The First Night in Siem Reap

First impressions of Cambodia:

Flat, sparse, arid, dusty, and poor.

The young Siem Reap tuk-tuk driver was lovely, but he had an agenda. At the bus terminal, he was very helpful in carrying our bags to his steed. He then informed us of all the things we could do in Siem Reap – but the feeling of gratitude turned swiftly to annoyance. He wanted us to pay him, here and now, so that HE could be the one to ferry us around for the next few days. We were incredibly tired – readers of my last blog will know the debacle we had been through over the last 24 hours – and tried to explain numerous times we just wanted to go to the hostel. He wouldn’t accept that we didn’t have a plan and were too tired to make one right now. Patience was wearing incredibly thin but FINALLY he got on his bike.

BTW, bikes. Just bikes, everywhere. Loads more bikes here. And the traffic is even wilder. I didn’t think it was possible.

It was nearing dusk in Cambodia. It had taken 8 hours to get to Siem Reap from Bangkok. As we rode through the city towards the Funky Flashpacker party hostel, it was again noticeable that this was a poorer country; the potholed roads, the shabby buildings, the litter, the people… This is a country once gripped by communism. Cambodia is an LEDC (geography nerds will remember that this means Less Economically Developed Country), and it became clear why our tuk-tuk driver had been so eager for us to book him again…

Down an incredibly bumpy side street we were dropped off at the Funky Flashpacker hostel. We checked in and settled in, and soon the sun had gone down. That happens quickly in this part of the world.

Ooo cool lights.

Andy and I went out for our first Cambodian meal. It’s very similar to Thai food, with the exception of the little clues like ‘frogs legs’ that tell you Cambodia used to be a French colony. Also, there’s no pad thai, obvs.

Thailand has Chang, and Cambodia has Angkor. Both Andy and I agree that this is preferable.

After tea, we went for a wander. Cambodia doesn’t have 7/11s so we wanted to discover what Cambodian shops were like. We found these strange, colourful things.

They reminded me of old F1 cars. There were different flavours too, including blueberry, strawberry and apple to accompany the standard ashtray taste. And prices were low. You could buy 200 for £5.36, if you really are a fan of dying.

Now, continue scrolling for a SHOCKING SURPRISE.

We went to a night market. Cambodia loves them too.

The days prior we had been revelling in our discovery that Bangkok was the cheapest place in Thailand. We had bought a fair few things that we thought were bargains. Siem Reap slapped us in the face. We were finding t-shirts and vests for as low as $1 – or 77 pence. Face —> palm.

BTW, Cambodia has its own currency, Khmer riel, but pretty much everywhere you go they deal in US dollars.

We noticed another difference between Thailand and Cambodia. If you walk into a Thai shop or a Thai market place, you are immediately jumped upon by the owner who tries desperately to sell you something. However, in Cambodia they leave you alone – strange, as this a poorer country. This ‘leave-alone’ attitude was welcome to us Englishmen (particularly Andy), who enjoy the awkward silence between customer and vendor whilst shopping.

Ignoring the deals, we wandered on. We passed a famous place called Bugs Cafe – a cafe that serves… bugs. I was very interested until I saw the most frightening things on the menu: the prices. It’s horrifically expensive. AVOID.

From a place with 8-legged cuisine to a place that wants to make you legless.

The famous Siem Reap Pub Street. Famous amongst travellers. Again, it’s a self-explanatory name, with countless bars serving dirt cheap booze. The street also featured these decs.

Number 8s, hanging from the sky. I bet drunk people find these exciting.

Walking down Pub Street is a similar experience to walking down Khaosan Road, but quite different. There are much fewer bar workers trying to entice you into their respective bars, but you are bombarded by taxi drivers, all of whom are drug dealers. They’ll approach you shouting “taxi?!” and then when you inevitably say “no”, they’ll come closer and whisper “weed? Charlie??”

Crazy.

As persuasive as they were, we decided to ignore the drug dealing drivers and drink some beer. This is Pub Street, after all. Not Drug Street.

It was still happy hour (or happy evening, as happy hours in Asia seem to last all night) so we were able to purchase these beers for 50 American cents each. Or, 77p for two. Cold, refreshing and cheap – I was very happy to sink a few of these.

Now, Siem Reap is home to Cambodia’s main tourist attraction. It appears on their national flag and it’s THE reason I wanted to visit Siem Reap. The best time to visit Angkor Wat is at sunrise, which meant tonight was not the night for a wild one. We returned to the Funky Flashpacker and I settled in for a few hours sleep, setting my alarm for 3:45am.

Ugh.