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Published: January 14th 2013
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We woke to overcast skies again this morning, and didn't leave the hotel until
10.30am. We had to be on our way to the airport by midday so didn't have a lot of time to waste. We headed back to that 'particularly good bakery' for breakfast treats again. The streets were buzzing already and I managed to get in some quick retail therapy and purchased a lovely white howlite crystal Buddha for my collection. We headed back to the hotel, checked out, and caught a taxi to the airport.
First task on arrival in Siem Reap airport was to get our visas. We filled out the application form, made sure we had our passports, a passport photo and $25USD on hand, then joined the queue. The process was quick and painless, we then passed through immigration and were outside the airport in no time. We applied for an ordinary or business visa, which is different from a tourist visa. Tourist visas are valid for one month only and can't be extended, whereas a business visa, also valid for one month, can be. Hopefully, Globalteer staff can help us with this as we will be here for 3 months.
Siem
Reap international Airport is rather ordinary. Don't expect any duty free shops or eateries here. I can't recall seeing as much as a drink vending machine. It reminded me of a bus terminal, all grey concrete and tiled floors, totally devoid of comfort or any attempt at decoration. We walked outside and scanned the row of hand held signs, looking for our tuk tuk driver from Rosy Guesthouse.
He was there and greeted us with a big smile. He loaded us and our luggage into his tuk tuk, and we were on our way. The road from the airport into Siem Reap was as straight as an arrow and shared with lots of other tuk tuks, motor scooters, bicycles and private cars. My first impressions? Heat, dust, littered streets and lots of brown friendly faces. Children waved and smiled at us as we motored past.
Rosy Guesthouse was small and basic but certainly adequate for our one night stay. We had air conditioning in our room, soft foam mattresses on our beds and a mere trickle of hot water in the shower. We dropped our luggage in our room and headed out on foot. We soon hired a
tuk tuk to get us to Pub Street, as directions from Rosy's were sketchy at best. We wanted a meal as our last food was pastries for breakfast and it was now after
4.00pm. Pub Street is the main eating and entertainment area in Siem Reap, for tourists anyway. Once again we were spoilt for choice with the variety available and ended up at The Soup Dragon Vietnamese Restaurant. I had chicken with lemongrass and chilli and a can of beer, total cost $4. After dinner we wandered the streets, browsed in the shops and enjoyed the atmosphere. But eventually tiredness got the better of us and we jumped in a tuk tuk and returned to Rosy's for a mere $2.
We found Rosy's beautifully lit with candles everywhere, on the tables, up the stairs and outside everyone's door. It looked great, we were very impressed until we found out the power had gone out. No power meant no light in our room, no internet connection and last, but not least, no hot water for showers! Not to worry, we coped and the power did come back on later in the evening. We're just tired and pleased to be
here at last.
Tomorrow morning staff from Globalteer pick us up
at 9.00am for our orientation.
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Roslyn Amiss
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Great blogs Deb - feel like I'm travelling with you. Be Safe. Ros.