Arrival in Cambodia

I have arrived in Cambodia at Siem Reap airport yesterday. The airport is a real change from everything that I have seen so far: a really modern and extremely nice international terminal, with palm trees and flowers everywhere. Immigration and delivery of visa on arrival is most recent high tech. I was tempted to greet immigration officers with "sabaidee" - the word which became the symbol of Lao life-style and friendliness, but realised in time that I have to start learning my few and daily used expressions in khmer, which seems to me - at first sight - much more complicated since there are at least three words in each expression... The new terminal became necessary as millions of tourists fly in from all over the world, especially from Asia and particularly from China, sometimes for less than a dollar from HongKong, Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur with Asia's "Ryan Air" called AirAsia: 20.000 a day it seems, but the temple area is really large and stretches over more than 10 km.

The guesthouse "les mystères d'Angkor" is just great: a little oasis in a popular residential area just next to a Wat, with very nice and comfortable rooms: a living area shared with the room next door and a balcony with view on the garden and swimming pool (!! yes, a bit of luxury is necessary if you visit temples for 10 hours a day for three days in a row). Check it out.. it is "a bit expensive" for local standards, but definetely worth the price http://www.mysteres-angkor.com/ .

And, indeed, that is what my next 3 days will be: the visit of the world's largest temple site, again a UNESCO world heritage site.

In the afternoon, I went into the centre of Siem Reap. Nothing special, but a nice town with a lively atmosphere and quite some nice renovated colonial houses, with plenty of bars and restaurants. Businesses start all over because of the ever growing number of tourists and there are really trendy places here, which would be a huge success if they were in Brussels or in any European city.

I bought a new memory card for my camera (so you will be able to see pictures of the rest of my trip as well..) and went to have my laundry done. And then, I went SHOPPING !! "Les Artisans d'Angkor" is a project, funded for three years by the EU, which teaches young Cambodians from 18 to 25 without school education their traditional handicrafts and provides training and a guranteed living for hundreds of young people. They have a shop there as well and incredibly beautiful things (quite overpriced compared to the local market, but it is for a good cause, "sustainable and fair" ). The school has a huge success and is also expanding rapidly giving more and more people (for the moment they employ over 1000 people) the chance to get out of their misery. Have a look: http://www.artisansdangkor.com/html/artisans_angkor/story.php You can also click around to see some of the products. You can even buy online, pay with credit card and have it shipped to your place!!

More on the temples later. I am hungry now !!

PS: my toe is much better, which means not broken.. lucky me !!