Up way too early to catch an 8 am plane. Major tactical error – didn’t ask when breakfast started, we just assumed that 5 am was too early. Wrong! The shuttle driver asked us if we were going to breakfast at 5:45. Oops! Oh well, we’ll grab something at the airport. Check in was painless, immigration and customs the same. We were in the terminal by 6:15. Found a breakfast place and spent $10US on a breakfast and coffee – the most expensive meal we’ve had so far. Jeez. Of course, we’re used to American flights, figuring we wouldn’t get squat on a 45 minute flight to Siem Reap – wrong! Big breakfast. Ok – so now we know.
Touched down right on time, went through immigration, paid for our visa and photo ($20 for visa only, $21 for visa and photo), stood in line to get our passport with visa back (it’s wild – you turn it in at one end of the counter, and pick it up at the other!), got our bags, walked outside and there was our personal tuk-tuk driver from the Villa Siem Reap. Smooth as silk! Mr. Leng is our driver – he’s ours for the whole time we are here – and he gave us our welcoming drinks, beer, soda or water – while he whizzed us off to the Villa. It’s 9:30 – but who cares! Beer for the road.
It’s great fun riding in a tuk-tuk for the first time. We go buzzing past little shacks and farms and then stores and street food. Oh, and water buffalo – everywhere. In the yard, on the farm, tied up next to stores. They are just everywhere. As are the bikes and the motor bikes. It’s like a mini Saigon – only dirt roads. As we near town, we start to see the development we’ve read about. Large hotels, spas and other upscale places. For about the last 5 years this has been a boom town for development. It used to be a sleepy little enclave, but the Cambodian government is trying to capitalize on all the tourism to Angkor Wat and they are really pumping up the volume here.
Nevertheless, it’s still Cambodia. It’s a mix of lush fields, farmland and development. With little to no infrastructure. We turn past a huge gas station, down this narrow little dirt road, past shanties and big 3 story guest houses. Leng pulls up outside the Villa and we get our first look at our home for the next 3 days. Honestly, if you don’t look out on the street, it looks like Florida or the Caribbean – Red tile roofs, stucco buildings, open air gardens that serve as restaurants. But then, there’s the dirt road right outside with pot holes and little shacks.
The villa itself is really beautiful and tastefully decorated. We are greeted with our welcome drink, some sort of really good fruit beverage, and are given an explanation of our “lots of luxury” package. We have Leng for the 3 days, a sunset wine/cheese package at Angkor Wat, all day at the temples (including a lunch package), then a second day at the temples – but we choose to take a tour called “make a difference” where we tour villages in the country and help them with their projects. We also get our certificates for 2 nights meals, 2 massages and 2 pool passes. All this for the unbelievable price of $145 per person. Per person – not per night per person.
Our room isn’t ready yet, so Leng takes us on a tour of the town. It is all walkable, but he drives us to the central market where we shop for t-shirts and gifts. We thought Vietnam was cheap? Yeah, this place is the same if not better. We hop back in our tuk-tuk and Leng takes us to the “old market” and Pub Row. The market is where the locals sell their produce and fish, as well as tourist goods. We make the rounds and end up buying 2 pairs of leather sandals (so we don’t have to keep untying our sneakers) for $10. Total. Sick.
Then we wander down Pub Row which is a couple of blocks with nothing but restaurants and bars. We stumble onto the Angkor Famous pub and sit and have beer (2 for 1 at $1.50) and wine (yippee!!!! $1.50). They give us peanuts to snack on, we’re sitting under a fan, they turn on CNN, hey – it’s ex-pat city here – we’re at home.
We wander some more, looking at all the restaurants and menus, scooping it out for this evening, then finally find Leng (after getting a little turned around – what happens when you lose your tuk-tuk driver?). Back at the hotel, we relax outside with a drink while our room is prepared. It’s only a little after 12 noon, after all, we’ve been up for so long it seems a lot later than that. The room is finally done and we’re taken upstairs by one of the very friendly staff. The room is incredible. Huge, with a sofa, TV, mini bar, and our welcome package of wine and chocolates. My wine draught is over. Finally.
We cool off, relax and get ready for our sunset at Angkor Wat. 4:30 and we’re off. We buy our tickets – for some reason one of the rep’s there escorts us around all the lines so that we don’t have to wait for our tickets. We get our pictures taken – and off we go. Leng takes us to an area right outside of the main entrance 
where we have a birds eye view of the ruins – and hopefully a spectacular sunset. We crack open our cooler filled with wine, olives, cheeses, toasted “bits”, and chicken skewers while we watch storm clouds blow in over the ruins. Sunset – nah – but storm clouds – totally cool.
As we sit there on the ledge, we’re visited by a stray dog (yea, he’s still alive, which means he wasn’t somebody’s dinner tonight) and a monkey. Dogs don’t like monkeys – btw – coz our little buddy takes off the minute the monkey comes up next to us. We spend about 30 minutes hanging out, eating and drinking, looking out over the lake (moat) to Angkor Wat. The storm clouds gathering above it give it such a surreal feel. It’s probably better than the sunset. Suddenly the wind picks up – and the 3 Cambodian girls sitting there with us start to run. We’re no dummies! We follow suit – pack up real fast – and head back across the road to find Leng. He skids up in the tuk-tuk with just enough time for us to jump in before the deluge hits. The tuk-tuk is all open air remember, but it has those plastic shades/rolls like the old jeeps, so Leng pulls down all the sides, dons his poncho, rolls up his pants legs and off we go.
What a ride. It’s a monsoon. Pouring rain, windy as all, streets a total muddy mess. It’s incredible – and through it all Leng drives – like a maniac – never stopping, passing cars. We’re in the back with our glasses of wine trying not to spill everything all over us. A total hoot! Except for poor Leng who is soaked the bone when we pull up to the Villa. C
ombat duty for sure!
We finish our wine in the safety of the outside covered garden and go upstairs to dry off a bit before venturing out for dinner.
Venturing out at night, we grab a tuk-tuk and head to Pub Street. It’s a dollar ride (really quick!) but its so fun to ride in those things. After perusing all the menus, we settle on the Khmer House Restaurant. It’s tucked back into the little alley behind the major Pub Street and it’s a lot quieter back here. We order the Khmer fish (how can we not???) – it’s fried and supposedly (if you can believe – and understand – the waiter) fresh that morning from the river. We also ordered the Tam Yon soup with Chicken (actually a Thai specialty) and fresh spring rolls. I’m in wine heaven here – so it’s wine for me all nightlong! YAY! Everything was excellent – fish definitely fresh and crispy fried, spring rolls were 3 varieties, all really good and the soup too filling. And all for the hugely expensive price of $13.50 US. We’ve really got to stop splurging like this!
Back out on the street, we hit the “real” Pub Street and wind up at a place called Molly Malone’s at the end of the street. Here’s where it gets surreal….to be sitting in really comfy wicker cushioned chairs, on a terraced type patio with the smell of wood and charcoal smoke wafting in, watching street stall restaurants cook away across the road, listening to a very, very good Indian singer who is singing American songs (he sounds more like Dylan than Dylan), drinking Laotian beer and French wine in an Irish bar in Cambodia! Pinch us please!
Next stop – In Touch – an upstairs lounge with a band. We were attracted by the music, but turned off by the prices. You’re totally paying for the atmosphere here – and one round later (which was almost as expensive as the whole dinner), we were out of there and back in our cozy room with our bottle of wine and beer from the convenience store up the street. Much better way to end the evening.
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