Day One Siem Reap

It was 11pm the night before leaving, that Hoover, Oozing, Dry Foot, Fuwangii, Tinker and Short Shorts, and Bondo joined at Chez Basket for a post-trip dinner. We had a few beers and crashed where ever there was room. We'd be off at 5am for the drive to JFK. The drive down was uneventful, save having to retrieve Oozing who didn't bring his gear, but traffic was light and we arrived at 9am. Calls to Sawr'Squat had her joining us by 10 and we were off on time.
17 hr 40 minutes later we arrive in Bangkok, somewhat tired and happy after many beers, wine and 3 meals.
We were concerned that making our way through the new airport would cause us to be late and miss our connection to Siem Reap, but all went off without a hitch. We arrive at Siem Reap airport about 8pm, when we found Mr. Rogers waiting for us, pitchers of Angkor Beer in hand. Our van was already waiting, so we were off shortly. We quickly showered at Two Dragons Guest House, our accomodations, and haggled a couple Tuk Tuks to drive us to the Red Piano. The drive down was reminscent of Viet Nam many years ago, with motor bikes and cars traveling at high speed on the narrow roads.
The bar was neat and the beer cold, so we made ourselves comfortable and had yet another meal. Not sure what we ate, but it was all local fare. We started back around 11 for some much needed sleep, but it wasn't going to happen after 35 hours on the road, we were all too tired to sleep well. The heat and humidity was stifling and we were all up early in the morning, bags under our eyes and looking for our tour guide, Mr Rogers with the van to take us to the temples.
Our first stop wa Angkor Tom, and we were all amazed with the intricate carving and many buildings in this complex. I'll be posting picture on my return. The next temple was Bayon, then on to Prea Kahn, Angkor Wat and finally Phnom Bakhend (sunrise hill) to catch the setting sun reflecting off the ruins at the top and lower valleys.
At night we went back to the Red Piano to meet up with Mr Rogers and his wife Lilly, and Ice Pick and wife L Shirt, a couple Brits we had met earlier. The pre-lube from Phnom Penn was in town and we had hoped to join them, unfortunately they were either crashing after their bus ride or at another bar. We then went in search of them and tried Angkor What and Dead Fish. We had more beers and food, before settling in for a well needed rest.
Stay tuned for day two...
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