Day 1:
Upon arrival, we immediately checked into Hotel de la Paix and was pleasantly surprised with a free upgrade to a garden suite, which came complete with an outdoor bath tub and living area. We spent the rest of the late afternoon lazing in the room, checking out the markets in the nearby town centre as well as having dinner at Le Grand Cafe, which serves rather decent Khmer dishes. Local Cambodian food is actually very similar to Chinese and Thai cuisine. It is not as spicy as Thai food, but to me, the dishes are always very flavourful, either very sweet or salty.
Day 2:
We started the day at 9 to visit the Angkor temples. There are in fact many temples in the region, although the main draw is Angkor Wat. Our guide, Vuthy was smart enough to reverse our itinery and started our day at Angkor Wat instead. Many tour groups would actually choose to do Angkor Thom first and Angkor Wat later. But by reversing the itinery, we are actually avoiding the crowds, which is a good thing. And I really like the way Vuthy puts it when he described Angkor Wat. He said that as a world heritage site, Angkor Wat belongs to the world, for people from all over the world to enjoy. I have never thought of it that way. It is always refreshing to see things from new perspectives.
From Angkor Wat, we break for lunch at Khmer Kitchen where we tried the fish amok. You cannot claimed that you have visited Cambodia without trying this dish. I think it has the same status of Tom Yam to the Thais. 
Then it is back to the sweltering heat to visit Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm (aka Tomb Raider temple) and the Bayon before we ended the day. Although Bayon is often touted as the most beautiful temple because of the many smiling Buddha faces, I am more amazed at Ta Prohm. Because of neglect of the temple for a very long time, vegetation has taken over and you can see roots of trees all over the temple. As much as having the roots 'protect' the temple and keeping the structure intact, it is also destroying it to a certain extent. We ended our temple visit with the sunset at Bak Kheng temple. By the time we descend from the highest point in Angkor, it was rather dark and we had to watch where we are going in order to avoid the elephant's poo that lined the road.
All the walking and climbing up and down the temple drains our energy and our clothes were all soaked with perspiration. Nevertheless, dinner is a must. Prior to departure to Cambodia, I checked out my favourite website (tripadvisor.com) to learn more about the restaurants in Siem Reap, and it certainly help that we stay in the central town area where the most happening pubs and restaurants are within walking distance. For dinner, I chose to eat at AHA, which is also meant as a pun as "aha" means food in Khemer language. AHA has a very nice and romantic ambience and serves modern Khemer food. The most interesting dish we tried there was the green mango salad with dried snake. It doesn't look and taste intimidating at all. Without looking at the menu, you wouldn't even know it's dried snake.
Day 3: This is horse riding and cycling day. We departed for Happy Ranch at half past nine and arrived at the ranch in no time. We didn't need to choose our horsey as they were already pre-prepared for us. I got one which is noisy, greedy and rather naughty. As we navigate our way through the padi fields and local villages, it kept wanting to drink water and eat the grass at the roadsides. And I, having fallen from a horse before, was so worried and paranoid all the time. Luckily, my trusty guide was holding on to the reins of the horse all the time and diverted my fears and attention by constantly chatting with me. Although he doesn't speak very good English, he tried his best to fill me in about a lot of interesting details about the average Cambodian life.
Our destination was Wat Atvea temple, built by the same king who built Angkor Wat. It is not as well maintained though. We had our lunch at a typical Cambodian house and had to sit on the raised platform to have home-cooked food. It was quite an interesting experience. Very authentic in fact.
When we have rested enough, we got on our bike (too high for me) and cycled 10km to the Tonle Sap lake to see the floating village. When I was there 4 years ago, the road conditions were terrible and I could see they have made alot of improvement since then. The jetty looks like a resort and roads were easy to ride on. The only grouse was that the weather was too hot and we both suffered from a sunburn at the end of the ride. I never really fancy the Tonle Sap because I don't like to be buggered to buy things from the small kids who would suddenly climb onto our boat. But I have to say that from my observations, I am quite impressed with the Cambodians. Although they are poor, they live life with dignity. You don't see any beggars on the street and they do not try to cheat your money when you buy things from them. Even the landmines victims tried to earn their living by performing or working at Artisan Angkor. 
Day 4: This is a free and easy day for us. After a hectic 2 days of intense activity, we woke up with aches all over. We visited the markets to get our souvenirs, swam and went to the spa for a full 2.5 hours package. By the time we ended, it was already night. Time really flies and we are sad to remind ourselves that the holiday is coming to an end soon.
Day 5:
Final day of the trip and we still have 3 more temples to visit. Preah Khean and 2 other smaller temples. After seeing Angkor Wat and so many other temples on the 1st day, we are not so impressed anymore. However, it is interesting to note that all the temples in the Angkor area have their own unique character and features. Even though they may be built by the same people, they are not the same! No wonder some people can spend a week exploring the whole area. But for us, this is enough. Otherwise, it would be a bit of an overkill. Ended the tour in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day at the hotel lazing and channel surfing until it was time for us to go to the airport. And guess what? After not raining for so many days (when it is supposed to be the rainy season now), it started to rain when we arrived at the airport and stopped when we were about to board the plane. Guess God really has His plans and it has been a wonderful holiday for us. Wish it was longer though... who wouldn't?
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