The Khmer Treasure

We all flew to Siem Reap the following afternoon where we were collected in tuk tuks from the airport to be taken to the house we had rented for our stay. Whilst it was nice and big, with a great pool, it wasn't exactly 'private' as advertised on Airbnb. Instead, the host sat almost continually at a desk in the main living area, and a family lived out the back. This meant that although we had a great house at our disposal, minus the kitchen - which wasn't really for our use (also contrary to the listing) as it was used by the family and constantly had both sinks full of dirty water, with dirty plates everywhere - we didn't really feel as relaxed as we should have, especially given the comments made by the host about the quantity of empty beer cans!
We took a tuk tuk into the centre, which had completely transformed since Cat's first visit in 2000. The sleepy town has grown into an enormous tourist mecca with numerous bars (50 cent beers), clubs, restaurants and huge resorts. We were fortunate enough to eat

in a number of amazing restaurants that were both beautiful and served delicious food. Two were particular stand outs. Our tuk tuk driver took us to the Chanrey Tree, a very upmarket looking restaurant with beautiful furniture and decoration and with outstanding food - and amazingly inexpensive considering. We also went to a restaurant called Marum, that Cat had been to almost twenty years previously, which trains former street children and serves up delicious food.
Of course, our main purpose for visiting Cambodia was the ancient sprawling Angkor Wat complex. Despite the hoards of tourists in town, the heritage site never seemed too busy or overcrowded. Instead, it was a delight to wander the ancient city, climb the steep steps of the temples and admire the incredible feat of 9th century architecture. We spent three days wandering around, climbing atop, and being driven around in our tuk tuk. It was beautiful. We had one encounter with a monkey that wanted the empty juice carton from Campbell's stroller, during which Jason hilariously separated himself from his child and the monkey, and then threw Campbell from the pram. The monkey got what it wanted, and everyone was unharmed, if it fits of laughter.
We then bid a sad farewell to Shai, Jason, Laura and Cam and headed on a crappy local bus to Pnomh Penh - the lights were sellotaped to the ceiling, the seat base came off when you stood up, people were sitting on plastic stools in the aisle, and the driver was a little too heavy on the

accelerator. We arrived at our hotel, found a lovely little local restaurant with yummy food and an unexpected complimentary cocktail, and then headed to the Foreign Correspondents Club (where the influx of foreign journalists would hang out following the fall of the Khmer Rouge and the signing of the Paris Peace Agreements 1991). The club itself, over the confluence of the Mekong and the Ton Le Sap had not changed since Cat's previous visit, however, next door on the other side of the road, a club with several stories and open sides blared out really loud music, somewhat reducing the peace and ambiance of the place.