Our time in Siem Reap is coming to an end. Tomorrow we head to phomn phen. We have made lots of memories in siem Reap and for us it was particularly special as my parents met us!

We stayed at Tenei Boutique which was amazing value. We particularly enjoyed the pool and having a pool side room made it super easy. The room was spacious and clean. The front desk staff were excellent and helped us organise drivers and excursions.

Because my parents were due in a day or so after we arrived we decided not to head straight to Angkor Wat the main reason for our visit. On mine and my mothers bucket list for many years it wouldn’t be right to not wait.

Our first excursion was to the floating village and to be honest as fascinating as the high stillted buildings were it felt to much like a tourist money grab and wasn’t really worth the $54 entrance fee.

Our tut tut driver took us to buy the tickets then drove us along what looked like a road in construction, one part was particularly muddy and we asked to walk along the side, the poor tut tut drivers crocs were absolutely caked by the time he met us on the other side.

Once we reached the boat area our tickets were checked and we were shown to our boat. The number of tourist boats was staggering. It’s now July so low season so most were tethered to the side. We boarded our boat and started cruising past the boats, hundreds of them. I can’t imagine how busy it gets in high season?!

The cruise along the river was nice enough, there were a few signs of the more traditional life being lived, passing men fishing and kids playing. The stilt houses were also pretty amazing, towering about 8m above the current water level. When the river is in full flood apparently it gets to about half meter under the buildings, it must be a totally different sight. As we cruised past the houses we passed many other tourists boats which made the place feel busy and bit of a tourist trap and again I can’t help but wonder what it’s like in the high season.

The boat continued past the village towards Tonlé Sap Lake which is an awesome expanse of water. At the mouth of the river we were told we could take a trip in smaller boats into the mangroves, it was implied that this was included in our price but actually required an extra “donation ” of $20. Given we had already spent a lot on what in reality was a short boat ride we declined. I’m sure it would have been fun but for us this tactic, Our guide said he “understood that we didn’t want to support the community”.

We returned back the same way again taking in views of the stilted village. And stopped at a small crocodile farm which the boys did enjoy.

As our trip came to it’s end our guide explained that the boats was not his and that they worked for a company so if we were happy we should tip. We have tipped every guide we have used but in this instance we decided not to. The scenery was stunning but the trip set up meant it was not the authentic trip to a Cambodian floating village we had been told it was.

On the way back to Siem Reap we decided to have a sneak peek at what the temples of Angkor had to offer. Our first glimpse did not disappoint. The Rolus temples are among the earliest permanent structures built by Khmer. Unlike the images of Angkor temples I had seen previously these were made of bricks. Preach Ko was our favourite the 3 crumbling towers set against a backdrop of dense jungle it felt like a movie set. But instead of some famous explorer it was my 3 intrepid explores leading us around the structure.

Soon it was time to return to our hotel and await the arrival of the grandparents 😄