We began the day early with a quick breakfast at Sala Bai. Met Semchey and our driver for another day of temples.

On the way to our first temple Jo and Greg wanted to stop off at a Buddhist temple to make merit. While Ally and I only intended to take photos, we found ourselves all involved in the ceremony! We then stopped off at a small shack by the side of the road where they were cooking palm sugar in large cooking pots – delicous and smokey fresh from the molds we bought three cylinders in palm wrapping for USD1$ while the local kids posed for photos.

We finished off the other major temples around Siem Reap – Bantey Srei, Pre-Rup, Ta Phrom and Phnom Bakeng for sunset.

Bantey Srei is the most beautifully carved of all the temples around Siem Reap built of a rich red colour of the stone which is just gorgeous.

Pre-Rup was one of the unexpected favorites – the views from the top level are just indescribable!

Ta Phrom, the ‘Angelina Jolie temple’ that featured in the Tomb Raider movie was perhaps a little disappointing. The way the trees have become intertwined with the temple is amazing, but the walkways and large numbers of visitors rather wrecks the Indiana Jones illusion.

Phnom Bakeng is the spot EVERYBODY goes for sunset. Ally was feeling very fatigued and didn’t make it up the three flights of stairs to the top of the temple. I was a little disappointed, because although Angkor can be seen the sunset is actually on the other side of the mountain. Samchey found us a great spot for viewing the sunset, but I was very tired from the two days and, although it was very beautiful, it wasn’t as breathtaking as I had hoped.