We take a very early bus to Siem Reap because we are ready for a little tourist break and Angkor Wat is not the worst backdrop for a short timeout. I doze off on the bus and hardly notice how the bus makes a grand detour around one of the largest lakes of southeast Asia. Arrival in Siem Reap is surreal as expected. The road is flanked with expensive hotels, especially Korean entrepreneurs seem to have the edge here. It goes on for miles, then we pass something that could be the town itself, and we end up at a dusty bus station where we inquire for ongoing transportation to Bangkok, but to no avail. I feel itchy and don’t really care about the Wat anymore. Nevertheless, being here I want at least to check out the town and the offers of the offical bus companies, so we agree on taking a motorbike back to the tourist area. It’s a bit of a scary ride clinging to all our luggage. In town we quickly find a tourist agency and I like the older man serving us. He sells us bus tickets for Bangkok tomorrow and a tuktuk driver who will take us to some temples today.
The driver is very kind and professional, taking us to the entrance point where we can purchase our entrance tickets, and suggesting us in which order we best enjoy the Wat delights. We go for the large [[]] first and walk around the big limestone structure that is filled with earth as I learn from an explanatory plaque. Without the many tourist walking around I would feel lost inside the magnificent structure.
We find an affordable guesthouse and spend the night writing our blogs and watching football. Germany showed a meager performance.