As exhausted as I was after a day exploring the temples, my friend and I ended up sleeping in for the first time until 9 am yesterday morning!!!! That’s the luxury of having a private room and NOT having 8-10 people coming in and out of the dorm roomJ Both of us piddled around and actually didn’t even leave our hostel until about 11:30am. It was the best feeling not having a schedule or plans to sightsee around. We got on bikes (free use from our hostel) and headed into the main town area for some brunch at our favorite place since getting into Siem Reap. We will surely miss this place and the owners knew our loyalty to them everytime we walked in. You just can’t go wrong with 50 cent shakes, complimented by a photo menu (always helpful in a foreign country). From the picture menu, we found it ironic that the FRESH fruit shakes were 50 cents and the juice drinks out of a carton were $1. Its just so funny how fresh fruit is cheaper than boxed here in these countries, yet fresh is always better for us as we all know!
Breakfast was the best coffee shake ever and a HUGE plate of cucumbers, tomatoes, triangle cheese, a warm baguette and 2 eggs. Everything we felt like as we continued our day on the bikes exploring the outer parts of the city and other various temples (Wats). After working up a sweat we decided to pay $3 and use the lovely pool at the hostel next door to ours. It was just what we needed as we cooled off, read and slept pool side with nothing better to do but relax! Today’s temperature was definitely cooler with a bit of cloud cover and even some droplets of light rain throughout the day, which was usually followed up by the sun reappearing. Tonight’s temperature was just perfect!
After our swim, we headed into town to do our last bit of market shopping and our last dinner at the local restaurant we love. We knew exactly what we were going to order tonight and that was something very traditional Cambodian – Khmer “Amok” fish. It is basically a very light curry and vegetable (with fish) dish. It was delicious with rice and we also got some vegetable and chicken noodles and fresh spring rolls! More night shopping after that and I got a pair of “Ray Ban” sunglasses for $1.50 which should keep me going for the rest of the trip as long as they don’t breakJ
Vietnam and Cambodia both have TARO ice cream which has been the biggest hit and I am thinking that the rest of the Asian countries will have the same. Yay! Cambodia has been quick but great to visit. There is so much poverty here that I see-kids and adults coming up for you for money, shacks (literally) we saw built on the filthy riverside while biking this afternoon, victims affected by the landmines found all over the country…..and more! Yet with such heartache from history, the Cambodian people do not seem aggressive at all. In fact, they are so kind and appear like they are just longing for their country to progress.
I will miss my hostel too (the best bed and pillow!). It is called THE HAPPY GUESTHOUSE and its run by a local Cambodian family who are genuinely so happy and welcoming to everybody they meet. I woke up early to have breakfast with my dear friend one last time before we part our separate ways (Bangkok for me and Phnom Penh for her!). I really do hope she and I can reconnect in Bangladesh in April since I’ve been trying to convince her to come over while I am there! Like I have written in other blog posts---it is the people I meet on the travels that have probably been the one highlight and everything else is just a bonus. On this account, having reconnected from nearly 2 years ago meeting and traveling together in South Ameria says so much!
I have the big city of Bangkok awaiting me and my bus ride crossing the border is expected to be from 8am-3:30pm. Here we go…..!
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