“It’s like I’ve closed down all my apps”

That’s what Nigel said as he was lying back in the pool that we had below our balcony in Siem Reap.  “It’s like I’ve switched off all the apps in my brain and now I only have holiday mode”.    This is what week number three feels like for the both of us.  I have also swiped away all my apps and now only have two running in my head.  Wikipedia and Trip Advisor and Nigel has Google Maps.  I don’t know how we travelled before without Wikipedia, Trip Advisor and Google.  “Where’s the nearest convenience store?” “Best visitor rated Hotels next to main point of interest” “Are all KTV bars brothels?” “How do you cook Lotus flower?” “What are the side effects of Deet?” ”Are Thai Millipedes Poisonous?” “What’s the difference between jackfruit and breadfruit?” “What is the bird that goes Whoot Whoot in Laos called?” How did we ever cope?

Siem Reap surprised us, in a good way.  I think we were expecting something pretty Third World but it was actually fairly upmarket.  Firstly the main part of the Old Town (where we stayed) loves their neon lights.  It’s like Vegas on a really really small Cambodian scale but Pub Street (Tell it like it is Cambodia) is full of neon lit Pubs that all have happy hour running from 10am – 8pm every night with 50 cent beers!

Restaurant food is cheap and very good.  A dish of fried chicken and veges with rice goes for about $2NZD and we had an entire meal out one night for just over $10.  We also had a meal that cost about $80 so I guess it will depend where you go.  Breakfast at the hotel was really good and filled us up every morning with Pho and omelettes and fruit and home made yoghurt.

The reason that you go to Siem Reap is for the Angkor Temple Complex.  It’s a massive area that houses multiple temples (only one of them is called Wat).  We had a private tuktuk who took us everywhere and then waited for us to come back or drove around to meet us on the other side to go to the next one.  He cost $15 for the day to do this and was really great.  He had a little hammock that he would hang in the back of the tuktuk when we weren’t there for a nap and otherwise all the tuktuk drivers knew each other and they all chatted away while they waited.

There are two main issues with the temples.

They are full of very loud Chinese or Korean tourists (buses and buses of them) all carrying umbrellas or big Vietnamese hats or hand held fans.  They all want to do nothing but get to the top for a photo and stop for an ice cream at the end.  And they are so loud!  When we first arrived in Vietnam we were talking to a local and she called them “Loud-ees” and that’s what we’ve called them ever since.  I’m not sure why they need to yell at each other incessantly and carry speakers playing music and just generally be LOUD all the time… but they do.  To be fair we have encountered large groups of Loud-ees all over South East Asia… it’s not just a temple thing.

Anyway, Loud-ees aside the other issue with Angkor is that it’s really really hot and incredibly humid and the temples are very tall to climb.  You need a lot of water and a lot of tolerence and some really sturdy thigh muscles.  It was a really full on day and by the end of it when I started to get a bit fainty and Nigel thought his eyeballs would bleed if he had to look at another ruin, we decided to head straight back to the Hotel for a swim.  That was brilliant.  I think that’s when we had the conversation about the apps until the afternoon thunderstorm hit and we left the pool to watch the lightning hit the buildings around us.  That was also brilliant – scary and really freaky but brilliant.

Our hotel had a group of real characters on the staff.  The two receptionist’s liked to have a joke with everyone all the time and remembered everyone by name.  As you walked down the stairs you’d hear “Good Morning Jenny!”  “Good Morning NeeeGarl!” (Everyone apart from english speakers always have issues with pronouncing Nigel) “Enjoy your breakfast, have a nice day”.  When you returned to the hotel they had ice cold towels ready for you as soon as you walked in the lobby.  “Welcome back Jenny, Welcome back NeeeGarl – did you enjoy your day?!” It was really sweet.

I needed to get our Vietnam Visas printed out so I went and asked Jessica at reception. “No, we only have a copier and not a printer, you will need to sort it out on your own” “Do you have any suggestions I asked?” “Nope”, she said” you deal with it, you wanted to come to Cambodia”.  “Is there another hotel that could help me?” I asked.  “NO! Hotels in Cambodia are not here to print out Vietnam Visas” she barked.  I waited, as I really thought I was dealing with a nutter.  “Only joking” She said “its $10USD for printing shall I put that on your room?” “OK” I said, thinking far out that’s a bit steep.  “Per page” she said (and there were 6 pages).  It was about now that the other receptionist started to giggle and I twigged that she was absolutely taking the piss.  Her completely straight face when she explained that you are in Cambodia now and this is what it costs did have me going though.  We’d been warned about scams etc. but you don’t expect it in your hotel from the lovely receptionist who knows your name and calls your husband NeeGarl.  Anyway, at the end she smiled and said “only joking Jenny, it’s going to be free”.

I got her back though when before I left I told her that our tuktuk driver wanted to be her boyfriend.  She believed me for about 30 seconds.