A Day in Siem Reap

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I am first to wake up, and head off to try out the pool. It turns out to be a salt water set up, and is a great start to the day in this tropical garden setting. On the way back, I pass the largest centipede I have every seen and call Benjamin and Joshua, now awake, over to take a look. There are also many geckos darting around the jungle foliage.

Over breakfast, we make plans to head to a travel agent in town to find out about transportation options to get to Bangkok. I spoke to the hotel staff, and they assure me that a tuk-tuk can seat the four of us, so we head out the entrance of the hotel where several are waiting. We pick one with two sets of padded seats and head off. It is a fun, open air ride and great for taking photos. Due to its size, the tuk-tuk moves effortlessly though the traffic and I even catch Benjamin smiling !

We check out two travel agents. Once again, the price of flying will cut too much into our budget, so it is going to be a long bus ride when we do go. The first agent uses the same company that we just used (not the greatest buses and disgusting toilets), so we try another and they seem a bit better. We only need to book the night before so we are going to play it by ear and see if we want to do one or two days at Angkor Wat.

After the insane traffic in Hanoi, Saigon, and Phonm Penh, Seim Reap seems beautifully laid back and relaxed. For once, there are enough other tourists around that we are not being singled out and besieged by the vendors and taxi drivers. On the other hand, I can't help but think that people who fly into Siem Reap and stay in a Western style hotel, never really come in contact with the county that they are visiting before flying out again to some bigger centre like Bangkok. We have seen so much in the past week that you wouldn't see if you flew from tourist spot to tourist spot.

We have lunch at a very Western style restaurant (The Blue Pumpkin) before heading back to our guest house to do school work.

Our plan for the later afternoon is to check out a miniature version of the various temples before visiting the real thing tomorrow. We find the same driver that took us to town at the gates of the hotel and he takes us there, agreeing to wait to take us to dinner later.

The miniature version is all done in stone and replicates the Angkor Wat and the other temples in intricate detail. The woman who runs it is the daughter of the man who carved it all and shows us photos of her father showing the models to the King of Cambodia in the Presidential palace. Our tuk-tuk guide joins us and explains a bit about the temples. We ask him to be our driver for tomorrow when we go to visit the ancient city.

After the miniature Angkor Wat, we went out for Thai food for dinner before heading back for the guest house for some INTERNET and to finish the school work. We have tentatively booked a place in Bangkok and in doing some research, it looks like flying within Thailand is reasonable. If we can find a hotel in Phuket near the beach, our Christmas plans will be complete as it is now the proverbial 12 days until Christmas.

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