siam reap day one

We woke up around 7 and got a tuk tuk to the bus station armed with some bread rolls for breakfast. The bus was really empty so we had a row each which was good and the free refreshments made the journey much easier. We stopped off for lunch and I bought a massive bag of mango with chilli and salt for $1 which was a really nice lunch and then we continued on to Siam Reap.

We arrived at the bus station around half 2. At our previous hostel the owner had said his friend would pick us up for free; I was very wary of being scammed but as our bus pulled up we saw a man holding a sign with our names typed on it; felt like a celebrity. He was very friendly and nice, helping us with our bags into his car (we hadn't been in a car since arriving!) and asked us where we wanted to stay. We hadn't booked anywhere but he said he knew somewhere cheap and central. On arrival the owner showed us to a massive family room; 2 large single beds, bunk beds and a spacious bathroom with 2 showers and toilets. The guy wanted $7 a night each but a managed to get it for $5. We then spoke to our driver; he wanted to be out driver while in Siam Reap and told us about the local things to visit. 

The main attraction here is the temples, and there's also a floating village, waterfalls and a large sleeping buddha statue. We wanted to see them all but both the temples and waterfalls have a $20 entrance fee so we settled for a temple tour at sunrise and floating village the following day. He agreed on us each paying $15, this includes the bus station pick up, 5am pick up for the temple tour, collecting bus tickets, visiting the floating village and dropping us at the bus station at 5am. Bargain!

After settling into our new room we headed into town to get some food. It's a cool, vibrant city, strangely westernised compared to Pnomh Penh but very nice. We found a mexican place and also got amazing gelato from a shop opposite before heading to a mini mart to stock up on water. The alcohol here is also ridiculously cheap; 1L bottles of Smirnoff for $9 or so, it's weird!

We had a quiet evening in preparation for our 4.30am wake up call; miraculously thanks to our early start I managed to fall asleep really early.

Laura x