Here is a photo of me with my guide in Phnom Penh, Mr. Pongro, as well as our driver on the far right.
Well, it’s been a busy couple of days. I arrived this morning in Siem Reap, the home of Angkor Wat and the heart of the Khmer Empire for several centuries.
My Phnom Pehn guide and driver picked me up bright and early for my 9:30 flight. I knew I was going to miss those guys. I really enjoyed spending a couple of days with them and I learned a lot about Cambodia. Mr. Pongro, my guide, was a Buddhist monk from age 8 until he graduated from university a couple of years ago. He was an interesting guy and so very sweet. I sort of fell in love with him I think. I hope to see him again some day.
The airport in Phnom Penh for domestic flights is very easy. The airport is tiny with very little traffic. I was checked in and then had to pay the $6 domestic departure tax. I have no idea why they don’t charge that as part of the ticket like they do everywhere else in the world. But I was still in the boarding area with an hour to spare. The plane was a small turboprop with 70 seats. The flying time was a whopping 35 minutes. Can’t beat that. Domestic arrivals in Siem Reap is a very small operation.
I met my guide Khim and we were off the hotel. I have to say that I am not especially impressed with the Victoria Hotel. The facilities are fine, but the room is pretty small. The “high speed” internet is very slow. And a number of other minor quibbles. My room was not ready yet when I arrived so we left for the temples instead.
First stop was Angkor Thom which is full of these enormous stone Buddha faces. The carving on the walls of all these places is astounding. After lunch we went to the main Angkor Wat temple. Unfortunately it was fairly rainy so we got pretty wet despite having unbrellas. Again the place is very impressive. We managed to visit both places without the hordes of other tourists. They were all arriving at Angkor Wat as we were leaving.
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