The changes around the town are striking. All of the building projects that looked like they were underway a few years ago and then stalled because of GFC have been quickly finished in the last year. Many new malls and apartment buildings have sprung up, the riverside walks have been freshly repaved and the town feels a bit more polished.
Although it looks bustling with more cars around, I would say there are not so many tourists, although they say numbers are up. Tour groups from china and Korea seem to be the new visitors.
Today I went to Angkor Wat and it wasn't overrun. Admittedly it was later in the morning but still... and bantaey samre which is outlying on the east baray was positively deserted. Later in the afternoon I went out to the tonle sap and up phnom krom (phnom means mountain in khmer) the hill overlooks the tonle sap and at this time of year the water from the lake still runs way inland, but even here a lot of new concrete houses jostle with the old wooden ones. The Koreans have recently taken over the boat trip concessions on the lake and prices have gone up and the locals squeezed out of the action... a typical story here in Cambodia.
David, the driver came up with Soriya and me and said it was the first time he had been up there... Cambodians are not well travelled, indeed I have seen more of the country than the average Cambodian. Such is the popularity of "sunset" spots in Siem Reap that even here there were a smattering of tourists, cameras at arms length waiting for the sun to drop into the vast lake. As soon as it was gone so were they, missing the best light as the sky illuminates the countryside in soft pinks and purples. We wander back down in the dimpsy light and darkness has enveloped the hill before we get back to the car.
Tonight is just a simple supper at soup dragon and a wander through the old Market, there is such great stuff here you could fill many suitcases.