To Siem Reap

So today we left the comfort (relative?) of Bangkok and flew to Siem Reap.After worrying about checking in and the web not working properly, once at the airport all went well. Suvarnabhumi is new, very airy and with plenty of wondering space, unlike Terminal £ which is a nightmare of noise, overcrowding and buy! buy! buy! usually stuff that is too expensive and you don't really want. No cabin bag check so all of our worries about weight were wasted.

The plane was small and I could barely get my legs in behind the seat in front! I guess its like trying to buy shirts here in the market: I may be too big!! (XXL usually works but sometimes XXXL is needed and they do not cater for that!) Whatever we sped through the airport formalities of buying s visa, passport check and getting bags. The visa line involved 18 men, all uniformed. One gave the passport to the first and then it was passed along the line, each official in turn doing something different until it got to the last man, He stamped the passport and then in a quiet voice called out 'Jonathan' in his best English. And so we entered Cambodia!

Jenny was at the door, with here faithful TukTuk driver who happily took us back to the town, about 7 kilometres. His Tuk consists of the ubiquitous Honda city bike hooked up to a mini carriage able to carry 4 people, or in our case 3 people and two large bags. Its an airy drive and given the heat we got a lot of fresh air!

What a difference from Bangkok!! The town resembles a frontier town with bikes and shacks and people all milling about with little, apparent sense, of any rules of the road. Most people use small Honda's and carry 2 or 3, or 4 or 5 people at once. Whole families sit on one bike including babies in arms. We even saw one woman cycling along the road holding her baby in one arm! Jenny tells us that the poverty levels are very hard to contend with and one consequence of this is that many people are permanently hungry and often mal-nourished. We wandered through the huge indoor market in Siem and this would suggest that there is much that can be bought in terms of meat, fruit and vegetable as well as clothing. The problem is that many cannot afford the prices which to a westerner is cheap.

Last night we had supper in a local restaurant for $3. For me it consisted of a a fried rice dish with vegetables and some beef. All dishes cost $3 and we also drank some beer. Total cost $3.50. But there was one course. We were full but there were no locals in the place. Perhaps it's the heat but we do not eat a lot at the moment and that can only be a good thing. We do try, and need to drink loads of water as the heat is quite hard going, and Jenny tells us its cooler compared to last week!

Never mind as tomorrow we head for the temples of Ankor Wat a marvel that drags many travellers here from all parts of the world. We plan an early start!!