Over the next two days we visited many (!!) of the numerous temples around the area including the famous Angkor Wat at sunset which was absolutely stunning I think only photos can truly highlight the magnificence of these temples.







There are over 70 temples and we managed to see about 25 over the two days, which was breath taking and pretty kackering too, as climbing to the top of them was pretty steep at times and coming down could be quite hairy!





It was amazing also to see the famous Angkor Thom with the trees intertwined between the temples(thats when the Japanese moved out the way for you to finally be able to get a photo!).......hard to imagine that all of the temples are still standing!
























All the temples including the most famous were breathtaking but for us the true beauties were the quieter unknown un restored crumbling ones with lot less tourists!!!

























































We climbed up on top a massive hill (the posh people went up on elephants which we thought was a pretty cruel existence for such beautiful creatures) to see Angkor Watt amongst the landscape in the distance.













This is a perfect spot apparently for watching the sunset with a million others more!



































So, we headed down to Angkor Wat itself and with a few million others sat on the grass and watched the sunset behind us. Not quite the gold colour I think you get for sunrise (and if after day one we had had ANY energy left from seeing about 15 temples we would have tried) if you have the stamina of course which we didn't.























A magical first day but blimey we were knackered and after some cheap food at a local restaurant away from the tourists we slept well!!









DAY TWO - Not more temples, surely??!!!


Bright put perhaps not as breezy(thats us I mean!), our trusty guide, who now had become a really good friend arrived early for day two!
















This time we headed out further to see less well known temples (passing our crazy danish friends who are cycling all of Cambodia in this heat!) and had another reminder of what this country has been through when we toured a landmine museum hi-lighting the reality of life in Cambodia - the guy famous at the museum had single handedly cleared 50,000 land mines in the latter of his life time, truly incredible!












To know how many millions were left though and that 1-2 people still die a day because of them was a tough read.....





As we spent more time with our guide we learned more: HIV and AIDS is extremely prevalent another byproduct of the numerous conflicts the country has seen.













Our guide believed that 2 in 3 people were infected one of whom was his sister in law and as a result he had 5 more children to support.The people of Cambodia are truly remarkable, what they have been through and the way they survive is unimaginable.....












After feeling truly templed out we chilled in Siem Reap after a few heavy drinks in a VERY loud bar and with a hangover explored Siem Reaps markets, sat drinking coffee in the many chilled out cafes and had the ultimate Cambodian massage. Even tougher than the Thai massage, it was agonising but worth it!

Siem Reap despite being touristy has a beautiful ambiance and feel about it and we could have quite happily chilled with the beautiful Cambodian people here for many days, we will WITHOUT doubt be back and hopefully will see our guide again as it feels very strange without him....