Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

We took a six-hour bus journey to Siem Reap - we almost didn't make it as our coordinator Kimlay had completely forgotten about us! We made our own way to the bus station and he met us there, laid-back as always, to say goodbye. He gave us each a traditional Cambodian scarf (endless ways to wear it!), which was lovely of him.

We couldn't believe just how bad the main road through Cambodia was - if it had been a proper surfaced road, it would have taken less than half the time to make the journey to Siem Reap. It was a reminder of how much Cambodia still has to recover from its all too recent struggles.
We kept ourselves entertained on the bus journey by watching Cambodian music videos, which divide into two categories:
a) miserable videos, in which the heroine ultimately dies in the arms of her lover (dying of shock was our favourite)
b) covers of English-speaking songs with hilarious subtitles (my favourite being a toss up between "...lying a roll on..." and "ho ho ho, where do I go?")

During our lunch stop Alannah and I hunted down and bought tasty tarantula snacks, but considering I couldn't even touch the thing without feeling nauseous and Alannah wasn't a fan of the hairy legs, we never actually made it to the sampling stage.

The main road to Siem Reap

Spiders for lunch

We arrived at our incredible, luxurious, AIR CONDITIONED hotel WITH POOL, the Angkor Spirit Palace and met Lily, Kimlay's sister and our Siem Reap coordinator. We went for dinner at Lily and Kimlay's father's restaurant (keeping it in the family, clearly!), next to the Central Market which has been all but abandoned by tourists in favour of the night market next to Bar Street. As a result it was cheaper and we bought most of our souvenirs there.

Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

Siem Reap, Cambodia