The temples lie approximately 250 miles north of Phnom Penh near the town of Siem Reap. Cycling there was ruled out as the Cambodia roads are described as 'Highways from Hell!. After our boat journey from Vietnam, another 6 hours upriver was not very appealing - a 40 minutes plane journey (sod the expense) was! Our friends Tom and Mairi, clearly more hardened travellers, took the boat journey but experienced another nightmare trip and arrived 6 hours later looking completly frazzled. Neither of us took the boat back!
The temples themselves date back around to 800-1200 AD and are pretty spectacular. Probably the most interesting temple was one that had been left very much as it was discovered in recent years. As the temples were abandoned c1500 AD, the jungle swallowed them up. Ta Prom, therefore, has 600 year old trees growing up and around the ruins in spectacular fashion (this can be seen in more detail by watching Lara Croft's, 'Tomb Raider', much of which was filmed here)
Spooky Moment
After a hard days sight seeing in Siem Reap, we were relaxing having a drink in a bar, when in walked a guy I had worked with in Bass and regulary played 5 a side football with! Phil was now doing a 2 year VSO stint in Phnom Penh and was in Siem Reap visiting his girlfriend. Small world,eh?
Goodbye to South East Asia
By this time we'd been in south east asia for 4 months and our plan was to return to Thailand for our final 3 weeks before detouring to Caroline's brother's wedding back in Scotland.
South East Asia had been great: vibrant, constant activity, hussle and bussle, always something new to see. Kind, friendly, welcoming people throughout. Enthuisiastic and encouranging children when we passed on the bikes. The different religions, histories, temples etc. The prices!
South East Asia became draining: the heat and humidity of up to 40 degrees EVERY DAY (sweating and 6:30am breakfast, same at 7:30pm dinner!), the poverty, the incessant noise from 5am (car horns, street sellers, radios, TV's etc...), the constant hassle from hawkers and beggers (and in Vietnam and Cambodian, amputees), the language barrier, the food (rice and noodles all the time), and the lack of affordable wine!
During the latter few weeks, the intensity of the draining aspects increased (hotter, more poverty, more beggers). We'd had enough of South East Asia.
So we decided if we could break our journey home with a couple of weeks somewhere warm (but not hot!),relaxed and western this would be very attractive. Greece fitted the bill ideally. So back in Bangkok, with great difficulty, we managed to get our tickets changed and booked our flight home via Athens. To celebrate this happy turn of events, we went to the nearest pub only to find Tom and Mairi sat there having a quiet beer. Yet another small world, eh?