On Saturday we travelled for most of the day. We stopped off on the way by a road side market where we were greeted by children attempting to put tarantula on us all. Some found them very cute and even put them on their bodies (or face!), others weren't so keen and ran half a mile.
We later stopped for lunch at a traditional restaurant on the side of a lake. To survive the 6 hour journey we ate lots of snacks and sang lots of songs, campfire or otherwise. We taught one of our projects abroad guides some guide songs as she hopes to become involved in guiding because of our trip!
Eventually we arrived in Siem Reap and got our temples ticket, ready for the next day. On arrival at the new hotel, we all excitedly discovered windows in our room, a luxury most hadn't had in our hotel in Phnom Penh. For dinner we went to Pub Street, a touristy road with lots of restaurants, pubs and a club (and a night market near). We enjoyed a mostly Western menu after a very traditional Cambodian lunch.
Sunday was an early start of half 4, leaving the hotel at 5am to visit Ankor Wat at sunrise. This was a beautiful and stunning experience, even if we were all half asleep by lunch! Many of us made or renewed our promise at Ankor Wat, where we had many many people taking photos of us, very confused by what we were doing. We visited three other incredible temples including the smiling Buddha temple. Our experience at Ankgor Wat was very special and we all learnt a lot about the ancient Khmer religious history.
By the end of the visit we were completely soaked through with rain and all headed back to the hotel for a shower and relax before dinner. We went to the Amazon restaurant where we had an all you can eat buffet whilst watching a cultural show including the coconut dance which we love. We then spent some time looking around and buying things from the night market which was really fun! After an extremely long day it was definitely time for bed!
On Monday, we got a bit of a lie in and had breakfast on the roof of the hotel. Then after a long drive we got to the floating village where we got on a boat to travel to. The boat journey was really fun but when we stopped at a restaurant in the floating village some of us got snakes put around our necks which was a bit frightening. We found that they were keeping crocodiles, bats and a monkey in captivity. These animals were not being treated nicely so we left as quick as we could.
After a good lunch we visited a couple of NGOs. The first NGO we visited was a workshop where people were taught and employed to make different carvings out of stone and other materials also there was painting workshops and silk farming. Then we went to the shop but everything was so expensive. After we went to another NGO where we saw spice, soap, body and hand lotion was being made. They had a shop were they sold their products, this time some of us bought stuff.
Then we went back to the hotel for a quick shower and change. Dinner was a bit different today as we we given our 7 dollar budget to spend on food on Pub Street and then anything we like with the extras. So we split up and all went different places for dinner. We also got given 2 hours to do market exploring. To get back to the hotel we got tuk tuks, it was so fun and bumpy!
On Tuesday we went back to our early starts to attend a traditional pottery class. We were taught how to make five different types of pots,vases and bowls by hearing impaired staff. We used potter's wheels powered by pumping our legs which proved a good workout. At the end of sculpting we were covered in clay and had made some very impressive masterpieces. We then got to decorate our pots by carving the clay with writing and drawings. We got to keep one of our pots that we made and buy others if we wanted.
After, we went to the Wat Bo Bagoda and split into groups and looked around. It was stunning, filled with gold statues and beautiful paintings. After lunch we went to a cultural village which was made up of lots of mini models of landmarks in Cambodia and some slightly creepy life-like stuffed animals and wax figures. We went to two shows where we saw some more traditional dancing and a play of a wedding ceremony. This was particularly strange and involved eating bananas containing rings and lots of lipsyncing. Our visit was completed with a torrential downpour so we returned to the hotel soaked.
We were allowed to choose our dinner again today so we split up to explore Pub Street for the last time. Many more purchases were made and a few of us got foot massages. We all had an amazing time and finished the night with another thrilling tuk tuk ride to the hotel. This is definitely our favourite mode of transport now.
We had our final breakfast in Siem reap on the Wednesday morning, many of us had eggs cooked by the eggs lady at the live station. After that we checked out of the hotel and set off on the long journey to Phnom Penh, stopping off for lunch at the same place we did on the way there. Finally we arrived back at the first hotel, which almost felt like home to us! Before dinner everyone made a final trip to the supermarket to buy any last minute snacks. We returned to a restaurant called 'the shop' for a nice meal. There everyone enjoyed themselves and we hopped back on the party bus back to the hotel to meet Chenda and Amy from Girlguiding Cambodia to give them any donations of our things that we no longer need (sanitary items and clothes mostly) that they could then pass onto Cambodian Girl guide and vulnerable women.
It was an early night due to lots of tired girls and a long day of travelling.
