Temples of Siem Reap

The friendly, fake information people at Bangkok train station booked us on a bus to Cambodia.

Info man: "So would you like to go on a minibus or big air conditioned luxury bus?"     Me: "Which one is cheaper?"                                                                                          Info man: "Minibus."                                                                                         Me: "Minibus it is then."                                                                                            

temples, temples and more temples...

(Info man has pretend conversation on mobile phone that isn't turned on.)

Info man: "Sorry minibus is booked out, will have to be air conditioned bus.  Do you want to go to Siem Reap?"                                                                                                   Me: "No Pnomh Penh."                                                                                                   Info man: "OK then air conditioned bus all the way to Siem Reap.  It's all confirmed for you.  Have a great trip."

He showed us a picture of the luxury bus we were going on and it was very nice... right up to the border.  After getting through customs they loaded us onto little carts and trolleyed us to a bus stop where we split into 3 groups and got in little vans with our luggage on top.  Headed to another bus stop, got out and then were herded into 3 little minibuses with no air conditioners.  (It's seriously hot by the way.)  Once we were in, they packed our luggage in around our feet, up to our waists, so no one could move.  Then we headed for a reputed 3 hour drive (it took 6 hours) on an unsealed road over thousands of potholes.  When we looked out the windows we saw people wading through rice paddies with metal detectors looking for land mines.  The bus took us straight to a guesthouse that the driver was employed by.  Luckily the rooms were nice and cheap.  Were met in the restaurant by a man James calls the 'Smiling Assassin'.  He was so nice and chatted to us and said he and his friend could take us round on their bikes to look at the temples for only US$7 a day.  Next morning we got up and he had our itinerary ready. 

Smiling Assassin:  "So, I've rounded it to $60 for 3 days."                                          Me: "What???  What happened to $7 a day???"                                                            Smiling Assassin:  "I can see you're not happy with this price, I'll round it down to $40 for you."

We ended up paying him and his friend $20 for one day and then ditched them.  The temples were great, though 3 days of them would have been way too much.  It's just temples, temples and more temples, with our short attention spans, a day was all we could handle.  We say the famous Lara Croft Temple and Angkor Wat and many others.  Took heaps of photos.  Had lunch with our drivers and got mauled by cute, little Cambodian children selling postcards and bracelets.

After temple gazing our drivers said, "Now you have dinner where there is traditional dancing!"  We thought that sounded ok so went to this hotel where they serve buffet dinner while the dancers perform.  The drivers dissapeared around the back to have their free buffet dinner for bringing us there.  The dancing was nice, James thought it was pretty boring. 

Next day rode around on bicycles we hired and explored the town.  Had lunch at the Buddha Lounge, I had fish, which on the menu said it was fresh from the Tonle Sap River.  I was pretty sick after that fish.  Next day we headed down to Pnomh Penh on a boat down the Tonle Sap River, and I saw why that fish made me sick.  The river has a lot of floating villages on it and all their rubbish and stuff, they just chuck in the water.  Very scenic though, and the ladies in little long boats sold us 2 fresh baguettes with cream cheese, 4 bananas and a big bottle of water for 6 riel.  The baguettes were great.