Day 18, Saturday 8th May, Angkor day 3, Siem Reap

Feeling considerably better, I ate the good breakfast provided by the Hotel Encore Angkor:
two eggs with toast, butter and jam, passionfruit juice, tea, fresh fruit (papaya, pineapple, apple).



Following Denise's advice, I went to the (Australian) travel agent "Unique Escapes" and booked a bus ticket to Phnom Penh. The best bus company, Mekong, left at 12:30 but that did not leave me enough time, so I booked on Paramount Angkor Express for 13:30.
At the hotel, reception had helped me book a room at the Indochine II in Phnom Penh for $20, including Wifi and DESK (Denise's tip).
After buying the bus ticket, Unique Escape called me a tuk-tuk driver who would take me to Angkor, wait while I visited, bring me back, collect bags at hotel, drive me to bus station, all for $10. He also understood English, very handy.
So I had my Angkor Pass punched for the third and last time, and started off with the temple of Bayon, which has all the faces on it. A labyrinth of walls and towers and arcades, lots to look at.

After that, terrace of the elephants,

Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas, terrace of the leper king.

Here are some picknickers, it looked like an older school class:

A good salesman pursuaded me to buy some temple rubbings on rice paper as souvenirs, here he is:

Blazing hot once again, so two hours was plenty. Rejoined my driver and returned to the hotel earlier than planned, where he preferred to wait 45 minutes while I di d some emailing, rather than forego $3 of his earnings.
Here is my driver and his tuk-tuk (actually a "remork", a trailer hitched to a moto, not one vehicle as in Bangkok). 

 
There are about 5 times as many tuk-tuk and moto drivers than there are needed, at least now in the low season. This means they pester you constantly, clucking "tuk-tuk! tuk-tuk!" at you all the time, watching you eat in restaurants, waiting for the smallest sign of departure, then leaping up and calling: "madame, madame, tuk-tuk?".

Two of the hotel staff, who were always extremely hospitable:














I got to the bus safely and on time, and was impressed to be issues with two baggage tags, one for each bag. Thes were compared meticulously at the other end in Phnom Penh.

.....