So we get to Siem Reap and are greeted by a friendly tuktuk driver, who insists on showing us his guesthouse before taking us to the one we want to go to, so what the hey, we check it out, and no its a bamboo fan room with a single bed (I just want a nice room! * in desperation*) so he takes us to another one which actually turns out to be really nice, so we get a pretty luxurious room for $15 and I'm so happy!! Air con, comfy bed with real spring mattress, nice pillows, cable tv, white sheets, hot water shower, you get the picture).We found a really nice restaurant in the old market area - Khmer family restaurant - nice little candles on the table - comfy chairs and a traditional Cambodian group playing music traditional music just next to the restaurant. They served up some brilliant Amok - the Cambodian specialty dish - meat cooked in coconut and lemongrass curry served in a banana leaf bowl with rice. (see pic above) Yum!! And the fresh spring rolls are great there too, by fresh I mean they aren't deep fried or cooked at all.
The next day we spent exploring the Angkor temples. Our tuk tuk driver from the bus station took us around all day for $12 which we thought was a pretty good deal for them, but then again they really just sit in a hammock in a restaurant for most of the day while they wait for us - its a hard life hey... but on the other hand they're only earning $12 a day (this is a lot to them though).Anyway we went to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom & Bayon tmeple, and Tha Phrom I think it's called - the one with the trees growing through the temples. It was pretty amazing - definitely worth all the travel to get there, it is incredible walking around such ancient temples that are in such good condition (some more than others).
This was all we could manage in one day - they are massive and it is hot and tiring walking around them - we did a good 7 hours or so before calling it quits. We don't usually go back to a restaurant twice but we went back to the same one for some more Amok - it was so good and figured we probably won't ever come back to Cambodia so might as well. We met a very down-to-earth American guy sitting at the table next to us travelling by himself, turns out he despises America and will never go back. He has a solar panel business in China that runs itself and earns him a good living so he's pretty much just travelling the world trying to find a new country to live in. Very interesting! His parents were travelling jugglers! We had a great time chatting to him...Not much else exciting to report about Cambodia - we got a bus back to Phnom Penh the next day, found a nice guesthouse run by a Norwegian guy right near where the bus dropped us off - oh and I had a really nice spaghetti carbonara that night!!! The best food that's not Asian in my whole trip I think. We took off the next morning on a bus from Phnom Penh to Saigon, Vietnam. :-)
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