Greetings from Cambodia!!

Hello, Leah Olson here, reporting from Siem Reap, Cambodia!
Yes, I am actually in Cambodia right now, this is so exciting. I got here this morning after waking up at 4 AM, leaving Singapore at 6AM, and arriving in Siem Reap at 7:15 AM local time.
A few weeks ago I decided to continue this journey in Cambodia, and after to Vietnam. So here I am. I am having a fantastic time and am in love with this place already and have not even been here for 12 hours. Haha. I arrive in Cambodia with a much different feel and attitude than I did arriving in Kathmandu. I remember my arrival in KTM. I was scared, nervous, ridiculously excited, the complete unknown was waiting for me. I arrive here feeling leaps and bounds different than I did then, about 5 months ago. I arrived feeling confident, excited still, but more calm, ready to take on this country. I feel much more confident in taking on what ever happens. I know this country is still completely unknown, but the street smarts I picked up in Nepal have made me feel like much more of a seasoned traveller, which I guess I am. I was not scared or nervous one tiny bit coming out of the airport. I was just ready. Ready to get to know a new culture, a new people, new food, new customs. The unknown still awaits, but I sort of known what the unknown will be: For example I will need to get used to a new money, new customs for eating, new foods, new prices, new rules for bargaining, new transportation methods, new attitudes from the people, new travelers, a new set of locals... All new, but my time in Nepal has equiped me to handle this very well. I, of course, will probably never have that almost ridiculously heart pumping excitement I had when stepping out of the Kathmandu airport. But the trade off is a great deal of confidence in new countries, an oppeness. Also, things from Nepal I have recognized here in Siem Reap and feel more familiar with them. This is still Asia, but a different region.

Well... the first thing I noticed was the airport. A very nice airport! Fast, efficient (not compared to Singapore but compared to KTM), clean. I got my visa very quickly, went through customs/immigration quickly. I emerged from the airport ready to take on the world... or just Cambodia. I had the choice to take a taxi or a moto (motorbike, what the Nepalis call "scooties," actually more like a scooter than a motorcycle). I of course chose the moto. Taking a taxi would just not be as fun. So my moto driver balanced my bag infront of him, and I got on the back (no helmets, obviously) and we jetted off to town! I told him to take me to a place called "Popular Guesthouse" which was the first one on the list of budget guesthouses in the Lonely Planet. So we drove for about 20 minutes and he dropped me off. I got the cheapest room at $3 per night. It is a nice room, reminded me of many of the guesthouse in Nepal, only, this one has a fan! Glorious! And a nice squishy mattress. It was around 9 AM by this time and I has starving. I had had nothing for breakfast except a quick cup of coffee at the airport, so I went down to the restaurant and ordered scrambled eggs with bread, and a banna coffee milkshake to celebrate my first Siem Reapian meal. The whole meal was great. The bread turned out to be this nice big baguette, perfectly crispy on the outside, and warm and chewy on the inside.
After breakfast, of course, it was time for exploration. My missions of the day were to figure out how to say hello in the language, and to figure out a big about how much things should be (difficult when you are unfamiliar with new money and people tend to inflate the prices when you walk up.) I walked all around, along the river, through a hutment colony along the river where a woman (or was it a man?) followed me for a while, into the district of Psar Chaa, all around town. After a while I got tired (and sore) because I am nursing a horrid sunburn I recieved yesterday in Singapore. (Note to self: Wear more sunscreen in the tropics. Note to self #2: Clouds do not mean the sun is not behind them... Ouch... Note to self #3: Resembling the color of the claypot prawns I had for dinner last night is NOT good.) Anyway, I stopped at a restaurant for a drink.
There are many differences here to Kathmandu, and Nepal. Maybe I shouldn't be comparing, but KTM and Nepal is all I know of undeveloped countries. I probably shouldn't compare Siem reap and Kathmandu, I think Phenom Penh would probably be more appropriate to compare to Kathmandu, but oh well.
Observations:
-Preffered mode of transport for locals: Moto and bicycle
-Roads seemed to be generally pretty smoothlypaved, and quite wide compared to the tiny alleys of Kathmandu.
-The "petrol stations" are little shelves set up by people along the side of the road with bottles that used to have whiskey, Sprite or Coke in them, now full of petrol! At first, I couldn't figure out what these were, but I soon figured out they were petrol. You can stop along the side of the road and fill up your moto with a liter of petrol through a funnel the stalls have on hand.
-There doesn't seem to be too many loose animals on the roads. I have seen a few large cows off in the grass, but they are not on the road. I also saw some what I think were baby turkeys pecking about in a trash pile. Also a dog here and there, but nothing like KTM.
-The place seems relatively clean and pollution free. Nice!!
-The place seems much more... developed? At least sort of, compared to KTM. Actually I mean, more... aesthetically pleasing? I don't know what I mean, but I'll think about it and report later.
-There are not so many beggars and street children.
-The level of hassles are exponentially less than in KTM. All I have encountered so far is: "Lady, you want a moto ride?"or "Lady, you want tuk tuk?" But I kindly say no, and they seem to realize that no means no. Then again, this is probably one thing I should not compare KTM with Siem Reap. Siem Reap feels a bit more like Pokhara, Nepal than Kathmandu.
-The tourists are different here. Less hippies. Less dreadlocks. Less unshaved body parts. More... chic (?) tourists, I guess you could say.
-More street food! Yay! I can't wait to test it all out. So far I have tried grilled squished bananas. They are baby bananas on a skewer, grilled, and then squished flat. Yum!!! They seem to run about 500 riel for a skewer of 4 bananas.
-Psar Chaa, which I think is the tourist district is much more laid back than the tourist district of Kathmandu called Thamel. Much less activity.
-Sidewalks! ahhh this is so nice! Alot of the restaurants have outdoor seating on the sidewalks which makes for good people watching. Nice!
-I went to an awesome market called the Old Market in Psar Chaa. This is really a cool market! I love going to these sorts of vegetable, fruit, and meat markets in Asia. They are just pulsing with life, smells, sounds, people. Fantastic. I can't wait to go back and try to figure out what some of the strange potiony things are, and what all the hanging meat parts are.
-I hired a tuk-tuk to take me on a mini sightseeing tour of Siem Reap. We became friends and I decided to hire him tomorrow to take me on my first day to see the Angkor temples. He took me all around town on his tuk tuk, which is a carriage thing pulled by a moto. Very comfortable! Very different than the Nepali rickshaws, haha. Both good in their own unique way. Anyway, I got a good feel for the town. We stopped and I bought us each a skewer of grilled squished bananas.
-One thing I have noticed: there seems to be more of a gap here between rich and poor than in Kathmandu. There seem to be an abundance of Realllllllllly nice hotels here, and then right near are little tin shanty town things. Interesting.

Well anyway, there are some first day impressions. All in all, I LOVE THIS PLACE!! Siem Reap is awesome! I am having a great time exploring, and basking in the glory of being a bit more travel smart than my first day in KTM. It makes the whole thing a lot more rewarding, a lot faster, because I am more familiar with this sort of place. It is great! Wonderful people! Extremely friendly! Beautiful place, and I havn't even been to Angkor Wat yet! Also, good food! Yum, I can't wait to try some Khmer food for dinner.

Tomorrow I am going to the Angkor temples with my tuk tuk driver at 10 am. I think I will get a 1 week pass for the temples so I can thoroughly explore the compound of tuk tuk, moto, bike and foot. I will report more later!!!

Signing off, from Siem Reap.