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Cambodia - Siem Reap
We awoke feeling refreshed around 9 o'clock on Saturday morning and had a healthy breakfast with Evie a Dutch lady we had met the day before on the bus from Bangkok. Laura had scrambled eggs and I out-healthied her with a fruit salad (1-0 me!). We shared a tuk-tuk to the border and began the scam dodging process that we had read so much about. We managed to avoid the first scam of a man who claims to "arrange" your visa but charges an extra 200 baht (cheeky devils). Anyway Laura was having none of it and charged on to the official Thai departure office where we had our passports stamped and officially left the country.
At the Cambodian side we passed through the body heat sensor to check we didn't have swine flu or any other dreaded lurgy. Despite the ridiculous sweating we made it through, filled in our visa and paid our money. 1000 baht bought us a visa and our newly acquired helper (who called himself "Mr Lonely" and was a legend) ushered us through the rest of the process. We caught a free bus to the bus terminal in Poipet and on the way were serenaded by "Mr Lonely". We discovered that he is employed by the Cambodian government to help out tourists and had a love affair with British and American music. Myself, Laura, Evie, Philip and Joanie (a couple of French Canadians we met) applauded his efforts enthusiastically. We all shared a minivan to Siem Reap and arrived around 3 o'clock. A lovely chap named Jacky met us from the bus and we got a tuk-tuk to some accommodation he recommended. On the short trip he gave us a brief history of the country and area we were staying. All in all we couldn't have hoped for a better introduction to Cambodia that has seen so much tragedy in the recent past. We booked a tuk-tuk to take us around the Temples of Angkor the next day then walked around the market looking and buying some of the great souvenirs on offer. Our first impressions of Cambodia were great. The people are full of smiles the scenery beautiful and the children very cheeky!
In the morning we got picked up by Sarin our tuk-tuk driver, who took us around the magnificent Temples of Angkor. The highlights were undoubtedly the Bayon with its 216 faces and Ta Prohm that was used in Lara Croft and Indiana Jones. It has ancient trees growing in it, over it and through it and was pretty impressive. We watched the sunset over Angkor Wat before going back to the guesthouse. For dinner we visited a lovely Indian restaurant that came complete with several tiny kittens that entertained us throughout the meal.
On Monday morning we had a hearty breakfast before getting picked up by a minibus that was to transfer us to the bus station. The minibus itself had one or two interesting features; noticeably two sliding doors that were screwed shut and a back door that remained wide open throughout our trip, presumably acting as the air con! Anyway we climbed on our bus for Phnom Penh, sat back and relaxed for what we hoped would be a smooth journey.
Stani & Laura xxx
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