Landed with a splash

* Friday, Saturday

So on Friday we awoke in Bangkok, got some brek in us and headed off to the airport. We were a little nervous about what was about to happen but somehow managed to find ourselves reading and relaxing until our plane went. The flight was a mere 1 hour so within an instant, we were in Siem Reap. The airport was beautiful and looked like a temple itself. It was super relaxed considering the FOUR bits of paper work you need to fill in order to get a visa and prove you ain't got pig flu!

We breezed out of customs to a warm arrival from our tuk-tuk driver Thom and Sally the local project coordinator. We were immediately on the road and heading towards the guest house that will be our home for the next 6 weeks. The Victory Guest House is great and really accomodating. It is run by Moy and her family and she's a star. The only downside to our arrival is that we were given a temporary room for the first evening because there was a school trip from France! Slightly unexpected. But the room was lovely and we knew we would unpack the next day.

We had an induction with Sally about what goes on and met some really nice people. That afternoon, Aaron and Claire invited us to come to the pool of this hotel they belong to. We thought what the hell and went down with them. Within hours of getting here, we were chilling out by a posh(ish) hotel pool. Strange.

That evening, we all went out to a Mexican restaurant for Bronwyn's leaving do, she had been on the build project and so gave us an insight into what it will be like. We walked into town and what's great is you don't get a lot of hassle. The tuk-tuk drivers want your business but they aren't pushy. We were really glad to get to see the town on the first night. We stayed out socialising until 1am and I have to admit what with the initial nerves and quite a bit of booze I felt a little worse for wear the next day. What a friendly excellent introduction to our placement! We couldn't of hoped for better.

The next day, we woke up a little hungover and just lounged around the Guest House restaurant for brek then lunch. In the afternoon, me and ame went for a daytime explore in Siem Reap. It really is a cool place. Foreign but familiar. Ame likes that although it is a tourist destination, due to the number of travelers who come to see the Ankor temples, that doesn't take any charm away.

There are street stalls and a beautiful old market and people living their lives and going about their business. Then amoungst it are cafes and restaurants but they are tasteful and all different and all tempting.

We had a good walk about, bought a colour photocopied Cambodia Lonely Planet (for $3 and we're compared it to someone's real one and it's exactly the same!) and wandered around the markets. 

We had a smoothy, and then joined the hotel's pool for a month at $25 each! There is a local currency called the riel but they pretty much use US Dollars for everything. There are no coins so riel is used as cent. There is 4000r to the dollar and this never moves despite what the economy is doing.

So after a little swim we headed back, got changed and went out back into town with Aaron, Claire and Sarah for a Khmer meal. It was fantastic and served on leaves.  We had the meal in the main (and I suppose most heavily touristy) street (called Pub Street!) and it is really bustling. There is so many places to try out.

The meals with drinks costs about $7-8 dollars. Beer is $0.50. So you can't go far wrong ;-) We even went for a few games of pool at Funky Monkey. Then it was back to the Guest House for more beers and cards until 2am. It's been a fantastic start. The hard work starts on Monday.