Siem Reap Cambodia

My word doc just crashed and I lost about 10 paragraphs of entry. I am trying to shake it off and it being 4AM (cannot sleep) my patience and frustration is wearing thin but let's try again. Another lesson in being disciplined about saving your work as you go.

The flight from Bangkok yesterday was about an hour aboard some airline that I had never heard of, but the service was top notch with the leather package seats and cheerful service. With most of my flights on Sun Country or NW I was thrilled with the attention not present on either of those two airlines. On approach to the airport, there were no visiible paved roads and since the city is located in a valley like Winnipeg, you could see a very long way in any direction. Most of the landscape that I observed was under water, so I am assuming that we were in rice production country. No buildings out there, just water and some dirt roads. Maybe it was an airport zoning thing like Denver where they make it a buffalo camp to buffer the airport, who knows.

Upon landing, we headed to the International terminal which was very modern and up to date. Clearly this is where the money is for the local economy. We had to get a local visa, which was an extra step we should have done on-line in hind sight so we stood in line to wait our turn. Brian hit a cash machine to get a few bucks of the local currency and guess what, a few US Grant's and Andy Jackson's spit out of the machine. All the currency they use for the area was US dollars which explains why Cambodian currency was not an option at the Bangkok airport.

Rows of government bureaucrats lined the counter as I paid my $20 entrance fee for the country and hoped they had no problem with the scotch I had stashed in my luggage. I was waiting for the whiskey sniffing dogs to come my way and send me to a Cambodian prison after a lengthy and uncomfortable cavity search. It didn't happen and I snapped back to reality like cartoon Calvin. The customs official returned my passport calling out the name Granville in a way I had never heard. (trouble with the L's), got our passports stamped, walked past the guys with guns and headed for the taxi stand.

What a different ride than Bangkok! Bikes and motor bikes were everywhere weaving in and out of traffic with obvious enjoyment of paved road driving. Police were stationed about every 100 feet, all armed and looking intense. We could not get a straight answer out of our driver about all the cops and security so we assumed it was part of the "protect the tourists and the money trade". Again, lots of people cruising on the street, fun to watch.

It took us about 20 minutes only to get to our hotel; great hotel and very impressive upon approach. We were greeted by the usual abundance of Asian staff and told to have a seat in the lobby as they disappeared with our passports and credit cards. I never like parting with my credit card in a 3^rd world country. Maybe the bell boy will use it for the Cambodian "Nordstrom" shopping spree. They put a cloth garment around our necks, like we were catholic priests, and brought a beverage in a martini glass for us to sip while they processed us. Hoping it was something with alcohol, I was disappointed to find out it was only a well garnished mango juice. It was here that we found out the Prime Minister was staying at the hotel to dedicate a museum or something. Imagine my surprise when we were asked to join him for dinner that night. (just kidding, I was seeing if you were just skimming the blog).

Rooms are great, click here if you did not already to check out the hotel. (pausing to save the doc)

We dumped our stuff after getting the rundown on the rooms from the bell hop and shared a scotch while we sent emails out to family that we had arrived safely. Buying that scotch in Thailand was a great investment, toasting our arrival at each destination.

We then began exploring the complex and getting a lay for land. The hotel complex was huge with a swim up bar by the swimming pool and extensive gardens everywhere. At about $160 per night, it was the lap of luxury, but I had not seen any of the other hotels lining the street, so I am not sure what category this one falls in yet. Since the PM is here, I will assume that it is not the local Comfort Inn. The lobby had a great bar and since the White Mice Trio (see earlier entry) was not in town, we decided to try one of the local beers. Ordering up a couple of Angkor lagers we watched the lobby activity and marveled about the hotel quality and pondered deep thoughts about Asia emerging and what this will mean to the US.

I was ready to settle in for a hotel dinner but Brian was sold on heading into town and exploring. Since it was 6:30, the hotel was full and there was not a soul in the dining room we figured there was something we were missing so we got a restaurant recommendation from the front desk and headed into town. A tuk tuk pick us up and we began the 20 minute ride to the "uptown" section of Siem Reap. I was initially concerned with safety but this gave way to wide eyed amazement at the energy of the area were heading to. I mean , it was a Saturday night and the streets were hopping as we cruised down one of the few paved roads in this part of the country.

The Tuk tuk pulled up to our destination restaurant, a place called the Red Piano, that evidently has a regional reputation for great dining. Click on the link and check it out.

We were blown away by what we stepped out of the tuk tuk and saw. Total high energy and almost all European. Bars were packed and it was like being at Hennepin and Lake street in Minneapolis. We looked at the menu at the Red Piano and agreed we needed to explore the street. It was not a long area to explore, maybe 4 square blocks, but it pulsed with people and party spirit and it was easy to get caught up in the moment. We ended up back at the Red Piano and placed our order of Angkor beer, hot curry something (Brian) and pork with French mustard sauce. We hung out for about an hour then closed out the $10 tab (yes, that was correct) and headed to the street for some more people watching. There were some great trinkets and trash shops with the usual haggling over pricing. If you pay full price for anything around here you might as well put Stupid on your forehead.

It was back to the hotel on a tuk tuk to rest up for our touring day with Mr. Teng and the temples.