Soo-as'day Siem Reap, Cambodia!

Touching down in Cambodia, you'll have flewn over wetlands, luminous green rice paddies and swaying sugar palms for as far as the eye can see. The tropical heat hits as you step out of the plane, yet the air is somehow fresher and smells like wet grass on a summery day, which in contrast to the sticky city food smells of Bangkok is a very welcome change!

Meeting our friendly Khmer driver, Pumpkin, and taking a slow country-side ride in his tuk tuk to our villa, we passed villagers and street food vendors, strange skinny looking cows grazing amongst swampy banks, bicycle riders, coconut hoarders, swerving motorcyclists and numerous hotels. Homes like gazebos made from tarpaulin, barefoot children and stray dogs, banana trees, palms and wooden shacks. Finally taking a turn off the busy and seemingly no-rule roads, we reached a long and bumpy dirt track that lead to our incredible villa, 'The Mansion'. Sounds posh, but it's not. It's homey and rough around the edges, but naturally beautiful with a gorgeous pool side and jungle-like garden. The  place seems like it's run by a bunch of really good mates, some local and some Japanese. They're fun, friendly and treat us like long lost friends, they wave us off every time we leave through the front gate for free tuk tuk rides into town and greet us excitedly as we arrive back again. It's a pretty good atmosphere. The whole area comes alive at night with the nocturnal sounds of nature - miniature frogs and teeny tiny lizards join you for drinks in the bar area, got to watch out for the mosquitoes though as the surrounding wetlands make for a feeding ground at dusk.

Downtown Siem Reap is pretty fun and surprisingly hip, with backpackers and trendy bars popping up along the famous 'Pub street'. Tuk tuk drivers loiter, touting for business and Khmer women practice the art of public sleeping laying out amongst their market produce, exhausted from the relentless afternoon heat. Flies contaminate food produce - sweaty meat hangs from hooks, chicken feet and all sorts of seafood and fried bugs on sticks! Fruit and vegetable stalls and repeated clothes lines make up the most of Siem Reap and you'll soon be sick of hearing "hello ladiee, you buy something?" 

Food is good - it's milder than Thai and far more suitable for a bland western palate. Tonight we bar hopped, haggled for some souveniers and braved the 'bug cafe' a Cambodian restaurant famous for serving up insect delicacies including deep fried tarantulas, scorpion salads and crickets on sticks. We nervously awaited our sharing platter like it was some kind of 'bush tucker trial' and had to psyche ourselves up in order to dig in. To our surprise the spiders tasted the best - crispy legs, slightly hairy and a sweet chicken-like white meat body. Honestly - Delicious! One was deep fried and popped on the end of an insect kebab, and one was dipped in tempura batter but still hauntingly remained its eight legged shape! Squidgy silk worms and crunchy crickets seasoned a light medeterrain salad, fried red and giant black ants filled a crispy spring roll which was the easiest to eat as they were wrapped in filo pastry. The waterbug's shell was difficult to overcome, and the cricket legs after inspected were strong and seethrough and with tiny shoe-like feet - they were too much for me to eat. The body tasted sweet, but the head remained on the plate! Feeling very proud of ourselves, surely earning some serious backpacker points, we left for our tuk tuk and back to the villa for an evening swim...

We are surprised by how urban and up-and-coming downtown Siem Reap really is, civilized and uncivilized at the same time - its a city of contrast. Tourism is big business - with constant building work, near-luxury hotels and modern bars, it's pretty tourist friendly to say the least and with Angkor becoming well known on the tourist circuit, it's becoming more and more commercialised and unfortunatley less authentic. Though behind the modern city facade it seems the past still haunts - double amputees beg and landmine victims look for work, selling knock off books as you sit down for a drink. Young barefoot girls with babies wander the streets begging for milk powder (a scam where they return the milk to the shop in return for money and often spend it on cigarettes). Stick downtown for a few hours and you'll possibly see some baby swapping amongst them too! It's a poor place and with the US dollar as the unofficial but most commonly used currency, it makes the poor poorer and leaves tourists surprised at the unexpected inner-city prices - it's not as cheap as you would think! 

The Khmer people strike us as being incredibly friendly. even after suffering such a tragic past, they remain so smiley and good humoured that your cheeks will ache after a full day of haggling or chatting to the local tuk tuk drivers along Pub st. These guys have it pretty tough, working almost 24/7 just to feed their expanding families. As explained by a young driver Curtis, ten years ago there were only a handful of tuk tuks to match the small number of more adventurous traveller. Now there are more than 10,000 cluttering up the city streets which means business is hard to come by and tourists are constantly hassled. Tips are received graciously by kind drivers appreciative of the business we bring. Handouts are one thing, but these guys need opportunities to be created for a sustainable working life. Many have turned to scams in order to bring in some extra cash as the opportunities to work for an honest living are quickly running out.

Many khmers ride bikes around the untamed city roads transporting heavy goods like coconuts and baskets full of Market produce. Tuk tuks and motorbikes weave in and out carrying far too many passengers. Bare bottomed babies squeeze between the handlebars and toddlers ride casually on the back. Families of up to 5 squeeze on these things and children as young as 10 can be seen driving them! It's chaotic but in a chilled out kind of way, with no road rage, no anger, no racing at green lights. Instead they just cruise casually through the red ones.

A visit to Siem Reap would never be complete without visiting the wats (temples) within Angkor Archaeological Park, an ancient site of epic proportions. A long lost city now intertwined with jungle. In fact, it's what most people are here for. Our first visit to the iconic Angkor Wat was a bit of a wash out to say the least - arriving by tuk tuk we swiftly left again as a sudden thundery downpour hit the ground hard turning the rusty coloured dust paths into luminous orange landslides.

With numerous NGO's and responsible voluntourism agencies popping up, we thought we would experience the ancient temples of Angkor by bike instead and with a local guide in return we made a small donation to the Khmer for Khmer Organisation (KKO), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) who strive to provide free edcucation for kindergarteners and primary age children, creating jobs for local teachers and tour guides whilst offering several vocational apprenticeships for young people in order to set them up for a sustainable and honest working life. A brighter future for all involved and a worthy cause we thought!

Our 40km off-roading bike adventure was lead by a young, local man, Yount - with an enormous smile and an enthusiasm for sharing with us his knowledge of the temples, surprising histories and religious tales of Angkor. Taking us from the chaotic city roads to the deserted jungle clad temples, we rode alongside luminous green rice paddies and splashed through sodden, sandy pathways flicking up fresh mud. Negotiating swathes of low hanging branches, gnarly tree roots and jungle vines, we flapped away at flying insects and stopped for a short walk through a rural village.

A woman fried freshly caught fish over a fire outside her handmade wooden and corrugated metal home, whilst her toddler watched and waved at us. A man in the shack opposite sat patiently working on some sort of wicker fishing trap whilst lame and injured looking dogs lay sleepily and small crabs scuttled around in a pot. Yount showed us their water pump and demonstrated how it worked - the life blood of the community, critical to their survival here within the Angkorian jungle. We rode on past their expertly built homes that looked too heavy to be balanced so precariously on their bamboo stilts. Barefoot children with 'Ben 10' lunch packs chased each other home from school, cheering and waving at us as we rode past. Their school - another wooden shack sheltered by a corrugated roof is filled with wooden benches set out in rows with a single whiteboard at the front. 1 teacher to 50 children aged 4-8 Yount explained. - imagine that! They have English class, and Maths daily and Drawing class once a week. It's great to hear that drawing skills are given importance here - maybe with a view to selling artwork to tourists in later life, or perhaps simply for enjoyment, no purpose is necessary I suppose.

Riding onwards through the jungle's untamed terrain, we reached the elaborately carved stone walls which surround the majestic temples. Suffocated by tree roots and covered in moss, some sprouted new life -colourful flowers attracting bright yellow butterflies and small orange-winged birds. Entering through the towering and somewhat fearsome gates, incredible carved faces looked down on us. The gods on one side, the deamons on the other. Depicted with cartoon like features, the precisely carved sculptures lined either side of the grand entrance to Bayon, one of the largest and most visited temples of all.

Taking a break from the bikes we enjoyed exploring the hidden and mysterious passage ways of the Bayon temple in the blistering afternoon heat before sitting down for a chat over lunch. Yount has ambition - studying English, the language of business and wealth, he plans to travel. But it's not straightforward for him. With the currency exchange so low - the chances of reaching the western world are pretty slim. We were surprised to hear he hasn't even stepped out of Siem Reap. It really made us realise and appreciate the wealth of opportunity that is available to us, to develop skills to sustain a secure life but also how ridiculously expensive living in the UK really is.

Onwards to hidden, tourist free temples - we spotted Apsara dancers on temple walls and noticed where Buddah carvings had been removed - transposed into hindu symbols by the late king. We took touristy snaps at Ta Prohm, standing by the towering tree that grows from the roof and next to the giant tree roots that run down the temple walls - an iconic image made famous by Angelina Jolie and the Tomb Raider movies. The tropical rain came, turned torrential and gave an eerie prehistoric atmosphere to the place. But onwards we went, crossing a precarious bridge over a swollen river dam, leaving tyre tracks in the mud and peddaling fast on low gears through minor floods.

Battered, bruised, bitten, filthy dirty and soaking wet...We cycled back through the dark finally joining the city roads only to find the early evening taffic a more challenging ride than through the jungle - keeping up with the tuk tuks and meeting motorbikes head to head riding towards us on the barely existent cycle paths! Feeling sore and exhausted we thanked Yount and took a tuk tuk back to our hotel impatiently awaiting takeaway pizza and our bed.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat was worth the early wake up. Although the downside is getting stuck behind the hoards of irritating Chinese tourists, a sea of big floppy hats, sun umbrellas and men clutching their Canon and Nikon SLR's. Not exactly an easy way to capture that much anticipated photograph as the low rising sun reflects Angkors incredible golden pagodas.

Monkeys, once only spotted in the jungle trees, have decided that tourists are a great provider of food and nik naks. A minor attack, and one little guy with surprisingly sharp teeth fooled us with his lazy disposition and with sudden determination he grappled with a man for his packed lunch. Celebrating his success and causing quite a stir on the temple steps, he sat down to eat quietly, casually and carefully unwrapping the celephane with his dexterous fingers before digging in.

After finally locating our driver - not an easy task picking him out from the crowd of tuk tuks and sleepy drivers, we went back to hang out in our favourite place on pub st - The Sun.

After a late afternoon swim we climbed Bachay Mountian - a temple upon a hill. Not only were we
 all templed-out - but we pushed passed the tourists only to find a thick cloud of storm approaching. No sunset - just a cloudy distant view. Tried again at Angkor for sunset - capturing the perfect photo from there instead as the crowds were up high on the mountain.

With one last day in Siem Reap, we tasted the local dish - Amok (it's bit like a curry with a spicy coconut taste) and visited the night markets once again to haggle for a coconut bowl souvounir.

We're sad to leave this place, but excited to come back.