Last day in Siem Reap
Came to Siem Reap with PG for holiday.
Our first choice lodging was full so we walked down the street to look for another one. The first one we stopped by was dark, and the room was not ready yet. Quite reasonable considering that we arrived at 7am… But we asked to see the room and lo behold… The door was locked and inside was a local boy and girl… Probably younger than us too! So much for “guest just checked out this morning”. More likely they’ve been using the room all night.
The next place we found was Royal Guest House. It was quite reasonable at usd 12 a night. With aircon, tv and shower, it is really not too bad. Only thing I didn’t like was the water pressure.. Low but still good enough to shower. And the shower floor is shared with the rest of the toilet, so the whole floor is wet after you shower. We used the tuk tuk driver from the hotel. Quiet, honest guy.. Not very good command of english… We tried to get him to join us for meals and treated him.
First day was usd 12 to see Angkor Wat area. the view from the top of Phnom Bakheng was excellent! Sunset however was spoilt by the clouds. Second day, we watch sunrise at Angkor Wat before going further out to Banteay Srey and Kbal Spean. PG got splashed with mud from a passing vehicle. He wanted 25 due to the long distance and the poor road conditions. (20 to go up to Banteay Srey and additional 5 to go to Kbal Spean due to the poor road condition) Initially we thought it was a bit expensive, but after taking the trip, we decided to pay him 25 anyway. Day 3 was spent visiting the Rolous Group and Tonle Sap lake. We stopped by another temple on the way to the lake and a boy showed us around. We learned quite a bit… About the temple and about the locals. Just before the lake, we stopped at this tourist police place. They were selling boat ride tickets at 15… We thought it was expensive and decided not to go on the ride. (They subsequently dropped the price to 12 ea but we already didn’t feel like doing the ride. We took a short walk around the area before heading back to the old market area for lunch. The afternoon was spent at the cultural village. The mock-ups are about as interesting as Har Paw Villa, but the performances really save the day. It is one performance after another at the different mock-up villages and most of the crowd would run to the next location to get a seat. The actors are really good and funny. They try to involve the audience too, so beware!
Last day is just idly around the area. We decided to move to a nicer hotel – Ta Prohm Hotel. At 35 a night, it better be good. Walking around town, sitting at Blue Pumpkin, using their free wifi…
