Siem Reap, Cambodia – November 2

We flew a prop jet from Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap, Cambodia – operated by Cambodian Angkor Airlines. Sounds more scary than it was – very smooth, short flight. And since it was a prop, the plane didn’t go very high and we could get a good view of the landscape. Much more “jungly” than we’d seen so far. And, the landscape was flooded from all the recent rains. We flew in over Tonle Sap – the big lake outside Siem Reap. You can take a boat from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and it is supposed to be a very majestic way to come into Ankgor Wat but it takes half a day and we didn’t have time.

Siem Reap is small – its only reason for being is to support tourists who are here to see Angkor Wat. The airport is tiny and looks like a big teak temple. You need a visa to visit Cambodia, which you can get when you arrive. It’s a simple process but still involved lots of people, most of whom did nothing. There were about 10 customs officials, all in uniforms, sitting in a wide semi-circle. You start at the far left and hand over your passport and visa form. Then, they wave you toward the far end on the right, where you wait for about 5 minutes. Your passport gets passed down the chain, like a fire brigade. The second-to-last fellow calls out some approximation of your name and then the last fellow hands your passport back to you, with the visa inside. Classic 3rd-world – creating jobs for people to keep everyone employed.

On the plane they had given us customs forms to fill out, but there was no one at Customs after we picked up our bags. But there was a little box where you were expected to drop off your customs forms – very Hooterville. Don’t know what you would do if you had something to declare – figure out what your fine should be and leave that in the box too? And like Vietnam, Cambodia takes US dollars but we changed some money just so we’d have some small bills for tips. Their currency is the riel and the exchange rate is 4000 to $1, so not nearly as confusing as the 20,000 dong to $1 in Vietnam.

Our hotel, the Heritage Suites, had sent a car to pick us up – an old but mint condition Mercedes taxi, with wooden dashboard and door panels, and the gear shift on the column. Very cool and stylish, but it turned out to be more style than substance. Either the car couldn’t or the driver wouldn’t, but we never went more than about 15 miles an hour. I’m just guessing about the speed because the speedometer didn’t work. (But the car did look cool!) Fortunately, it’s not a long drive. And there were two people to meet us – the driver, who didn’t seem to speak any English – and another fellow, who sat in the passenger seat up front and played the role of host – he had brought along a cooler and he offered us fresh towels and pineapple juice as we went along.

The hotel was wonderful – very stylish but still comfortable – lots of stone, dark teak wood and bamboo.

Evidently, the season hadn’t yet started because there were only about six guests in the entire hotel – at least that’s how many we saw over three days – but it was fully staffed. The staff easily outnumbered the guests. So, they were very eager and helpful, both because that is their way and because they were just bored to tears with no one else there. There was a breakfast buffet and the poor chef just stood there most of the time, waiting for someone to ask him to make an omelette. I was tempted to order one – even though I don’t like eggs – just to give him something to do. Same thing with the bar at the pool – some guy just standing there all day long on the off chance that someone might sit on a chaise lounge and want a drink. But, labor is incredibly cheap in Cambodia (and in Vietnam and in Thailand) so you can have a large staff and not worry about their not having much to do.