Siem Reap

The cab from Poipet to Siem Reap took about two hours and cost US$45. To pass the time, we played Go Fish and took naps. Lada spoke to Narin in Thai, asking him about Cambodia. He in turn asked all about us, and taught us some bare-bones Khmer. Six through ten in Khmer are expressed as five-something: six is "five one," nine is "five four," etc.

We arrived outside Siem Reap at about 2. Narin couldn't bring his taxi any farther into town, so he dropped us off near some tuktuks. He made it clear that we were not to pay the tuktuks, that he had already taken care of it. We found a tuktuk with a driver and a guy who spoke good English, and took off for town. On the ride, the guy flat-out ignored Lada. It wasn't until she spoke up in English that he seemed to acknowledge her.

The first guest house we arrived at was pretty nice. The guy's price was US$18 per night for one bedroom. We decided to shop around some, and got back in the tuktuk. The second place was full. The third place, called Ancient Angkor, had a two-bed with AC for $18, and a two-bed as single for $15. Tired of looking more than anything, we agreed, paid, dropped off our stuff, and went for a walk.

Siem Reap has a paved main road and a whole lot of dirt side roads. There are street vendors everywhere, and stores selling bottled water, produce, and cooked goodies. Tuktuks, motorbikes, and cars zoom by everywhere you go, and there are almost as many tourists as locals running around.

We ducked in for lunch at an Indian restaurant. After gorging ourselves on curry, tandoori chicken, and naan, we stopped at a store to exchange currency, only to find out that Cambodia uses US dollars almost exclusively. (They use their riel for denominations lower than US$1.) The exchange was about 4000 riel to one dollar, so they'd give 1000-riel notes as quarters.

Wandering back to the guest house, we chilled out in our rooms until dinnertime. We headed out at 7, taking Lonely Planet's advice and aiming for Pub Street. The name is fitting, as the road is packed with restaurants and bars, obviously the main tourist trap in town. We chose a restaurant, recommended by LP, that featured live dancers. It reminded me of Bali, but it wasn't as good, of course.

I ordered the crab sandwich. As you can tell by the picture, something got lost in translation. Augustin, meanwhile, got Amok trey, a green curry with chicken. It was awesome.

After dinner, we went to a bar across the street and talked over drinks. Augie mentioned how surprised he is at how much I've opened up and chilled out. I guess he was worried I'd wuss out on some stuff, like I did for the drag show back in Myers. Anyway, we headed back to the guest house and got to bed at about 11.