Day Nine - Siem Reap Temple-Free

Aw, no more temples. When planning our trip, we decided to stay an extra day in Siem Reap so we'd have time to check out the town and surrounding areas. Here's what we did.

The Happy Ranch Horse Farm. This farm is a ten minute ride outside of town. We had considered booking a trail ride here (they're highly rated on Trip Advisor), but I let my allergies win out. And, I'm not gonna lie, BoonPak wrecked my thighs, and riding a horse did not sound like fun.

I still wanted to see the Cambodian horses, they're smaller and have zebra-like manes compared to Quarter Horses. We asked the friendly Australians that run the place if we could take photos, and they were fine with it.

As Mr. Han drove us back to town, he stopped when he saw a chicken fighting a duck.

Chicken vs Duck. Victory went to the Chicken.

He said it was a one in a million sight to see and was so excited.

On our orientation drive around town upon our arrival to Siem Reap, we drove past a park that we vowed to come back to. It's a beautiful, peaceful place across from the Grand Hotel.

Many, many fruit bats hung from the trees. They looked so small hanging so high up, but when one would occasionally fly from branch to branch, they were shockingly large. Fortunately, they sound like birds, which helped neutralize the fear factor.

I sat on a park bench and journaled. On my bench arm, I watched a spider trick and kill a fly. Oh cruel world.


Mr. Han was kind enough to pose for a photo at the park.

If you want an excellent driver and guide when in Angkor Wat, I cannot recommend him highly enough and he truly enhanced our visit. If you would like to book him for your visit, he can be contacted by e-mail at hanmony005 (at) yahoo dot com.

We had Mr. Han drop us off downtown near a section of town known for giving cheap haircuts. Hubs got a fine $2 haircut. One of the men in the shop was fascinated with our camera, and Hubs let him play with it during his haircut. He actually took some excellent photos, this being one of them:

We walked back over to Pub Street for lunch at Le Tigre D'Papier. I had Khmer Cannelloni, a mild chicken curry wrapped in rice paper, covered with cheese, and baked until golden (served with bread). It was good, but too rich. Curry + cheese = too much. And now I know. Not every cuisine needs an Italian twist :)

Hubs made a more sensible choice of Beef Fried Noodles and they were delicious.

We went back to the hotel and Mr. Han picked us up to go to Tonle Sap Lake. The journey there was foretelling, the roads were gutted with potholes from the floods. These potholes made Chicago potholes feel like golf course divots.

I now look back, and can say without a doubt that the living conditions on the Tonle Sap Lake are the poorest and saddest I've ever seen. You know how you always see poverty-stricken cultures in Africa and everyone is always amazed at how happy and smiling the people are despite their poverty? I guess that's what I was expecting on the Tonle Sap Lake. Cambodia is a third world country. They've been through terrible, terrible hardships in the last half century. And the people do seem happy and resilient. But not the people on the Tonle Sap Lake.

Most of the homes are simply large wooden row boats with hut-like structures on top of them to make a home. It's hot and smelly. Of everywhere I've been in the world, this is the place I'd least like to live.

Mr. Han's commentary didn't help. He said he once lived on the Tonle Sap Lake as a fisherman and only slept a few hours each night out of fear that his expensive and coveted fishing nets would be stolen. He also coldly mentioned that the mosquitoes were terrible at night.

Okay, I know that was a lot of negativity in the last couple paragraphs. I don't know what I expected to gain from visiting the Tonle Sap Lake. I suppose I just wanted to see a community that was built on water, unlike anything I'd ever seen. And it was unlike anything I'd ever seen. I left feeling so blessed for the life I have.

When I got back to the hotel, I did what any over-privileged, guilt ridden person would do. I got a facial. It wasn't the best, but for $10 it was fine.

For dinner, we went to Koulen Restaurant, a huge banquet hall, to watch traditional Khmer dancing. The food was selection was massive, buffet style, and I ate too much. The dancing was unique; slow, controlled movements, very hard to do and they made it look easy. All the music was played by musicians positioned next to the stage, which was a great touch. At the end, you could go onstage and have your photo taken with the dancers, which was hilarious because the dancers looked so uncomfortable with it.

Equally awkward for all involved.

Back at the hotel, I tried to have a cocktail, but I was too tired to drink most of it, physically and emotionally.