Day two in Siem Reap was spent touring the large loop of the temples.  We couldn't get Sarong as our driver as there is a hierarchy in drivers so we ended up with a new driver and a rougher tuktuk with no suspension.

We decided to stop at the Cambodian Land mine museum to learn about the dangers of land mines and how they are still affecting life today.  This was a private museum run by a man who as a child soldier in the Khmer Rouge planted hundreds of land mines and traps.  Once the war was over it became his mission to remove as many of these land mines as he could.  There was no record of where the mines were, the only way they found them was when one was detonated. These mines have killed and injured thousands of innocent people, mainly children playing in the jungle.  There still remains over 5 million land mines today.

Aki Ra the  founder of the museum has also cared for many injured children as well as at risk children at the facility.  To learn more visit www.cambodianlandminemuseum.org

From here we went to a wonderful place for lunch located on the river.  The view was very peaceful, beer was cold and the food was amazing.  Our tuktuk driver was a little crazy and we were driving so fast we were not enjoying the scenery, so Bill asked him to slow down.  He then asked if we were scared!  We said no but we would like to enjoy the ride and see the landscape.  I'm not sure he got it.


Anyway we opened our beer and won a free one, wohoo!  This happened twice and then I switched to white wine.  Our relaxing lunch lasted about 2 hours.

Next we stopped at Banteay Srei Temple or the "Pink Lady".  By this time it was well into the afternoon and the crowds were crazy, but the place was incredible.  Probably my favorite place.  Bill doesn't like crowds, so to amuse himself he turned the video camera on and made a commentary of our walk through the temple.  He made me swear I wouldn't post it.  The color and carvings in this temple were very beautiful.

When we emerged we found our wonderful driver sleeping in his hammock.

Our ride home was very bumpy and we wished we had hired Sarong from the day before.

The next day I woke up not feeling very well so we opted to spend the day resting around the pool.  It was a nice sunny day and it felt good to relax.  Later that evening we decided to go to "Phare" the Cambodian Circus.  It was a small version of Cirque du Soleil.  The acrobats were street kids that had trained and became entertainers.  The tent was small and only had fans but the entertainment was top notch.  We were not able to take pictures because the flash was a distraction to the entertainers.  We were mesmerized for 2-3 hours watching them maneuver there bodies.  It was very cool.  Afterwards we decided to eat at the hotel and then have an early night as we were flying to Shanookville in the morning.