At the border it got very bureaucratic with quite a few fees to be paid, checks passport decoration, at this rate might need a new one some time soon. The bus had to be changed in the middle of nowhere, once we set off for siem reap the driver made the most of the new road almost flew for as long as at was in good shape. In general nothing much seemed to have changed since laos, maybe smaller cars, better built houses, the farming fields seemed a bit less organised, the settlements more green from palm trees in between houses. Once In town everything seemed a bit gloomy as there was a huge blackout over the entire town. A tuktuk dropped me off at the address passed on by friends Steve, manu conny, that were already waiting for a bit. since we hadn't seen each other there was a lot to catch up with. The next 4 days we spend with a walk through town, visiting its market, purchsing tickets for temples transportation, etc. Thanks to its nearby khmer Temples, of which angkor wat is the most famous one, siem reap is a tourist magnet draws in a huge crowd. The area over whichthe temples are spread is vast, so some means of transport is essential. over the Centuries of the khmer reign every ruler decided to have their own Temple, that then also served as town with some holding 100000 citizens, thus the developments changes in taste can be studied well there by archeologists. the first evening we went by tuktuk to srah sran water reservoir pre rup temple for sunset, early next morning by bike to ta prohm (fairly overgrown by trees reknown from the tomb raider opening scene, apparently), ta nei a botanical garden, almost 100000 people fitting preah khan, magnificent bayon temple with faces all over, then later for the nightmarket. Since on this day we hadnt sweat enough yet, steve I decided to visit a temple further away by bike the next day, leaving early to watch sunrise with several otherhundreds of tourists at angkor wat, then cycling some 30 km to banteay srei, a small yet richely decorated temple that reminded me much of some of the ones seen in india (its said the khmer took some influence from them), before returning at a slow pace in the heat. Later went to visit the temples banteay samre, banteay kdei sunset angkor. The last day on the 3 day ticket for the temples it was a not so easy to fimd the motivation to go again since by then the novelty had worn off a bit, yet I went once more for angkor sunrise, a revisit to bayon, then finally the real angkor visit (due to a buddhist holiday the innermost part was closed, the outer circles with huge bas-reliefs was however more than enough to keep one busy) back to town. From home a few old pairs of glassses were still in the luggage, destined to be left to an NGO, that couldnt be found in town anymore. So the glasses were to go to the local childrens hospitals benefit, however ended up directly in the pockets of the guards of said institution... It was time to leave town we got to battambang the next afternoon took a look around to see whats left of french colonial architecture, exercise in the public gym on the riverside once again tasty food and fruity shakes. The following day a Tuktuk drove the 4 of us through the larger town area with its attractions, starting from the statue of battambang (story of the disappearing stick roasted pig offers to the deity), on to ride the bumpy bamboo train, cross a long suspension bridge to see a Cambodian wedding playing with the kids at the riverside, a tree occupied by huge fruit Bats, another temple (on a hilltop with nice view), a briefing on history by people who had experienced the khmer rouges reign first hand, followed by a visit to a killing cave. Closeby was another temple, this one with many monkeys whilst decending from the hill we could already see millions of bats leaving their caves into the sunset, a spectacle that would go on for another half an hour. The group split the next day when steve I took a very Fast bus to phnom penh, where the vietnam visa had to be taken care of. After a few issues with the bicycles to be rented, we opted for a front door delivery motorbike rental gave it a fun spin around town for the rest of The day. The chaeung ek s-21 genocide centres were the main things to visit the next day, however we also made time to visit several markets (amazing russian market: seems like a gigantic spare part collection for motorcycles, where they literally could be build from scratch), sights a movie at the local cinema.