Siem Reap: Hotel de la Paix

Exactly a week ago, S and I went on a little holiday to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

I thought a long weekend holiday to a neighbouring Southeast Asian city would be a cliche (nothing but gwailow men and asian partner in tow), but it wasn't! The airport was crowded, yes, but we left it all behind, and touched down to a very windy, stormy-looking Siem Reap. (When the plane we were in was circling Siem Reap, the pilot made an announcement that made us laugh out loud: "We are unable to land at the moment as the tailwind is currently at 13 knots. It has to be below 10 knots before we are allowed to land. So, meanwhile, we will circle Siem Reap until the wind slows down, or.. until we run out of fuel". Seriously?!) We were very quickly whisked away by a driver from the hotel, down a very straight road down to town in.. 10 minutes! Siem Reap is small.

OK - what is a holiday without a nice hotel? Especially short getaways like these, the hotel is almost the holiday itself. We un-guiltily spent mornings and some afternoons lazing in the hotel instead of temple-sightseeing.

Hotel de la Paix is ultra-modern in some ways, sophisticated and beautiful. I booked a Courtyard Garden room that had a semi-outdoor terrazzo bathtub. Oh.. bliss! I let the pictures do the talking.

















OK I have to admit I enjoyed - the lotus flower placed next to clean white fluffy towels, the silk bathrobes, the super-strong water pressure from the old-fashioned rain shower head, the terrazzo bathtub, the terrazzo flooring, the clean white crisp bed sheets (what's with clean white sheets and happiness?), ipod in the room filled with lounge music, the coke-laced cookie/muffin thingy after every turn down, the eucalyptus/cucumber/lemongrass shampoo mix, the breakfast, the option to have a two-hour breakfast with unlimited cups of latte, the very cool refreshing lemongrass-scented towels offered whenever we step back into the hotel lobby from the heat of Cambodia, the location, the swimming pool..

but what I really liked most was not having to care about cleaning up after myself! ha. We would return to our room and it was spotlessly clean and tidied again. I fantasized about living in this hotel in this manner, forever, with Kiya and Louie having the run of the courtyard, while soaking in the tub..