Siem Reap

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We had an early flight out of Saigon, and arrived in Siem Reap. We experienced our first fingerprint scan at immigration....very interesting. We met our guide, Khet, a very gentle, smiling man. Siem Reap is certainly much more laid back than Siagon. We stopped for a short visit at the market, where we were amazed by the local vendors, all crowded into a large area, selling everything from fish to scarves! It was very dark in some of the market, so a bit hard to shop, but the vendors were happy to use their cell phone light to show you their wares!! After a bit of a wait, we checked into our hotel, LeMeridien. The rooms have shutters into the bathroom, and lovely wood all through the hotel. We headed out on a tour of Angkor Wat, the largest temple in the world. It took 30 years, and thousands of men to build, and it was amazing to see. It was very, very warm and humid, so we were happy to enjoy the pool at the hotel when we returned. We had dinner at a restaurant downtown and enjoyed the national Cambodian dish called Amok. We also had some delicious sorbets for dessert. Our mode of transport was by REMOK, which is the Cambodian version of a tuk-tuk, a 2 person carriage pulled behind a motor scooter. Siem Reap is a beautiful city built along the river, and it was very nice to enjoy the fresh air. We stopped briefly at the night market before we headed home.

In the morning we had big excitement at breakfast, when the Browns announced the birth of their grandson, Thomas Benson! We toured Angkor Thom, and we were amazed by the scale and detail of the stone bas-relief carvings. We saw monkeys and elephants, and walked through the Baphoun temple in the Royal Palace. We had a chance to rest up and get out of the sun at noon, although it was a much cooler day than yesterday. In the afternoon we toured Ta Prohm and Preah Khan, the jungle temples, which are overgrown with roots and limbs of the huge banyan trees. There were many tourists, especially Koreans and Japanese, but we managed to stay together, just like "sticky rice", as our guide instructed! There were many vendors, including children, who were doing their best to convince us to buy their wares. I must admit....they did a good job, and convinced a few of us to part with some cash! We headed downtown in our Remoks for another dinner downtown and after another quick stop at the market, headed home. The Cambodian people are very friendly and laid back, and Siem Reap is a very charming city.

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