Whoopsie!
How is that the month of October just flew right past me and I *still* haven't finished up the posts to Cambodia????
It's now NOVEMBER! How did it get to be November already??????? Shoot me now! I've got too much to do and not enough time to get it all done. Okay. On second thought- don't shoot me but an ounce of sympathy/empathy lobbed in my general direction would be nice. Or….just laugh at me. I did bring this on to myself! (umm….yes, I AM indeed laughing at myself. Apparently I'm not as good at multi-tasking as I thought I was!).
Any hoo…. Here are some photos from our last day in Siem Reap. Due to the nature of our red-eye flight we got to spend the *entire* day in Siem Reap.
So…..come join us as we whiz through our last day in this interesting city!
The Egg Man cometh
So incredibly difficult to tell if these people were men or women:
A day-time view of Pub Street in Siem Reap. This street is lined with lots of restaurants and shops. Fun, fun, fun!!!
The Blue Pumpkin. Not only a great ice cream parlor but also maker of all things espresso as well (as in….we got lattes there):
Next stop: The Old Market to buy souvenirs. I'm looking for fabric to make skirts (like the ones I keep seeing the lovely local women wearing)
Here's some fabric!
And plenty of scarves and bags and ….
amusing things for sale at this stall:
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Mark and Annika are in the middle of negotiating for some "gems" that Annika is interested in. How the heck can you tell if these rocks are actually real or plastic or glass??? I just find the battery operated meters (sorry, no photo) a joke and a half. The sellers used these so-called meters to demonstrate that the gems we were looking at were real. If the gem is real the meter lights up one way and if it isn't real it lights up in a different way. Ummmm…yeah. Really reassuring. I'm sure there's some real science behind that (or maybe there really is but I can tell you these meters looked beyond fake- if such a thing is possible.)
Ava finally found the souvenir she wants to take home: a silk scarf. I want one more thing….bowls made from coconut wood. Ah! I found them!!! :-)
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Spices!!!! :
Here's a better look at the restaurant that offered our cooking class:
So…what's with this guy and the stand with cigarettes?????:
A view of Siem Reap from our well-ventilated tuk-tuk:
So…we've done our latte stop (at the Blue Pumpkin) and we've done some souvenir shopping at the Old Market. What's next on our list for today????
The lady at the front desk of our hotel recommended we check out Artisan d'Angkor
So…we're here but it's a little unclear to me what this place is. I thought it was an upscale souvenir shop. ??????
Yes…and no.
We've got a "guide" who is taking us through all the different workshops. We're learning a bit about the differences between Cambodian silkworms and Chinese silkworms in the silk section (whoops…no photos as I wasn't sure if we were allowed to take them.)
Here's the copper art workshop:
And the stone-carving workshop:
Elephants!!!!
Watching a stone carver at work:
The beginning stage for what will be an intricately carved slab of stone:
You can see the pencil tracing done on the slab. Then it's a very slow process of chipping it away to create the final piece.
The next two photos are of ladies working on various pieces of art:
So…as it turns out the Artisans d'Angkor is a learning workshop – artisans from all over can come here and receive training in the traditional Khmer art. After their training is complete they can set up shops anywhere and sell their pieces. At the end of the tour there's a shop selling all the goodies that they make in the different workshops: silk, wood carvings,painted pieces, stone carvings and copper and silver pieces. You have to go through all the workshops with a guide before you can visit the souvenir shop.
Drat! I totally forgot to take photos of my favorite workshop : the silver-smithing shop. Mark just said he's going to build a forge some day and that he and Annika will make things out of silver. ;-)
Wouldn't that be a-w-e-s-o-m-e????
Well, I need a potty stop. I mean, I REALLY NEED TO PEE. Whew! There's a restroom right outside the souvenir shop.
Check out this sign I found right above the sink in the restroom:
It says, "No foot washing". Seriously?????? I mean, who says to themselves, "gosh! I need to go wash my feet. Let's do that in the bathroom." Or am I missing something?????
And …who can resist an ice cream stop? There's a tiny little Blue Pumpkin stand selling ice cream. Mmmmmm……
Well, we're all shopped out! How about we go see a temple or two before we have to leave this amazing place????
Our hotel receptionist suggested we check out Neak Pean – one of the VERY many temples in this huge complex. However, our tuktuk driver just informed us that due to all the rain he wouldn't be able to reach it with all the flooding. Our driver suggested we target a Preah Khan instead (it's virtually next-door to Neak Pean).
Passing by Bayon on our way to our destination:
We've notice a LOT of people traveling in large groups – either stuffed full in minivans, in the back of trucks, on motorbikes, or just about any other form of transportation you can think of (I think due to a public holiday):
Views from the tuk tuk:
Cool arch-way:
We're here! The tuktuk driver just dropped us off…shall we go check out this temple???
Love the run-down, tumbled temple:
Lots of cool carvings:
We couldn't tell if this group of local kids playing on the stairs were after something in particular (money) or just friendly:
My playful Annika & Ava:
Exploring the inside (and outside) of the temple:
More carvings:
Done with jumping, girls???
(doubt it)
Even more cool carvings:
I swear this moss seems to glow-in-the-dark (don't you think???):
Offerings inside the temple???:
Trees seem to grow ANYWHERE they want to. Just a reminder that Mother Nature is in FULL control here:
And more carvings:
And yet another tree growing wherever the heck it wants to:
Something to reflect upon:
I just can't get enough of these trees growing anywhere and everywhere:
I think we've explored this temple…shall we leave??
….
Do you see what's in this bottle?
It's full of tiny fish!!!
This young boy is collecting the fish and putting them in his bottle:
We just found our driver. It's time now to find something that Ava claims SHE REALLY WANTS TO DO.
What could that be????? (you'll have to wait and see)
Here's some guy in a flooded river….doing what? Fishing??? He's up to his chest in that water!:
So….this is what Ava REALLY wanted to do and has been begging us to try:
You can bet that Ava is ready!!!!!
Off we go!
The "ride" is supposed to take us to the top of the hill (we've opted to do a one-way ride; we'll walk back down the hill).
How often do you see the following sign in your daily life (Danger Beware Elephant Path)???:
Hey!!! Annika and Mark are catching up with us:
Annika, why the funny face???
Oh MY!!!
Check out the view from the top of the hill: (PS. That's Angkor Wat you see poking out of the trees)
And apparently there's yet ANOTHER temple up here (on top of this hill):
"Way Down"…ready to head back down the hill??? (we are)
It was an easy peasy walk down the hill. Annika and I raced each other for part of the way. Did you notice all the Chinese groups we passed by???? Lots and lots of people walking up to the temple. I'm guessing it's a beautiful place to see the sunset (but we're ready to leave).
The sun poking out from the dark clouds:
It's time for our Last Supper. Where do you want to go eat???
Our tuk tuk driver has just dropped us off on Pub Street in Siem Reap. Time to go find a restaurant (in the middle of all the rain).
We've made up our minds – we want to try Khmer BBQ. From what we can tell it reminds us of Korean BBQ.
Check out some of the items you can get to grill on the Khmer style bbq:
How about some appetizers first? Spring rolls are always a delicious treat!
And this sour Khmer fish soup was sooooo good…It really was a challenge to stop eating it (after all, we do have to save room for the actual BBQ):
Our waitress is helping us get our bbq/grill going. Doesn't that grill look different and unique???
See that white piece of stuff at the top of the conical grill??? That's LARD. Yep. A big ol' piece of pig fat. You're supposed to grease the grill with it. Mmmmmm…..lard makes everything better, right???
You might not be able to tell from this photo but these are three happy campers with full tummies:
Well, as always…it's time to leave. I gotta say though, I'd come back to Cambodia in a heart-beat. This place was a feast for all the senses and lots of fun to explore. I could easily spend an entire week here exploring all the temples.
Blech.
Red-eye flights…what's your take on them? Like them or hate them? I have a love-hate relationship with them. I love having an entire day to explore but I hate how I feel while flying on them. Although, this time I'm planning on sleeping the entire flight. Think I'll be successful????
Time to get back on the plane and head back to Tianjin!
Good bye Cambodia! It's been fun!!!