Cambodia Sights, Colors, and Sounds

After our "initiation" the night before with our very late arrival and the taxi driver who wanted to take us home to his house and serve us a feast of fresh chickens at midnight (see previous post), we woke full of energy to bright sunshine our first day in Siem Reap.

Having few expectations about this tiny city, Sean and I fell in love with the lively downtown area. The city center, comprised of only a few cross streets really, housed all sorts of colorful cafes, galleries, shops, markets, and foot massage parlors. We spent our first morning browsing around and snapping photos of locals. As you can imagine, there were interesting things to catch your attention every which way you turned.

Local tuk tuk driver, waiting for fresh tourists to pounce on

When not hustling for business, napping tuk tuk drivers are a common sight.

I love this photo of a buddhist monk getting lunch at a local restaurant, and I felt pretty pleased with it until I saw the fun details in the next one...

I especially love how this photo captures the waitress bowing to the monk, the tuk tuk passing by, and the pseudo subliminal name of the restaurant. (Should we eat at this place? Sure, why not? Should I order the BBQ tarantulas? Sure, why not?)

Yes, we stalked the monk for a while and took more pictures of the flowing orange robe from behind (Sean wouldn't let me post any more pictures of him) until we came upon these darlings playing in a school yard.

...and then we were distracted by these two people on a motorbike

and then these three people on a motorbike!

but wait, not to be outdone, four school boys on this one!

As you can see, we were quite impressed with the creativity of moped usage there.

Cambodia Travel Tip #2: We stayed at the Steung Siem Reap hotel, reasonably priced and conveniently located right off the main Pub Streets. We were close enough to walk everywhere we wanted for shopping at markets, meals, and ridiculously cheap foot massages, which meant we didn't have to negotiate with tuk-tuk drivers every time we went out. The hotel is also tucked in a corner away from the street noise and they served a nice buffet breakfast with an omelette station and fresh croissants. Check out the Steung Siem Reap website here.

But stay tuned! We've got photos of tomb raider temples, monkeys, and more!