Cambodia for a week!

can you spot the strange-looking monkey that is about to attack from behind the stone pillars? You'd better watch out, this is a vicious kind...

climbing the roots... we visited Angkor Wat for a day, and what a day! (or should I say Wat a day!?) There was so much to see that my little legs could not handle biking around that massive area any more in the hot sun by the end of it! We looked at all the main places (Jo had been before, so knew the most interesting spots), and made it back by nightfall stopping on the way for a burst tire on Jo's bike. Luckily there was a bike-fixer not far from where he broke down, just hanging out on the side of the road waiting for people like us. He changed the inner tube and tire and charged us 6 dollars US for the job, half of which we got back from the rental guy later. Sweet!

 

Monkeys near the temples that were swinging on these roots and branches and jumping off into the water below. This one was tourist-curious...

At the top of the temple on the top of a hill with very very steep steps (not recommended for the elderly or the pregnant), and if it was in NZ, it would have been a health and safety hazard. You couldn't fit your whole foot on a step, so you had to turn it and walk up sideways and hold on at the same time, as each step was about a foot high. Those monks must have been fit!

Can you spot Miriam with the hat on? This is at Angkor Wat itself, late afternoon.

One of the many flights of stairs up to the towers of Angkor Wat.

Monkeys sculpted into the walls

Dusk at Angkor Wat before heading back to Siem Reap via our bicycles, tired and hungry yet happy :)

Riding on the back of Thy's bike to one of the many famous new 'bars' across the new Diamond bridge

Jo, Thy and Morn drinking Angkor beer by the jug and nibbling on tasty cow (there was a carcass rotating behind us), and banana flower dipped in fish sauce. Apparently these guys all used to work together at an internet cafe where Jo used to hang out and they've been friends ever since!

Nearing the end of the evening when many beers had been consumed. L-R: Vissal, Miriam, Morn, Jo, Piseth

Next day at the markets for breakfast... green jelly noodles in coconut milk. There are some weird but delicious desserts to be tried!

Another night of beers with Thy and Sokla.

Our trip to visit Thy's home-village. this is on the ferry that crosses the lower Mekong

Houses on stilts for protection in rainy season, as well as to catch the cooler air flow by being slightly higher up. As you can see it is pretty flooded at the moment. Every afternoon it pours down for a few minutes or a few hours.

We found these chickens newly hatched in a rice-sack under their mum's wings, inside the farmhouse. They now live outside and the unhatched eggs have been eaten for someone's lunch!

Jo and Thy talking on the bridge over the river on the way home. We went this way instead of taking the ferry back. Those clouds don't look too dark yet...

The rain is about to come! And it did! We spent a good half an hour huddled together on the back of Thy's motorbike, trying not to let the heavy rain into our thin ponchos that we bought on the street when we felt the first drops coming. The rain was hard and sore when it hit our face and the road was bumpy with potholes the whole way, so it was a bit of a grueling experience. Needless to say, we enjoyed a warm shower and some hot food when we returned to our guest house in Phnom Penh!