Siem Reap, Cambodia

Yesterday, we made the overland trip from Thailand into Cambodia. After a four bus ride we made it to Aranyaprathet and took a tuk tuk to the border. Rather than being the border, it was a visa agency, who ripped us off slightly for the visa. I insisted on paying US Dollars, but they said things had changed and we had to pay in Thai Baht. Not being sure of the current situation, it was difficult to argue. However, they arranged a taxi driver, for the two and a half hour ride from Poipet to Siem Reap, at $50 dollars, which was just less than I paid six years ago, so I was happy with that. Our driver was really nice, however towards the end of the journey, he told us about the taxi mafia, and that he had to drop us off in Siem Reap, to his 'friend', a tuk tuk driver, otherwise he would get into trouble back at the border. Assured that the tuk tuk ride was free, and that the driver just wanted our trade, while we were touring Angkor, we agreed.

We arrived at the Borei Angkor Resort and Spa Hotel, which was even more luxurious than I had imagined. We were greeted with a glass of pandan juice and a sticky rice cake, before being shown to our room. With lots of dark wood, and a colour scheme of green, gold and the occasional purple orchid, it feels very tranquil. Their spa facilities and pool look tempting, although we are not really here long enough to make use of them.

The restaurant was a little intimidating to start with, as our wardrobe wasn't quite ready for five star dining, but the food was amazing. This morning, they provided the best breakfast buffet that I have ever seen. There was a large choice of tropical fruit, cooking stations with hot food made to order - such as the delicious rice noodle and pak choi soup that I enjoyed, and many hot dished with Western style cooked breakfast items, such as a gormet eggs benedict, to oriental rice based dishes. Tomorrow, I shall definitely be going to breakfast a lot earlier.

We took a tuk tuk out to the temples, and took many photos of intricate carvings, as we explored Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat. We're here out of season, so the temples were a lot quieter than the last time that I was here.

Tomorrow we are going to see some temples a bit further away, including some that I haven't seen, which I'm looking forward to. We also have a new driver, as we told the previous one that we had decided on a spa day, as we weren't happy with him. While we appreciated that he had a family and wanted to make money, he didn't help himself, by telling us that it was too far to go back to Siem Reap for lunch, and that there were 'restaurants' around the temple complex. I told him that we didn't eat at them, using my allergies as an excuse for it being difficult (as opposed to the stalls being known for their food poisoning). Thankfully, I had a few snack bars on me, so I had those and we bought extra cold drinks. Not breaking for lunch, meant that we nearly had some parts of Angkor Wat to ourselves, which was great, as we got to wander along the outer corridors, reading the bas-relief carving. They depicted battle scenes with men, horses, elephants and lions, as well as the occasional god. Afterwards, we got the driver to drop us into town, to look around the old market and I bought a few wooden bracelets. I'm hoping now that my wrists are adorned, the street hawkers will give me some peace, but probably they'll just try to sell us something else.