Siem Reap (Day 126): A Relaxing Day in Old Town

July 4, 2016

This morning was the only day we got to sleep in past 7am while in Siem Reap. We tried to take full advantage of the day of rest but still woke up around 7:30am. We had a more relaxed breakfast downstairs and planned out what we were going to do for the rest of the day. We had our temple pass for another day but I think we were templed out and just wanted to take it easy in town.

My breakfast
My breakfast
Tim's breakfast
Tim’s breakfast
Our hotel, Silk D'Angkor on Charles de Gaulle Rd. Decent hotel at a good price. Really good service.
Our hotel, Silk D’Angkor on Charles de Gaulle Rd. Decent hotel at a good price. Really good service.

We took a tuk tuk to the centre of town to the Old Market. Like most markets in SE Asia, they had an assortment of souvenirs, local clothing options, and a wet and dry market – which is basically where all the action happens. As we walked down the rows of vendors, we continuously heard, “lady, want a scarf?” “buy something?”. I think having started out in Vietnam, these fairly mild calls were not distracting or uncomfortable.

The souvenir area of Old Market
The souvenir area of Old Market
Where most of the action happens at the market
Where most of the action happens at the market
Meat anyone?
Meat anyone?

After walking around for a bit, we walked towards a massage shop that we looked up online before heading out. As I mentioned before, there are so many cheap massage shops littered around the Old Town, but a lot of them didn’t seem too comfortable/relaxing (probably just good for a foot massage). Our massage shop was called, Lemongrass Garden, and it’s located across the street from the Park Hyatt Hotel (looks like a really nice hotel in a very central location) on Siem Reap’s “main street”. For a khmer massage, it was $12 USD for 60 minutes. This was about $4-5 USD more than other roadside salons that didn’t look very nice. It is also half the price of a more luxurious places, so basically it’s more middle of the road.

Ready for our massage
Ready for our massage

They gave us tea and a cold towel as we were deciding which massage to have. A Khmer massage is similar to a Thai massage – some stretching. Since it wasn’t described as being as painful as a Lao massage, I decided to do a Khmer one as well. We were lead into a room where the masseuses rubbed and cleaned our feet. Tim’s lady did his feet first, rubbing them with bath salts and spent probably about 8 minutes on him. My lady came after he was done and cleaned my feet but only took like 3 minutes. This was a very telling indication about whose massage would be better.

Tim getting his feet cleaned
Tim getting his feet cleaned

We were lead up two sets of steep stairs (I think all stairs in Cambodia are super steep) to our massage room. We got changed into the wide pants and shirt they provided. They had lockers right by our beds for our clothes and backpack. Overall my massage was relaxing but pretty weak (pressure wise). I enjoyed the massage in Luang Prabang more. I also felt very sticky from the mixture of sunscreen, mosquito repellant, and sweat on my body, so also felt bad for her touching me. As expected, Tim enjoyed his massage a lot more than I did. I have no major complaints though. It was relaxing and that was the point. After we were done our massage, we went back to the reception and they had another tea for us to drink before we paid. I would recommend Lemongrass if you get Tim’s masseuse (Tim: Khouch was her name), she seems more detailed oriented.

It was time for lunch and we had a pizza place in mind. The original pizza place we wanted to go to yesterday but was closed on Sunday. It’s called Belmiro’s and it’s owned by an American ex-pat from Boston. Yesterday we had Italian pizza, today we’re having American pizza. The pizza prices were more expensive than Il Forno’s but I suppose that’s because their portions are a lot larger (American style). They have medium and large pizzas, so we ordered a medium with half pepperoni and half sausage and spinach. The pizza came and it was huge. Their medium was bigger than Il Forno’s large. It was a thin crust New York style pizza. It was very tasty but we both thought Il Forno’s had better crust. Since it was the Fourth of July, many Americans came into the restaurant and were wishing each other a “Happy Fourth”. The restaurant even had a special menu for this week to celebrate. They were featuring Chili Cheese Dogs and Chicago style hot dogs.

Belmiro's Pizza
Belmiro’s Pizza
Our medium sized pizza $13 USD
Our medium sized pizza $13 USD

After lunch we went to get fruit shakes from a place we saw that sold them for only $0.75 USD. We got a mango and pineapple shake and caught a tuk tuk back to our hotel. It was hotter today than the other days we’ve been here, so walking around wasn’t very appealing. Siem Reap is definitely quite dead in the afternoons as most people are either temple hopping or probably indoors.

When we got back to our hotel, I was contemplating going for a swim but my decision was made for me when it began to rain quite heavily again. I guess this is rainy season for a reason! We stayed inside, booked our hotel for Kuala Lumpur, caught up on some blog posts, and made room for my photos on my laptop (I’ve taken over 20,000 pictures so far!). It rained for the rest of the afternoon so we were glad we were inside.

For our last dinner in Siem Reap (and Cambodia) we decided to go to Sinn Sisa Mouth Café again. The owners are so sweet and we both really enjoyed the food there. We guiltily had pizza two days in a row for lunch so we should have Cambodian food for our last meal. We took a tuk tuk to the restaurant and when we pulled up, the wife saw us, smiled, and waved at us like she’d seen a friend. I smiled and waved back in the same way as we went into the restaurant. Today was a lot busier than our first visit. There were about 5 other tables eating or waiting for their food. The table beside us was an Asian American couple and it seemed like they came there for dinner everyday that they were in Siem Reap. As they were leaving they commented on how great the food was and that they would see them again tomorrow. Good food at good prices along with Khmer hospitality goes a long way (and Trip Advisor reviews help too).

We ordered Amok fish (one of the most popular Cambodian dishes) and Tim got drawn in by another garlic dish – this time pork and garlic. The picture was a bit deceiving because it looked like the garlic was fried but it came out more of a stir fry, similar to his chicken from the other night. I really liked the Amok fish, very subtle coconut and lemongrass flavor and the curry had collared green type vegetables in it. The amount of curry they gave could’ve easily fed both Tim and I. The husband gave us a plate of bananas and dragon fruit this time for dessert. We paid and thanked them for a wonderful meal. If you’re ever in Siem Reap and want Cambodian food, I would highly recommend it (I also wrote them a Trip Advisor review).

Coconut ($0.75 USD) and Cambodia Beer ($0.75 USD)
Coconut ($0.75 USD) and Cambodia Beer ($0.75 USD)
Our last dinner in Cambodia
Our last dinner in Cambodia: Garlic pork on rice ($2.50 USD) and Amok Fish ($4 USD)

We walked to the night market after dinner because I wanted to check out the tank tops. I had a bought a few in Phnom Penh and sort of regret not buying more. The tank I got from Thailand 3 years ago is still in pretty good shape and the ones here are very similar. We didn’t see many of the same type in Vietnam so I figure this would be my last chance to buy them before going home. We walked past many stores and then one man said, “all tanks and t-shirts $1!” (was pretty impressed with him, we heard him speak Korean, Chinese, and Japanese). On one hand, I was really happy that they were only $1 USD, but on the other hand, I realized my bargaining in Phnom Penh wasn’t that great if he was already offering them for $1! It’s okay. I was already really happy with my 3 tanks for $5 USD, so this is even better. We spent about 30 minutes in the store looking through each rack. Their organization system is not very good, but I don’t know why that would surprise us. The women’s t-shirts and tanks were a lot nicer than the men’s. All the men’s t-shirts were a cut out v-neck, which I can’t picture many people I know wearing. Too bad they didn’t just have normal crew necks like in Thailand.

We were followed around by a Cambodian teenager who was more interested in staring at himself in the mirror, doing his hair, and posing in front of the mirror than really helping us. But I guess his job was to just follow us around and collect money while the boss man drew customers in. Since things were so disorganized, we spent a long time going through the racks. We ended up buying 5 more tanks but as we paid the boy said to Tim, “you guys took a long time to look “(in an annoyed tone). At this point we were a bit annoyed with him too because he kept asking us how many we would buy and so we said probably 5, will you give us a deal? He said no abruptly and we asked why did it matter how many we would buy then. As he handed his boss the money, Tim asked him if there was a problem that we took so long to look? He scurried away and the boss man out front apologized on his behalf. He kept saying “sorry my friend” to Tim.

We took a tuk tuk back to the hotel and called it a night. Another early morning for us as we’re flying to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. We’re both really excited to go to Malaysia for the first time. We didn’t expect to go to Malaysia during our time in SE Asia, but this is a welcome addition to our itinerary.

Steps today: 6,500

Siem Reap (Day 125): The Main Event – Angkor Wat!

July 3, 2016

Our alarms went off at the ungodly hour of 4am. It was good that Dara was going to be waiting for us at 4:40am or else I would very very tempted to snooze. We came to Siem Reap for Angkor Wat and it would be a shame to not see it during its famed sunrise.

We headed down to the lobby, picked up our breakfasts to go, and saw Dara waiting outside for us. When we were about to leave, the EuroCup quarter-finals game between Germany and Italy was on. The game was in the middle of the deciding penalty kicks. Dara and Tim were intrigued so we watched the outcome of the game before heading out. Judging by Dara and the hotel staff’s reactions to the goals, they were cheering for Germany.

We eventually made our way to the car 20 minutes later and drove to Angkor Wat. Considering it was 5am, the streets were fairly lively. When we got to the parking lot, it was pitch black and Dara held a flashlight out for us to see where we were walking. Of the people who were up for the sunrise, they all walked down the middle path but Dara took us to the side and we ended up beating everyone to the view points. We camped out right in front of one of the ponds, where you can see Angkor Wat’s reflection. Dara told us that within 15 minutes this area will be packed, and he was right. Since it’s rainy season, we didn’t really see a typical sunrise, since there wasn’t much sun. It was cool to see the different coloured sky with Angkor Wat coming into focus. We stood there for about 45 minutes until about 6am. The grass was too muddy to sit down on so most people were standing – which is why our patch of grass was prime real estate.

What Angkor Wat looked like when we got there at 5:15am
What Angkor Wat looked like when we got there at 5:15am
The sky changed colour every few minutes, which is why we took so many pictures
The sky changed colour every few minutes, which is why we took so many pictures
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Truly an amazing sight
6:10am
6:10am

After taking hundreds of pictures of Angkor Wat, we found Dara and he said we should eat our breakfast before heading into the temple. We camped out on the steps of the temple’s “library” and ate the breakfast the hotel packed for us. There were a million flies around, so it made eating difficult. The breakfast wasn’t that appetizing. I just ended up eating the bananas (Tim: I ate their omelette and sausage and it was good).

Our view while eating breakfast
Our view while eating breakfast

Even to this day, Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world. It’s incredible that in the 12th century, they built the entire complex which stretches 162 hectares in just an estimated 35 years. We climbed to the top of Angkor Wat, which allows up to 100 people there at a time. There were some great views of the surroundings from the top, including watching mischievous monkeys go through the trash bins and then running away from the security guards. We saw a bunch of monkeys around the temple on our way out – a family of them and another monkey who attacked a young boy after the boy ran up to it suddenly.

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Monk walking around Angkor Wat
Dara explaining the story of carvings at Angkor Wat
Dara explaining the story of carvings at Angkor Wat
These steps are like 70°. They're blocked off now but Dara said when he was in high school they would climb up them and it would be really scary
These steps are like 70°. They’re blocked off now but Dara said when he was in high school they would climb up them and it would be really scary
On top of Angkor Wat
On top of Angkor Wat
View from Angkor Wat towards the front entrance
View from Angkor Wat towards the front entrance with a helium balloon in the distance
A family of naughty monkeys
A family of naughty monkeys
One last picture of Angkor Wat before leaving
One last picture of Angkor Wat before leaving

Our next stop on our tour for the day was Ta Prhomn, the temple where some scenes in Tomb Raider was filmed. Angelina Jolie starred in it and subsequently adopted her first son, Maddox, from Cambodia. I just learned that she has honourary Cambodian citizenship because of all the humanitarian work she does for the country. She’s also currently producing a Netflix movie called, “First They Killed My Father” about the Khmer Rouge genocide that’s being filmed now. We thought Ta Prhomn was very cool, they had so many old trees that have grown over the temple walls. It’s interesting to see that all the temples are sponsored by different countries. If there is no country to sponsor the temple’s conservation, there is no work done to restore the temples. I didn’t see any temples sponsored by Canada (Angkor Wat is sponsored by Germany and Italy).

Ta Phrohm temple
Ta Prhomn temple
So many cool trees here!
So many cool trees here!
This is the coolest tree at Ta
This is the coolest and probably the most famous one

We saw a few other temples and palaces within the Angkor Thom gates. I was getting really tired at this point in the morning. It was warm and I just had a couple of mini bananas so I was starting to fade.

All the gates have faces of the King on them
All the gates have faces of the King on them

Angkor Palace
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Tim climbing up the steep stairways
Tim climbing up the steep stairways

Our last temple for the day and tour was Bayon. Every time I heard the name Bayon, it reminded me of the show Survivor. They filmed the last 2 seasons in Cambodia so their tribe names were Bayon and Angkor. All the temples we went to today were all very different which was good. Bayon was very neat. It was built with hundreds of faces of the king all around. Most of the gates around Angkor had faces of the king around but Bayon was overkill. It was great for picture taking!

Bayon Temple
Bayon Temple
The many Bayon faces
The many Bayon faces

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Dara suggested one of us do this. I made Tim do it
Dara suggested one of us do this. I made Tim do it
Our selfie with Mr. Hua and Dara outside of Bayon
Our selfie with Mr. Hua and Dara outside of Bayon

After a pretty jam packed two days our tour of the temples was over. We have the pass for another day but I think we are “templed out” and will just take it easy in town for our last day in Siem Reap. Dara and Mr. Hua dropped us off in the Old Town, where we’d have lunch. We said our goodbyes and thanked him. Dara is a very kind hearted and patient guide, and he is very proud of his heritage. When talking about Cambodia, he always refers to it as “my country”. I don’t remember the last time I heard anyone describing their home country in that sentiment.

I know you could probably do Angkor Wat and all the temples on your own for much cheaper, but it was nice to be accompanied by a local guide and get to know how life is here. He’s around our age and has two boys (6 and 8 years old) and parents to support. Being in SE Asia and seeing how hard everyone works and hustles to even survive makes me feel like an extremely spoiled brat. I don’t take for granted how lucky Tim and I are for all that we were blessed with. But sometimes you can’t help but feel guilty for our blessings when there are many others who are not as fortunate as us. It’s not to say they aren’t happy, because all the Cambodian people we have met and interacted with seemed to be very happy and so kind despite being very poor by western standards (Tim: And if they’re happier than you, then what does it say about money and happiness?). I can see why Angelina Jolie fell in love with Cambodia while filming here. Any way, that’s something I originally wanted to reflect on coming on this trip. What makes people happy? I know it’s not material things, that’s for sure.

Back to today. We were craving pizza and found a few highly rated places to try in Siem Reap. After going to two of them and finding out they weren’t opened for lunch, we went to our third choice. The restaurant is called Il Forno and is just off Siem Reap’s Pub Street. The prices were cheap for western standards but expensive for Cambodian standards. We shared a large salami pizza ($9.50 USD) and ordered a couple of soft drinks ($1.25 USD each). The pizza was Neapolitan style and was surprisingly very delicious. The crust was perfectly chewy and it tasted just as good as the Italian pizzas we had in Melbourne. It definitely hit the spot and satisfied our pizza craving. There’s a huge ex-pat community in Siem Reap, so that’s why there are so many western restaurants in the Old Town.

Il Forno salami pizza
Il Forno salami pizza
They have a legit wood pizza oven
They have a legit wood pizza oven

After lunch we took a tuk tuk back to our hotel, washed up, and rested for the rest of the afternoon. I took a nap for a couple of hours. We got ready and went back into town to the Night Market to find something for dinner.

We walked around the Angkor Night Market and it was basically all the same souvenir trinkets and clothing we’ve seen at most other markets in Cambodia. For dinner we found some street vendors across the street and ordered noodles, skewers, and a mango smoothie from different vendors (they were all in a row, how convenient!). Our street side dinner cost us $4 USD.

We ordered from the 3 stalls in a row. You can see Tim waiting at the noodle stand while I ordered our mango smoothie
We ordered from the 3 stalls in a row. You can see Tim waiting at the noodle stand while I ordered our mango smoothie
Our street dinner for $4 USD. Noodles and mango shake were $1 USD each and the skewers were $0.50 USD each
Our street dinner for $4 USD. Noodles and mango shake were $1 USD each and the skewers were $0.50 USD each
Walking around the night market area
Walking around the night market area

After dinner we walked around the streets and found dessert at a pancake truck, which was more like a crispy crepe. The banana chocolate pancake was $1 USD, but we later found some other stands just off the main roads for $0.75 USD. There are so many massage shops around the night market, all trying to get you to go inside. The massages are extremely cheap – $3 USD for an hour foot massage. In addition to massages, they have a lot of fish spas, which I’m too scared to try (because it’s dirty). The fish spas were also a lot cheaper than Thailand since $2 USD could buy you unlimited time. The fish were also a lot bigger than the ones I remembered seeing in Thailand. Maybe these fish get fed more?

Banana and chocolate pancake ($1 USD)
Banana and chocolate pancake ($1 USD)
The pancake was wrapped up very tightly with paper
The pancake was wrapped up very tightly with paper

We grabbed a tuk tuk back to the hotel and called it a night. It was a pretty long day.

Steps today: 18,000

Siem Reap (Day 124): Temple Hopping

July 2, 2016

This morning we were getting picked up by our guide, Dara, at 8:30am in our lobby. We went for a pretty quick breakfast downstairs since we kept snoozing our alarms. We got to the lobby just in time and Dara was already sitting there waiting for us. My parents and family friends used Dara when they were in Siem Reap 4 years ago, so I felt a bit connected to him already.

We introduced ourselves to Dara and our driver, Mr. Hua, and hopped into his Toyota Highlander. They were both very nice and were your typical friendly Cambodians. Dara was wearing a tour guide uniform which we saw around the temples. He’s a certified Siem Reap tour guide for Angkor Temples, which takes 3 years to complete and another couple of years to select a language to specialize in. We booked a two day tour to visit the temples with him for $150 USD. Since we wanted to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat, Dara suggested we do that on our second day together and start at the temples further away. He didn’t charge us extra for the sunrise tour.

The first stop we took was to get our Angkor passes. Tours here don’t include the prices of your tickets so we bought our own. There’s a day pass for $20, 3 day pass for $40, and a 7 day pass for $60 (we bought the 3 day pass). When we got to the counter they asked where we were from and then asked if we were Cambodian. Cambodians get to visit the temples for free. They also take your photo and print it on the pass to avoid people from sharing or selling unused tickets.

Buying our Angkor Temple pass
Buying our Angkor Temple pass

Our first stop was to Banteay Srie, a pink colour sandstone temple that is known for its intricate carvings. When we arrived, there were a lot of tour busses. We hadn’t seen so many tourists since we were in Japan, or maybe not at all. It’s crazy because this is their down season and it’s still pretty busy. Dara told us that during down/rainy season, the tourists are mostly Asian – Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. And during high season (October – December) it’s more North Americans and Europeans. This temple was nice. The detail of the carvings is pretty amazing considering this was built over 1000 years ago!

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Banteay Srie
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We enjoyed taking pictures through all the door frames

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Carvings have held up pretty well over the last 1000 years
Carvings have held up pretty well over the last 1,000 years
Working on the restoration of the temples
Working on the restoration of the temples
I've never seen a millipede before
I’ve never seen a millipede before…gross!

On the way to the temples, we drove through the Cambodian country side, which according to Dara, has no electricity or running water. It’s only about 15 minutes outside Siem Reap and life is totally different. There were a bunch of street vendors on the side of the road selling palm sugar and palm products.

Palm sugar
Palm sugar
Melting down palm sugar
Melting down palm sugar

Next on our agenda was the “grand tour”, which is made up of Prerup, East Mebon, Tasom, and Preah Khan. It was hard remembering which temple was what. My first impression of the temples was that they were all quite grand for their time. The other temples did not have as many tourists which was nice. It’s quite tiring going from one temple to the next and climbing up the steep steps to the top of the temples (so glad I didn’t wear flip flops), especially in the heat! It wasn’t even that hot out (28 degrees), relatively speaking, and was a bit overcast and it was still draining. It’s really nice being able to get into the car after each temple and have air conditioning blasting. Mr. Hua would also give us ice cold water when we came back into the car. I could only imagine how uncomfortable it would be to be temple hopping during their “hotter season”. Cambodia has 3 seasons which the locals call “Cool Season” (too hot), “Warm Season” (way too hot), and “Rainy Season” (way too hot and humid).

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Temple gates
Most of their heads fell off or were destroyed during the civil war. Many of them are on display at the National Museum in Phnom Penh
Most of their heads fell off or were destroyed during the civil war. Many of them are on display at the National Museum in Phnom Penh
Ta Som
Preah Khan- the first of many over grown trees around the temples
"Elephant trunk"
Preah Khan’s “Elephant trunk”
Still a lot of restoration that needs to be done
Preah Khan
One of the four gates to Tasom
One of the four gates to Tasom. The face in the gate is the face of the king.
Tasom Temple
Tasom Temple

For lunch, we stopped by a local restaurant in the countryside which was obviously for tourists only. Tour guides and tuk tuks all dropped of tourists here for lunch. There aren’t any other options around so this was pretty much it. The restaurant had hammocks off to the side for drivers and guides to hang out in while tourists ate. The restaurant was a Cambodian restaurant whose prices were about double the price of restaurants in the city. This was still cheap and it was a bit understandable since getting electricity and running water in the countryside is very expensive. Tim ordered a pork noodle soup and I had grilled pork with rice, both dishes were $6.50 USD each.

Pork noodle soup ($6.50 USD)
Pork noodle soup ($6.50 USD)
Pork and rice ($6.50 USD) and coconut ($1.50 USD)
Pork and rice ($6.50 USD) and coconut ($1.50 USD)
This dog stared at us while we ate. We gave him some of our pork.
This dog stared at us while we ate. We gave him some of our pork.

After we were done lunch, we continued on to two more temples. It was only our first day, but a lot of temples already looked quite similar to me. I think it’s really cool how huge trees grow around and almost take over some of the temples. I think it’s good that we started off at the smaller temples before going to the main event tomorrow – Angkor Wat and Ta Phrom (Tomb Raider temple).

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Pre Rup
East Mebon Temple
All the stairs in the temples are super steep
East Mebon stairs and all the stairs in the temples are super steep
View from the top of East Mebon
View from the top of East Mebon

We finished our day close to 3pm. Dara dropped us off at our hotel and said he would be at our hotel tomorrow morning at 4:40am for the sunrise (so early!).  As soon as we got into the hotel it began to pour. Such good timing!

Raining cats and dogs
Raining cats and dogs

We rested the rest of the afternoon. Since it was pouring for most of the afternoon we just stayed inside and watched the storm. At around dinner time, it dried up and we headed out into town. We took a tuk tuk ($2 USD) to a Khmer restaurant called, Sinn Sinsa Mouth Cafe.  I read about it on Trip Advisor and it was one of the few restaurants that were highly ranked that weren’t western/non-Khmer food.

When we got to Sinn Sinsa, we were warmly greeted by the owners – which seemed like a husband and wife team. Their kids were hanging out and it was like we were eating in their home. There weren’t any other tourists while we were there (guessing because it is down season), just other locals hanging out. The husband took our orders while the wife did all the cooking. We ordered a luc lac beef, garlic chicken rice, and morning glory. They gave us mini bananas for dessert, which was nice of them. So far this is my favourite Khmer restaurant. The food was really good and price reasonably, very generous portions, and the owners were so nice.

Garlic chicken with rice ($2.50 USD)
Garlic chicken with rice ($2.50 USD)
Luc lac beef ($3 USD)
Luc lac beef ($3 USD)
Morning glory with garlic ($2 USD)
Morning glory with garlic ($2 USD)
Outside Sinn Sisamouth Cafe
Outside Sinn Sisamouth Cafe

We took a tuk tuk back to the hotel, washed up, and went to sleep early. We had to be out and ready to go by 4:40am!

Steps today: 10,000

Siem Reap (Day 123): We Made It Alive!

July 1, 2016

It’s our last morning in Phnom Penh and our last breakfast at TEAV Hotel. I changed it up today and ordered a western breakfast and Tim ordered fried rice again. We booked a car to take us to the airport at 10:30am so we didn’t have much time in the morning to do much besides pack and have breakfast.

Last breakfast at TEAV. So good!
Last breakfast at TEAV. So good!

Our flight to Siem Reap wasn’t until 12:55pm, but with Phnom Penh’s crazy traffic, it took around an hour to get to the airport. The airport is only 11km away! At one point we were stuck in traffic for about 20 minutes because there was construction on the road. We were flying on Cambodia’s national airline, Cambodia Angkor Air to Siem Reap. Out of the domestic terminal, the 4 flights that were leaving around the same time were all going to Siem Reap. The only other city that flights fly to domestically is Sihanoukville (the south coastal city).

Checking in to our flight
Checking in to our flight

The domestic terminal was surprisingly nice and modern – very new compared to Laos and even Vietnam. There was free WiFi in the terminal and a good cafe called Blue Pumpkin, which apparently has the best ice cream in Cambodia. We saw a Blue Pumpkin store along the river yesterday but didn’t try it so I’m glad they had it at the airport so we could try. Tim and I shared a coconut ice cream in a cone for $1.75 USD. The cone was really good. It wasn’t a normal waffle cone, it was like an egg roll cookie cone.

There are a lot of restaurants outside the terminals near the arrivals
There are a lot of restaurants outside the terminals near the arrivals
Domestic terminal
Domestic terminal
Blue Pumpkin coconut ice cream
Blue Pumpkin coconut ice cream

When it was time to board, the skies opened up and it was like the same downpour as we had yesterday. Since the plane wasn’t right at the gate and we had to take a shuttle bus to take us right to the plane, a lot of people got wet until airport staff brought out large umbrellas. We also realized that departure times in SE Asia are more of an estimate of departure time and generally it’s actually the time you board.

The plane was another smaller place – similar to what we took from Hanoi to Luang Prabang (Tim: ATR 72). The flight time was only about 45 minutes, but it felt like the longest flight ever because of the bad turbulence. There were a couple of times where the plane just dropped a bit and everyone (or a lot of people) on the plane yelped. I was one of them. I grabbed Tim’s hand and held it pretty tight, said a prayer, and hoped we would land in Siem Reap safely. Tim said he wasn’t scared. I hate small planes!

Obviously we landed safely, but seriously that was the worst flight I’ve ever been on. I haven’t been that scared for a while. Tim said he was more scared on our honeymoon when our plane was trying to land in the Maldives. I don’t remember that at all, but the way he describes it I suppose it was probably more of a true concern than bad turbulence. Basically right as we were about to land, the plane went full thrust and pulled up again because (as we were told later) there was a plane that didn’t clear the runway. (Tim: So as Kait mentioned, it was significantly scarier for me because in my mind, being so close to touching down and then having the engines go full thrust and the plane pulling up made me think there was imminent danger. It was an abnormal occurrence and it was probably the only time I’ve been truly scared on a flight.  Planes don’t crash from turbulence, so it’s not a concern to me, other than spilling a drink. It’s also good to remind myself that the tuk tuk rides we take are probably significantly more dangerous than any plane ride we’ll ever take).

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This plane…
The airport has a video playing showing what tourists should not be doing at the temples.
The airport has a video playing showing what tourists should not be doing at the temples.

We collected our bags and someone from our hotel was waiting for us at arrivals. The hotel we booked includes free airport transfers which is nice. We were picked up in a tuk tuk and made our way to the hotel.

Heading to our hotel
Heading to our hotel

We’re staying at Silk D’Angkor Boutique Hotel. It was really difficult to pick a hotel in Siem Reap because there are so many of them. The fact that there are so many hotels in Siem Reap was evident on our tuk tuk ride. All we saw were large hotels and resorts on the main road into the city. We got a pretty good deal on this hotel because it’s rainy season. If we stayed 4 nights, we only had to pay for 3 and there was a 15% promo code I found online so it was $100 USD for 4 nights. The hotel is older and not as modern as TEAV but we have no complaints. At least we have a large window, which we haven’t had in a while. We even have a view of the pool which is nice.

Our room for the next 4 nights
Our room for the next 4 nights

For the rest of the afternoon we decided to just relax and hang out at the hotel until dinner. I wasn’t feeling 100% and Tim wanted to catch up on our personal finances so we did just that. We knew the next couple of days would be longer and more draining. We got changed and went down to the pool and hung out there for an hour or so. It was nice. Seems like the hotel clientele are all Caucasian. I haven’t seen any Asians yet.

Hanging out in the pool
Hanging out in the pool
Catching some rays
Catching some rays

After we washed up, I looked up some restaurants for dinner and we took a tuk tuk to a restaurant called Lilypop ($2 USD ride). Lilypop served a mixture of Thai and Cambodian food and is actually run by a Belgian guy (with Cambodian cooks). The restaurant was already busy for 5:30pm so we grabbed a table outside. Tim ordered luc lac beef again and I tried amok chicken, which is like a Cambodian coconut curry. We also ordered green beans with pork to share. The best dish was my amok chicken. The beans were mediocre and Tim’s luc lac was probably my least favourite of the ones he’s had so far. The biggest kicker for us is that the rice they serve is brown! Maybe we aren’t the restaurant’s target market. They had mango sticky rice on the dessert menu and we got it to share. If there’s mango sticky rice on the menu, I’ll usually order it for dessert. This was probably the most disappointing dish for me. The sticky rice was way too mushy and had no particular taste. I have yet to have a really good mango sticky rice on this trip so far. I’ll keep looking!

Tuk tuk into the city
Tuk tuk into the city
Lilypop in Siem Rep
Lilypop in Siem Rep
Our dinner, a mango smoothie, coke, and mango sticky rice = $14 USD
Luc lac beef with egg ($4 USD), green beans ($2.75 USD), amok chicken ($3 USD), coke ($0.75 USD)
The mushy mango sticky rice ($2.50 USD)
The mushy mango sticky rice ($2.50 USD)

We didn’t want to pay another $2 USD to go back to our hotel. Since the sidewalks here look pretty walkable, we just walked back. We’ll explore more of the town another night, but I just felt like going to sleep early. Our hotel is close to a huge Duty Free store (DFS Galleria) with all the luxury brands. It’s a bit weird to see such a high end complex in the middle of Siem Reap when everything else is very old.

We’re looking forward to seeing some of the temples tomorrow! We hired a local tour guide for the next two days to take us around. My parents used him when they were here 4 years ago and had great things to say about him.

Steps today: 4,500