Today we are flying out to Siem Reap, Cambodia so we packed up and had bfast at the hotel before heading to the airport. This buffet was the best bfast buffet I have ever had. It had you western bfast which egg and omlette station, pastries and different breads than you can think of. It also had dim sum, a congee station, sushi bar & Indian food.
The flight to Siem Reap was a short 45 mins. In this time they still have enough time to give you food and collect it all just in time before we descend :). The Siem Reap airport I very small and reminded me of Cuba's Varadero airport. We were greeted by a driver supplied by the hotel to pick us up. I always see people standing with signs at airports but it was nice to being picked up. On the ride to the hotel, I couldn't help but see the strong comparison to Cuba. During our ride, our cabdriver tried to talk to us and all that I really gathered was 'Ankor Wat', 'Tomb Raider' and 'Angelina Jolie'. So politely we smiled and agreed to what he was saying.
We arrived to the hotel and it's a very grand hotel; it's actually a resort and spa. The front staff is very friendly and we were greeted with drinks and sweets. The front desk cork, Alex said to us 'so the driver tells me you guys are booked a tour for tomorrow to Ankor Wat and Tomb Raider tomorrow?'. I guess the driver was doing a sales pitch to us on the way there :) The room was nice with a hanging king sized swing bed on a big balcony and a basket of local fruits. There was a pretty big pool at the resort so we decided to start off with a dip before we explore the night life.
We were told we should go to Pub street which is where all the restaurants are and the night market. We took a tuk-tuk there and only cost us $2USD. I was really surprised that they use USD as much if not more than their primary currency. We decided to try Cambodian BBQ. The best way to describe it is a fusion of hot pot and Korean BBQ. It's a pot with a grill dome in the middle of the pot. Soup is heated around the side and meat on the middle dome with all of the juices from the meat eventually dripping into the soup. It was heated with charcoal. The cost was only $10 enough to serve two of us. They had a whole BBQ menu so I order a chicken wing and a frog just to give it a try. They were only $1 each so why not. I hate to sound cliche but the frog did taste like chicken. I with the chicken wing tasted more like chicken though :) for faster common they slit the chicken wing which made the wing dry. The frog was very good, just needed more of them to fill myself. Oh and I forgot to mention that beer is only $0.50.
After stuffing ourselves we decided to check out the markets. As soon as we walked into the market area, we were approached by a guy offering us fish foot massages. They're called Dr. Fish. There is a large tank where you dip your feet in and fish eat away all the dead skin. It's $2 for an hour and that comes with a free beer. The concept sounded interesting but we decided to walk around a bit. The markets are filled with massage salons and shops selling mostly the same things: souvenirs, scarves, shirts and these really baggy Aladdin pants. They're very vocal but compared to china, I wouldn't call them aggressive. They just want you to buy from them. We were very surprised with the price of the price of massages. We stopped for a foot massage that only cost us $3 for an hour. We had foot massages in Shanghai and we didn't think it could get any cheaper than that. This was surprisingly very good. we also got a dessert that was like a crepe but instead of a liquid being cooked, it was a ball of rice flour that was stretched as thin as a crepe and then cooked with banana, butter and condensed milk. It was delicious! Again, I'll post pictures when I get to my computer at home.
The next morning we had our tour of Ankor Wat scheduled for 8am. I know, it's early but with the time change and all of the touring we are sleeping pretty early so we are getting more than enough sleep. This hotel also included bfast and it was delish! It didn't have as much variety as the hotel in Thailand but it had a noodle station where you choose the noodle, veggies and meats and they cook it all up for you. What a way to start a morning! We met our guide and took a tour o 3 temples within Ankor Wat. There are apparently over 50 temples and you'd need 5 days to complete them all. I'll save the many hours of education we got but I will share a few fun facts.
1) the temple where Tomb Raider was built has unofficially now been given the name Tomb Raider
2) Cambodians switched back and forth between Hinduism and Buddhism
After a long day we finished it off with a dip in the pool for an hour before we went for our dinner reservations. We got a free dinner during our stay. I'll be honest, we were about to get up and leave when we saw the menu. It was western but we decided to stay anyways. Hey, it was free! If it sucked, we could have went back to pub street. I'm glad we stuck around because it was very good. Jess ordered the steak and I ordered the fish and it was probably the softest steak I've had.
After dinner was another go at the markets. We needed to pick up some souvenirs, Jess was going to get a mani/pedi and I needed another foot massage after a long day of walking. First stop, Dr. Fish! We had to try it. It was $2 for an hour with a free drink. It is very weird feeling, as soon as you dip your feet in they swarm your feet and go to town. It almost feels like mini shock therapy. After the souvenirs, Jess got her mani/pedi ($5... Yeah I said $5!) so I got a foot massage while I waited.
The next morning was another go at the delicious noodle station for bfast and their delicious mangos. Today we had our tour guide and driver back to take us out to the floating houses. These are houses that sit on the water and that's where the poor Vietnamese people live. These people need to move their homes up to 10 times a year depending on water conditions. These people don't use their legs much because they're always in the water. There is a ton of beggers who row up to your boat with little babies and children who are holding pythons. Its so sad to see but if I gave money, I'd be promoting begging. Next, we stopped at a crocodile farm where I got to feed them with cat fish. For $5, they would string up a fish on a pole and I get to tease the crocs until they snap at it and we play a bit of tug of war. These bastards are strong! I won against two of them but the third one got me. After our boat tour, our guide took us to as local restaurant before taking us back to our hotel. We were flying out this evening so we wanted one last dip in the pool before heading out to Hanoi. The driver and guide only cost us $65 for the two days, I couldn't believe how cheap it was. The same driver came back later in the afternoon/evening to take us to the airport.
The flight to Cambodia is more expensive than anywhere else we planned so I really wanted to skip it. I thought 'really? This much $$$ to see some old trees growing out of temple walls?' I am so glad we came we came here. I can't say enough good things about it. They're some of the nicest people I've ever encountered and the hotel staff was so nice; remembering our names and opening all doors and car doors for us. They're best described as the Cuba of Asia imo. Beautiful country and the friendliest people. I will definitely return!
Akun Siem Reap, next stop Hanoi
Phu'd and Travel
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