Angkor and more

After building up our strength lazing on Koh Rong, we boarded a night bus to Siem Reap for the obligatory visit to Angkor Wat. We were fully expecting Siem Reap to be an aggressive, hassly place, as these tourist hotspots tend to be, but, once we’d recovered from a 5am deposit into a ditch swarming with eager tuk-tuk drivers, we discovered it was a nice, friendly little town. There’s a couple of sprawling markets, a lazy river and a road called Pub Street which is exactly what it says it is.

It was scorching hot in Siem Reap, so we headed to the Angkor complex as early as we could manage. Despite the searing heat radiating from the crumbling grey rocks, we had a good old explore. Angkor Wat itself, while beautiful, was the least interesting temple: Bayon, with its giant looming faces and Ta Prohm, all mangled with jungle roots taking over the stone, were the best. There's lots of Hindu symbolism mixed in with the headless Buddhas and fierce stone snakes.

The hordes of children and raggedy women selling bracelets and fans and water across the grounds were a constant niggle. Even more saddening, we discovered that the entire Angkor complex is rented out to private companies each year, so Cambodian people don’t actually make any money out of the whopping entrance fee. Unless they’re employed to cut the grass by hand in the beating sun, or drive us around in tuk tuks, or beg us to buy their trinkets. Or simply beg.

We bumped into Doug and Hannah again, waiting for the sunset on Phnom Bakheng hill. So we revived our flagging spirits with strawberry frozen margaritas and Mekong whisky that night, then spent a relaxing day at Aqua, a wide open-air swimming pool across town.

The monsoon kept up a steady presence, flooding our hotel in Siem Reap in a flash storm then holding us hostage at various points in our onward journey. In Battambang, a friendly town downriver from Siem Reap, we avoided it just long enough for to ride the delightful Bamboo Train. This is literally just a small platform of bamboo which rattles along the old railway tracks into the countryside – most fun, if you don’t mind a few bangs and judders.

We also took a cooking class in Battambang. We started in the market, gathering vegetables and herbs, then watching semi-conscious fish having their heads and scales lopped off for us. We learnt to cook delicious coconutty amok curry, a less-delicious chilli and basil dish, and fresh spring rolls. It was nice just to cook, we both miss it; eating out for three meals a day gets tiring!