interesting although we were somewhat underwhelmed by the amount of butterflys in the enclosure. Our afternoon was spent exploring the ruins of Wat Prohm, where huge trees have grown and some of the footage from the Lara Croft film was filmed.

Angkor Wat 

 

After a full day of walking round all the temples we were more than happy to spend our last day in Siem Reap by the hostel pool before heading into town for the night market. This was interesting to look round and I ended up buying a couple of paintings that we found. to finish of the evening we treated ourselves to a foot massage in town, with Poppy getting a pedicure as well.

Heading back to Bangkok we had timed it so as to make the weekend market which is the largest in the world. This was very difficult to navigate and sold everything from food to clothes and puppies to the kitchen sink. Staying over in a different area of Bankok to when we were first there we also had a look round some of the huge shopping malls that were nearby and found them equally as difficult to find our way around! On our last day before heading down to the Thai islands we decided to book onto a tour to go to the Tiger Temple in Kanchanburi. This is somewhat controversial as many people think that the tigers are only so relaxed and tame as they are drugged however we were reassured that this was not the case and that they tend to sleep for long periods of the day when it is hottest anyway. The morning in Kanchanburi was spend looking round a couple of other sights as well as a visit to a nearby waterfall. After lunch we were taken to the temple and got in line to go into the tiger enclosure for some pictures with the tigers. All in all it was a good experience and not something I can think that many people would have done. I would love to think that the tigers aren't drugged and are in fact just sleepy in the afternoon but it is difficult to tell as some of them did seem quite alert and awake.

Cambodian islands and Phnom Penh

Having enjoyed Vietnam we were sad to be leaving but at the same time were excited to be heading to Sihanoukville in Cambodia for a few days on the beach. The bus there was one of the worst we have taken so far and we arrived 5 hours later than we had expected! On arrival a few others were also heading to the same stretch of hostels so we grouped together to share a tuk tuk. One of the first scams you hear about is the tuk tuk drivers telling you that where you want to go is closed or isn't good, instead suggesting somewhere that they are on commission from. When we asked to be dropped at 'Mad Monkey Hostel' we laughed at the driver telling us it had 'burned down' and walked off to find someone else. We negotiated a price to the main strip, not knowing that it was literally 400m around the corner and en route drove past the Mad Monkey Hostel which had in fact burned down, much to our amusement!

Sihanoukville is The main beach resort in Cambodia and whilst the beaches there were lovely, we were really looking forward to heading over to a nearby island called Koh Rong. A 2 hour boat ride away the island is still relatively cut off with water and electricity only being turned on at certain times of the day. We had heard that there are plans for large hotels to be developed on the island but at the moment it is only a handful of beach bungalow resorts occupying the beachfront space. We both really enjoyed our time on the island and could easily have stayed longer had in not been for the lure of the Thai islands in the not so distant future!

 

 

Moving on from Koh Rong and Sihanoukville we headed back to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. This was one of our least favourite cities so far as it was very dirty and didn't have that much to offer, leading us to spend only one night here before heading over to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. We stayed in a small guesthouse where the owners owned a cute but slightly overweight pug that was very friendly. On the morning of our arrival we decide to visit the Cheong Ek museum and killing fields located just outside of the city. This turned out to be really interesting and explained the history behind the Cambodian genocide, an event in which around 20% of the population lost their lives. We also decided to visit the Royal Palace here as our hostel was just around the corner from it. We were charged an extortionate fee to get in but were thoroughly let down as it wasn't a touch on the Royal Palace in Bangkok!

 

 

 

 

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh city with the intention of staying for at least 2 nights but after a morning wandering round decided that we didn't even need that long to do everything and move on to Cambodia. Our highlight of the day came in the evening when we went to watch a Vietnamese water puppet show, which was bizarre but at the same time strangely entertaining! (I'll try to upload the video when possible!)