Cambodia Continued

We got to our hotel and were very nicely surprised to find our room was very nice, spacious, clean, with a big balcony and a nice hot shower. I don't remember if we went out or what, but I reckon we all took turns taking a shower and then went for a walk. Actually, yes, that's what we did because I remember I was very glad to be traveling with two guys. I felt a bit unsafe at the beginning in Cambodia. Maybe because it was the first place we got to, it was dark, and I had two guys that could be there as protection and I did not have to rely on myself as much. In any case, we had a good walk, good sleep, and in the morning took a walk around or probably went to a market and did some shopping. Either way, I got a nice big backpack, some nice clothes, ate some good food and got to walk around and experience the local vibe.

On Tuesday (20th) we took a 6 hour bus ride up to Siam Reap. It was a long ride on very uncomfortable and small seats, riding on a bumpy single lane road. It was interesting looking out the window for a bit, seeing all the little shops, the fields of palm trees, all the dogs that were everywhere... After a while, Jose went downstairs where the toilet was and found there was wide open space there because it was only for the luggage. So, we decided to go down there as well and lay down and enjoy the open space. We were able to sleep and talk and have a much better ride than sitting upstairs.

We got to our hotel in Siam Reap, but because of some mix up in communication, our reservations were canceled. Instead of trying to solve the problem, the owner came and started blaming us and being totally unprofessional. After some time when we saw we were getting nowhere, we asked our driver to take us to another hotel. We found a nice place not too far from there. It was cheap, clean, with aircon and yes, it had a hot shower. We were happy again. Jose wrote him a very civil and lengthy email, and finished it off with a bold: "YOU ASSHOLE". So if you ever go to Siam Reap, don't stay at the Two Dragons Hotel. The rest of the day we spent eating, shopping, walking around, checking our surroundings and planning for the next few days. I got a pedicure and changed my nail color from neon green to a much more pleasant purple. I still have the same color on.

The next day (Wednesday 21), we got a tuk tuk, bargained for a good price and kept him for the day as a guide to our Angkor Wat exploration. We got to see the main temples. They were absolutely fabulous. Spread out over a vast area too. I can't imagine having walked around to see anything. We saw only the small loop of temples, and around 5pm, after 8 hours of walking through temples, taking photos and enjoying the magnificence, we went back home.

Link only got a one day pass, which was probably smarter. Jose and me got the next one after, which was the 3 day pass. We had seen pretty much everything we needed to see and we tried to return our tickets and get some of our money back, but they had already closed for the day. So, not to waste our money, Jose and me decided that next day we'd rent motor bikes and ride around wherever we wanted in the Angkor Wat area, stop whenever we wanted and see other temples. We found out that we could not rent motor bikes because too many foreigners were getting into accidents, so we had to settle fore regular bikes.

Alright, that's it for now.