Our first big day in Siem Reap- The Jewell of Cambodia

Tuesday 15th

We rose to be greeted by our first day in Siem Reap, and sure was it busy.
We began the day with a visit to the Angkor Archaeological Museum, which was filled with galleries of incredible history and culture in which we could immerse ourselves. The museum told the journey of development of religion and architecture during the Khmer Empire. There were many a piece of stone that had been forged into a grand example of the country's fine craftsmen during this period in their history. After the one and a half hour exploration (in which many wished we had more time to explore) of the museum all thirty-one of us hopped back onto the two mini buses and a newly acquired tuktuk, to help lighten the load on the buses.

We headed off to Artisan's Angkor Silk in which we learnt about the process of making silk. We began this learning experience, accompanied by a wonderful (and comical) tour guide, at the beginning of the process; the life cycle of the silk worm. We then strolled through the next stages in which the cocoon is refined and the new silk collected into threads which is then dyed in a glorious array of colours. The last stages consisted of creating the item by threading the tiny individual strings through a comb like contraption, an extremely long process! After this we were led into the gift shop, that was filled with beautiful silk creations (with a price tag to match), and out the other side where we ate ice creams at the Blue Pumpkin accompanied by the smell of frangipani trees.

The next spoof the day was lunch and then back to the guest house where we had a few options. Most went to the old markets for a hint of shopping. We all divided and headed our separate ways momentarily to be rejoined in a few hours for a busy evening.
The evening began with a bus ride up to Angkor Wat to purchases our tickets so that we could enter the complex in the days to come. Using our newly purchased tickets we entered the variety of archaeological sites and headed towards Pre Rup to watch the sunset over the forest. We all climbed eagerly to the of the temple and waited for the sun to set, although it was an enjoyable experience the trees and clouds made it a less magnificent spectacle.

Finally, we ended the day with dinner and put a hold on the bumper cars for another night as sleep filled everyone's eyes. The "boom boom" cars, as the NFO kids called them were a huge success for everyone, driving skills were put to the test - maybe Sino will be a champion driver one day!

Stacey