Siem Reap 2014 Day 3 & 4

January 18, 2015

After a busy Day 2 around the temples, we had breakfast at the hotel before heading out to the Old Market. This time we had a fruit platter and I think the bananas here are amazing. The Old Market is where the locals buy vegetables, meats and there is a wide variety of souvenirs. We walked around for at least an hour bargaining over T shirts! One good skill that we picked up was to say "cheap cheap" in Khmer. It threw most of the merchants off guard and we could plow our way towards our desired price :D

Fruit platter

Entrance to the Old Market

Fruit section

Dried stuff

Aromatics

We had lunch nearby at the Khmer. This is a basic restaurant but the prices are decent and the food is pretty good. We had our 1st draft Angkor beer here too.

Menu on display

Restaurant interior

Vegetable and pork soup

Spring rolls

Amok curry again!

Coconut shaaake

USD 0.50 HELL YEAH

We ordered spring rolls, simple vegetable and pork soup with 2 types of noodles and another round of Amok fish curry. The coconut shake was heavenly in the afternoon. We had foot massage (bargained to USD 4 for an hr) at Therapy Center (located at the junction) and relaxed before going for a manicure (USD 5) at Pura Vida, the largest spa chain in Siem Reap.

I recommend this massage center as it is relatively cheap and comfortable, plus the quality of the massage is quite consistent. Getting a manicure is a risky job as the nail polish they used may be quite old, and my polish looked "bubbly" after :(

Massage

So many colors

A casual stroll into the Park Hyatt brought us to a lovely cafè and we found out that there was a free Apsara performance that night! We were not able to reserve seats as there is limited space in the courtyard but we could sit in the lounge and walk out to admire the performance. We walked to the Lucky Mall and had delicious gelato (USD 1.50 per scoop). We also went to the grocers and I bought instant noodles (minced pork flavor) for USD 0.60 each.

Lovely gingerbread cake

Gelato

One of the best experiences in SR

Vegetables at the grocery

We took a tuk tuk back to the hotel, showered and headed out again for the Apsara performance. It was good luck that the bar offered drinks with 50% off before 7pm, so I enjoyed a glass of wine as we enjoyed the Apsara performances. We then walked to Happy Herb Pizza and ordered French fries (not so good) and 1 happy pizza. The pizza was pretty good and the taste of weed isn't so strong.

Wine & complimentary nuts

Apsara in the beautiful courtyard

Hello Happy Herb!

Pizzaaaaaa

2 beers and a shake

Pizza & fries

The next day we headed to the airport and I had my usual at the Blue Pumpkin - sandwich and drip coffee. We waited for 30 min before the AirAsia counter opened, but it was smooth sailing after.