Siem Reap, Cambodia

After a great night out with our travel buddies we woke up to a beautiful sunrise and spent our last few hours on Koh Phi Phi laying out on our beach chairs and wading in the amazing water. The only thing about the ocean water is the tiny bites you randomly feel which we were told were sea lice, but they don't even leave a mark so compared to the massive mosquito bites we have, we didn't even care! Our last day on Koh Phi Phi we were laying in the sand and for the first time we really didn't want to leave for our next destination. We took the ferry back to Phuket and took a taxi to our hotel for the night in Naithon (it was right next to the airport in Phuket). It was so beautiful there we were glad that we had a chance to see a beautiful part of Phuket because our last stay really made us never want to go back! This hotel was nice, right across the street from a long stretch of a beautiful white-sand private beach that was only shared between three hotels. We had dinner on the beach with an English couple we met earlier that day, and spent three hours eating, talking, and enjoying the amazing view. At dinner we learned that people don't like being called "British" if they are "English" and vice versa. People from England are English, not British. But if they have family from multiple places within Great Kingdom, i.e. Wales and England, then they would be considered British. We never thought about it but now are always conscious about it when we are talking to English/British blokes ; )

This morning we flew from Phuket to Bangkok, with 2 hour layover before our flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Our flight was Bangkok airways and someone previously told us about a lounge they had at the airport so we set out to find it right when we landed. 45 minutes later we found the lounge; there was sandwiches, cookies, a gourmet coffee maker (we made mochas) and a popcorn maker. We ate, read newspapers, checked the internet for NFL news (the Jets suck.) and lounged around until our flight. The flight was the shortest either of us have ever had, about 35 minutes. After getting off the plane, everyone walked/(the French sprint/shove) to the main terminal to get Cambodian visas. We had to pay 20$ for them, then they took our passports, do some sort of assembly line with 9 different airport officials passing it down, then made us all stand in a large group at one end of the airport and would call out our names and toss our passports back to us. It was stressful to say the least.
Our hotel had someone pick us up from the airport, even waiting with drinks for us! We were very excited. Our hotel is in Treak village, right outside of downtown Siem Reap. On the way to our hotel we saw kids washing their cows in the rivers, pigs in handmade bamboo pens, little shacks surrounded by the rice paddies that they work at everyday. Our hotel is amazingly beautiful, they give a percentage of our payment to the village, as well as employ many of the local people. After a quick rest in the hotel we took a taxi into the downtown area of Siem Reap. We went through all the night markets, ate a great dinner on the street that was packed with foreigners and locals (entrees were 1$ each), and shopped like crazy. Unlike Thailand, Cambodia is very raw, there isn't 7/11's everywhere or any western stores, rather local shops, local markets and Cambodian items. It is all very cool but it is a bit difficult to digest at first due because of how much we loved every minute of Thailand and kind of become used to that way of living. We had to start taking our malaria medication because it is present here in Siem Reap. Weirdly enough the entire country, including the government uses US dollars. Kinda crazy to think about, a third world southeast Asian country using the US dollar (however, they do have the Cambodian Riel, but pretty much only locals use it). Although today was a hectic travel day we were able to wander around Siem Reap, pick up some amazing gifts and really enjoy Cambodia's city and rural countryside.
Thanks for keeping tabs on us while we're away, it's fun to know you guys enjoy reading as much as we enjoy writing!
Love and miss you all, D & K xoxox.