Siem Reap, Cambodia: Day 1

Several months back, Candace and I planned a last family vacation to Siem Reap, Cambodia for the latter part of the Songkran holiday.  It was up in the air for a few months as we sorted out if I would be in region and if we’d have time to make it work, but thankfully, things worked out at my job (thanks to a great boss) and we had an AMAZING time in Cam-bone-ia (as our youngest called it).   :-)

Day 1

Because we had such a fun time during the Thai New Year, some of our kids weren’t sure they wanted to leave.  We assured them we’d have a blast in the neighboring country.  We got all packed up (which I might add, is so much easier now that the kids can do it themselves) and took a short 1 hour flight from our near-by Dong Mueng airport to Siem Reap.

My first impression of Cambodia was: IT’S HOT!  The humidity was oddly much lower than Bangkok, but it felt a lot like my youthful days in Phoenix.  We spent the next 2 hours filling out TONS of forms to get our visa-on-arrival, health declaration, customs, and entry forms.  All of which, I might add, contained the same information.  I was immediately hit up for a bribe by the customs agent and kindly told him no thanks.  That was the first of MANY requests for money from the locals. I found the Cambodians to be much more aggressive than my friendly Thais in asking for bribes, tips, and even scamming us (last day).

We caught a 15 minute hotel shuttle to our hotel, Le Meridien.  It was a beautiful hotel and located close to most everything.  We had 2 adjoining rooms and it worked out great.  As is typical in this part of the world, the service was impeccable.

Once we put all our bags away, we ventured out on the dusty streets to find some lunch.  We found a clean restaurant not too far away and the kids even learned how to shuck rice while we waited.  2 of the kids ordered “cook your own meat” plates that were a real hit.  I personally like the Cambodian food better than Thai food (far less spicy).

After lunch, Candace went out with our oldest in search of some groceries for breakfasts during our stay and I took the kids back to the pool.  That evening, we caught one of the 1000s of tuk tuks down to the Night Market for dinner.  We all loved the tuk tuks – especially our daughter (who would call for them even when we didn’t need one!).

We had a great dinner and some cheap fruit shakes and then headed off to the local circus – which was more akin to Cirque du Soleil than a circus.  It was absolutely amazing – one of my favorite things we did while there.  Between the story telling of the horrific rule of the Khmer Rouge, dancing, and acrobats, it was an emotional, first class act.

We wanted to watch the sunrise at Angkor wat the next morning, so we all collapsed in bed after a great first day!