Monday morning bright and early I woke up for the bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. It's strange how the road between the two biggest cities in Cambodia isn't even paved. But the bus was aircon which worked as long as we took frequent breaks to hose down the axles and engine. When we stopped for lunch halfway through I was stupid enough to leave my daypack on the bus (smart enough to take all my money with me). So when I got back on my discman and cds were stolen. Oh well - I'm fairly sure I can pick up a new discman in Bangkok for cheap (and I know cds are only 2$ each here!). But this did get me talking to the guy sitting next to me - he's the general secretary of elections for the Funcipec party. Very high-class job for one of the 3 major parties here. Remember, election's coming up so this is a big deal. Had an interesting conversation about Cambodian politics.

Made it into Siem Reap and arranged a moto driver to take me around the temples the next morning. As I was walking around the tiny city of Siem Reap I ran into another American so we went to find some dinner together and just hung out for the evening. Next morning I started Angkor Wat. Well actually I went to Angkor Thom (after buying my ridiculously expensive 3-day pass to the complex). Angkor Thom is a major complex near the actual Angkor Wat - has a couple temples, the Royal Palace, and an impressive wall with 4 gates. I started at Bayon Temple which is definitely my favorite. Lot's of very serene faces pointing in each direction (north, south, east, west). I proceeded to the Terrace of Elephants and the Royal Palace. The carvings in the stones are truly amazing... After Angkor Thom my moto driver took me to Ta Keo and Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm is another really cool place. They aren't restoring it at all - just leaving it completely overrun with trees everywhere. Seeing the roots winding around all the stone work is cool. This is also where Tomb Raider was filmed for those of you who saw the movie. From there we went to Banteay Kdey and Sras Srang (a large pond). Angkor recently changed management from Sokimex (a petrol company) to Sofitel (a hotel) and Sofitel is making an effort to "beautify" the grounds - there were probably about 50 people in Sras Srang cleaning the water. Pulling all the flowers out and leaving it clear. Kind of sad. Well, I stopped there to have some lunch before heading to the actual Angkor Wat. Wow. There are no words to describe Angkor Wat. Luckily I was there before the huge crowds - spent about 3 hours just looking at all the bas reliefs on the lower level. One of the tour guides wanted to speak to an American so he let me follow and listen in to all the explanations. Angkor Wat is Hindu in origin and has been converted to Buddhist - but the bas reliefs are all still Hindu. And intact. All the other temples in the complex were Buddhist and "converted" to Hindu (aka all the Buddha heads were cut off and the carvings were chipped away). After a couple hours rest I managed to make it to the sunset - getting there just about 15 min before sunset. Really beautiful. You climb up one of the mountain temples and watch it set over the Western Baray lake. A peaceful end to a very long day.

Next morning I headed out to Banteay Srei which is about 40 km away from Angkor Wat (to give you an idea how huge the Angkor park is). This place had the most intact reliefs I'd seen yet - and almost no other tourists or kids offering me 20 bracelets for $1. From there I went to Banteay Samre and the rest of the outer circuit. I won't list all the temples. Did go to Preah Khan which was a really impressive ruin. What's truly amazing about all these temples is you can climb all over any of them - just a couple signs to warn you where some stones could fall at any minute... It's a lot of fun. I had an early day - got back to the guesthouse in the early afternoon and spent a relaxing day around town. Went to sunset again and thoroughly enjoyed it again.

And that brings us to today. This morning I went to the Roluos Group, a set of 4 temples about 20km from Siem Reap and again almost no tourists. These were less impressive as they've almost completely fallen down. But they are semi-active temples... there's newer buildings next to them with monks and everything. After the temples (I'm really templed out) I went to the landmine museum. Now this place is cool. The guy who runs it was drafted into the Khmer Rouge army when he was 5, then drafted to the Vietnamese army. And when they withdrew from Cambodia he was forced to fight with the Cambodian army. When UN troops finally came into Cambodia he saw he could live a different kind of life and has a new mission in life - to clean up all the land mines in Cambodia. The Cambodian military/government is really against this museum and doesn't allow him to advertise or anything. And if anyone asks what you're doing there you have to say you're visiting him, not the museum. But it's just dedicated to educating people about the dangers of landmines. There are also a lot of westerner volunteers there who offer free language lessons to anyone who wants to come. With any donations they get, they take in kids who have been injured by landmines. It's a cool place. Now, I'm just relaxing in Siem Reap before heading to Bangkok tomorrow. My trip's quickly coming to a close.

I put some new pictures out so be sure to check them out!