Friday, October 24, 2008

Siem Reap

Siem Reap is a cool little town, the old market is quaint and easily walkable outside of the mid day heat. We ended up spending a large chunk of the first day trying to find a mid range hotel with a decentwifi connection (one that would load a page in less than four minutes). No luck.

Some of the roads were a little bouncy...


We're not really in to traipsing around temples all day (let alone in extreme temperatures) so we planned to only spend a couple of hours visiting Angkor Wat and Ta Phrom. At 5:30am the crowds were already beginning to thicken and the touts were closing in. I was asked if I wanted tea, coffee or breakfast about 10 times in 10 minutes. Unfortunately the sunrise was a bit of afizzer so after wondering around for a bit we headed to Ta Phrom.

Somewhere between Angkor Wat and Ta Phrom I lost the park entry tickets. I think someone pinched them out of my back pocket, perhaps mistaking them for money. Who knows but we were still able to drive around the area, which we enjoyed just as much as being able to walk around Angkor Wat.

We tried to get into TaPhrom because it was the temple I wanted to see the most but they weren't having it. In hindsight, I reckon the best way to see the sites would be in a helicopter.

In the Old Market area of Siem Reap we found this funky vegetarian restaurant which we were quite excited about. The space was well furnished and it had some really nice finishing touches;
such as a funky little pepper grinder boxy thing, hand crafted cutlery and icy cold towels.




The kebabs were tasty and fresh, especially with the pepper sauce (although a tad over priced).
Bighead's green mango salad was a bit of a let down but the rest of the menu sounded like it would be worth exploring.

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