Feb 18

On the Mekong Express bus to Siem Reap.  On the way from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh, we met a quirky strange annoying woman from Idaho...a social studies teacher. She was organizing everyone and everything...talking loud and to everyone. And when we boarded this bus to head to Siem Reap, she was on this one too. Argghh!! There are many bus companies and various bus schedules so to be with her again was our bad fortune...lol The bus ride was long...6 hrs and uneventful. We did see a lot of home on stilts for when the Mekong floods.  We had a bus "pit stop" We arrived at our hotel after having a stressful haggle with the tuk tuk driver for pricing. We immediately went for a swim to cool off.  We are staying in a boutique, 8 room hotel that is a bit out of the noise of Siem Reap. Our room is palatial. It even has a soaker tub...we are not sure who would use it in this heat??  We decided to walk into town for a bite to eat. These are some delicacies we did not try 🤢 It was so hot and humid that we were not really interested in eating but we did share a pizza and beer.  Once a year the town has a puppet festival. We were lucky to see the parade. All the huge puppets were made of bamboo skewers, crepe paper and lights.  The tourist area downtown Siem Reap is crazy, loud and bright