Siem Reap

We took a Giant Ibis bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap, Cambodia.  It took 8.5 hours and the border crossing was fairly straightforward and laid back (see below).

Welcome to Cambodian Customs and Immigration!

     We stayed at the European Guesthouse (Sweet Dreams), hosted by Mr. Nini.  This was the least expensive place we stayed, at $12/night. We thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality and the refreshing pool.  It is outside the hustle of Pub Street downtown yet within walking distance.  This was our base to explore the Temples of Angkor and surrounding countryside.

     Here we discovered that while US Dollars are accepted along with the local currency (Riel) they will only take bills in good shape.  No rips or old, dirty dollars! The banks will give them less than face value for damaged bills.

One of the first things we did was visit a silkworm farm.  It was very interesting and educational.  Plus, there were tiny kittens.

Returning from a temple outing one day, we split up.  The girls and I went to the Banteay Srei Butterfly Center, while the rest went to the Cambodian Landmine Museum.  

One night at dinner we were entertained by 5 year old "Maya".  She shared her milk-tabs (vitamins?) with us , sang the ABCs, and yelled at us for taking her picture.

2 for the price of 3 Fish Pedicures!  (Genna would not dip her toes.  I don't blame her!)

Genna preferred the luxury of having her hair shampooed for $2.  Each city we went then on, she sought out shampoos and planned her swimming schedule around it.

If you go to the market with (baby) Genna, you might get a few extra pieces of fruit or something new to try.  Everyone liked the BABIES!

     We did the 12-week, 2004 trip entirely on Lonely Planet books with no phone or internet.  Only a few hotels were pre-arranged.  We would arrive at a new town and go to the address of a guesthouse in the book where we hoped they had a room.  This time we had a reservation for every night, even if it was just booked 1 day ahead of time, and sometimes that didn't get through to the proprietor, but at least we had key information.  More of our booking choices were dictated by Bookings.com than Lonely Planet. In 2004 we only e-mailed our families from occasional stops at internet cafes.  Now we roll into a country, get a SIM card, and we are connected constantly. Hotels and transportation can be booked online. A large portion of our pre-trip planning was done on YouTube so there are fewer surprises since we saw exactly what to expect in videos.