24.11 - Day 314 - Siem Reap, KHM

Sunday 24th November - Siem Reap (Day 314)

Everyone is sleeping really well, lying in till at least 8 am. After missing dinner last night due to a late lunch, a proper breakfast is in order so we wander a few minutes to the recommended ‘My Little Cafe’. Scrambled eggs and omelette for Seb and Kate respectively, banana and chocolate pancakes for Sienna and mango sticky rice for me. Plus some BBQ pork buns - quite the cross-cuisine breakfast. 

Then it’s simply relaxing at Passport Villa (after switching rooms having extended our four night stay by another three nights). Sienna and Seb are keen to tie down more playtime with Hannah and Sienna, eventually playing cards by the pool with Hannah. 

A quick dip in the pool and I retrieve lunch from a firm kid favourite Khmer Taste because at 3pm we head out with Kim on his remorque back to Angkor Wat for the last time including sunset. 

Because only Kate and I really went around Ta Prohm last time we think this one Sienna and Seb would appreciate more if it was the first temple rather than the last of the day as it was on Thursday. 

Arriving at 3:30pm it is noticeably quieter in the car park with some shops already closing up. It’s also quite cloudy which shaves off several degrees of heat. 

There’s probably 90% fewer visitors than last time which means we’re often on our own making the moss covered crumbling ruins even more atmospheric. 

Glad we got to explore it more and bring the kids round one of the more memorable ruins we’ve seen on our travels. From there Kim drives us through the city walls, skirting around Bayon temple which is buzzing with activity as they set up for an annual global convention on the removal of landmines. Chefs in their white hats mingle with dancers getting ready for a performance - all the while Russia and Ukraine are busy laying more landmines. 

We hop out at the base of Phnom Bakheng for a dusty 10 minute walk uphill to watch the sunset. Unfortunately at the temple on the top Seb is not allowed to climb the steep stairs to the temple rim so I take Sienna up - it’s busy but nowhere near sunrise busy - for 360 degree views. 

When Kate is then up with Sienna, I wander for more views, returning to Seb in conversation with two monks. It’s a bit too cloudy so perhaps not the picture postcard sunset, but good all the same; certainly we’re glad we snuck an extra temple into the excursion. 

Police escorts for blacked out SUVs fly past as we leave, we guess for the Cambodian Prime Minister on his way to the event we’d seen being set up.