so how did we get here? left home Wednesday a.m. at 9:00 Red Deer time. arrived at our hotel at 5:00 a.m. Friday morning Red Deer time. stops along the way included LA, Taipei, Singapore, Da Nang (Vietnam) and finally Siem Reap. Singapore Air was great, good food, lots of drink (but I was not drinking) and the flight attendants were very cute in their traditional outfits. Sadly I was fighting a head cold/flu so did not enjoy a lot of it. However, like a typical male I kept my suffering to myself and smiled along - no whining!
Arriving in Cambodia was a unique experience. Airport is slightly larger than Red Deer, looks like a new and very nice building. upon entering the terminal, someone at the door required to see our boarding passes. This confused us as we were off the plane. But... Once past this guy, entered a room with a big semi-circle counter behind which there were 14 men in shirts and ties sitting in a row. Lined up to see guy #1, who happily took our $40US (plus$4 because we had no photos) and the 3 forms we had filled out on the plane, each of which contained pretty much the same info. Then we lined up to see guy #14. Meanwhile, there was much shuffling of papers behind the counter as our passports and documents went thru the process. I think it was 1 guys job to look at the passport photo, find the person in the crowd and stare at them for 10 or more seconds. Anyway, roughly 5 minutes later guy #14 called our name and we got our paperwork and passports back. Then went to the next room, where there were 12 customs officials (much like US customs in Calgary) and lined up again. Got our pic taken and passport stamped and were on our way. A cynical person would suspect that all 27 people working at airport customs were related to a politician somewhere as appeared to be the simplest job in the world, seperating tourists from there money.
next to baggage, where we were thrilled to see our bags that we had checked in Calgary almost 2 days prior. next thrill was to see a young fellow holding a sign with our name on it and we were off on our 1st tuk tuk ride (small motorcycle pulling a cart). short hop to our hotel.
the hotel is a really neat place - I think it is a fine example of a late night beer drinking idea that someone actually followed up on the next day. Picture a few Norwegian packpackers who had fallen in love with Siem Reap who have the brilliant thought to open their own hotel, cater to backpackers and then they can get paid to hang around at their own bar and do the things they enjoy doing. Brilliant! And one of them must have been a hasher as their symbol is a footprint. And just before we got there, probably during another drinking session, they decided they should have a pool at the hotel to hang out in. And maybe shape it like a foot and put a seat and some jets in each of the 'toes' to give the jacuzzi experience. Really neat. And the staff, which are mainly locals, are incredibly nice, helpful and cute.
Siem Reap is a nice little city (160,000 people), much cleaner than I expected. Markets are fun, food is good and the beer is cheap. Yesterday spent a day at Ankgor, absolutely amazing. Visited a couple of different temples and tomorrow will do a few more. It was very hot (must have been 30 plus in the afternoon). Today we will do the markets and relax, taking in a play tonite put on by an orphanage.
it is great to finally be here - hope everyone is doing well at home.
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