Mandalay Inn Siem Reap

Yesterday, we arrived in Siem Reap after a 6-hour bus ride in which we had to endure Cambodian karaoke. We were grateful it wasn't too loud but boy! is it ever kitschy! It's so bad it's not even funny. It's a bit like the variety shows of the '70s (think Lawrence Welk), with singers in the foreground and dancing couples in the background... only the singing is highly nasal, very pitchy and quite off key. As for the dancing, well... we'll leave it to your imagination. Let's just say the dancer...

Before we left for our trip, we packed up on medication because, like it or not, during such a long voyage, one of us or both of us will likely get sick from something or another. I was suffering from digestive disturbance for a few days in VN, now it's Pierre's turn. Poor man... in Angkor of all places, where there are 1,000 things to see. The sites are far away so we must go by tuk tuk (not exactly comfortable), it's hot and there's a lot of walking involved. So in order for him to recupera...

A couple of nights ago, we got into our room and kept hearing this cooing sound and Pierre thought a bird was in the room. The cleaning ladies had left the window slightly ajar so after he checked the room and found nothing, Pierre closed the window. But the cooing kept going and we finally found a little lizard on the windowsill. Not the big, dinosaur lookalikes, but a cute little one about 5 inches long with green, translucent skin and big black eyes. Pierre didn't know they cooed but i rem...

After a very scary flight from Bankok to Siem Reap on a teeny weeny plane with propellars rather than wings, we arrived safely in Cambodia :-) We headed for the Mandalay Inn, not quite the Mandalay Bay Hotel but good enough! For some strange reason we chose not to believe the Lonely Planet when it said Cambodia doesn't have any ATM's (how on earth can a whole country not have just one or two cash machines?!) little did we know, always trust the LP!!! We arrive with very little cash and were c...

We got a bus to the border town of Aranyaprathet where we got a tuk tuk to take us to the border. As predicted, our driver took us to the "Consulate General of Cambodia", a scam to avoid where you pay more for your visa. They insist you can't get it at the border but I knew otherwise and to get them off our case I said I'd asked at the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok and they'd told me to go straight to the border. The scamsters were taken aback and let us go to the border. We cleared Thai immig...

Ros: We have seen a lot of Wats. I know that Angkor Wat is a bit famous for being a large Wat, and I know that we'd set aside three full days for looking around Wats (which should have given away the quantity of wattage as well as the quality) but good grief we've seen A LOT of wats! Unfortunately for us the Cambodians are in the process of learning about Health and Safety, which means that most of the most spectacular bits of wats are either sealed off for renovation, for safety reasons or w...

Last night as promised was a tearful one. I am already feeling crazy because I keep thinking I hear people's voices from our group which is really weird but I suppose that's what happens when you go from 24-7 contact with someone to none at all within a night. I haven't been feeling well for the past few days and my throat was all swollen, so of course, in the way things always tend to happen it got a lot worse today when I had lots to do :( It hurt way too much to talk so Joe was lumbered wi...

So like most people, the reason we detoured to Siem Reap in the first place was to go and see the temples of Angkor which are (or maybe used to be..not sure) a wonder of the world. There are so many ruined temples it's more like an old city and the book reccomends you spend as much time there as possible. However, its $20 a day and we just don't have much time so we took te option of a 'free sunset' - entering after 5 to watch the sunset there and returning tomorrow having already paid for ou...

hello guys long time since i had a go at this whole blog thing (and paul i think blog should have two g's aswell, but apparently it doesn't and we are annoying Jaya!! Blogg blogg blogg!!) anyhu, this morning was very hard. we woke up at 4 am to be picked up at 4:30am which was difficult seeing as its hard enough waking Jaya at a normal time nevermind when im not convinced its right to wake up at that time myself!! but in the end it was kinda worth it we went to see the sunrise over angkor wat...

How lucky we have been here- the Mandalay Inn (and its staff) delightful & reasonably priced, with ice-cold beer and braised eggplant on the menu. Hello, old friend, I haven't seen you since China! Can it be because the owners are Burmese that they have the best guesthouse food I've sampled in Cambodia? We've also left the hotel grounds to brave the temples of Angkor, one day of that on bikes, no less. Lonely planet was right to recommend that experience but wrong abput the unavoidable cr...