Up early and on our way to Siem Reap

This morning was an early start as we left the apartment for the airport at 5am. We checked in our luggage and had a crap coffee before boarding the plane on our way to Siem Reap. Once at the airport, we filled in all the visa application forms and paid our money and before long we had our visas. We picked up our luggage and headed out of the airport to meet our driver.

This is where the problems started. No driver in sight. We waited for about 20 minutes and then I rang Sam the travel agent to see what was going on. I was tired and not happy about the driver not being there and so Sam copped a fair bit of my displeasure on the phone. He apologised and asked us to catch a taxi to the hotel which he would reimburse.

When we arrived, Sam was there to meet us. He was incredibly apologetic and explained that he thought we would be arriving in February. As soon as he said this, I had this awful feeling of dread! I knew straight away that he was right and that I had made a mistake with the dates. I felt so bad! I apologised to Sam and said that anything he could do to help us would be appreciated.

Before we knew it, Sam had arranged everything. We had breakfast at the hotel and then checked in to our rooms. We were to meet our guide at 2pm to continue on as planned in our itinerary. So we walked into town and had a quick look around as well as a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel in time for a nap.

At 2pm we met our guide, Mr. Aun. He was a very nice guy and we worked with him to plan our afternoon. It was decided that we would go to Wat Thmey first then have a look at a wood and stone carving factory before heading to our helicopter ride over Angkor Wat. Although the itinerary had us looking at temples in the afternoon, Aun explained that we should see them tomorrow which we agreed as we were all tired.

So off we headed in our air-conditioned mini van driven my Mr. Bo. We went to Wat Thmey which was a memorial to the people who were killed during the Pol Pot regime. Wat Thmey was basically a stupa full of skulls and bones as well as a collection of pictures of the leaders of the Pol Pot regime and also some scenes from the S-21 prison and other atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge.

From there we moved to the wood and stone carving factory. It was amazing. The factory was set up to teach people from the area the skills to do this work and also to make an income. The factory is now so busy that they can only do large commercial orders and many of the people were working on huge wall hangings 8 feet by 3 feet. Some others were working on the wooden surrounds for pillars. It was such intricate work and the various woods they were working in were beautiful.

Next we drove to the airport for our 8 minute scenic helicopter ride over Angkor Wat. We met our pilot, Ricky, a kiwi guy who explained what would go on. It was the first time that Dad and Ann had been in a helicopter so it was pretty thrilling for them.

Before we knew it we were up in the air and overlooking Angkor Wat. Unfortunately it was pretty hazy but we still had a good view of the temple and its surrounds. 8 minutes flew past pretty quick and we were landing again before we knew it. It was a good overview of the main temples in Angkor.

We were dropped off at the hotel and had a few hours to ourselves. We had a drink by the pool and then all headed to our rooms for another nap. We met back downstairs at 6.30 and were driven to one of the local restaurants for a buffet dinner and a traditional Khmer dancing show.

The food was amazing and we got to try various local dishes as well as Western food. We had an hour before the show started. Once it began, various dancers came on stage and acted out a number of traditional dances based on rural Khmer life or various Hindi or Buddhist stories. The highlight for me was the Fisher dance which had boys and girls on stage and told a love story between a village girl and boy. The dancers were so expressive - it was just beautiful. The Apsara dance was also good - a single girl dressed in beautiful silk danced to portray the story of Apsara.

After the show we were dropped off at the hotel for the night. Dad and Ann headed to bed and Ross and I walked next door for a reflexology massage. It was so good! The girls really got into our calves and also our back and shoulders. We fell into bed that night feeling a lot more relaxed. A good start to Siem Reap despite the hiccup of being a month early!