As breakfast is included in the room rate we all headed upstairs to the covered open air rooftop restaurant and enjoyed eggs and French stick and fresh fruit, a good start to the day. Have finalised our next travel requirements, a bus to Bangkok on Friday morning so the first stop was to Nattakarn Travel to book our tickets for US$28 each. Being the first passengers we got to choose our own seats, that's a first!
Had a bit of a walk around the town of approx 900,000 people and confirmed what we thought last night...... we like Siem Reap. Lovely river town, though the river is very low as they are just about to head in to their rainy season! Hopefully we'll be gone before it arrives!
Another melting day, a high of 37 (feels like 44!) so decided we really should check out the pool. Ahhhhhhhh! Fantastic - though slightly warm at what we think is probably 32 or 33 degrees, but still the bodies had a chance to rehydrate and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Had to get out and get ready for a 3pm pick up from Narith, a Tuk Tuk driver we met last night and who offered a very good price. We found out from a fellow traveller that if you purchase your 1day pass to Angkor Wat after 4.30 pm you get to use it to see the sunset for free on the day you buy it and it is validated for the following day.... being the thrifty travellers that we are that was too good a deal to miss out on so Narith took us for a tour of some of Siem Reaps sights and got us to the Angkor Wat ticket office just before 4.30.
Tickets duly purchased it was a mad dash to Angkor Wat entrance to get a prime spot before sunset.... Except with the heavy clouds there was no sunset to be seen. However Angkor Wat is absolutely incredible, it's right up there with the Great Wall of China as a highlight of our trip. We did get rained on but that only added to the beauty of the Temple and its surrounds. To think it was built in the twelfth century is just mind blowing, one that they built it and two that it has survived as well as it has.
Our first view of Angkor Wat! A shame about the restoration works but an incredible sight.
We spent about an hour and a half just gazing and taking photos, unfortunately the main entrance is undergoing maintenance so we couldn't enter through there and it did affect the photos but there was so many other photo opportunities it didn't bother us too much.
Also, due to low season and the time of day there were very few other tourists so we could wander freely wherever we felt like.
The rain seemed to enhance the impact of some parts of Angkor Wat.
Narith was waiting opposite the entrance and safely delivered us "home". Shortly afterwards the sky was ablaze with the most amazing lightening storm we've ever seen so it was back up to the rooftop to watch the free entertainment. Finally the clouds opened and the deluge began, enough to put K and L off walking in to town for tea but the boys braved it and for the first time actually got to choose the restaurant they wanted to eat in, we won't let them get too used to that!
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