cambodia pt3

so my last day in siem reap was great. first i went to a place in the mountains where the rocks in the river have been carved as a kind of wild temple. it was great as the carvings are not immediately obvious but gradually reveal themselves as you look harder. there's also a waterfall there which was nice and cool. then in the arvo it was off to beng mealea which became my favourite temple over ta prohm. it's a long way out of siem reap (the best part of an hour on the back of a motorbike) and is really a big ruin with the jungle having taken control. unfortunately we left fairly late and as the sun sank, the ride became quite harrowing. a note to cambodian drivers: when it's dark and you're riding a motorbike, TURN ON THE HEADLIGHTS!!! the situation was that i was sitting on the back of the motorbike (no helmet of course) with the driver doing between 70 and 80 kmh as it's getting dark. the road is bumpy and there's motorbikes coming against us on the wrong side of the road with no headlights on. it's at this point that he decides it's a good idea to answer his mobile phone. needless to say it made me very nervous and there were a couple of very close shaves. he also needed to keep his helmet visor down as there were plenty of bugs in the air but, of course, it was tinted so he had to keep lifting it to see what was ahead and then he'd put it back down again. i was so thankful to make it back to the hotel in one piece.

that night it was onto a night bus that took me all the way to sihanoukville where i am now. the cultural stuff has been done so it's now time to relax. i've spent the past two days sitting on a deckchair a couple of metres from the water getting massages and having cold beer and fruit smoothies. tonight i had tea at a russian run restaurant called the snake house. my table was a big ceramic urn with a glass top and a python inside coiled up on a branch. it was certainly unique! they also had a massive aquarium bar and a crocodile besides many other snakes and a turtle.

sadly my trip is drawing to a close and i only have a few more days before it's back on the plane home. still, i reckon i'll be heading back here again as it's a great country.