Week 2 - Cambodia

Dear Ethel Family and Friends,
Week 2 passes by as another very busy one, We have spent 6 nights in Siem Reap, Cambodia, seeing the incredible temples of Angkor Wat (see Tomb Raider Movie). We spent the week with the Johnstons as well and stayed in a very nice hotel close to the heart of town, called the Angkor Star Hotel at $30US a night.
The major form of transport around town and the temples are the Tuk tuks, pronounced (took), a motorbike with a carriage attached to the back. They are real cheap usually $1US to anywhere in town, except at night when they double their price.
The food was great as well $3-$US5 for a main meal of a good size, beer $1US and spirits $2US. The locals are friendly and being Buddhists we never felt uncomfortable walking on the street even at night.
The Temples are of course the highlight, we opted for a weekly pass, so we didn’t have to cram it all in 1 or 3 days, so we could have a temple day and a rest day. We ended up doing the temples early, getting up at 5am and coming back at about 10am for swim at hiding in aircon till the afternoon.
The Angkor Wat site is so big, we had a look at it on Google Earth before we left, but wow. The Angkor Wat temple Site is the most impressive, as it is the most intact temple, but we went to 12 or so of the temples and found some of the others more enjoyable because there were less other tourists and you were able to wander around at your own leisure. We did sunrises and sunsets and did the balloon ride as well, although that was a bit disappointing, as it is a stationary balloon and takes you 180m up and attached to a cable and takes you back down again, it’s not really close enough to the Temple. Michael & I did an extra day to the girls and saw a few of the outer temple sites.
While we did the extra temple day, Louise & Joyce did a coffee shop, market and Massage day. They went to a massage place called “Seeing Hands”, massage by the blind. The only complaint they had was that they had to ask the masseurs’ to turn on the lights, as they were left in the dark.
A very enjoyable stay in Siem Reap, well worth the visit. Next stop for us is Penang to do our month long english course, the Johnston’s are off to Puket and we catch up with them next in Borneo. PS writing this in the plane again, a good way to pass the time and recount the events.
All the best for now, will post more photos and some video through the week, I hope.
Ric & Louise.