Holiday in Cambodia
Cambodia! Country number 5! Woot woot. We came to Siem Reap exclusively for the purposes of seeing Angkor Wat. Turns out Siem Reap is a pretty cool city regardless of the insanely massive ancient temple complex sitting a mile up the road. There are tons of cute shops selling some really nice and original stuff, tons of very good food, and a shitload of motorbikes. Wouldn't be SE Asia without the motorbikes.
Many of the shops and restaurants also openly support causes. Like donating money to kids and education, relief for people affected by the genocide, opportunities for young people, etc etc.. People seem to have a strong desire to give back and do good here. Cambodians are also very nice, and speak good English. It's not that we need people to speak English to enjoy a place, but it doesn't hurt. Communicating effectively puts Jazmyne and myself at ease. So do nice people.
Not sure if I've said this yet, but if you find yourself wanting to go to Thailand, what you really want is to visit Laos or Cambodia. I had a great time in Thailand, and would recommend going if you have an extended period of time to travel, but if you only have 2-3 weeks and wanted the best SE Asian flavor you could find, Thailand is not the place.
Yet again, we see Jazmyne bravely crossing through a see of buzzing motorbikes. She may or may not be mad at me for crossing the street ahead of her to take this picture...
Lots of upscale sexy looking spas.
The old part of the city has tons of narrow side streets full of shops and cafes. All the hanging plants make it feel Parisian, and exotic. More of that Luang Prabang French Asian fusion.
This is us at some restaurant after landing in Siem Reap after a very early morning flight from Laos. We are very tired.
A unicorn took a big ol' dump on Jazmyne's lunch. It was delicious.
This shop had the coolest textile patterns. If traveling in Asia didn't completely trash our clothes, it might actually make sense to buy something like this. Unfortunately it would be sweated to ribbons within a week.
We ate at this fancy Khmer restaurant. I loved it, Jazmyne not so much. I can't blame her though, it was easily the richest most decadent food we had eaten in many weeks. When your used to light asian fare, eating something with loads of tasty butter can be a bit overwhelming.
And now the temples! Day number 1.
This is the face Jazmyne makes when I make fun of her for looking like Jane Goodall. She loves her practical hat.
Angkor Wat is really fucking cool. You should totally go.