Siem Reap

What a surprise, coming from dusty villages and places lost to time, the lights and smells of Siem Reap is an onslaught. Then you get to Pub Street, a real tourist mecca or traveller hell. Depending on your point of view and what you are looking for, if its cheap booze, tacky nightclubs, overpriced ‘authentic’ restaurants then you’ve come to the right place! 

Despite this, we did actually enjoy Siem Reap itself. Cycling everywhere and feeling the excitement was in the air, for in a few days it would be the countries biggest celebration, Cambodian New Year! 

We met a French photographer, Theirry Diwo, who’d moved here right after Pol Pot’s demise. He he had a lovely gallery of Buddhist relics and a great collection of memorabilia from post Communist Cambodia. Including a book of photos showing the mass exodus of Siem Reap in 1975, when the Khmer Rouge made everyone move to the country to dig trenches. It’s actually hard to imagine your government suddenly ordering a complete evacuation of the city you live in. Try to imagine, no cars (it symbolises capitalism), you must take what you can carry and if you don’t move fast enough you’ll be shot or whipped. The photos were disturbing and moving


The city today has recovered and grown, embracing tourism, capitalism and all it’s benefits, if perhaps a little too much. However despite this there are still many NGO’s in Cambodia and spirit of good will towards the poor, that we witnessed whilst there. We visited a great French NGO called Artisans d’Angkor. They have set up training and workspace facilities for very poor people to learn a trade and then work creating handicrafts and keeping the skills alive.  They are trained in woodwork, stone cutting, metallurgy and weaving, to make and sell to tourists, creating a market for old handicrafts. Using these skills the stone cutters are able to help restore the Angkor temples too. 

By this point in our trip I was dying for a glass of good wine. So we made a pilgrimage to the best wine bar in town, and realised it was Aussie owned. We were in good hands. It also turned out to be a gay and transsexual club at night, with shows. However we were hungry and the shows were hours away. So armed with a great recommendation from two expats we had some wine with we headed out to The Sugar Palm for dinner. And wow! Apparently Gordon Ramsay went there for the fish amok recipe. Despite Gordon, we arrived and they obviously knew we were VIP’s (!) as there was one table left that night. And yes, the food was amazing!

Later on, Greg bought a jar of homemade chilli paste from a restaurant as he was constantly frustrated with the lack of chilli in tourist restaurants. Whilst we tried to haggle the lady would have none of it, and we settled on the extravagant $3 USD for the jar – which he felt was warranted and I didn’t dare disagree. It became a talking point with other tourists who noticed and asked to try it too!

I saw the Museum of Angkor which was sadly empty, it has many relics and pieces recovered from the Angkor complex, not to mention some beautiful statues. I was able to learn some Hindu myths including the Story of Ganesha. He was made out of turmeric by Parvati as she had nothing else in her cupboard, and she asked him to keep watch over the house and let no one in, as she went for a bath. Her husband Shiva returned home only to find a strange boy denying him entry. Shiva grew angry and beheaded him (Its what he did since he was Lord of War and Destruction), Parvati came and saw and was so upset with him. Shiva realised his error (don’t piss off your wife) and consulted a magician to restore Ganesha to life. “Send your armies out and the first living thing you come across, cut off its head. Then put that head on the boy’s body and the boy will return to life”. So the armies of Shiva went out and the first thing they found was an elephant. So they cut off its head, and stuck it onto the tumeric boy, who immediately came back to life. Parvati was happy, Shiva sighed in relief and Ganesha became the elephant headed god. A lovely tale and explanation of his interesting figure.


After walking so much we treated ourselves (ok more than once) to foot massage at a fantastic place known as DR FOOT. Walk in, and get comfortable, while your feet experience heaven – then leave on a soft cloud. You also get to stare at the wall full of graffitied notes left by other tourists!

The most interesting thing we did was our most ADVENTUROUS FOOD TOUR. Heading out to the local Phsar Leu night market, which is huge and oddly set up along a stretch of highway in the middle of some fields every night. Its obvious the locals of Siem Reap leave Pub street and the central market to the tourists and come here for their dinners. 

We purchased bbq food and sat down to eat it alongside the road on straw mats. Our guide passed around crickets, (nice and crunchy), roasted silk worms (nutty tasting I didn’t like them), and I even got brave and tried what looked like a cockrach/beetle thing. Once you peel the carapace off it was quite crunchy and chewy…mmm..eww. Probably not something I’ll make a habit of eating. 
However the best dish of the night was BBQ stuffed frog. Wow, we all went back for seconds, it was delicious. Honestly, I’m not joking, you must try it!
We also ate traditional cambodian green noodle soup, a pungent fish paste, tasty lotus seeds fresh from the lotus, and coconut biscuits.

Walking around the market, we saw black market petrol from Thailand (cunningly disguised in Johnny Walker bottles), arcade games, crazy neon duck train, and a fan-powered merry-go-round ( Hilarious! see the pic!). Greg triumphed and won some cookies at a shooting game, he then proceeded to hand them out to the local begging children. 

Siem Reap is full of surprises, from the outrageous touristy pub street, to the adventures food options and beautiful temples. Highly recommended!

Next up we head to Phnom Penh where we learn the origins of the city’s name, meet an aussie expat living and working in Cambodia and spend a week apart from each other!
Till next time,
Jade & Greg
xx