Another six hour bus journey (see self-portrait of us on the very pink bus) and we're in Siem Reap, capital of all things temple-oriented, and VERY westernised. It's filled with tourists like us, all obsessed with getting the best temple experience ever. There is a "Pub St" (or "Bar St" if you're an American) and surrounding it are streets filled with restaurants, doctor fish places (yep, people really pay for fish to eat their feet), souvenir shops, tuk-tuks and anything else you can think of that a tourist might buy. The ethnic mix of tourists has balanced out here though - it seems everyone in developed nations sends tourists out here for their fix. Busloads of Japanese tourists throng the streets by day, although we haven't worked out where they go in the evening yet. I think they ship them out to themed restaurants, or else to certain hotels where they have 5-star luxury, but we have no confirmed evening sightings so far.
Our hotel is not so glam. We booked into a place on the recommendation of the two women we met on the Mekong boat trip, but I don't think they stayed in the same part of the place that we are in. There are three bits, and we're in the most basic, so I think we'll upgrade tomorrow. The room is shared with many mosi's and I found a weird worm in the shower, so not really my preferred standard of accommodation.
Food: the cculinary delights of Cambodia are mainly around the variety of fruit and vegetables available here, since I'm not a fan of BBQ meat, but JP is in his element. The photo here is a type of unripe fruit (not sure what) which is served sour, in vinegar and with chili on top. Haven't tried it as I'm not a fan of sour things, but am trying to persuade JP :)
No comments:
Post a Comment