Honeymoon Day 3

Last night after my update, we lounged by the pool for a bit, than went and had a great dinner at Khmer Borane near the riverfront; fried fish with tamarind flavoring, spicy beef with bell pepper, and then some spiny fruit for dessert. Not sure what that was called. Then a few drinks at Touck on the second floor overlooking sunset on the Mekong. It was amazing to watch the commotion along the river road. Cambodian traffic never ceases to astound. Watching vendors drag their carts at snail pace through the traffic with hardly a look up as they almost get creamed by passing Landcruisers was like watching a game of Frogger from the balcony - except even more chaotic.

Speaking of traffic, after an early breakfast today, we left for Siem Reap. We booked a van a few days ago, $10 each. It included a bottle of water, sanitary wipe and something like a geeweibao (per Stef). Stef and I shared the front seat bench with the driver, and there 6-8 others in the van as well. It was a 5 hour drive through the Cambodian countryside. Very eye-opening. A lot of poverty (as evinced by the state of disrepair of the wooden shacks), but a few nicer / solid looking houses and astounding temples mixed in. Scrawny cows wandering all over, the driver had to stop or swerve several times to avoid those who wandered into the road. I took some video footage of the drive, but that might have wait for our return as well.

Lots of smiling faces everywhere though. Our guidebook described the Khmer people as very happy and friendly, and we've certainly found that to be true. Though I think, our tuk-tuk driver from yesterday, James Bond (that's how he introduced himself), may have overcharged us a bit. We ended up giving him $25 for 8AM-12:30 and $10 for 5PM-7:15, + $2 for his lunch / gas. By contrast we've secured a driver for the entire day tomorrow for $15, and the temples are much farther than our circuitous travels through Phnom Penh. Don't know if I mentioned it before, but most prices are in US dollars, and US currency is universally accepted. We've received change in Cambodian Riels (I think that's right) a few times. The exchange rate is roughly 4000 Riels to $1 US, no coins of any kind are used.

Our room at the Grand Angkor in Siem Reap is really nice. Upgraded to a suite again, and gratis bubbly on arrival! Thanks for mentioning our honeymoon on the reservation Stef!

Tonight a massage, a bar with a crocodile pit, and tomorrow, temples!

She added a few sentences to this entry, but I'll see if I can convince her to provide an alternate viewpoint tomorrow.

--Pete

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