The bus to Siem Reap was a ‘classic tourist bus’, in that more tourists were on it then the usual local go-slow variety. In all other respects it was a good old local bus; with frequent stops for people, food and other miscellaneous reasons. Instead of the 3 hours, it took 4 and a half, but still meant we had the afternoon in Siem Reap for our usual walk around town to see what’s happening and get our orientation.

We were very fortunate to stay with Crawford family friend’s in Siem Reap, Bruce and Kethana. They lived in Singapore before eventually settling in Cambodia with Volunteer Services Abroad (VSA) and opening The Sugar Palm restaurant. It was fantastic to see a their familiar face after so many years and to have the luxury of not having to hand over a key deposit or a passport to get in the door. Our first night (and many more to follow) we were treated to amazing Khmer cooking – the famous fish amok ( a dish that won over Gordon Ramsy when he recently visited for a cook off as part of his world cooking show).

The Sugar Palm Restaurant is situated in a beautiful traditional Khmer house, tucked away behind huge palm frons which creates an amazing atmosphere away from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding streets. We have really enjoyed our Asian food, but Khmer food, especially at The Sugar Palm has a very fresh and deliciously subtle flavour. We soon put on some of the weight we had lost travelling and eating rice non-stop.
It was also great to have a glass of New Zealand wine, and at half price of what you would get it for in NZ (thanks to near zero alcohol tax).

The following day was a lazy day for us, catching up on sleep and making plans for the up coming month. We had got use to these planning times – heads down, iPad out, flights and buses being booked, comparing accommodation choices and reviews. It was a tough choice whether to fly to Myanmar for a rush visit with limited days, or head to Thailand and Laos (also cheaper).
We headed to many of the artisan shops which are the commercial front to many NGO’s setup in Cambodia to support local artists or disability groups. I had volunteered at one called Rehab Craft when I was living in Singapore, so it was interesting to see how things had changed. Instead of the nice silk purses, wraps and bags, they now focused on low-end recycled products like bags made from concrete powder bags. It was a shame considering the beautiful things they use to make and we sold in Singapore at charity functions. We headed to another shop called Artisans Angkor, which had beautiful high quality silk work. It was great to tour the workshops and see the sandstone carving which is helping to restore Angkor Wat and other temples.

The Angkor complex is a series temples, meant to represent Mt Meru, or the abode of ancient gods. It was constructed from the 9th till 12 th century, with the world famous Angkor Wat forming the largest religious building in the World.
We headed to two temple complexes out of Siem reap – our strategy was to see the smaller ones first, as it was a risk that by seeing Angkor first or doing a long day in the sun we would become ‘out templed’! We had the luxury of the restaurant driver for the day, so it made the trip faster and mor comfortably than a TukTuk. Kbal Spean was small carvings in the river bed of a river. The 1.5km walk through the jungle was awesome, (apart from the 30 degree temp) climbing over huge boulders and up narrow paths, hanging onto vines at times. The carved river bed was an interesting site, beautiful ‘Apsara’ or Khmer dancers and elephants; amazing that it’s nearly 1000 yrs old and hasn’t eroded!

Banteay Srei is a small but impressive temple complex, known as the ‘art gallery’ of the Angkor temple complex. It has beautiful intricate carvings and motifs, which are famous for their depth and 3D nature in the sand stone. It was nice and quiet being the low season in Cambodia at the moment. An unfortunate consequence of tourism at these sites however is the large number of young local children who follow you, selling small items or simply yelling ‘give me money’, hand out with a cheeky smile on their face. They seem to be watched by adults floating around who collect the money they make and point them in the direction of new arrivals.

We had the pleasure of enjoying a tasting menu at Bruce and Kethana’s farm house in the afternoon located in a small village 30km out of Siem Reap. It is such a beautiful Khmer house on stilts. Kethana has built a large kitchen set up for cooking classes, with a well-designed open chill-out area under the house, complete with hammocks and an awesome bar! The food was cooked by a chef they are wanting to employ for a new restaurant – duck salad, marinated beef fillet with a glass of NZ Pinot ; absolute heaven.

A great start to the temples and fantastic food.