siem reap, day 1

we arrived early this morning and were very tired from being up since 4am! so early! immigration took what felt like forever at the siem reap airport. there was a lot of waiting and it seemed like people were being turned away at random. neither of us had any problems, so that was good. we had arranged airport transportation with our hotel before arriving and we were very happy to see a sign with my name on it. the driver took us past angkor wat on the way to the hotel.

wow.

it was amazingly huge. we were very excited to finally be in siem reap. the hotel, hanuman alaya, was amazing. the staff were all incredibly helpful, kind, considerate and all around nice. the grounds were amazing. we felt transported to some type of paradise! we wish we could stay there for 2.5 months! anyways, we checked into our room and headed to the restaurant to grab a second breakfast, seeing as it was only 10:30 in the morning, but 5 hours after we had eaten breakfast! joe headed to the room for a nap while i hung out by the pool and interneted for a few minutes.

well rested, we headed into town to see what was going on. our driver had mentioned that the water festival was starting the next day and we were very excited to hear that - it's a once a year festival that completely turns the capital, phnom penh, upside down. while walking around, we were able to see everyone setting up. it was pretty cool.

we dined at khmer family restaurant (one of the many by the same name) and enjoyed a pitcher of tiger beer together. we were excited to get a pitcher. it's been a while. after dinner we wandered around the night market and were way too distracted to really do any shopping, which was fine.