Siem Reap and Ankor Wat

Arrival in Cambodia was a bit of the shock - Vietnam was positively cool by comparisom - 34C After lunch (Ella tried some different food - spring rolls and chicken fried noodles - and enjoyed them!!) we headed out to Angkor Wat. The whole area where everyone tried to out-temple each other is amazing! Unfortunately the main Angkor temple was over run with tourists so we asked our guide to take us to Ta Prohm temple. On the way we stopped at various other temple bits. Great stuff but the highlight was Ta Prohm which felt like an India Jones film set. (Tomb Raider was filmed there)

Siem Reap is a small town, only about 15,000 people, but is already being overwhelmed by tourism - huge hotel complexes and appartments being build everwhere. You can buy a three story apartment for $US45,000. None of the local people can afford them, our tour guide said he was well paid and earns $US150 per month. It is so sad to see the way so much of the 'Asian culture is being Westernised to quickly.

Next to our hotel is a brand new mall, complete with the biggest supermarket in the town. We were amazed to see Mainland cheese and Arnotts Shapes crackers something Ella had missed terribly.

Today we are going to 'holiday' by the pool and explore a little of the town. It will be nice just to be able to please ourselves for a whole day, without an early start.