We started off in Phnom Penh, which for one reason or another, didn’t go so great – I got ill several times, and we found the city in general to be pretty hard to walk around. Luckily we didn’t get robbed (which happens there frequently apparently, so I made sure we were holding onto our bags at all times, including in moving tuk-tuks!) We also got offered marijuana a LOT (we were warned about this so luckily we didn’t feign any interest!)
Next were Koh Rong and Sihanoukville, which were generally more our scene, if still a bit weird. Sihanoukville was mostly memorable for the amazing white sand beaches and the lovely little hotel we stayed at, Spayhiti. Run by a very kind German couple, we had a great stay here. They helped us with lots of stuff including hooking us up with a great taxi driver in Siem Reap.
Koh Rong was a mixed bag, and inspired a lot of mixed emotions, so I decided to write a whole separate post about it, which you can read here.
Finally we spent a few days in Siem Reap, mostly to explore the temple complex of Angkor Wat. We bought a three day entry ticket for $62, though in the end we only spent two full days exploring as we were so worn out! The weather was extremely hot and after several hours of walking, exploring and scaling ancient temples we were definitely done for the day. This was one experience I was really looking forward to, and it definitely didn’t disappoint – some of the temples were so epic that the heat and crowds didn’t even dampen my enthusiasm (it probably helps that I’m an anthropology nerd too.)
Needless to say we enjoyed it a lot. Driving around in the tuk tuk through the jungle roads, it wasn’t uncommon to see little ruins peeking out from behind trees, not to mention monkeys lounging around at the side of the road. We also loved the temples which had been completely overtaken by massive trees, their roots covering, and at times supporting, the ancient man-made structures. It was epic! Apart from fancying ourselves as the next Lara Croft/Indiana Jones (except sweatier) we did check out the market and Pub Street. The market was cool, and we found a couple of cool bars, but generally the whole area seemed pretty tacky, and much to Dave’s annoyance, all the bars had loud clashing music playing. If you want to get drunk though, you know where to go!
Next up is a post about Bali – I am a bit behind with my blog recently due to a new job which is taking up a lot of my time, but I hope to get a post up about Bali and Java soon. xx