Cambodia, Day 6 - to Siem Reap

This day started early... 5am scheduled bus departure for Siem Reap... stopped for breakfast (fried noodles with meat... not one of the most stellar meals) along the way.

Siem Reap seems nice... not nearly as smelly and crowded as Phnom Penh... also very hot, but less so than Phnom Penh, so things are more bearable. Siem Reap seems much more tourist oriented, with the Angkor Wat ruins being the main tourist draw to Cambodia... probably both a good and bad thing... prices here are a bit higher than Phnom Penh, but still dirt cheap compared to the rest of the world.

We're staying at the Jasmine Guest Lodge, well most of us are... they screwed up the room assignments, so the four old farts (me, Rick, Greg & Alex) who were supposed to get single rooms were instead assigned double rooms... no big we thought at first, but when Rick and I got into our rooms, it was ONE bed only, with no room on the floor to sack out on. There's just no way that close to 500 lbs of human being are going to share a double bed... not gonna happen. So Rick and I were given a room with two single beds in another building down the road owned by the same people... bit of a shithole and it lacks all of the "jungle colonialism" charm of the Jasmine, but it's a place to lay our heads at night.

There was an organized trip to a local lake (manmade lake that used to be a rock quarry)... but several of us decided to decline and just hang around the Jasmine's rooftop lounge. I for one have had enough of the bus for the day and am happier hanging out with a few friends rather than being herded about with the main part of the group.

There is free wifi at the Jasmine, although the connection to the internet is sloooow, I managed to have a decent skype call with Mickie albeit with some old-style delay... Hi.... .... .... ... Hi! type stuff. So I should be able to manage a call to my mom tomorrow on Mother's Day (actually today here, but it's now past midnight at home, so too late to call).

That's about it for now, am just hanging out, drinking beers and generally relaxing in the heat.