Siem Reap

20/06/18

I can’t believe we’re leaving Cambodia in two days, I feel like we’ve only just arrived. I also can’t believe it’s almost July, time is going horrendously fast.

Today we’ve spent an entire glorious day exploring the Temples of Angkor. Possibly the hottest day we’ve experienced in Cambodia, and obviously then the day we walk 11km in the sun (over a period of 8 hours). We were absolute sweaty messes; it always surprises me how badly we deal with heat compared with all the Asian people we see casually dressed in jeans and jumpers when it’s 35 degrees. For perspective, I drank 4 litres of water over the course of the day and only needed to wee once, which I guess gives you an idea of how much of that water was excreted through my skin. We’re lucky really, we’d planned to walk around the entire site between temples on foot; but upon enquiring about getting our passes at our hotel reception, the lady on the desk politely informed us it was a little ambitious (completely impossible) to do the 25km route we’d picked by foot. We hadn’t actually looked how far it was. So instead we hired a man with a tuk tuk to drive us between the temples, which turned out to be really fun; plus, it meant we got a nice breezy break in between each place.

The immensity of the Temples of Angkor is really mind blowing. The temples, although crumbling, are fascinating and so intricately detailed. My photos will show more than I would be able to explain so I won’t say much more, but it was just so lovely to spend an entire day wandering around them. Something that particularly stood out for me, was the power of nature among the ruins; huge trees have grown through the middle of the solid stone walls, roots penetrating through as if it’s just made of sponge.

I also absolutely loved the number of monkeys living across the complex and among the ruins! Huge families of cute little things just sleeping and playing all day. Perhaps against his better judgement, Elliot attempted to take a selfie with one, but about a second after he took the photo, it grabbed him by the head and bit his neck. Luckily he’s had all his rabies jabs; I haven’t, and didn’t fancy my chances, so stayed a safe distance.

We’re absolutely exhausted, but it’s so worth it to have seen the crumbling city. I’m very much looking forward to a G&T and ice cream rolls tonight, and a lazy day around the pool tomorrow.

21/06/18

We have a mutual agreement regarding encounters with critters out here; that is that I deal with spiders, Elliot deals with cockroaches (our two most common bothers), and anything else gets assessed on a case-by-case basis. We’re in quite a creepy crawly room at the moment, and this evening, a big spindly spider ran out from under the bed towards me. Unfortunately, before my brain realised I didn’t have shoes on, I’d reflexively stamped on it with my bare foot (bleurgh). I quickly wiped its legs off my foot onto the bath mat, but it was still pretty gross.

We had a lovely relaxing day at the hotel today. After the exhaustion of yesterday, it was much needed, and I’m really enjoying reading at the moment. We spent the morning by the pool, until a storm hit around lunchtime, after which we hid in our room drinking tea and catching up on Love Island.

22/06/18

We’re moving on to the islands in Southern Thailand today. We’ve got two flights to get this afternoon, and then a boat tomorrow morning. We started our adventure in Thailand, so I’m quite excited to go back, but I’ve absolutely loved our couple of weeks in Cambodia and will really miss it. This country is so beautiful; it’s obvious that they’re trying so hard to get back onto their feet, but unfortunately their tragic past still has firm grips on their culture. I can only hope time can heal their wounds.