KL to Siem Reap
We all crawled out of bed at 3am to ensure we caught the 7am AirAsia flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia. All of us were suffering from too little sleep.
Tune hotel was passable for a few hour layover. We paid about 50 cents for the room and about $5 for air-conditioning and another $2.50 for the comfort kit (e.g. towels). A deposit of twenty ringgit for each key and ten for each towel was required. The room was tiny, with just enough room to shuffle sideways around the bed and a small bathroom, with a standard shower cubicle. Tune advertise ‘5 star showers’ and the showerhead was good, if not exactly ‘5 star’. We ended up storing some of our luggage in the bathroom to create enough room to move about!
Caught the shuttle bus the 700m from the Tune hotel to the LCC terminal. There was no line to check-in for the flight but the AirAsia staff member obviously wasn’t a morning person either. Either that or she simply doesn’t enjoy her job. Still check-in was relatviely smooth and we had a couple of hours to waste before we had to board, which we spent mainly at Old Town White Coffee, a Starbucks-like chain with a Malaysian twist. We all swallowed down some strong, sweet, coffee and Ally and I enjoyed some Kaya toast.
Had a marathon walk to the plane, across the tarmac – it’s quite an experience as nothing at the LCCT seems to be hidden – you walk past baggage handlers throwing luggage onto the conveyer belts and around various planes. In many ways it seemed like a security nightmare to me.
Once we were on the plane we discovered that Jo and Greg had been seated together, but Ally and I were about 12 rows apart, despite quite a few empty seats! As we waited an age to take off I was lectured by William, a fellow who apparently worked in ‘security’ and had apparently been from his native Chennai, to Malaysia, China, Thailand and various other places I’ve forgotten, all in the last two weeks. William has a theory that the world is going to pot because of an eternal battle between Aryians and Dravidians which I had no little trouble following. A very comfortable conversation for a Westerner to be engaged in with a fellow from India. However, he seemed a nice fellow and apparently held no malice against me.
After takeoff William was immediately off to the toilet, so I took the opportunity to find Ally and we found seats near Jo and Greg. Flight was fairly uneventful; I thought the seats were perhaps more comfortable than 
the Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur flight. Arrived in Siem Reap an hour late to be met which one of the most singular visions I had seen in my life. In the customs hall there was a large, half-moon sized desk behind which which were seated about 7 or 8 guards. Our visa application was passed along this line on identically dressed guards – all men – you all had one particular function to perform. After recieving our visas we got through customs without too much trouble, collected our baggage, smiled to the customs officials and prepared for the inevitable chaos beyond the airport.
Stepped outside the doors and… nothing. OK, there some men with bits of paper waiting for Mr or Mrs Whoever but no touts, no beggars and all very orderly. Had a quick drink and considered for a moment how much money had been invested in the airport at Siem Reap which (although small) is as modern and attractive, and orderly, as any I have seen.
We arranged a taxi at the taxi counter and Mr Vanna was our driver to the hotel, the Sala Bai hotel school. First vision of Siem Reap was the parade of new, ostentatious hotels which line the road from the airport toour hotel. And, of course, the scooters. Despite Mr Vanna’s insistent questioning we didn’t want to book any tours for Angkor, only to get to our rooms and settle down.
Our room wasn’t ready so we sat to get a drink. I had a lime juice, Ally a coke and Jo and Greg had a bottle of Angkor beer. The bottles of beer turned out to be 750ml and the total bill about $6.00. Spnt a pleasant hour drinking and adjusting to (different) chaos of Cambodia.
Sala Bai, our hotel, is primarily a school. It takes in underprivilged (a family which earns less than $25 dollars a month) young Cambodians every year and trains them in the trade that makes this two tick – hospitality. It is primarily NGO funded. The young staff are amazing – always smiling and perhaps even more endearing in their occaisional mistakes and uncertainty. The restaurant looks equisite and we ordered lunch and some drinks – Ally had a coke, I had a freshly-squeezed lime juice and Jo and Greg each ordered a beer (which turned out to be a 750ml bottle!).
We had booked the suite and a normal room and we were shown two keys, so Ally and I blindly chose one. We chose the normal room, which is gorgeous and very comfortable and all of $15 a night. Jo and Greg, therefore, had to suffer with the suite – three gorgeous rooms, including a lounge room, bedroom and an enourmous bathroom. I’ve read it described as the best value room in Southeast Asia and I think it’s hard to disagree for $25 a night. And the proceeds help to support an exceedingly worthwhile cause.
After a rest we hired a couple of tuktuks, intending to have a wander around Siem Reap and then to see sunset over Angkor Wat from Phnom Bakeng. After having to turn around to retrive Ally’s hat the two tuktuks ended up at different markets! After a short mobile phone conversation between the drivers we were all successfully reunited at the Central Market. We had a short wander round and the expert sales-people, whose high-pressure sales techniques can rival those anywhere, we were parted with about $20 for a selection of tourist tat. We met up with the tuktuk drivers who explained that it was now too late to see the sunset from Phnom Bakeng and suggested the Tonle Sap instead. Slightly incredulous, we consented to this plan.
The ride to the Tonle Sap took about 10 minutes, but it seemed far longer. I’m not sure whether tuktuks really are prone to tipping over in the pot-holed roads of Siem Reap, it certainly may have been somewhat less than the likelyhood of coming together with another tuktuk, or worse one of the cars or buses speeding past. Swerving to avoid an oncoming vechicle (and the accompanying horn tooting), particularly for tuktuk, bycicle and scooter drivers, is not considered particularly unusual or unnerving here. But the dusty, windy, uncomfortable trip did allow us a glimpse into the lives of many very ordinary Cambodians who inhabit the villages and shacks that line the road between Siem Reap and the great Tonle Sap.
When we arrived at the lake the ‘plan’ was to take a boat to view the sunrise over a floating village. However, it was immediately clear that quite a few tourists who had just returned from boat trips were rather disgruntled with what they had been charged and the length of the ride. The whole scene was rather unnerving and just smelt dodgy. We took a coupleo of photos, got hasselled by some amazingly cute kids and piled back into the tuktuks for the hold-on-to-your plastic handropes drive back into town. Got back to the hotel and, for the second time in the one day, needed some time to recover!
Our rooms had been cleaned while we had been out, the mosquito nets ‘assembled’ and the laundry taken. Talk about service!
Went out for dinner an hour or two later and ended up at a tourist restaurant which did quite passable fish Amok, curries and more Western fare. Wanded around Siem Reap feeling slightly more comfortable as we realised that crossing the road between scooters and whathaveyou was possible. Just kinda thrilling!
Posted in: SE Asia '09
