We spent nine days in Siem Reap, phenomenally long considering the town itself is nothing but a tourist hub for people visiting the temples, but we had a grand time!
We checked into a cheap little guest house on the edge of all the action. £3.60 a night got us a large double room, cheap polyester sheets and a bathroom smaller than most wardrobes. The owner was great fun though. (Boomerang Guest House)
When we weren't visiting the temples we spent our time around the pool of a nearby (classier) hotel, got $3 massages that included a free beer, walked up and down the river, shopped, and over indulged in some amazing food and drink. There are so many bars and restaurants in Siem Reap that we were completely spoiled for choice; from super cheap roadside restaurants to five star steak houses, there's everything you could ever wish to eat here. One evening we went to Temple Bar, slap bang in the middle of 'Pub Street', and sat down for a fancy meal and traditional Apsara dance show. The meal turned out to be quite shambolic; upon sitting at a table overlooking the busy street, we were lectured by one of the waiters on the political corruption in the Government, how Vietnam is taking over Cambodian businesses, and on his opinions of the neighboring countries. Finally, 20 minutes later, we were able to pick up the menu and order a bottle of wine - much anticipated after a whole month of drinking only beer! The wine (French Chardonnay) took another 30 minutes to arrive, and the food came on a banana leaf platter with no plates. Fortunately is was delicious and the Apsara dancing was very pleasant. Another one of our regular haunts was on the edge of the market, one of the cheapest and perhaps best places to eat in town. However, after eating there a few times we came to recognise the exhausted face of the one waiter, who served there from open to close (breakfast til late evening), and that of his young son who worked there instead or perhaps as well as going to school.
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| The massage doubled as a Khmer lesson; we impressed and amused the masseurs with our rudimentary language skills. |
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| Swimming pool at neighbouring Riverside Hotel. |
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| Fancy, but where are the plates? |
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| Apsara dancing at Temple Bar |
When we weren't eating we did manage a few cultural museum and temple visits: The Angkor National Museum, for an extortionate $12 each, was rubbish. The artifacts that were spread across eight galleries could easily have fit into one. The written information was repeated over and over and the displays were much of the same in each gallery. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless you're seriously into archaeology and/or ancient history. The one thing I did take away from the museum visit was a better understanding of the religions in the region; how Cambodia was once an Hindu country and how that transformed into Buddhism, and in fact, Angkor Wat is a Hindu Temple. We took bikes out to the Land Mine Museum, which again was not worth the $5 entrance fee. In fact to call it a museum is to use a lot of poetic license. It comprised two sheds containing a handful of artillery: land mines, grenades, missiles, etc. The bonus was that $2 from the entrance fee is donated to the local childrens hospital, which we had to pass in order to get to the museum, and to the temples on the other days. The pavement on each side of the road outside the hospital are lined, day in day out, from dawn til dusk, with mothers shading small children from the heat of the sun. A sign above the entrance informs tourists of an outbreak of severe hemorrhagic dengue fever. It was sad and distressing to see, and although we were too wimpy to donate blood, at least some of our tourist money was going to the hospital.
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| Preah Prom temple in the city centre. |
On one of our less energetic days I did a 'restorative' yoga class above a vegan cafe (Peace Cafe); it was in a traditional raised wooden building and the rain drumming on the tin roof above the dimly lit room was very atmospheric. I was so relaxed afterwards that I had to go for a massage! Peace cafe also advertises free Khmer classes on weekends, we showed up both days at the specified time but found no Khmer lesson.
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| Tuk-tuk driver having a snooze in the afternoon heat. |
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| Rainbow after a heavy rain shower. |
