CAMBODIA     .......    SIEM REAP 

It was just a short flight from Bangkok to Siem Reap in Cambodia.  We hired motorbikes with drivers to tour the Angkor Temples.  We bought our three day pass (after 4pm) and started our visit with the sunset view from Phnom Bakheng.  Over the next three days we were kept busy visiting as many of the ancient sites as possible.  Some of our favorites were .. Angkor Wat , Bayon , Preah Khan and Ta Prom .  Banteay Srei was definitely worth a visit too.  It is 25kms away and drivers expect double the daily rate for this trip.  This "miniature temple" of pink sandstone, with intricately carved bas reliefs certainly is unique.  Others were interesting in their own right.

Restoration work is on-going at most of the sites.  Even though the temples have suffered through years of war, looting and now encroaching jungle, the remains are certainly awesome!

We hired a motorbike and spent a couple of days riding around the surrounding countryside , past many ricefields and lotus ponds.

At the National Silk Centre we saw the whole process of silk production.

We hired a local long-tail boat for a tour of the floating villages on Lake Tonlesap (largest freshwater lake in the world).  At this time it had actually swelled to four times it's size due to the overflow from the Mekong River!