Siem Reap

Siem Reap is the famous town in North West Cambodia, the home of the incredible complex of Wat's from the Angkor Empire, which once stretched across Thailand, Lao, Vietnam and Cambodia.  The most famous of course is Angkor Wat.  While the city is on the Tol Sap river, which flows through to PhonPenn, the only real reason to come here is the Angkor Archaeological Area, the town itself has been engulfed by the resultant tourism.

The main street

The bus trip from Phnom Penh was as uneventful as it can be in Cambodia, dodging scooters on the right side of the road, buffalo and trucks passing three wide.  We arrived in Siem Reap, late in the afternoon, heading straight to the room of our guesthoue the Tanei Guesthouse, near the middle of Siem Reap township, several km's from the Wat complex.  We had a shower and headed down to the markets

Markets, markets everywhere

to have a look around before coming back to the Guesthouse to have dinner  One thing that seems to hold true is the ordinary quality of the meals in the hotels and guest houses we have stayed at.  We  normally get great meals at superb prices at the little roadside stalls and eateries.  Just around the corner fro the Guesthouse, we had a wonderful meal at a little roadside eatery on the last night for all of $5, including drinks.

Pub Street, packed with westerners in the evening

Trying frog at a restaurant on "Pub Street"

If you are into markets the ones in Siem Reap are worth a visit, Toni picked up a handmade silk top and matching hand bag silk bag for about $15, the lady who made it was also selling it and adjusted it for her on the spot.  Superb service.

Toni getting her top adjusted

The Cambodia (Khmer) People
The Cambodians on the whole were an incredibly likeable people, the invariable question of where you were from was often answered with the embarrassing, "G'day Mate", do we really speak like that ? Perhaps Kath 'n Kim was more documentary then comedy ?.I found myself saying it a few times and started self admonishing myself over it.  While you are assailed by touts, you need to keep in mind they are only trying to make a living and learnig a little Khmer to speak to them was nearly always rewared in smiles from them, even if we were rushed.  Most Cambodians we dealt with spoke good to very good English and it seems to be one way for them to get a better job by learning the English Language, which is one of the reasons Toni wants to go back and work with the Orphans, to give them a better start in life..  Toni took to the Khmer language incredibly quickly and was soon starting to converse with the locals and improver her linguistic skills by having them engage her in conversation, I was content to simply learn from her hardwork.