To Siem Reap

 Saturday 08/11

In the morning we had our alarm very early again. Since yesterday we had cycled total of 109 km it was now clear that we could make the last 70 km to Siem Reap in this one day. We departed the city early and again, the heat at first was not bad. It was warm, but not hot. The way was simple, we just had to keep cycling along the same one we had arrived to the hotel. But soon the roads split. One lead to Angkor Wat and other to Siem Reap, we took a turn for Angkor Wat since it was supposed to be a bit closer, and then from there we would go to the city. Once we arrived to the area of the beautiful temples we also found Bangor Wat. Pedro heard some people speaking Portuguese, and asked where we could get the tickets for the temples. Their tour guide pointed us in the direction that we had just came from. The plan was to get the tickets for tomorrow so then we wouldn't have to worry about that. So we cycled the direction we were showed to go. We ended up wondering around a lot. At one of the shops were some cyclists. We stopped and went to greet them. Turned out some of them work in a school in Siem Reap. And one of the guys actually is visiting, but works in a school in Latvia in Jelgava!!! David, the guy we spoke to, has lived here for a longer time, and was very nice to give us tips! (The guesthouse we stayed at was actually recommended by him!) We were happy to have met these guys, they also said that the best way to Siem Reap by bicycle would be taking the way on the West side of the lake which is much less busy. After the chat it was time to keep rolling!

We decided to stop for lunch, a bit annoyed since finding tickets for the countries main attractions shouldn't be difficult. At the place we had lunch we rested for a while longer and let the heat pass. After more wondering about we started to check hotels for prices, but the two we stopped at were too pricy. But the second one was a joke! The guy at the reception spoke very, very little English. We asked for a price for two nights, and the guy spent about 10 minutes looking through some papers and still couldn't give us a number! Then he said that he'll show us the room, the bed was hard as a rock. But once at the reception asking for the price again, he looked through papers and showed us a random contract that they have between the hotel and some travel agency. We were not happy about the time spent, so we headed for the exit. Then at the door we looked for WiFi, and then we asked the guy if he could tell the password for it, and he gave it to us. While on WiFi we booked a room at the Okay Guesthouse that David suggested to us. The price online was also much better than what they had said over the phone. We booked two nights double bed in a hotel in city centre with a pool for total of 34 USD. Great! We now just had to finally find the place to get tickets for the temples.
We asked many more people, wondered a bit more, but finally reached the ticket office!!! We were joyous. The time was about 16:15. Pedro went to ask about the tickets, but turns out they need a picture for the ticket, more so, tickets for the next day are sold only after 17:00. So we settled to wait. To our surprise soon people started to line up! But there was still much time till five. So we didn't bother to rush...until we saw several busses stopping in the parking area. So we stood in a line, but an officer came to us and told us to stand in a new line next to an other ticket booth. So now we were first in the line. While waiting we read on the information board that ticket offices close at 17:30. So when you think about it, we were very lucky to find the place when we did. They ended up opening the booths sooner. By 16:40 we had our tickets with our pretty faces on them! :D

With ticket problem settled we were ready to find the hotel. It was not very difficult, we arrived there, the staff was super friendly and most of them spoke good English. We settled in the room and headed for the rooftop for the pool. We had a great time there. Also met some Australian visitors and had a quick chat with them. We went to the room to change, but soon came up for the restaurant to have some dinner. We split a starter, Cambodian spring rolls, and split a main dish of chicken and fries.
In the evening we blogged a bit and headed for sleep. Again, in the morning we were to get up early as we had booked a tuktuk small tour with sunrise for 18USD. The pick up time was 4:45. Our alarm was set for 4:30. 

 

Tickets for Angkor Wat