Siem Reap

So we touched down on Cambodian soil at Siem Reap International Airport and alighted old school onto the tarmac and the soul destroying heat. Clearing customs, even though a three step process, was a breeze with the biggest hold up being the baggage retrieval. We hopped a cab to the city and met Pahna who has been our guide for the duration of our stay. He has made our life exquisitely easy.

We checked into the ever so luxurious Park Hyatt Hotel smack bang in the centre of downtown Siem Reap. This place has a few nice things to commend it. Two pools for instance, not that I think I’ll bother with the lap pool. Because Cambodia is blessed with beautiful timbers the place is adorned with real teak furniture and elegant black and white photos of the surrounding temples, of which there are legion. It turns out Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom shot some footage here, more recently Lara Croft Tomb Raider graced them with her presence and apparently there is famous Japanese movie that many Japanese go gaga for that used the temples as a location as well. 

Before that however we attended the Angkor National Museum, which is a recommended first port of call before actually fronting the temples themselves. Entry was $12 and while no photos were allowed it was a well laid out and instructive history of the region with a multitude of artefacts on display. My only criticism is that the airconditioning was somewhat hit and miss and in this weather and for the price it could have been more reliable (first world problem).

Tomorrow we are going to hit Koh Ker and Beng Mealea which are temples not part of the Angkor Wat site. Our guide has advised that since tourism has gone absolutely crazy at Angkor Wat the numbers are manic and he wanted to show us some quieter places with almost no people in attendance to better appreciate what Cambodia offers.