Angkor wat

The sight-seeing highlight or our trip so far has to be Angkor Wat. No trip to Siem Reap is complete without a day or two zipping around the different temples. Our trusty tuk tuk driver, Gram, kept us supplied with water and always greeted us with a cheery smile. 

We must have climbed thousands of steps in the 30C heat, and seven temples later, we were totally exhausted. 

In a daze, whilst descending temple number 6, Tim misjudged a step and went over on his ankle. As I was putting my first aid training into action, a small boy came over to try and sell us some postcards (persistent (!) children vendors are a common sight throughout Cambodia), he quickly stopped trying to give us his best sales pitch and a look of concern came over him. He was genuinely concerned for Tim and his wellbeing. It felt the wrong way round. 

This is our experience of all Cambodians. They are some of the most genuine people, who can't do enough to help you (and always with the biggest smile). They have a great sense of humour and are always open to a bit of friendly bartering. 

Another example of their kindness was today when we left out hotel in Siem Reap to head to Phnom Penh. Tim has a tendency to be a bit forgetful... On our way out, a member of staff came running downstairs with his phone he'd left in our room. What great customer service. We then got on a minibus, which was driving around Siem Reap, rounding up people from their various hotels in order to transport us to the coach station. At one hotel stop, the Manager of our hotel suddenly appeared at the bus door, clasping Tim's sunglasses. Turns out, Tim had put these down when he was receiving his forgotten phone, but in the joyous reunion with his phone, he then put these down and forgot about them too...oh Tim. We're not quite sure how the Manager found us, as we'd been driving around for a while, but it was an example again of how genuinely good the people of Cambodia are.

This was my favourite temple, Ta Prohm, often described as the 'tree-strangled' temple. It was amazing how familiar it felt, presumably because it is the backdrop to many movies.