Siem Reap Town 2008

If not because we have Iad working in Siem Reap, our trip could have already been canceled due to political chaos. It was actually a good decision to have kept going with our plan. The city, even though still with a number of tourists, was not as crowded as I'd expected.

July 25, 2008

We flew to Siem Reap with Bangkok Airways, leaving Bangkok at 8:30 a.m. The flight was rather EMPTY. But we didn't get to enjoy the extra space that much since it was only a mere 40-minute flight -- the shortest I ever got on board for (even shorter than BKK-Chiang Mai =P)



Cambodia requires tourists to file for visa. We (and probably most of the tourists) did VISA on arrival ($20) - don't forget to bring your ID photo, otherwise they might charge you extra $1-2 as penalty. We met P'Golf, Iad's finance who works for Bangkok Airways, right after our landing. Then, waited for Iad to come pick us up to Tara Angkor Hotel with the hotel shuttle.

planning our tour
Iad shocked me!!! I don't know why I was that shock. Maybe I didn't think I haven't seen Iad in that long a time. But it was actually more than 6 years!!!! Anyways, she is now a guest relation manager at Tara Angkor Hotel (where we stayed) and I needed to get use to that :)

We did the planning of our stay, rested a bit and started heading to town.

Cambodian Tuk Tuk - our main private transportation
Our first stop was the old market where you can find local souvenirs. Nothing interested us much since lots of stuff were identical to Thai souvenirs (local people told us that most of the stuff sold here are imported from Thailand -_-")

souvenirs
The nearby fresh market portrays very well how local living is so different from tourist living. Siem Reap's majority of the income is from tourism and hence we have to bare with the fact that we can never get anything at the same price as the locals. Everything was charged in USD for tourists. Average Tuk Tuk ride was $2 for four (make sure you bargain before you take the ride). Food price was between $4-8 in general.

local market
local barber
local shoe repair stall
Out back on pub street area, the scenery changed. Now you'd see all the modern looking cafes and restaurants. There were some art galleries and nice massage stores too.

downstairs if an ice cream shop, but upstairs is still for local living
our company - Waew and Pat
restaurants in pub street area
McDermott's Art Gallery
Inside McDermott's, the house is kept at its original construction. very impressive architecture!

We had lunch at one of the restaurants here. The most common dish would be "Amok", Cambodian version of Thai ห่อหมก and "Lok Lak", stir fry meet in oyster sauce.

Lok Lak
Cambodian dish - AMOK

After a short walk up north from Pub Street, we visited Hotel De L'Paix, a small luxurious hotel in Siem Reap. It was... impressive. We love the art garden!


@ Hotel De L' Paix

.... to be continue