April 3: Walking Around Siem Reap (Christi's First Day in Cambodia).
Out of the rain! On April 2nd, I crossed into Cambodia and headed to Siem Reap to see the renowned Temples of Angkor. While I've crossed many borders with Tauru in 2008, this was my first solo land-crossing, and it was very exciting! One more visa in my passport.
The French had colonized Cambodia until the 50s and had a strong presence here until the Khmer Rouge times of the 70s, so many of the buildings are very fine colonial relics. This includes my guest house.
I splurged on a $9 room, complete with TV, fridge (that I never plugged in) and hot shower. Very nice.
The hallway of my hotel - it rather seemed like an old school building to me.
Cambodian hotels post signs, usually stating the obvious such as "lock up your valuables" and so on. This one struck me - "Do not sex with children: it's crime." Really?
The stairs in my hotel leading to a common room. This place was really proper and had so much character. It was like staying in a really old, posh house.
The common area - love all the wood.
Okay, enough with the guest house already. Time to walk around Siem Reap.
The thing about Cambodia is that all of the main attractions are temples of some kind or another. Here is some wat in Siem Reap. I was just going for a semi-aimless stroll and happened upon it.
Nice wat. Getting me excited to see Angkor Wat. And boy is it hot.
A bit further up the road I wandered into this Wat. I believe this is Wat Bo, which is also sometimes spelled Wat Pho, which makes me think of noodles. Mmm, pho bo... anyway - lots of stupas all around. I felt like a tiny pawn on a giant chess board like in Harry Potter.
A video of Wat Pho Bo.
The river.
The river and the gardens - not a bad little city!
Some funky looking flowers.
The royal gardens - saw a man doing tai chi by the fountain - good place for it.
I guess I can't get away from the kimchi! I really don't miss Korean food, but I do miss my little Kimchi Kitty!
Bless you.
Or was that a Jew Korean? That seems rare... hmm.
The Old Market in Siem Reap - souvenirs on the outside, produce and meats on the inside, and street kids everywhere.
Siem Reap and the many tuk-tuks waiting to take you somewhere.
Lots of places to chill out after a day at the temples.
OMG-OMG-OMG-OMG-OMG!!!
They have my slugcakes!! I am so happy! And here, they are only 500r, or about $0.12 each. Coconut, pumpkin, casava melon, banana, black rice... hooray!
Grilled meat anyone? But then, Tauru is somewhere in the desert eating lots of pinto beans - he'd sure love this!
I was really excited to find a night market, but sadly, it was not a food market. They just had lots of trinkets and souvenirs and many places offering cheap massages.
