… Looks like the one-update-a-day thing died rather quickly, yeah? I’ve very quickly learned I am no match for the mighty powers of both jet lag and laziness.
But yes, this is my first update since I arrived in Cambodia. Needless to say, A LOT has happened since my last post. But since I should probably be “experiencing things” on this trip rather than religiously regurgitating them onto this blog (“priorities”), I’m going to structure this post in a way that (hopefully) will be efficient and insightful. This is literally a brain-dump. I’m sorry if I seem all over the place. BEWARE: MANY PICTURES COMING YOUR WAY (and please cut me some slack on photo-quality. I only have my iPhone camera and my GoPro which has some seriously awful photo-stabilizing capabilities.)
I landed at the Siem Reap International Airport on Thursday, December 4. Yes, it was really a 30-hour transit time. On the flight from Singapore to Siem Reap, I sat next to two nice Caucasian ladies from Singapore who were running the Siem Reap Half Marathon. SO COOL – they were going to run through Angkor Wat and see all the temples! (New bucket list item for me?!?!) But yeah, okay by the end of this flight, even though it was only 1.5 hours, I legitimately didn’t care which country I landed at but that oh-please-oh-please I landed somewhere with a bed. Luckily, I got to my intended destination.
I have sooooo many observations of Cambodia thus far (through the sole lens of Siem Reap – I want to be careful not to extrapolate to other cities/towns just yet). So I’ll be splitting this post up into four sections: People, Places, Food, Things.
But I’ll start from the back: THINGS.
Cambodian “things”. What can I say about Cambodian “things”? I’ve walked around Siem Reap enough these past two days to have seen/heard many things. And I know this is totally immature, but I can’t help but start a “Sh*t I see in Cambodia” segment. And god knows I’ve definitely missed some things already because in the time I’ve been here, I’ve probably grown immune to/stopped noticing some of the poor English and weird cultural “thingamabobs” that are totally commonplace here. So here goes:
Feral animals everywhere. Dogs & Cats (Can I adopt them all?!?!)
LET ME LOVE YOU, PUPPY!
Even sleeping dogs at the Angkor Wat Temples.
And cows on the street.
And then there are, of course, the insects/reptiles. 😦
This juicy grasshopper at my hotel the size of my fist.
This salamander thing at the restaurant last night, oh goodness.
Oh, and (weird-looking anorexic) chickens. Everywhere.
Interesting signs I’ve seen in Cambodia.
You are seeing this correctly. That is LITERALLY Hayden Panetierre. Wearing an entire crocodile. As a purse. WTF.
I have to drive by this sign every time I go the city center from my hotel. Still baffled. Not sure if Cambodian phonetic spelling or truly English………
I think this is funnier for those who speak Chinese. “Lao Ma” is a colloquial way of saying “mom”. “Mama Speakeasy”. Also, I’m pretty sure it’s not a speakeasy if you outright display it as such.
lol, really? 7-Eleven’s deranged second cousin, twice removed?
.
For those of you who don’t know, tuk-tuk’s are motocycle-led open carts that passengers can take to get from place to place. It’s like the equivalent of a taxi here (and are SUPER cheap). LOOK, IT’S THE ROLLS ROYCE OF ALL TUK-TUKS.
… And this gem-of-a-sign in my toilet stall. DON’T DO IT, BOYS & GIRLS.
They sell tighty-whities in the open air market. I’d love to see THAT GUY who is shopping for undies here.
FOOD.
Okay, so even though I put on this “air” of nonchalance and bravery going on this solo trip, I’m most definitely still a huge scaredy-cat. Not going to lie, I definitely put off on eating ANYTHING in Cambodia that wasn’t processed/packaged until dinnertime my first night. So I basically spent a whole day avoiding food like the plague. Honestly, I’ve heard SO MUCH about food poisoning and “being really careful because I’m traveling alone and no one can help me if I get sick”, that I just went overboard and borderline-starved myself. Real solid logic, Mendi. Pretty sure “dying of starvation” is a smidgeon worse than “getting food poisoning”. Anyways, I got over it and discovered the wonders of the food here. AHHHHHHH so good, so good. AND SO DAMN CHEAP, TOO. I literally want to eat everything in sight. If only my stomach would let me.
Also, eating alone, I discovered, IS THE BEST. I can double dip all the eff I want. AND SHOVE WHOLE SHALLOTS OF ROASTED GARLIC IN MY MOUTH.
The first night I ate at a restaurant that a friend who recently visited Cambodia recommended to me: Mie Cafe. It was incredible! “French-style Cambodian food” is how I’d describe it, given the dainty plating and misleading portion-size (IT WAS A WHOLE LOT OF FOOD). 5 full-bodied courses. For $29.
The waitress told me to let my jasmine-mint tea sit for a minute. FOR THE FLOWER TO TURN THE TEA BLUE AHHHHH <3.
“Snake Head Fish Capaccio + Tempura Poached egg” – I literally had to ask the waitress nervously…. “There’s no ACTUAL snake in it, right?” She gave me a weird look. “No, Snake Head is the type of fish”. OKAY, TO GET IT STRAIGHT: PLEASE DON’T PUT “SNAKE”IN THE NAME OF ANY ANIMAL THAT IS NOT A SNAKE. GIRL GONNA GET A HEART ATTACK.
Lobster Pea Soup.
Prawn Ravioli
My favorite dish of the night (which was so sad because I barely touched it because I was so full). This is a fried pork dish w/ rice. It was SUPER flavorful and fragrant.
Molten Lava Cake + Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (with Passion Fruit drizzle) – SO DELICIOUS!!! Halfway through eating what I thought was the best dessert I’ve had in a while, I realized why I was so happy at that moment in time. The restaurant was playing Celine Dion’s “The Power of Love”. THE FEELS.
I found out on TripAdvisor about another restaurant called “New Leaf Book Cafe”, which is a super cute place with bookshelves/books everywhere. It was a mixture of Western and Cambodian food; I went with the latter. Duh. “When in Rome…”
Their house-made Ginger Ale. You could tell it was definitely homemade. So spicy and yummy!
Sweet Potato & Taro Fries w/ Ketchup and Wasabi Mayo dipping sauce
OKAY I ENDED UP EATING THE MOST DELICIOUS DISH I’VE HAD IN A LONG TIME. Oh my goodness, still salivating thinking about how amazing it was. This is the “Hot, Sweet & Sour Noodles” – Yellow noodles, garlic, shallot, chicken, prawns, egg, chive, bean sprouts, tofu, dried chili flakes & sweet tamarind sauce. I literally want to eat this everyday for the rest of my life.
… and here’s the kicker. The entire meal was just $9.
So yeah, long story short, food is amazing. More updates to come.
Next segment. PEOPLE.
So I’m really conflicted around this one. I think this is going to be quite a controversial topic to write about, but I guess I’m just going to get my thoughts out there and see if anyone has their own thoughts.
I’ve had a lot of interactions with Cambodian people in the past two days. Some great, some not-so-great. Let me just start from the beginning.
The first yellow flag was raised when I entered the Siem Reap International Airport to go through the visa process. Once you purchase your visa, your passport goes through a queue of around ten officers, who, I guess perform different tasks in approving the visa. All the officers sat in a line facing us, the tourists. At one point while I was in line, one of the officers called out to me and said “Ni hao!” (“Hello” in mandarin). I smiled and said “Ni Hao” back. That was fine, until another officer said “Hao piao liang!” (“So pretty/beautiful”) Then, the original officer who said hello decided to repeat “hao piao liang”, and keep saying it while smiling at me in line. I felt so uncomfortable: Are immigration officers supposed to act this way? I understand they weren’t trying to make me feel uncomfortable, but it just felt really disrespectful/unprofessional.
I understood that coming to Cambodia would definitely push my “comfort” boundaries. And it definitely is. Let me preface this by saying that I have virtually NEVER been cat-called walking on the street anywhere in the U.S. So please don’t think I’m trying to flatter myself in any way. DEFINITELY NOT. But walking around Siem Reap for the past two days, I’ve had to deal with so many (too many) people saying “Hey, lady!!” or “Beautiful girl…” straight to my face, as I try not to acknowledge them and press forward. I’m not talking about the tuk-tuk drivers who are trying to get passengers (they call out too, though). I’m talking about men who are literally just walking on the street and turn around specifically to say these types of things. Maybe it’s because I’m one girl walking alone on the street. Maybe it’s a cultural thing. Hey, maybe ALL the girls here experience this everyday. Either way, although I’m getting more calloused to it, I can’t say this has been my favorite part of being here….
On the converse side, I’ve also had some awesome interactions with people on this trip. The hotel I’m staying at (I’ll share pics later) has some of the most helpful staff/best service. They’ve literally gone out of their way to help me.
A little story: Prior to coming to Cambodia, I had called into this hotel to arrange a shuttle to pick me up from the Airport. Upon my arrival, I couldn’t find my driver, so I decided to just taxi my way to the hotel. When the receptionist found out that I had paid for my trip, he immediately reimbursed me for the trip and apologized for causing me the inconvenience. So awesome!
That same receptionist, after I decided I wanted to head into the city center, drove me (via motorcycle) himself since he couldn’t hail me a tuk-tuk immediately.
Okay, this is going to be a weird side-comment, but I feel like Cambodian people have a weird infatuation with Facebook. Within 10 minutes of meeting my Angkor Wat tour guide, he said “it would be great to be your Facebook friend”, and added me right then and there. Also, a hotel receptionist (not the one I talked about earlier) added me on Facebook after I conversed with him briefly in the lobby. So baffled. Not sure if I should accept or not……..
Anyways, so it’s definitely been a whirlwind experience meeting Cambodian people thus far. Stay tuned for more…
AND NOW FOR WHAT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR…
PLACES! (Photos/Selfies galore! – You have been warned of excessive selfie-stick usage.)
First, my hotel. It’s called the Goyavier Boutique Hotel, outside of the city center (so much quieter, rural neighborhood). I have a king-sized bed to myself and a HUGE room in a general.
The bathroom:
View from my balcony
Day 1 towel formation:
Day 2 Towel formation (looks……questionable… to me):
I went to the Phare Cambodian Circus my first night. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. These kids were so talented and hilarious. Front row center VIP seating :). I sat next to a father-son-duo from New Zealand. The father was probably around 70 years old. He said he’s been to 106 countries. And still going… INCREDIBLE.
Sadly, most of my photos ended up really blurry (ugh, GoPro, you’ve failed me).
lol, thought this one looked cool (they’re all stacked up on a single bicycle):
Yesterday, I definitely fulfilled a HUGE bucket-list item. YES, YOU GUESSED IT: TOMB RAIDING!!!!!!
I went on a small group tour of Angkor Wat. My tour group was so entertaining; the rest of the people were all from Australia. A mother-daughter couple and a boyfriend-girlfriend couple. One me. We had awesome conversation and I even found out the girlfriend is just as infatuated with Disney(land/world) as I am! MEANT TO BE.
Anyways, I kid you not – I took 1,000+ photos at Angkor Wat on my GoPro. Mostly because I used “Burst” mode for a lot of my shots (so, kind of cheating.) But here are some of my favorites!
Side project: I know this is completely vain, but I think it would be hilarious to do a video of EVERY SINGLE SELFIE STICK PHOTO I took/will take on this trip. Hold onto your butts – I will do it.
We went to three temples: Angkor Wat (the one you see in most photos of Cambodia), Bayon, and Ta Prohm (THE TOMB RAIDER TEMPLE YASSSSS).
My Tomb-Raider-Certification Pass:
Here’s Angkor Wat:
Walking towards… Sun beaming. 100% humidity. Death.
We got to climb to the very top. It doesn’t look that bad, but TRUST ME WHEN I SAY THOSE STAIRS WERE MIGHTY STEEP.
Descending those steep-ass stairs.
hahaha, I accidentally activated my Go-Pro while walking. Super cool shots ensued…
On the topic of those pants, I am so mad I wore those. They have literally no stretch. No stretch paints + 100% humidity + 90 degree weather = PAIN. LOTS OF PAIN. I had to struggle to walk/climb things. Which was such a disappointment, because surprisingly there aren’t that many areas that are marked off in the Temples. If you wanted, you could climb everything, basically. One thought seriously crossed my mind: PARKOUR!!!! (If only my damn pants would let me, *sob*.)
Bayon Temple:
Funny story here: The mother in our tour group got a bit tired at this temple and decided not to go to the very top. That said, when we came back down, we couldn’t find her. Our tour guide went back into the temple to get her, but turns out she was already outside the temple altogether. So I volunteered to go back in to find our tour guide. COMMENCE TOMB RAIDER MUSIC. I literally felt like an explorer dodging through the twisty/windy temple doorways and alcoves. I even have videos to show for it. So juvenile but LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT. (Btw, I ended up not finding him and giving up and going back to the rest of the group. He was already there. Face palm. Angelina Jolie, I am not.)
TA PROHM (THE TOMB RAIDER TEMPLE) – MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE:
The famous tree root. There was a line to take this photo. I was the only one with a selfie stick. Me while standing on this platform by myself with 30 spectators: “Well this is awkward…..whatever YOLO.” (Like, I literally say that out loud.)
OKAY SO. This next image is another landmark that had a huge line. This is where Angelina Jolie famously stood.
DID I DO IT RIGHT? (yes, I did this herpyderpy face in front of like 30 strangers.)
And to end my Angkor Wat picture saga… here’s a picture of a tree that I think is so incredibly BO$$.
I legitimately loved Angkor Wat. It exceeded every Expectation of mine 🙂 (Remember, I said in an earlier post I’d gasp in awe. I did. Multiple times.)
So Reality: Met. Even the beaming sun (and the fact that I wore a sweater/jeans the entire time) couldn’t keep me down……
Man, this post was long/time consuming. Gotta get out the door! It’s almost 11AM!
With love,
Mendi
the wanderlust is real. 