Trip Report: Day 6 Phnom Penh - Siem Reap
The bus station was already packed with people when we arrived. Our bus was on time at 7.30 am and the road ahead will be glorious when compared to the one leading to the Vietnamese border. The 300+ km between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap would take around 6 hours and there would be a Jet Li movie dubbed in Khmer to entertain the passengers during the journey.
Sitting across us was a Cambodian woman who married a Brit. She was going to Siem Reap with her cute one year old son to visit relatives. It seemed to me that many of her family were on that bus as well. Her mom was particularly chatty and even exchanged phone number with Kok Wai.
Siem Reap bus station was a complete chaos with so many tuk-tuk drivers wanting our business. Luckily the guesthouse had arranged a pick-up for us and we were glad to be out of there.
Queen Villa Angkor turned out to be a disappointment. The air-con wasn't strong enough, the water pressure from the shower was super weak and there was no TV in the room. Since we would only be staying for two nights we just lived with it. However this was not completed without blaming Wai San for picking such a 'fabulous' guesthouse for us.
One of the redeeming points of Queen Villa was the free use of their bicycles. However the bicycles were not in the best of conditions and we weren't really used to cycling in Cambodia because the traffic was on the other side of the road. Our first and only cycling trip out to the Old Market had several near misses which forced us to abandon any plan to cycle to Angkor Wat. The cars, tuk-tuks and motorcycles were simply too scary; we didn't think that Ho Teck would be up to it at all.
Blue Pumpkin was the place that was highly recommended by Ken and he was right indeed. The beds there were inviting and the three of us caught forty winks there in the late afternoon. Our dinner was at the place called Figo's and the waiter was an interesting character to chat with. He showed us his picture with Pavarotti and demonstrated his tenor prowess.
After dinner we split up and I went to catch Liverpool playing Portsmouth in one of the cafes. We were supposed to meet at one of the internet cafes but they never showed up. Finally I had to get not-my-best-friend to contact them from Singapore. Although they had the map, they could not locate the place and thus went to Figo's to use the internet.
An hour of high speed internet in Siem Reap costs 75 us cents or 3000 riel which isn't too expensive. It was already 11pm when we reached our guesthouse. Siem Reap was a small town compared to Phnom Penh and Saigon and we felt safer there. Our initial plan to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat could not materialize as we did not inform the tuk-tuk driver early enough. I wasn't too disappointed; there was always a chance of cloudy conditions.
I fall asleep to the sound of the noisy air-con; there would a long day ahead for us when we woke up.
Sitting across us was a Cambodian woman who married a Brit. She was going to Siem Reap with her cute one year old son to visit relatives. It seemed to me that many of her family were on that bus as well. Her mom was particularly chatty and even exchanged phone number with Kok Wai.
Siem Reap bus station was a complete chaos with so many tuk-tuk drivers wanting our business. Luckily the guesthouse had arranged a pick-up for us and we were glad to be out of there.
Queen Villa Angkor turned out to be a disappointment. The air-con wasn't strong enough, the water pressure from the shower was super weak and there was no TV in the room. Since we would only be staying for two nights we just lived with it. However this was not completed without blaming Wai San for picking such a 'fabulous' guesthouse for us.
One of the redeeming points of Queen Villa was the free use of their bicycles. However the bicycles were not in the best of conditions and we weren't really used to cycling in Cambodia because the traffic was on the other side of the road. Our first and only cycling trip out to the Old Market had several near misses which forced us to abandon any plan to cycle to Angkor Wat. The cars, tuk-tuks and motorcycles were simply too scary; we didn't think that Ho Teck would be up to it at all.
Blue Pumpkin was the place that was highly recommended by Ken and he was right indeed. The beds there were inviting and the three of us caught forty winks there in the late afternoon. Our dinner was at the place called Figo's and the waiter was an interesting character to chat with. He showed us his picture with Pavarotti and demonstrated his tenor prowess.
After dinner we split up and I went to catch Liverpool playing Portsmouth in one of the cafes. We were supposed to meet at one of the internet cafes but they never showed up. Finally I had to get not-my-best-friend to contact them from Singapore. Although they had the map, they could not locate the place and thus went to Figo's to use the internet.
An hour of high speed internet in Siem Reap costs 75 us cents or 3000 riel which isn't too expensive. It was already 11pm when we reached our guesthouse. Siem Reap was a small town compared to Phnom Penh and Saigon and we felt safer there. Our initial plan to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat could not materialize as we did not inform the tuk-tuk driver early enough. I wasn't too disappointed; there was always a chance of cloudy conditions.
I fall asleep to the sound of the noisy air-con; there would a long day ahead for us when we woke up.
posted by shyh jie at 12:03 PM
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