Day 81 - Banteay Srei, Preah Vihear and Koh Ker

We started early again and arrived at Banteay Srei, the lady temple, just before sunrise. Getting there that early meant we were almost alone, aside from a group of photographers roaming around with their big dSLRs and tripods.

Banteay Srei is one of the nicest temples due to the red stone construction but mostly due to the very detailed and intricate carvings on the walls. It's certainly worth getting there early to avoid masses of tourists as the temple itself is pretty small and you want to be able to enjoy it.

On the way to get breakfast we stopped off at Ta Mok House. While there is not much to see there and it's pretty derelict, it is still interesting to see if in the area. The wall murals are quite interesting and you gt to see the rusty remains of Pol Pot's mobile radio station.

After breakfast and a Jeep ride up the mountain we arrived at Preah Vihear, the temple disputed and fought over by Cambodia and Thailand.

Even before arriving at the temple you will understand the extent of the dispute as you will drive by quite a lot of military bases, bunkers and quite a lot of soldiers with guns.

The dispute over the temple aside, it is a very nice temple built on the top of the mountain providing great views over Cambodia and Thailand. It is a shame there is this dispute with Thailand over who owns the temple as both countries could do well with putting some money towards restoring it and making access easier for people of both countries to enjoy it.

You should take a driver or guide with you who speaks the language as it will be much more fun if he can translate and help you talk with the soldiers there guarding the temple now.
It kind of feels a bit like you are in a war zone and in some respects you are, thus the advice against travelling here. It is however well worth the long trip and I hope the dispute will end soon to make things easier and access better, more though to allow restoration of the temple

After taking in the fantastic views from the mountain we headed back down and set out for our return trip to Siem Reap and a quick stop at the Koh Ker temple complex.

At Koh Ker you have quite a lot of small temples and a bigger one further inside the park. We stopped only at the most interesting ones due to time but also because some of the smaller temples are not much more than a pile of rocks.

We arrived back in Siem Reap after dark, just in time to get dinner, some drinks and make sure we got our bus ticket to Poiphet. From there we will be heading onwards to Bangkok.

Day 80 - Day of Angkor

We got up really early to go and see the sunrise. Instead of going to see it at Angkor Wat as everyone else, I had an ingenious idea to see it from where everyone is going to see the sunset.
It turned out to be a good idea as there were hardly any people there and the view was very nice with Angkor Wat being visible although a bit small. The sunrise however was not all that great due to it being hazy as usual.

After the sunrise it's best to head to Angkor Wat as most tourists will leave it and you are pretty much on your own and can enjoy the temple. Angkor Wat is a must do and was one of the tings I had to see in my life, now I have seen it twice and am still impressed.

While Angkor Wat is fantastic, the nicest temple is Bayon in the Angkor Thom area, the faces are really cool and it's very nice trying to see all the different faces there.

Angkor Thom has quite a few nice temples and despite the heat it's worth wandering around and trying to explore them all.

The last temple for the day was Ta Prohm, this featured in one of the Tomb Raider movies and is very busy at all times with tourists taking pictures of the movie locations. You need a bit of patience and wait for the tour groups to go away so you have a brief window for yourself before the next group arrives.

Tomorrow, will be an equally early start but not because we want to see the sunrise again. Instead we will be heading to the Thai border to see the forbidden or disputed Preah Vihear temple.

Day 79 - Beng Mealea, Prasat Lolei and Prea Rup

After getting up early in the morning and meeting my friend Ra our driver from last time, we set out to go a bit further afield and visit the Beng Mealea temple.

Beng Mealea is very nice and worth the trek a bit further out but you would want to take a car rather than a tuk-tuk as it will be a faster journey so you get to see more. What's best about it is that although a lot if in ruins, you can climb on the rocks and explore the temple away from the main route set out.

After Beng Melea we had lunch and went to the Lolei Temple, this was a new temple we did not see last time. While there we also had a chat with one of the monks about the school they set up for thelocal kids to teach them English and their library which was steadily growing.

We decided to go and see the sunset at Prea Rup since we enjoyed it last time because there were not many tourists and the views were very nice. On the way there we stopped off at some other temples since we still had enough time.

When we arrived at Prea Rup we were greeted by lots of tuk-tuks, buses and cars and even more tourists. It looks like the secret was no longer a secret and people were now coming here to see the sunset.

Tomorrow will be an even earlier start to see the sunrise and then explore the Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom temples.