Arriving in Siem Reap, home city of Angkor Wat (Cambodia and possibly South East Asia’s biggest crowd puller), one of the officials on the bus told us that all the tourists were to get of the bus early before reaching the bus station. This was in our best interests as we would be given a free tuk tuk ride to the guesthouse of our choice, and thus avoid all the “thieves at the bus station who will steal your wallet and camera”. Somewhat sceptical we got in our free tuk tuk and where taken to, surprise surprise, the same guesthouse as all the other westerners on the bus. Rooms were ok, and reasonably priced, but no sooner had we seen the room then they started pressuring us into using the same tuk tuk driver to see the temples. We were quoted $50 for three days with this tuk tuk driver. Add that to the $40 entry fee each, we would be looking at $130 straight off. Then the tuk tuk drivers charge extra for sunset and sunrise as “overtime”. Although this is one of the seven man made wonders of the world, and everyone raves about the place, given our budget of $40 a day this was simply too much. The guys even admitted that we could find cheaper drivers in the street, but they too would steal our wallets and cameras.

Refusing to sign up we wandered into town and had a good street food dinner for less than $2. Annoyed at the harassment from our guesthouse, and at the principle of being herded there by the bus company we set off to check out another guesthouse that the previous owner of our guide book had scribbled in. Unfortunately on the way Espe twisted and badly sprained her ankle.

Looked after by some very friendly and helpful locals we ended up going off to the hospital due to the pain that Espe was suffering. On returning to the guesthouse despite carrying Espe up the stairs and explaining what had happened they continued to harass me about using their tuk tuks.

Finding myself more and more wound up (most likely due to my inability to just say no), in the morning we decided to leave. Apart from the continual harassment, the food was terrible, the service rubbish, the fan noisy and we had a sink that spewed water all over the floor. Not a nice place for Espe to spend the whole day resting.

So off I went to check out this Prince Mekong Villa that was scribbled in the guide book. The place is great. At $5 a night including free breakfast, free water refills, free bicycles use, free one time washing, free use of the cooking facilities and BBQ with a welcome drink and genuinely friendly staff, it is needless to say we moved there. Run by a Swiss chap who has been working in SE Asia for 20 years, I’m impressed by this place. So, here’s the free plug, if you come to Siem Reap, make sure you stay at the Prince Mekong Villa.

Due to Espe’s ankle we’ve done very little, basically just relaxing and reading in the hammocks in the garden. Espe is feeling better today (she sprained it on Thursday) but we are going to put off our visit to the Angkor complex for another day, which we will do on push bike thus saving some cash, giving a nice up yours to the tuk tuk drivers who wound me up so much and having the freedom to do what we want when we want.