Sue, Liam and I chose to fly into Cambodia as we had been warned that walking across the border could be problemmatic. Flying from Ventiane to Siem Reap brought us within tuk-tuk (taxi) distance of Angkhor Wat and we wasted no time in buying our 3 day pass giving us access to the whole site, Angkor Wat being only a small part of it. The ruins include Angkor Tom, the ruins of cities, including libraries and temples. It was also possible to explore some of the more peripheral sites, such as, Ta Prom, and Ta Kao. One evening was spent seeing Angkor Wat from a hilltop temple nearby, where most views of this Wat are taken. Again the whole experience was awe inspiring, especially as you were able to inspect the ruins quite freely, unlike in England where health and safety is paramount and the result is a more anodyne experience. The only sadness was in the damage done to the sites during the Khmer Rouge era and their deliberate destruction of many of the temples (they tried to eradicate religious sites, be they Hindu or Buddhist), and also after this era, much looting happened in the early 1990's.
I was able to see most of the significant ruins in 3 days, and evenings were spent visiting the night market and dining at a variety of restaurants in the centre of Siem Reap. It was also possible to buy some more secondhand books in the town centre and as in most other places visited you were able to part exchange books.
Travelling to Phnom Penh by bus was a 6 hour journey, in the relative comfort of airconditioning and with the bonus of adequate leg room! My original plan was to only visit Laos this time, and Cambodia (and Vietnam, discounted in the end as outside my budget) later, so booked only 2 nights in a reasonably priced hotel with the intention of visiting the Killing Field site (15 km outside Phnom Penh) and S21(the Genocide Museum, in Phnom Penh itself) in one day. Found a tuk-tuk driver who agreed a good price, and steeled myself to visit these sites, and pay my respects to the memory of the 2 million (the figures quoted are different, depending on their source)Cambodians and some foreigners killed by the Khmer Rouge. An estimated 1/4 of the population was wiped out in their ethnic cleansing genocide. Coincidentally the trial of some of the perpetrators had started the week I was visiting Cambodia. The experience was a harrowing one, but worthwhile and I flew back to Chang Mai with only brief 2 hour stopover at Bangkok.
It was good to be back in Chang Mai (also much cooler than Cambodia) after 18 days of travelling which had started out as a visit to Laos of only 10 days. I now have the opportunity to regroup, a daily swim, and time to plan accommodation in New Zealand around the 2 treks already booked. Unfortunately the extra days away from Chang Mai meant that my camera batteries ran out and I was unable to take photo's of other parts of Angkhor (though had not planned on taking photo's of the Genocide sites, out of respect for the dead). However Sue and Liam are sending a disk of their photo's to England at a later date.

Photo 1. Finally reached Ankhor Wat.
Photo 2. Ankhor Wat.
Photo 3. One of the galleries encircling the temple of Angkor Wat.
Photo 4. The scale of this world heritage site is beyond belief and this is one very small part of it..
Photo 5. This frieze encompasses the whole of the actual temple of Angkor Wat