Thursday, February 1

We had a last breakfast in the room to finish up the food and then headed by taxi to Changi airport for our flight to Siem Reap. Our next stop was the SATS priority lounge — thanks Sapphire Reserve card. We had an easy 2-hour flight on Silk Airlines.

We had our e-visas ahead of time (very easy to upload passport-type head shots, fill in the online form, and get back e-visas to print).

When we got to Cambodia we headed quickly over to Passport Control, skipping the visa line, but lost our place in line because the packet handed out in Singapore had an arrival form as well as the visa form, and we didn’t have arrival forms filled out. Once we did that, we got back in line at Passport Control, got our luggage, and met Mony Pech, our guide for the time we were going to be in Siem Reap.

By the way, Mony, a Siem Reap local, was a great guide and person. Can’t recommend him more highly. We got his name from some friends who had been there in November. He has driven for a delegation with the Clintons, a delegation with Nancy Pelosi, and personally guided Michelle Obama. Not only can he explain in detail each temple and its significance, but he knows all the best photo spots and loves taking great shots of us with our phones, including steady panoramas.

Mony drove us in a Honda CRV to the Shinta Mani Angkor, where we had a refreshing drink while we checked in, then headed to room 112 up a flight of stairs. The Shinta Mani is a gorgeous boutique hotel with 39 rooms, great design and architecture, and a staff that couldn’t be nicer.

After relaxing for about an hour, Mony picked us up at 4:30 to get 3-day picture passes at the central ticket agency and then catch the sunset at Pre Rup. (The ticket starts on the next day as our first visit is in the evening.)

"Pre Rup, Rajendravarman II's state temple built in the late 10th century, is a classic temple-mountain with five towers on a raised platform, dedicated to Shiva. Built from red brick, laterite, and sandstone, the temple sits amidst two enclosure walls with four small gopuras (entrance gateways) at the cardinal points." We entered the south gate, walked around clockwise to the east gate. We followed Mony around to hear about the temple.

Indra (god of rain and other random things), one of the oldest Hindu deities, sat on Airavata, the three-headed elephant.

This linga (a symbol of divine generative energy) shrine area is an echo-chamber. You stand with your back to the wall, thump your chest, and get an amazing echo. Clapping doesn’t work. You need the hollow of your chest to make the noise. This is Mony showing us how to do it.

Another shrine with Mony and Larry.

Looking down at a long house.

Looking down to the east, with one of the libraries on the right.

We got back to the hotel around 6:30, relaxed a while, then walked to Chanrey Tree for dinner which is on the west side of the river (as is our hotel). We had Fish Amok (traditional Khmer curry with steamed river fish) and Prahok Ktish, a Cambodian delicacy of fermented fish, pork, and thinly sliced river fish braised with coconut cream.

We headed back to the hotel and crashed.