Siam Reap: our saviour of Cambodia
I have made no effort to hide my disappointment with Cambodia. Unfortunately, up until this point it just didn’t seem to offer what other traveler’s said it did. That is until we reached Siam Reap. The place is gorgeous, remarkably so, with great shopping and good bars. The place seems much more accessible, smaller, and less threatening, than Phnom Phenm, and therefore much more charismatic and likable.
The food here seems a little more Khmer than in the capital too, and tomorrow night after spending the day at Angkor Wat, I’m hoping to try out a feast of different meats – yes, my nemesis the snake being included in this.
Last night we relaxed in a bar in the imaginatively named ‘Bar St.’ It was cheap and reasonably ambient. There was a point of near drama though when the waitress couldn’t accept my $10 note as payment because it looked ‘too old.’ I was flabbergasted, I’m aware that if a dollar note is ripped or torn in anyway they are liable to being rejected in Cambodia, but the $10 that I offered as payment was perfectly intact, just mysteriously too aged to be accepted. With enough smiling in Cambodia though, most things are easily sorted, and the waitress eventually accepted the money. Lucky really, I didn’t have any more on me.
Last night we ate in a rather posh looking ally of restaurants just off of Bar Street. While posh looking, and great tasting, the food is still only around $9 for the both of us, including beers. While we were eating, I was amazed at the table next to us. I mean, really, how did the old European with a horrific comb-over, paunched belly and painfully unstylish clothes manage to bag himself a much younger, well kept and flirtatious Cambodian lady? Answers on a postcard please.
Tags: Cambodia, Siam Reap, Travel
mikeloken
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