We arrived in Siem Reap without knowing what to expect. It turned out that the airport is simple but very elegant. As a Canadian, i need a VOA (visa on arrival) so i filled out a form, gave me $20 and a pic. However, i noticed that the VOA counter, there was at least 12 officers sitting in a half-moon-shaped high table (just like the judges in the court). What? It took 12 officers to process my VOA..wow...
Lynn didn’t want to decide on the hotel so i made a decision and it was a surprise for her. We checked into the Victoria hotel..it is a colonial style hotel...wow...amazingly nice hotel..bright yellow matched with white frame and dark wood color.... It was very hot and humid in siem reap so we decided to take it easy before we headed out to see the famous Angkor wat sunset at around 5pm. We walked around and picked a boutique hotel which was a conversion of the house for the former French governor during the colonial period. Foods are nice and cheap...we spent probably $25 for two for drinks and good samplers of local food.
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| Former French Governor Mansion and now a boutique hotel |
We hired a tuk-tuk (motorbike with a carriage) to take us to see the Angkor wat sunset. Our driver called himself Mr. 7. He took us to buy the Angkor wat pass for the next 3 days and to the bottom of a small mountain pass Angkor wat. We walked up the till and there was a temple ruin right in front of our eyes. This was just a small sampler of what we would see in the next few days but it was already pretty impressive. We waited and waited and waited. It was cloudy far in the west so pretty much there was no sunset.
At night, Mr. 7 took us to the old market and we had a cold drink at the Blue pumpkin cafe. It was all white with big sofa and cushion. Pretty cool. We ate there and the food was good. Then we walked out, we saw fish massage. WHAT? Fish to massage you? Oh...it is actually the fish that were fed with your deadskin on your feet. It was only $3 for 30 mins so we decided to try....very tigleish..
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| Blue Pumpkin Cafe |
