Drew & Marta's Travels: Cambodia: Siem Reap, Thursday

Even though we enjoyed our quick stay in Singapore, we were all eager to get to Cambodia to truly kick off our SE Asia trip. The two hour flight from Singapore was rather uneventful and largely packed with foreigners. Upon arriving in Siem Reap, our goal was to find a place to stay and figure out our plans for visiting the archeological sites that are located just northeast of town.

Our taxi driver from the airport of course gave us his sales pitch on the way to the hotel. He seemed like a nice guy, and the price was right, so we agreed to visit some of the temples with him on Friday. He was grateful for the work as it is low season and airport transfers only come around every 5-6 days. We agreed to leave at 9:00am the next day, but he said, "Maybe I show up at 8:30 so you don't have to wait." Hard to argue with that.

After getting settled into our hotel we grabbed a bite to eat and indulged in some massages. Having eaten a late lunch, we decided to just get some drinks on Pub Street - the touristy two blocks which contain bars and restaurants that serve Cambodian and western food as well as 50 cent mugs of beer. Also located on and around Pub Street are fish tanks where, for 2-3 dollars, you can soak your feet and allow fish to nibble away the dead skin - a rather unique pedicure. Obviously we had to try it. The big fish are rather ticklish and so Marta and I opted for the small ones first, while Joe, who apparently has no feeling in his feet, was able to tolerate the larger fish. Conveniently enough, there was a bar next door that was more than willing to deliver ice cold mugs of beer while we sat in the fish tank. After about an hour and a half, we had worked up an appetite and moved on along Pub Street.

After some food and a couple more drinks, we decided to call it a night knowing that Sam-Ang, our taxi driver, would be waiting for us bright and earlier at 9:00am...er...8:30am.