Slow muscular embrace

Sounding like something best left within the pages of a Mills & Boon novel, the Cambodia Lonely Planet writer described the Angkor temple of Ta Prohm as being suffocated by the 'slow muscular embrace' of the forest. On many occasions I have suspected travel guidebook writers of writing whilst too high on amphetamines. Ta Prohm does have some huge buttresses growing up through the temple and mounds of collapsed stone blocks, but nowadays it's more a conveyor belt of tourists on boardwalks.

Adam and I had hired bicycles for a day trip to the Angkor Wat complex, as this has always been my preferred mode of touring it. 'I do have an elongated head,' said Adam as we chose cycle helmets for the day. Good that we did prioritise safety as going to Angkor Wat on New Year's Eve, the height of peak season, was not dissimilar to cycling in the Phnom Penh rush hour.

It was a much less calming experience than my previous visits to Angkor Wat, but as impressive as always. The management authority, which since my last visit has become the government directly rather than a Korean intermediary, has hiked the visitors fee from 20 to 37 dollars and not instituted any cap on daily numbers, which surely must be introduced soon to guarantee enjoyment and prevent degradation of the site. Perhaps signs in Italian could also be erected to remind tourists that poor children begging at Angkor Wat are not feral animals, as one Italian woman was trying to photograph a young girl by smacking her lips at her to attract attention as if she was a cat. It was a little bizarre.

This monk was resting on a wall looking at the main temple of Angkor Wat after which the whole complex is named. The classic view of this temple (the world's largest religious building) from the main causeway is harder to capture due to ongoing works, and is currently accessed by a temporary plastic pontoon to the right. This felt inadequately strong for the weight of thousands of people.

We joined the more boisterous characters from Allison and Michael's wedding party for a rampant night out in Siem Reap, which was swarmed by New Year's Eve revellers. The streets were thronged by young Cambodians flooding into the city centre and some of us missed the midnight fireworks as we were too busy fighting the crowds to reach our friends. The main drag in Siem Reap is booze-fuelled and neon lit and with the amount of alcohol we slugged, it felt less like a venue on the edge of one of the world's most premier cultural sites and more like a night out in Stoke-on-Trent during a tropical heatwave.

The party ended in the early hours in a bar called Angkor Wat? We came to our senses surrounded by a number of backpackers saying they'd 'take a bullet' for each other after only three hours of narcotics-infused friendship.

A memorable New Year's Eve.