Siem Reap

The final guy on the High school friends group to get married. Everybody is so grown up.

Beautiful wedding. Sometimes it's weird, my memories of these boys are frozen in time. From year 7 to year 12, which is over 17 years ago. It's unusual seeing them doing adult things. Getting married, having families, it feels like I'm a spectator watching a film.

Supposed to come back on Sunday, whole wedding party leaving for Phnom Penh. I've done zero sightseeing this trip. Hotel, pool, read, sleep. One more day of chilling out before another midterm exam ...

Cambodian Consumption

We would ultimately get sick of eating Cambodian food. This was probably due to not having local intel of where and what to eat. That being said we indulged in our fair share of Cambodian delicacies.

Khmer Dipping sauces

Forgot the name of this lamb dish?

Amok Curry

Fresh Food Markets

Street Side Roast Beef with suspect fresh Vegetables

Khmer Curry

Beef Lok Lak with Fries

Banana Pancakes

Cambodian Baguette

Rice Noodle Soup

Complimentary Casino Congee

Local Brew

1USD is all you need

We arrived in Cambodia with low expectations and a tight budget. Poipet had been a pleasant surprise and we were still charged with enthusiasm when we eventually arrived in Siem Reap later that afternoon.

Here we met up with one of my friend's Brothers who would join us for the remainder of our trip. The three days were spent at the Frangipani Villa Hotel in Siem Reap, a very comfortable hotel for those on a budget. My only complaint was the angle of the shower head fixture and the lack of an elevator (In any case I probably needed the steps given the amount of food consumed since leaving Hong Kong). For the remainder of the first day we hired the services of Ken, a Tuk Tuk driver who brought us to the various markets and was responsible for one of the entertaining Karaoke sessions in my life.

Day 2 was spent exploring the Angkor National Park (20USD) the main attractions being Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. It was a long day spent wiping the sweat from our brows and constantly searching for shade from the sun. Consequently we retired early after a quick beer on Pub Street and a well deserved Cambodian massage.

We arose relatively early on Day 3 and headed to the Cambodian Land Mine Museum. Two days was more than enough in Siem Reap. I especially enjoyed the Tuk Tuk rides along the picturesque banks of the Siem Reap River and the lush gardens surrounding the city. Still, it feels like the city of Siem Reap is driven by tourism, everything here costs one USD dollar. I wonder if it will develop into an Egypt-esque setup where tourists reign supreme and the locals struggle - forced to the harass and swindle the tourists just to get by.

To get to our next destination our budget afforded us only one option. A public bus. For 8USD we climbed into the coach that promised to have us at the Cambodian Capital in 'around six hours'.