Cambodia - Day 1

Had just 4 hours of sleep before waking up to catch the early flight
to Siem Reap. While doing my last minute packing then did I realized
that I had left my photos in the office. Sighz. Think gotta hunt
around the airport for those instant photo service. And they were no
longer available. With digicam and cheap photo printer, there was no
demand for such services anymore. Needed the photo for my multi-days
pass to Angkor Wat.

We arrived quite early, before 8. Its not the raining season yet but
apparently it rained the night before. Out of the blue! Even when we
were touching down, the sky was grey and drizzling. Nothing eventful
after that. Got out of airport. Met pick-up driver. Got us to this
irish pub-cum-guesthouse.

Since the previous guests of our room had yet to checked out, so we
went to recce the neighboring area, the Old Market. Spent about 2 hour
walking around the area. The ground was seriously muddy. Gotta do a
bit of leaping here and there. Other than a small concentrated area of
restaurants and lodge, the rest of the city was badly undeveloped.

Then we lazed around in the room to wait for our driver. Had an
arrangement with a driver to pick us up later in the afternoon for a
trip down to the Floating Village. Temple trips was going to start
tomorrow. Went lunchie just before the trip. Quite a good lunch. Cheap
and better than average.

The road to the Floating Village was bumpy and muddy. Quite a scene
along the way. Villagers who lived along the bank of the river. Their
one-room huts looked similar to those we saw on Pirates of the
Carribean: Dead Man Chest. Really nice for photo shoot but no photos
yet. Was rushing to get out to the sea(?) for the sunset shoot.

As we were about to board the boat, there was this girl taking photo
of us with a Sony camera. Its the high end model some more! And taking
us? I thought we were the tourists? The boat ride was filled with some
minor incidents but once it kicked into it gear, its a smooth and
worthy ride. A whole fleet on villagers living on water. Was a
disappointing sunset. No colorful sky with breathtaking cloud
formation.

And we were about to end the day with the return ride back to lodge.
After getting off the boat, we were persuaded to get this souvenirs of
plates with our photos printed on it! WOW! The first thing that went
through my mind was WHEN THE HELL WAS OUR PHOTO TAKEN? Then I recalled
about that girl with the Sony camera! WOW! That was fast! Too bad the
negotiator's determination not strong enough, so ended up buying them
but that was after some bit of bargaining.

By the time we got back to the guesthouse, it was dark. Seems like the
night over here set in faster than Sillypore. And we were amazed at
all the beautiful light up. Walk another round to enjoy the night
scene. Seem like our guesthouse was smacked in the middle of
concentrated area of nicely designed and well lit place, with police
guarding a few corners of it.

Have some beer at a rooftop bar, then simple dinner by the roadside
(hopefully no stomach upset) and we ended our adventures for today.