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Well.....after our little puddle jumper of a plane (been on bigger ones to bluddy stornaway from inverness!) we got a taxi from airport to the Tara Angkor hotel which cost around 7 dollars (5 pound?) and our driver is going to be our guide round the temples in next few days. We explored more options but this always came out cheaper and recommended by others who had done it before. Works out 15 dollars for full day of him been your guide and unlimited travel in his tuk tuk or 30 dollars for same but in an air-con taxi which could be handy if it gets too hot in stages. So thats 10/20 pounds for a personal cheuafour for a whole day and a tour guide! Cana beat that! Hotel is beautiful and we pretty much have pool to ourselves as not many people seem to go there for some reason? Would highly recomend this hotel to anyone going here as it is lovely and so are staff. Also the hotel a deal on between april and september which is if you buy 2 nights you get another night free, which really drives down your price and makes it better price wise than most other hotels which are 1 or 2 stars less. Its only a 15 min walk or 5 min tuk tuk to the town centre and you can get complementary bikes from hotel to cycle to town if thats your thing? But this is stil really expensive in cambodia and we never wanted to stay there all time cause we wanted to see more of cambodian lifestyle so been in a flush hotel when the country is poverty stricken doent feel good so we only booked here for first 3 days. So first 3 days were spent milling around hotel and catching a couple hours sun before heading into Siem Reap to the old markets. Everything is so cheap and you are instantly mobed by people when you walk past their stall to buy stuff, which you cant really blame them considering how poor the country is. I wanted to buy so much but wouldnt be able to fit anything in my rucksack! might have to lose a few items before i head to thailand so i can fit some in! Its always roasting here even when it rains, so after 3 days im looking like a lobster! On our 4th day we arranged to go to the ancient temples of Angkor wat, Angkor thom and Ta prom (where tomb raider and parts of Indiana jones was filmed). These were amazing! the photos really dont do them justice. But we were pretty gutted as the one day we chose to go was the only day it was cloudy all day, so all my photos are pretty dull looking! Gutted! But i might take trip back on a better day as they were awesome to see even when dull. Bayon was my fav although Ta Prom was mental. It got build in like 1100AD and got left and the jungle has grown over and through building. Youll see what i mean in my photos which will be up soon. We sampled the night life in Siem Reap a few nights and it is not bad. 50 cent a beer in most bars which works out around 33 pence with our exchange rate!! Three words for that kenny big arm, WEAPAN!! (private joke) The temple club seems to be the place to be over here, tunes are banging out of here, and old school classics especially! 'Cot ni Joe' and YMCA have been on so far every night! haha.
Today we went out on the Tonle Sap Lake to see the floating villages. They were good to see, But they kinda spoilt it by taking us to a shop and asking us the buy supplies for school near by, which we were not impartial to had we not been warned by our taxi driver from the temples that this was not legit, and not to give them money because it never makes it to the school. But we went into shop anyways to have a look and we asked how much to donate 25 packs (very small and can pick up a pack of those noddles for pence!) of noodles to school canteen and they told us 25 dollars! So karen politely (haha) told them no whist we made a u-turn out of their shop. We went on from there to a little shop which had a fish farm and a crocodile farm attached to it. I was wondering how a crocidile farm could be worth while but never realised that one croc can fetch up to 3000 dollars in there markets. I got to drive the boat for a short spell, which was good fun. On our way back the guy asked for a tip about a minute before we had even reached the pier. He got told where to go! We were not giving them a tip after trying to rook us for money earlier. We explained why and told them that if they want more tourists to come back they shouldnt try to deter them with their antics. From the lake we heading off to see an orphanage near by. The children do a show once a week and people can go watch and can make donations afterwards. I was to sure as what to expect, but it was probably one of the better things I have done on my travels so far. All the kids seemed so happy, even wth the very little they had. They all spoke very good english and they all said i looked like peter that played spiderman! Brilliant! Definatly not a compliment but it was funny. We might go back to see the kids if we have time near the end of our stay here.
We met a really nice swiss couple called nina and jullian in the temple club tonight and also three singapore guys who were great laugh. We also met a dublin couple too, so we are all meeting again tommorrow at the temple club for a bit of a mad one i think. Lots of beggars around siem reap. Some try to sell you stuff, others just beg. We got told not to give to them but sometimes its hard not to. We ended up giving a few of them money and bought a few things off some of them too. You will get sick of getting asked for a 'tuk tuk' as well. Its just constant! But you cant blame them for trying really. You can get an hour foot massage in the night market for 2 dollars! Crazy! I think we planning going there tomorrow sometime to see what like they are. We managed to find a good and cheap guesthouse called New Aspara guesthouse, which worked out as 5 dollars each and has air-con plus a fan and balcony and is clean. Karens kicking my ass in the tanning situation as i burnt and havent really been able to sunbath properly since! But ill be back in action today! YAY!
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