Off to Siem Reap
June 5, 2012 – Ronald and I flew to Siem Reap for a two-week holiday.
Our Cebu Pacific flight left Manila at around 7:00 PM for the two hours and forty minutes flight. Cambodia is one hour behind, and we landed before 10:00 PM +7GMT. Koh, the a staff and tuk-tuk driver from Baca Villa was already waiting for us when we arrived at the exit.
We arranged to meet Vanith, an old friend of Ronald’s whom he met the first time he visited Siem Reap in 2008 or so. He is a professional tour guide and we went to visit the Angkor temple complex and other sites with him on our second week.
I was excited to see Angkor Wat and the Tonle Sap I had read about in books and heard of once or twice in high school history class and in college while studying architecture.
Before the visit to the famous temples and the largest freshwater lake in southeast Asia, Ronald and I cycled around town the first few days. Siem Reap City is quite small compared to Manila and it felt good to be away from terribly busy traffic and crowded places. It actually felt like being in a countryside back home except for the hotels and shops on National Road No. 6 and Sivutha Road that is. Outside of these two main roads, one can enjoy views of ricefields, palm trees, cows and buffaloes, and more humble dwellings.
On the second day of cycling around we found a school that was looking for a foreigner English teacher. We thought about it overnight, then went back to the school the next day to accept the full-time teaching offer. Within the same week, Ronald also got an offer to do the website for one of the locals who built and maintained swimming pools for a business. We thought it was a good start, and reason enough to stay.
Later after the two weeks came and went, my husband did make it to our flight back to Manila. I didn’t.
