Earlier than we wanted, we boarded the plane for the unknown. I knew from the bit of research that I had done prior that ½ of Cambodia’s population lives well below the poverty line, making about $1.50 USD per day. I had also been warned about the food, the cleanliness, disease, the corrupt government, etc. Needless to say that I was VERY nervous about this trip.
We arrived in Phnomh Penh on time after a beautiful and relaxing morning. The girls sat together on the plane, allowing Terry and I some ‘adult time’ and also to get caught up on what we were going to be doing in Cambodia. Terry’s been so busy with work that he did not have an opportunity to learn what we would be doing in Cambodia until we were on the plane!
In Phnomh Penh, we learned that our flight was running behind. This wasn’t that big of a deal as we discovered that there was a Dairy Queen at the airport…ice cream for lunch…yummy! I have to admit being VERY nervous about eating ANYTHING given the warnings given to me; however, we were really hungry, AND it had been a long time since we’d had real ice cream (TPE mostly has ice milk or shaved ice…NOT the same :)), so we took our chances.
Small airports are rather funny, aren’t they? The airline employees really had no information and could not tell us why our flight was delayed…nor when we’d board. We were feeling a bit grumpy about the whole ordeal until we realized that many of the people at the gate with us had been waiting for about 2 hours LONGER than we had…so we shut up real quick!
After a 45 minute delay, we were off…on an airplane with propellers? Boy, I don’t remember the last time I’d seen one of those! Well, at least Terry was excited. You can see here that he wasted NO time putting some miles on his new camera!
We started the day around 7am and arrived in Siem Reap around 4pm. We were picked up by our host company, Journeys Within (www.journeyswithin.com), a B&B and travel agency recommended to us by a friend.
The drive to get there was beautiful…and also made me a bit nervous. Just when I was thinking ‘what a cute little road this is’, our host said…’this is the MAIN highway…it’s about 2 years old…before this, we only had a dirt road (!)’. Yikes…we then saw unspoiled country side, complete with young children, most of whom were half naked (some completely naked and bathing in shallow pits by the roadside) playing along the roadside, again I thought ‘WHAT AM I DOING!!’. Then….we arrived at our B&B.
This place took our breath away. It is off the highway, and felt like going in to a compound. The main house is quite roomy, with a large living room, where we were greeted by Andrea, one of the owners of the B&B and our travel expert! She provided us with a ‘cheat sheet’ with recommendations of where to go to shop and eat, as well as tipping guidelines, which was VERY useful! The girls were quite excited as we soon learned that Andrea and her husband, Brandon, live there along with their 2 children, Callie and Cooper (5 and 3). Other kids??!!! Boy, this place got better by the minute! After a brief introduction, Narla, the tours director and night front desk staff, showed us to our room…..AMAZING! We walked through this beautiful garden oasis, complete with a small bridge and fish pond, next to the HUGE, beautiful pool, to our bungalow. It was quite lovely…it had 2 double beds, PLUS an extra cot in case the girls didn’t want to share a bed…Andrea had also provided us with 4 cute small cotton scarves just to help us feel more ‘fashionable’ :). The girls DOVE into the suitcases immediately, trying to find their swimming suits, and were just about to go change when Narla informed us that there was a change in plans. The family which was supposed to stay in the ‘family suite’ had to cancel, and Journeys Within would be upgrading us to the family bungalow at no additional cost…SCORE!!!
So, we moved across the pool to a beautiful townhouse-type bungalow. The downstairs had a full-kitchen, stocked with soda and water (complimentary) and beer (for a whopping $1.50/can…you better BET I would be drinking that night!). The upstairs had a beautiful queen-sized bed and a balcony with 2 tables overlooking the pool. The bathrooms were definitely something worth writing about. Each bathroom had a rain shower with no door stall. Instead, the outer rim of the shower floor was riddled with small pebbles which covered the drain. We were told by Brandon, Andrea’s husband, that she decorated the place herself….remind me to call her to ask her for tips here in Taipei about decorating…she did a superb job!
Now that we were settled, the girls dove right in to the pool….and were joined by Andrea’s children as well as 2 other children who belonged to some of the staff. I was surprised and very pleased to hear Andrea tell me that some of the staff are invited to bring their children to work, after they are done with school (if applicable). The kids have an English tutor twice a week and a Khmer tutor once a week. Andrea then has a nanny who watches over her own children as well as the staff’s children. It felt like one large happy family! With 6 kids in the pool, my girls looked happily up at me and told me…’Mom, you did GREAT…we LOVE it here’. OK, NOW I started to relax a bit more :).
Narla arranged for a tuk-tuk to take us in to town for dinner (which we learned is a Thai word…the Khmer word is actually different; however, as so many tourists come from Thailand into Cambodia, most drivers in tourist towns call it tuk-tuk as well). The evening was perfect…nice and cool, especially after we had cooled off in the pool!
We went to downtown Siem Reap, about 3-4 miles away from our B&B, to a local place called Khmer Kitchen, which served local food. Each plate was about $3…our drinks cost just as much as our meal at $3/pop (Sprite was $1 and my mojito was $3!!!). We ate to our heart’s delight for a whopping $18 USD. Service and food were excellent….day #1 so far was excellent.
After dinner, we walked around downtown Siem Reap, the tourist area of which encompasses about 3-4 blocks. The ‘happening’ thing to do there is the ‘fishy massage’. For $3, you get a beer and 30 minutes of small fish eating the little dead skin off your feet….imagine about 20-30 small fish kissing the bottom of your feet. Elaine and I both tried it out. She loved it so much that she kept asking to go back again and again for the ‘fishy massage’! Of course, we didn’t stay for the 30 minutes…we paid $1.50 for 10 minutes each :).By that time, we were all quite tired and REALLY REALLY ready for bed. Thankfully, our tuk-tuk driver was waiting for us when we were done….
We completely collapsed as soon as we got back to the bungalow. I was DEFINITELY feeling more positive about the trip and was looking forward to going to the temples the next day!
