Angkor or Anchor? - that is the question.

Siem Reap is great. There's not much to do in the town itself, it's really just a tourist base to discover the temples of Angkor, which are about 5 km to the north of the town. Most guidebooks make out that its far too touristy and commercialised and not that great, so our expectations of the town weren't that high. But actually, if you compare it to some of the more touristy parts of Europe - think the spanish Costas or Falaraki - its not at all touristy. Yes, there are plenty of tourists around and yes, there are plenty of bars, restuarants and markets catering to them. One of the main streets in town is actually called "Bar Street". But what else would you expect?? After all, Angkor Wat is the most famous icon of Cambodia (its even on the national flag!) and the tourist industry is vital to the country which is still trying develop like its neighbours Thailand and Vietnam

Most people only come to Siem Reap for a couple of days; they head out to the temples in the day, go for some scram at night and then move on - usually back into Thailand. We were quite unusual in that we had plenty of time to kill here, and we stayed for six days. Because of the sheer number of accommodation options on offer, it's all very competitively priced meaning that for just a little extra expenditure you can get some really fancy digs for the night, we decided to take full advantage of that and treat ourselves to a places with a pool.

While in Phnom Penh we researched a little and found a place amusingly called "The Kool Hotel". It looked good and they had a deal on which meant it was well priced and within our budget so we booked up 3 nights there to start with. Marie was excited by the prospect of the pool and the free internet.

It turned out to be very fancy, especially compared to our usual standard (which isn't that low anyway). We had a nice big room, good quiet aircon and a bath in the bathroom! On arrival our bags were taken up for us and we were given an introduction to the town and the temples by one of staff. All the staff were great, very friendly and chatty. We were pretty tired after the bus journey from PP and it was still really warm so decided to go down to the hotel's restuarant and have tea. A Khmer feast of Amok Fish, Khmer Spring Rolls and, ahem, Quesadillas. It was all lovely and washed down with a bottle of red wine (the first for weeks!).

Next day we found it a struggle to leave the hotel confines. A leisurely breakfast, a bit of internet surfing (see last post!) and some chillaxing in and by the pool. The only downside is that the pool was a bit murky because of some recent rains and it was being cleaned. It was still safe to use but full of oily little globulets of chemicals which floated around you. Still, it was bloomin' lovely.

That evening we caught the free shuttle bus into town (the hotel was little bit out from the town centre) and ate at a bar/restuarant called The Red Piano. It was very proud of the fact that Angelina Jolie once went there when she filmed Tomb Raider. They even have a cocktail "inspired" by her on the menu, I'm not sure what that means. We then headed down Bar Street and had a (very) quick drink before getting the last shuttle bus back to the hotel. The next couple of days were pretty similar, we decided there was no hurry to rush out to Angkor Wat as we had all week so spent the next day doing very little again and then the next day moving to a new place to stay.

We decided to head nearer to the town centre, and found a great place called the Central Boutique Hotel. It wasn't particularly central, or a boutique hotel, but it was, again, really nice with a big pool. We spent a good few hours splashing around, generally making a nuisance of ourselves.

We decided to head to Angkor the following day. Our tuk-tuk driver that transfered us from The Kool Hotel to the Central Boutique Hotel, Mr Sena, quoted us a price of $13 to take us out there for the day, which was cheaper than the Lonely Planet quoted as a good price, so we went out with him the following day.

There are two options of what to see if you go to Angkor: the Big Circuit and the Little Circuit. The Big Circuit takes a couple of days to see everything on it and the Little Circuit just day. We decided that two days might be overkill and we'd get all templed-out so went for the option of the Little Circuit as that had the main tourist draws on it anyway. And it meant we only needed a one day ticket- which was cheaper!!

We also decided to fore-go the prospect of "watching sunrise" over Angkor which companies try to sell to you and we were glad we did. After 5 days of pure blue skies, we awoke that morning to a grey blanket of cloud covering us. That was fine we thought, as it would hopefully keep the temperature down a bit too. Our driver was waiting as promised at 7.30 outside and we jumped in the tuk-tuk and were off, heading out the town towards the temples.

We stopped and got our tickets, a reasonable $20 each for a day ticket - complete with photo so you don't give it to someone else - and as soon as the transaction was completed it began to rain. Rain alot. Once we got to Angkor Thom, our first stop, it was still throwing it down and we were surrounded by poor coach-loads of ill-prepared tourists running around drenched to the bone. A lot of Chinese tourists had huge umbrellas which we eyed enviously from our tuk-tuk which while waiting for the rain to ease. It didn't ease though and our driver went and bought an unbrella for us. Hurrah! We could actually get out of the tuk-tuk and have look at things.

We looked around the ancient royal city of Angkor Thom, seeing the famous Bayon temple and the old royal pavillions and terraces. It's a very beautiful place and even though there were quite a lot of other tourists it wasn't too crowded. The rain finally eased off as we walked to the Terrace Of Elephants so the umbrella became a useful walking stick as I tried to navigate the ancient walkways and paths- now horrendously muddied- in my wet, slippery flip-flops. As expected, there were a lot of people (mostly children unfortunately) who try to sell you things such as books or bracelets, or even just beg and some are very persistent.

There is still a strong divide between rich and poor here and I guess you just have to except that unfortunately this is the only way that many people, espeically from rural areas, can make a living. You just have to accept it although it can get tiring after a while. You can never be sure exactly who will benefit from any money given, as often kids are effectively pimped out to beg so giving them money only makes the situation worse and continues a cycle of dependance. Most temples usually had little stalls and shops where people were selling things so when we did buy a few little things - bracelets, fabric, water - we at least knew that the money was going to these family "businesses".

Anyhow, after Angkor Thom we headed to a few other temples out in the forests, including Ta Phrom - more commonly referred to as the Tomb Raider Temple. I've never seen it but know that it's in the film and it was amazing, probably the best bit of the day. Its very well photographed and the publicity generated by the Tomb Raider film means that its now definately part of the tourist circuit. The jungle has taken back the temples of the complex after it went to ruin and is a wonderfully beautiful place'where giant trees are weaved in and around the crumbling temple walls. You could even appreciate the magical quality of it all in amongst a ginormous Vietnamese tour group - it really did look like a film set but it was all real.

After that we headed to the main attraction - Angkor Wat - reputedly the largest religious structure in the world. We had driven past it quickly in the early morning downpour but couldn't make it out at all in the low visibility but now that the sun had come out it was really quite impressive. It's surrounded by a huge man-made moat (1.3 x 1.5 km in size) and you cross over on a stone causeway through the main pavillion entrance. Most tour groups had gone for lunch so it wasn't too busy and a good number of monks in saffron robes were going about their normal business which added to the experience. It's still used as a working temple. We walked around the whole place and after an hour or so decided it was time to head home.

As we came out, a guy came running over to us and said "You're Marie!"to Marie. It took us a couple of seconds to realise it was Rudy, one of our Fraser Island camping buddies! It was bizarre to bump into him but good all the same and we had a brief chat and catch up before heading back to town for some lunch.

A day at Angkor is definately worth doing, we both really enjoyed it, although we both really enjoyed cooling off in the pool afterwards too and then heading into town for 50 cent beers! The two main beer brands are 'Angkor' and 'Anchor' - whether the similarity is intentional I don't know but Anchor is cheaper and just as nice.

On our last day we bought our bus ticket back to Phnom Penh and sorted out some accomodation there too. The bus tickets were only $5 each, under half the price we paid to get to Siem Reap, although we realised thats because the bus wasn't quite so.... salubrious. Three words sums it up: Least Legroom Ever. Still, it was cheap and got us back to Phnom Penh with all afternoon to spare.

We're staying at the Cara Hotel - a good place which is comfortably mid-range ( no pool though!) and yes, has free internet. We're here for 5 days, we needed time to sort out our visas for Vietnam. You've got to give it at least 3 -4 days according to the voices of experience. Well, we went yesterday morning and after 5 minutes filling in the form and paying our money were told to return at 4.30 that afternoon to pick it up. So we did. That was it. It was the easiest, quickest, least hasslely visa of the whole trip. So now we have 4 days to kill in PP before heading to Vietnam and meeting up with Helen, Nicky and Steph.

Writing this has taken one day it seems, so only another 3 to go!