South East Asia Adventure | Siesta time in Siem Reap

It's post-lunch siesta time in Siep Reap and we are comfortably lounging in the atrium (for lack of a better word) in our hotel. The central foyer of the Angkor Home hotel is made to look like the inside of a temple: open to the 7th and top floor (temples all have 7 levels). As I look up I see dark wooden bric-a-bric partitions and balcony rails at each floor. From the ceiling at the top hangs a diamond shapped lantern of sorts, and from the 6th floor three colourful long strands hang in each of the four corners--one purple, one orange and one cream coloured. We think cotton. Here on the main level each corner is a setee of sorts surrounded by wooden rails and posts, with sheer curtains pulled back and tied. Each corner has its own little pond, a concrete shell-like water feature in each, and a wooden replica of a shallow boat that looks something like a sampan. Raised above the water level are two identical mats, each with its own cushion. The cushions feel like futons, but at one end the back folds up to create a triangle-shaped backrest. There at brightly coloured toss cusions to decorate each space, and like the curtains they are safron, brown, burgundy and gold. It's all quite pretty, but busy.  Behind me is a checkerboard on a box, which I assume holds the checkers or chess pieces, and a small basket filled with marble eggs and four water fowl of some sort--perhaps ducks--of various sizes. Margaret wonders aloud if they float!  People read, sleep, lounge, cuddle, share. Lionel Ritchie is playing on the piped-in music, and the sweet scent of incense fills the space.

It's a huge contrast to the 35 degree heat outside, the tour buses, took-tooks, motorcycles and bicycles that crowd the streets, all filled with tourists, many from Korea and China, where it is cold this time of year, invade the temples, tie up the traffic, and give Siem Reap the feel of a mega destination city. Along the roadside people picnic, take pictures, feed the monkeys and take elephant rides.This afternoon we are off to Angkhor Wat, the main site here, hopefully when it is cooler, and possibly a massage before dinner and a cultural dance show.