We hung out by the hotel pool before we met up with Bunlong and Kimson again.
Although Le Meridian's pool had an unique Khmer inspired design, I must say it was not very "swimming friendly" with too many structures and corners in the pool.
By 3PM, we were ready for our afternoon Angkor Wat tour. It was such a dreamy experience seeing Angkor Wat. One could spend hours and hours in the temple soaking everything up. Yes, there were tones of tourists, but it was either the heat or the crowd. So you chose the lesser of two evils.
Hans kept saying that he would love to sit in a quiet corner and meditate. (He is convinced that he could be a monk.) I did understand where he was coming from. The temple had such a spiritual and mystical atmosphere that I felt a different frequency of calming energy.
The bas-reliefs of the galleries were much more refined and intricate compared to Bayon.
I was absolutely fascinated by the Khmer lives revealed on the bas-reliefs.
Kimson led us to the Hall of Echoes, he showed us how to stand with back against the wall and thump your chest to hear the echo.
Kimson was very thorough in explaining the history and stories, perhaps too thorough at times. I noticed that many Cambodians drop the last syllabus when they speak English.
It was a strain to constantly try to figure out what he was saying because of his thick accent as the day went on.
It was a strain to constantly try to figure out what he was saying because of his thick accent as the day went on.
Angkor Wat closed at 5:30 PM, and we had to leave before we were ready to go.
After Angkor Wat, Kimson took us to a local hangout by a roadside levee. Kimson said that it was called "60 Meter Market" by the locals.
As the sun went down, the temperature cooled down and it became quite pleasant. Many people with their families and friends were picnicking by the levee.
The street vendors sold all kinds of unimaginable bizarre food:
Pong tea khon (fertilized duck or chicken eggs with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell),
Fried Kan Te Long (cockroach look-alike) & crickets,
Barbecue snakes & frogs, and much much more.....
It would be a food heaven for Andrew Zimmern, but we were too chicken to try any of them.
We did try something a lot more tame, some kind of rice cracker that was made over fire, and tasted sweet and crunchy.
(Anyone knows what this is called?)
It was really fun walking through the 60 meter market and checking out the exotic street food of Siem Reap.
As the sun went down, the temperature cooled down and it became quite pleasant. Many people with their families and friends were picnicking by the levee.
The street vendors sold all kinds of unimaginable bizarre food:
Pong tea khon (fertilized duck or chicken eggs with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell),
Fried Kan Te Long (cockroach look-alike) & crickets,
Barbecue snakes & frogs, and much much more.....
It would be a food heaven for Andrew Zimmern, but we were too chicken to try any of them.
We did try something a lot more tame, some kind of rice cracker that was made over fire, and tasted sweet and crunchy.
(Anyone knows what this is called?)
It was really fun walking through the 60 meter market and checking out the exotic street food of Siem Reap.
After the 60 meter market, We had Bunlong & Kimson drop us off at the Old Market Siem Reap before we said our goodbyes.
Today, we decided to try Cambodian BBQ. I ordered Banana flower salad with chicken which was so refreshing and delicious.
The Grill-Pot was designed to combine both barbecue and hot pot in one. Pig belly fat was used to grease the grill for the BBQ.
The bottom of the grill was the hot pot for vegetable, noodles, and broth. We tried snake and crocodile meat.
Crocodile tasted like chicken, and snake tasted like rubber (Yuck!) Hans on the other hand enjoyed it.
After dinner, we went to Dr. Feet for an hour long massage. Hans had a Japanese massage for $5, which was painfully good.
Feeling like to "splurge", I had a four hand Thai massage for $10. It was totally unnecessary, but absolutely wonderful.
We felt rejuvenated walking out of the massage parlor.
1.13.2010
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