The next step on my Southeast Asian journey after seeing Jamie off was Cambodia! I decided to spend the first couple of days in Siem Reap to see the country’s hallmark tourist site – Angkor Wat! But before I made it there I had a long and agonising journey to deal with (I know… another one)! Two buses, 16 hours, no storage space for any of my bags – see below for the suggestive range of positions I tried to fit everything in 😂

So after playing human tetris with my bags I did eventually get to Siem Reap, and I really enjoyed my time there for a few reasons.

1. Angkor Wat is mighty impressive!

This is the biggest religious building in the world and you can certainly feel it when you arrive. I decided to cycle there in crazy heat and after an eye-watering entrance fee of $37 I was glad to save the cash 😭 the only thing left to do was put some blood into it and I had the trifecta!

2. The other temples are even more fun to explore from the inside.

You’ve got Bayon Temple a few km down the road from the famous Angkor Wat and this was no doubt my favourite. At every turn there are giant faces staring down at you and I definitely didn’t keep asking people if they ‘ever felt like they were being watched’ 😂

My last temple run… well… cycle… was to Preah Khan. I was really only heading there because google maps showed a big rectangular lake at the back with a temple in the middle which I thought would be a pretty awesome sight. What a didn’t account for was just how big the temple and the lake were going to be 🤨

Though this turned out to be the best thing about it – I was almost completely alone in Preah Khan and did feel like a young Harisson Ford for a moment 🤠

Okay so the temple took ages to walk through but I was nearly out the other side to see the lake temple… or so I thought. Here’s the lake:

Yep. It was huge. Huger than huge. Mega-huge you might even say. And there were trees in the way of the temple. Not all travel plans work out the way you’re expecting folks. You just gotta roll with it.

3. I had the best waffles I think I’ll ever have in my life at a cute little laundry cafe.

I’ve put this third out of respect for the temples but really the waffles are tied at the top for how much they added to the experience. Who doesn’t love a play with breakfast AND 40 minute laundry turnarounds?! 😍

Salted butter… maple syrup… crispy on the outside yet fluffy on the inside. If there was ever a waffle to outdo a temple, this would be it.

4. I was in an awesome band for about 4 hours

After spending the first day doing the somewhat typical temple run, I had a overnight bus the next day and plenty of time to relax after an intense couple of days travelling and cycling.

So what did I do? I did what I often find myself doing at times like this – I wandered around with my guitar waiting for something interesting to happen, and happen it did. First a local man came up to me by the river asking for a guitar lesson – probably gonna be the next Eric Clapton one day after a mean walkthrough of Smoke on the Water.

I carried on with my journey and met two British lads playing music on a street corner who heckled me over. And so started our new, shortlived band… 3 Men & A Bucket.

We jammed and had a great time, and little did we know that our next band member was closing in on us. None other than local Tuk Tuk driver and Maroon 5 enthusiast Mr Chan.

4 Men & A Bucket was born – we do weddings, funerals, high school reunions, presidential inaugurations and so much more.

Keep your eyes on the blog to hear about my next adventures on the Cambodian island of Koh Rong.