Siem Reap Wat Cambodia

We spent two nights in Kampong Chang at a reasonable hotel close to the Mekong river – there is no real reason to stay in Kampong Champ. It is just a big, noisy, dirty Cambodian town but neither of us were very keen to get straight back on another bus so we spent a couple of nights there doing not very much.

When we booked our onward bus journey to Siem Reap we were told it was a public bus so we were expecting another ancient, hot, slow bus so we were very happy when we arrived at the bus station to discover our bus was a shiny new air conditioned bus, ok it did have a big TV screen with bad Cambodian Karaoke playing  but it was a small price to pay for air con! It even stopped along the way for food and toilet – total luxury! Once again we were the only non Cambodians on the bus and it left me wandering where all the other travellers are.

The road from Kampong Champ to Siem Reap is one of the main east – west roads in the country however despite this about 50% of the road was unmade gravel, although at least it was graded (sort of). We did not travel on one road in Cambodia that was fully sealed – condition of the roads is just one example of just how poor this country is.

Siem Reap – we have found the tourists!

We were met at the bus stop in Siem Reap by a Tuk Tuk driver from our hotel which was so nice. We stayed at the fabulous Villa Medamrei which is a short walk to Pub Street and the restaurants and a delightful small boutique hotel – I would say it was the best hotel we stayed in on the trip.

Siem Reap is a nice town but a total tourist town and not at all representative of the ‘real’ Cambodia. Suddenly we had gone from not seeing a westerner for days and days in a row to being surrounded by them… Most people travelling to Cambodia  follow the well worn tourist route of Sihanoukville – Phnom Penh – Siem Reap – fly in fly out and tick a box….

I must say though after weeks of rice and curry I really did enjoy the taco I had at i-viva in pub street. It was while we were at this restaurant we met Dout. Dout had lost both arms above the elbows in a landmine explosion when he was seven, now as an adult he sells books to try and support himself. Dout is articulate, well read and spoke beautiful English – an interesting fellow, over the course of the next few days we bought 2 books from Dout, we neither wanted them or needed them but we wanted to help this guy just a little. What fascinated me was the behaviour of the other people in the restaurant, they would not look at Dout or acknowledge him when he spoke to them,  they put their heads down, their blinkers on and ignored him. The cost of one meal in this restaurant would have fed him and his family for a week yet people seem to think if they don’t look its not real. Appalling!

We found out later from the concierge at our hotel that Dout is very unwell and trying to support a family of 4 ….