Cambodia Report Day Three

I promise this one won`t be so long.

Day three was the trip from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. We got up early, caught the taxi over to the bus station. Got on the bus and spent the next 6 hours watching cheezy Khmer music videos and martial-arts action films in between the occasional snooze. We stopped once for a mediocre lunch, and finally arrived in Siem Reap around 2PM.

I had read about the hordes or tuk-tuk drivers who wait at the bus station to pick people up and sell them off to whichever guest house offers them the best commission. I have to say, it really wasn`t that bad. There were a few guys outside the gates loudly trying to pick up fares, but it was nothing like I`d imagined. Our guest house provided free pick-up, so we didn`t have to deal with it. But I think the severity of the problem may have been over-blown. Maybe it`s worse in the high season?

We arrived at our lovely guest house, The Two Dragons, dropped our stuff, and sat at the patio area for a few beers while we planned the rest of our evening. We originally planned to see the sunset at Angkor Wat that evening, because you can purchase a ticket after 5PM and it`s still good for the next day. But it was threatening to rain, so we decided to check out the town instead.

We walked north-west a bit to a nearby park, then south down one of the main drags to the central market where I was ripped off on a shirt and some pants. Oh well. Like I said before, it all comes out in the wash. I remember thinking at the time that the bargaining is a little less friendly, a little more forceful in Siem Reap. They`re used to dealing with a lot more tourists and probably know what they can get silly foreigners to pay. One girl physically blocked me inside her store trying to get me to purchase a purse. She was offering a good price, I just didn`t want a bag. She wouldn`t have it. I finally escaped when Sara and Haruka walked buy and started looking at some skirts in the same stall. She moved to sell to them, and I sneaked away.

After the central market, we walked south again to the old market area for dinner. We had pizza at one of the many pizza places. It was great! 2US for a good 11inch pizza. I pay nearly 2000￥ for the same thing in Japan. After dinner we found some place to have a beer, then headed back to the guest house to sleep before our first big day at Angkor Wat.