Around Siem Reap and on to Phnom Penh

As I mentioned yesterday, there isn’t a lot to see in Siem Reap aside from the temples. We had a well deserved sleep in today and wandered out for some breakfast. Avoiding western food, we again tried local fare. A rice dish (Hai Nam rice) with chicken pieces and some broth might sound like a dinner meal, but here it is common to have these sorts of dishes for breakfast. It was absolutely delicious – but I’m not sure I could eat like this for breakfast long term.

After scratching around for places to visit this morning before our flight to Phnom Penh, we set off for a local buddhist temple (Wat Preah Prohm Rath).

The gardens in this place were immaculate – and there were plenty of sculptures and buildings to look at – all just a hop, skip and a jump from pub street. Across the river, we stopped for iced coffee and frappes (Sandra – you would have loved these ones – the best we have had on the trip so far). Next door was a local market, featuring crafts made by handicapped local people. Unfortunately, it didn’t open until 12 midday – so we were a bit early to check out the action.

Just as we were leaving Siem Reap airport, the heavens opened. As we were on a turboprop plane, we didn’t have the luxury of an air bridge or anything, but we didn’t get wet at all. At the other end in Phnom Penh, it was absolutely hosing down. Flooding territory. That made the decision to get a taxi an easy one. Thankfully, for the first time on the trip, we hadn’t booked an airport transfer (we were extremely thankful not to have to suffer a tuk tuk ride with the amount of rain we got on the way to the hotel).

Cowboy bar - can you spot the loo???

There always has to be one on every trip. The bad egg experience, the dud, the abysmal failure, stalag 39 (to name a few) and we certainly got it with our hotel choice in Phnom Penh. Let’s just say, that the only thing going for it was location  – near a funky area that had a few bars and restaurants(Neil – definitely reminds me of THAT experience in Turkey). We tried a motorcycle themed bar, had a so-so meal and went back to try a couple more bars. Our pick of the night was a tiny little western themed place – with gun parts for door handles, and the smallest toilet in the world. The place even had an upstairs area where we could play darts for a laugh. And it was pretty funny – but at least most of them landed on the board. For the record, Helen was the winner. We had the place to ourselves and it felt like luxury in the confined space - not sure how it would fare on a packed Friday night. Nearby were some locals sitting around in the street singing and playing guitar. We joined them for the local singalong (minus the singing, since neither of us can) and had a lot of laughs.