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I managed to stay awake until after 10pm but still woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep at 4:30am. At least I only woke up one other time in the night.
I had another nice breakfast. An omelet this time. More like a large egg ‘cigar’ but kind of cute.
We had a slow start to the day. Marion wanted to have the breakfast but needed to wait until 10. We hung out in the room. I had a nice bath (the bath water is very hot, but the shower at best is still lukewarm – go figure.)
We had some angst about getting a ride into town. Do we get ol’ #20 who has been hounding us to hire him every time we leave the building? (His tuk-tuk is #20.) Or is our driver from the other day across the street? He was yesterday. We cop out and ask the concierge who gets us someone. But it’s $10. Hmm. It’s been $2-$3 when we hire off the street. But whatever, it’s still cheap. We explain we want to just drive around and see stuff. It took some doing but we (Marion) finally got the gist across. He took us to market areas in the North, East and West parts of town where the real people live. It was crazy. Lots of people. Everyone selling/buying. No health codes. Beef hanging out unrefrigerated. Dead chickens (and some live ones). Piles of fish on the ground. Organized mayhem. The tuk-tuk barely fits through the markets but our driver is amazing, weaving between stalls, people and motor bikes. He tells us when he learned to drive his teacher told him to drive through the markets as his first test. Picture a sports arena at the end of the game. Everyone is leaving the stadium down a narrow hallway. Many are riding scooters (ok, the analogy is a bit off). Now picture heading into the stadium in the other direction, in a motorized 3 wheeled cart, and you pretty much have the experience.
We were the only white people and the only tuk-tuk. Definitely off the tourist path. It was very cool to see. I got a few pictures but felt a bit uncomfortable driving through with camera in hand. It felt a bit ‘imperial’. And I can imagine how it would feel if a couple of Asians on a motorized vehicle of some kind came driving through the Saturday farmer’s market in Beaverton taking pictures. Still, I’m glad we did it.
We got dropped off at the Old Market. We were hoping that meant something a bit more historic but really it just means where the market used to be before it became a tourist trap. We go in and it’s “hello madam, you buy this”, everywhere we turn. They know the men aren’t the buyers. It’s the same collection of ‘jewels’, silks, t-shirts, etc. as everywhere. Not interesting stuff.
As we were headed down an aisle that would have taken us back to the street a swarm of vendor ladies came at me (3 I think). You could hear the voices wind up like an alarm to the point they were shouting. One woman was literally shoving bracelets in my face standing 6 inches from me. It felt like Hunger Games when you got near the edges. I took a few steps back and it immediately wound down, heightening the sense that they were exit sentries. We passed a vendor lady as we stepped back who said ‘Terrible’ (meaning them). I later wondered if it was a plan to distract me while stealing my wallet. But nothing appears to be missing. It might be a win for the Velcro pockets on my pants.
On our way to find another exit, Marion found a store with paintings she liked and she liked the voice of the vendor who was quiet and calm. We ended up buying a painting of an elephant we both liked. We were told it was original but of course later we saw ones that looked very similar by the same artist in other places but arguably not exactly the same so I guess they are originals. We think they work off a standard pattern or something. But we like it. And I think still legitimately an ‘original’. And it came with a hand-made woven ‘tube’ to put it in which is nice in its own right. Plus, it was $35 or something. You can’t go wrong.
We wandered the streets a bit fending off tuk-tuk drivers. Tuk-tuk? No, thank you. Tuk-tuk? No thank you. Maybe later? No thank you. Repeat ad infinitum. We went in a few stores including one that was very pretty – silks and fabric jewelry. We wanted to buy something but couldn’t find anything we liked enough. We perused another store that was clearly the local “Office Depot”. That was interesting. There was a guy in the back stamping a stack of papers (I think adding a seal to stationary or something). He was quick. Stamp, slide paper, stamp, slide, stamp, slide. Very mechanical and no stopping. Impressive. We stopped in a pharmacy for a few items. It was interesting to look around. The Cambodian model is much more ‘sales person walks around with you to help you’ than we’d like. Especially when we’re not really looking for something. And woe be unto you if you express the slightest interest in anything. Then they’re on you like a pack of dogs on a three legged cat (as I heard a comedian say once).
We wandered over towards the river in search of a bakery (no luck) when it started to rain a bit. We sat on the bridge over the river (under cover) and watched it for 5-10 min, then it stopped. We wandered the ‘night market’ a bit which was ‘closed’ so not crowded but still plenty of ‘hello madame, you buy’, so not quite closed. Still better than in the Old Market though.
As a quick aside, here’s a look at what a typical intersection in Siem Reap looks like. Note the man walking through the middle of it. Who needs traffic lights?
We got hungry and wandered to the Hard Rock Café for lunch. We wanted burgers. Water may be 25 cents here but Hard Rock burgers are still $15.00 wherever you go. There were only whites in the restaurant which was decorated for Halloween (do they know what that is here)? The Cambodian waitress couldn’t help dancing to the music whenever she was standing waiting to provide service. Very cute. Tomorrow night is Cowboy Music night. That might be interesting but I think we’ll pass. The ever present tuk-tuk drivers were waiting outside which made it easy to get back to the hotel – $3. Cambodian Uber.
A rest (nap) and then a swim. The pool was more crowded today with English and Australians and a few Americans (who turned out to be fellow tour mates). The English/Australians seemed to know each other or at least became talkative. Marion wondered if maybe we didn’t look approachable. That could be true. But that’s ok by me.
Tonight was the orientation meeting. Our guide is Pheach Dhavuth who goes by the nickname Bros (rhymes with ‘loss’), which apparently means ‘man’. Which, while descriptive, is not the most imaginative nickname in the world. His English is decent but will require listening closely. Certainly better than our Khmer at any rate. There are 16 people in our tour (which is great). Except only 14 were at the meeting because 2 are missing. They are believed to be en-route but didn’t arrive when expected. Hopefully they are not lost.
It’s a group of very interesting people. Mostly retired (one woman still working and me). And one woman was from Portland. Go figure. We go halfway around the world and find a fellow Portlander. We are definitely the youngest of the group by at least 10 years to the next youngest and probably 15 on average. There are a lot of former teachers/professors. Serious travelers. We had a group dinner of Khmer-style food. Pretty tasty for the most part. Except the ice cream was disappointing. I’m guessing that’s not typical Khmer food. Marion was past her eating time and begged off (which sadly for her would become a trend).
Here’s a list of our fellow travelers:
- Bob and Anne – A retired couple from Michigan who met in the Peace Corps.
- Nancy – A former high school teacher from Cincinnati
- Marilyn and Ken – A former professor and his student. I don’t remember where they were from
- Anna – A retired pediatric oncology doctor from Philadelphia (specifically Rittenhouse Square that’s very important)
- Joyce (Anna’s traveling companion) – from Pittsburgh
- Priscilla – A special ed teacher from San Diego
- Linda – Priscilla’s traveling companion. We didn’t learn much about her but she was very nice
- Joan and Deb – sisters – Joan is big time think tank person in New York, Deb is a livestock farmer in New England
- Micky – A writer, originally from Florida, now living in New York
- Mary – A lawyer and avid photo taker from Portland, OR
- Joan – A recently retired German studies professor from SUNY Binghamton
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