Cambodia with heart

Seam Rep – what’s a Wat?
Its 6am and am sitting patiently in the budget lounge of the departure lounge at Changi Airport, Singapore, awaiting the JetStar (budget) flight to Seam Reap.
Budget airlines always fly early morning, and then get delayed 2 hours, that’s 2 hours of valuable sleeping time wasted because you wanted to travel cheaply! What’s worse is that when you ask a budget airline staff the reason for the delay you get no response as if they are hearing impaired. Or are they being kept in the dark as much as the passengers are? Whatever the reason boarding does eventually happen and relief sets in when seated in the comfortable economy only seats – I’m sure there is more leg room on budget carriers which is one positive of budget travel. I’m not a fan of airline food so paying for a cup of ‘Magee Mee’ doesn’t bother me a bit. I still have 2 hours of sleep to catch up with anyway so the 2 hour flight to Seam Reap is spent doing exactly that.
Arriving at airport in Seam Reap commences with walking 200m across a hot tarmac in the mid-morning sun, to join a tourist queue western tourist seeking a Visa on Arrival or VOA. The immigration officers are surprisingly very efficient at collecting US$25, taking your photo and passing on your passport to the next officer in line. Five minutes later you collect your passport at the lines end and proceed to the immigration counter where a smiling officer awaits and proceeds to stamp your passport whilst welcoming you to Cambodia. Why can’t all immigration officers be this friendly?
After collecting baggage off the modern looking carousel it’s a quick walk through customs before being mobbed by a gang of drivers wanting to take me to my Hotel, bargaining is not an option as all rates a fixed from the airport. So it’s off to the Claremont Hotel for a well deserved rest before getting acquainted with Seam Reap and all its cultural delights. During the 20 minute journey the taxi driver offers me his services to take me to visit Angkor Wat in the afternoon for US$25. Declining his generous offer I insist he proceeds to the otel so Hote Hotel so I can rest up for the evening, he hands me his card and says call me in the morning and he’ll “take care of me”, I hope he means that in a fatherly way and he’s not a member of the Khmer rouge member undercover as a taxi drive. After arriving at the Hotel I hand over US$ 25 (Why is everything costing US$25?) for the room and get a couple of hours sleep.
There’s not a lot to see at night in the town’s centre, the obligatory tourist market selling local crafts and produce, massage parlours, and interestingly ‘fish reflexology by small obviously malnourished fish called ‘Garra Rufa’ and it’s a definite item to add on your to do list. Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4xzttFYP8w. Dinner was had at the “Dead Fish Tower”, an interesting restaurant cum bar, just make sure you don’t drink too much whilst your eating as it’s a maze of small platforms and narrow steps, one wrong step and you could end up in a crumpled heap 5 metres down. Fortunately there are floorboards at the bottom preventing you from falling prey to the dozens of crocodiles housed beneath – I’m not joking! Follow this link http://www.deadfishtower.com/. After surviving the DFT I proceeded back to the Hotel via Cambodians variety of the ‘Tuk Tuk’, and got a good night’s sleep before the next days visit to Angkor Wat.
After completing negotiating a driver (US$25 / day) and a tour guide (US$20 / day + US$5 tip) with the Hotel’s tour desk, Ari, Chann and I headed the 6km out of Seam Reap to the site of one of the ancient wonders of the worlds, Angkor Wat. But before getting there it is obligatory to pay a US$20 entry fee for a 1 day pass, a 3 day pass at US$45 or a 1 week pass at U$60. My words could never do Angkor Wat’s beauty justice so this is where this entry ends.