Sauntering around Siem Reap

Tuesday February 4th

Last night at the Kuala Lumpur Airport I discovered a multi-purpose laksa – it cleans out the pores, the sinuses and the gastro-intestinal tract.  But it was delicious!

We had a much-needed early night and slept like logs.  We woke up early, but as we had to leave at 4.45am to get to the airport, that wasn’t a problem.  We took the shuttle bus to the terminal and had another Macca’s breakfast (can’t help myself, bad habits).

The boarding process was a complete shambles and we weren’t really sure that we were heading for Siem Reap until the flight attendants looked at our boarding passes as we entered the plane.

When we arrived in Siem Reap the temperature was a lovely 23 degrees.  The immigration process was slow, but very orderly and once we were through our tuk-tuk driver was there to meet us as arranged.

 

Siem Reap Airport

Our first impressions were very similar to our first impressions of Vietnam.  The traffic is chaotic.  The main rule seems to be ‘drive on the right hand side of the road’ but this is somewhat flexible as we later discovered when crossing the road, carefully looking to the left rather than the right and then finding a stray scooter rider coming from the right! 

 

Busy traffic - left hand side, right hand side, whatever

Looks like we just missed a dragon parade

When we arrived at the Golden Banana Hotel, the staff were extremely helpful and friendly.  They made us a pot of tea and helped us to make arrangements for visiting the temples.  Our plan is to do a temple visit tomorrow and another one in a few days.

As it was too early to check in to our room we left our bags with the friendly staff and set off on foot to explore Siem Reap.  Our first stop was to check out the hotel’s pool where we planned to relax during the heat of the afternoon.  The hotel has three buildings, two of them with pools.  The pool he recommended was at the hotel across the road.  The pool was beautiful but we later discovered that the pool right below our balcony was good enough for us!

Our pool (only 1/3 of it.  The rest is hidden by the balcony)

We ambled around the streets checking out the cafes and restaurants and shops selling clothes, bags, silk scarves and doors.  Our early breakfast had worn off by then so we had another one.  This one was a cut above Macca’s hotcakes, the best part being a long, cool glass of fresh pineapple juice.

We wandered about for a few more hours, politely refusing the constant ‘tuk-tuk sir?’, ‘tuk-tuk madam?’.  One startling sight was the stuffed dried crocodiles that decorated the shop fronts where crocodile bags and shoes were sold.  We were also amazed, as we were in Vietnam, by the families being transported around on scooters.  It was common to see Mum, Dad and two children all on one scooter.  The ‘Doctor Fish’ were also impressive – tanks of little fish that like to eat dead skin from people’s feet.  I think I’ll try this, but not when I’ve got heavy duty insect repellant on my feet.  I don’t want to wipe out the livelihood of any Cambodians while I’m here.

I wondered where Batman had gone!

 

Prices are usually quoted in US dollars.
 If you pay in USD you'll receive the change in Cambodian currency

After a delicious Vietnamese lunch at the Soup Dragon Restaurant, we made our way back to the hotel and headed for the pool.  The water was cold at first, but we really enjoyed cooling off, and spent a few hours by the pool reading and dozing before heading off again to wander the streets.

My lunch

Never smile at a crocodile

Gave this one a miss!

The town is very lively in the evening, particularly in Pub Street which is lined with restaurants and bars.  We had another fabulous meal then did a bit of shopping before heading back to catch up on some more sleep before our temple experience tomorrow.

Hairdressing Siem Reap style

Yet more delicious food