Along the way, stops were made along the countryside, where snakes were spotted slithering across the path.
We made a stop at a part where lotuses were abundant.
The sides of the path towards the little hut in the photo, were made up of dried and blackened lotus stems. Almost like a lotus graveyard.
Here's one blooming.
There was a hut on stilts close by, and here you can see the many lotuses surrounding.
As we were taking photos of the far off lotuses, our tuktuk driver (got sick of waiting) came down and told us to follow him past the hut, where we could get nearer to the flowers. There was someone sleeping in the hut.
It was pretty nice out there, but unfortunately I only took photos with my slr and the film is still processing (:
Here's a photo of the hut, as we were leaving.
The driver had also plucked a lotus flower for me:
It sadly, withered by the end of the day, leaving only its stem.
Upon reaching town, we headed for lunch at Khmer Kitchen, of which was recommended online.
There are two Khmer Kitchen outlets, one near Old Market, and one on Pub Street.
We were given plates adorned with cute fishes.
The restaurant's decoration was bright and cheerful in yellow.
Mom and I ordered refreshing lemon juice which cost USD0.50 each.
It was sweet and ice-cold, perfect for downing in the summer heat.
Dad chose Angkor beer, USD1.
We ordered...
Mango salad:
Fish with fried garlic:
Beef with fried garlic:
Amok with chicken:
Some sour coconut milk curry thing with chicken:
The fare was very affordable at around USD3 each for every dish including rice, and was very delicious as well as homely. A must try!
Bayon beer:
The Cambodian beers all seemed very mild and thin... which I suppose is good if you don't like too strong a taste.
After that, we headed down to Old Market, which sells lots of stuff including elaborately patterned silk and cotton scarves, tablecloths with elephant prints, silver jewelry and cute little purses.
I ended up buying more than 10 scarves and a huge cloth for my baby grand while at Cambodia (:
We also visited Artisans D'Angkor within town. This one was the carvings department. The silk workshop is located quite far out of town, but worth the visit.
The company recruits poor Cambodians and gives them free training in skills such as silk weaving, carving, etc and jobs subsequently.
The people were certainly taught well, but the products were rather costly.
We went back to the guesthouse for a rest before the plan of heading to Phnom Bakheng (a temple mountain atop a hill), a place popular for sunsets in Angkor Archaeological Park. How this works is that, if you buy your pass in the evening around 5pm, it will only be effective starting the next day. This means you get about 1 hour free as well as the sunset in the park the day before.
Unfortunately, the weather played us out.
The skies looked like that when we were planning to head out...
And soon enough it was pouring. The wind was crazy, and the trees were swaying like weeds.
So, we gave up on the sunset plan and went back to nap.
The skies looked like this when we were leaving for a traditional dance show in the evening:
Roads in Siem Reap were heavily flooded after the rain, due to the lack of a drainage system.
Some were completely covered in water. The level came up past a car's wheels.
We reached nice and dry, at Koulen II. Dinner buffet and the traditional dance show was priced at USD10 per person, not including drinks.
It was an experience, but rather boring and I almost ended up dozing. The performances were very similar to Thai dances, so if you've seen that, you can probably skip this.
Bored mother:
The next day starts at Angkor Wat!
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