Wat's Next...?!

June 17, 2012

Early morning in Bangkok, we have to get going to catch an early flight to Siem Reap. Something he ate didn't agree with Michael overnight so it has been a short night for him, but he's ready to fly...We head back to the airport and check in for our short flight to Siem Reap. It's a cloudy morning, but still warm and humid...

We board our flight...not the biggest plane we've ever been on, but certainly one of the most colorful...! It's only about an hour from here to Siem Reap...

We land in Siem Reap International Airport which Is a small, simple terminal. The moment we stop off the plane we can feel the oppressive humidity. Both of us spent several summers in Milwaukee and Chicago and thought we knew something about summer humidity, but this place is unreal. Our camera has a bad reaction to the quick transition from air conditioned aircraft to hot and humid Cambodia...

Siem Reap is not a big city...and the drive from the airport is only about 15 minutes. We're escorted by our guide, Sunny, and our driver, Lon, to our hotel, the Victoria Angkor Wat. It's a nice, old hotel and it will be our home for four days while we take in the sights of nearby Angkor Wat.

Our room is on the third floor overlooking the courtyard pool area, away from the street, so it's nice, quiet and peaceful.

We think we'll like it here....even the bathroom has nice little amenities...we're a long way from Tingri now...!

Be careful where your step when crossing the lobby...there are a couple of small locals whose bite is worse than their bark...

This old hotel has two old elevators that really add to the yesteryear feeling of the place...however, there is a reason today's elevators are bigger and don't have two sets of manually operated doors...try getting two people and luggage in and out of one of these things and you'll be thankful for progress.....

This is a view from our regular afternoon perch. The hotel has an outdoor, covered bar on one side of the pool and a restaurant on the other...this view is from our favorite little seating arrangement in the bar overlooking the pool. We enjoy late afternoon (oh, and happy hour...) from this perch where we also have fast Internet connectivity that allowa us to try to catch up on blogging that was delayed due to lack of Internet earlier in our travels.

We see a number of Australian tourists here, so we assume that this is a popular vacation spot for folks from down under. Hmmm, we guess that 90 degrees with 99% humidity must be a comfortable break from the brutal Sydney winter (average high 65 degrees, 60% humidity)...

Today is a slower day, which is probably good as we make sure that Michael gets back on track...must have been the food on the airplane out of Kathmandu...Our guide, Sunny, takes us to the National Angkor Wat Museum before lunch to begin to learn about what we will see over the next few days. It is a bit overwhelming because there is so much imagery and Hindu background all packed into a small museum.

We head back to the hotel, have a little lunch, and generally take it easy...we head out for a short walk around the town, pick up some bottled water and snacks, and otherwise try to keep from sweating (which is not an easy task!)

Tomorrow we will begin touring the amazing temple ruins of Angkor Wat...stay tuned!