Friday 14th March
I got to Luang Prabang airport at 08.30, well ahead of the scheduled departure time of 10.30. It's a reasonably small airport with little to do, so I just sat about and waited for the flight to be called. Most of the people on the Vietnam Airlines flight to Siem Reap were foreigners, maybe about thirty people in total. The flight took off on time and all was going to plan.
After we had left Laos and flew over Cambodia, the countryside that lay below looked particularly interesting, with the Tonlé Sap lake resembling a large brown puddle. It was the only thing that I could see below for about five minutes as the flight descended towards Siem Reap. The many boats – and what appeared to be arrow-shaped docking stations, I'm still not sure what they are – that dot its surface made it clear just how vital the lake (and the waterways that feed it) is to the people of the whole country. Once water gave way to land, the flat fields of Cambodia appeared dry, and yielding little without the rain. As we approached the airport, some of the landscape below us looked to me like large slabs of grey, dirty concrete, so it was a quite unusual view on landing.
We touched down at about 12.15, so pretty much on time. We walked off the plane to find that the temperature was just as hot as it had been in Laos over the previous couple of days. The airport at Siem Reap is very new and the processing of our visas (30 days for $20) was done very quickly and efficiently by a row of about twenty immigration officers (not sure why there were so many, perhaps the day would get busier for them).
I took a moto-taxi to the 'Ivy Guesthouse 2' and got a decent room for $6; the place seemed very clean and the staff friendly, so it was decent value. I took a walk about the local area and had some food (Cambodian curry called amok which is apparently the national dish, and it was very nice too). There is a distinct tourist hub made up of several streets full of restaurants, bars and cafes. It's a lively place and reasonably tasteful too. It's seems more westernised than Laos and clearly caters to the many tourists that come to see the temples at Angkor several miles away.
Although the guesthouse I was staying in was perfectly fine, I knew there were a few more options in Siem Reap that represented better value and a notch more comfort. I found a few rooms at the 'Mandalay Inn' which I reserved for myself, and Maria & Simon, who were due to arrive into town on St Patricks Day. The management and staff were really friendly and helpful, and I knew it would be a good place to stay.
After dinner at the guesthouse, I turned in for the night, planning an early start the next morning, ahead of a busy day exploring the temples at Angkor, the main reason why most people come to Siem Reap.
