‘Five for one dorlah’
‘Buy sum thing’
‘Xiao je ni hern piao liang’
‘See temple so lucky’
‘Temple nothing to see’
Such are the phrases you hear over and over again while in Siem Reap and Angkor. The first three at least. The last two were uttered by a cynical ticket inspector at East Mebon ruins. (Their tags say controllers). In fact, he was the only cynical Cambodian I have met on my recent trip there. Cambodians are very friendly warm people.
Siem Reap is a bustling tourist city. I wouldn’t really call it a city but what’s in a name? Thanks to Airasia, it has become more accessible, cost wise. Not too long ago, we had MAS and other airlines fleecing us off. But having said that Airasia is not necessarily cheap. You have to be careful with them. You have to be very sure of your itinerary because I am sure Airasia makes a fair bit from cancellations and no-shows. I know because I have contributed to their balance sheet this way.
Siem Reap Old Market
Getting to Siem Reap is a breeze. I did this time with Airasia from Kuala Lumpur and it is just like riding a bus. You wake up early (the flight is 7am), walk a few miles to the aircraft toting your hand carry, climb the ramp, sit up straight and in two hours you are in Siem Reap. By the way, I would suggest straight seats instead of the ones they have now which are concave and bad for the back.
Siem Reap River - Idyllic
Like I said, Siem Reap is a bustling city. Correctly it is a kampong with some very expensive hotels. The most expensive can cost over US2000. On the other end of the scale, you can bunk in for US3 a night.
We stayed in an unnatural house
Shopping malls you will not find less so air-conditioned places. There is a KFC and Lucky Burger, the Cambodian equivalent of McDonalds. Lucky burger is better than McD, in my opinion. I suppose most are in for a few days and most of the time tourists are out in the Angkor ruins so air con malls are not the in thing. The 7-Eleven has their origins here. It is called 6-Eleven.
Siem Reap 7-Eleven
As in Phuket, the place teems with Caucasians. Some appear to have been around for a quite some time and though not as common a sight as in Phuket, I do see white men with local women in tow. The travel crowd tends to be backpackers and there were a few ugly behaviors from them. Coming from a better part of the world, hmmm…
There is the interesting Pub Street. Yes, there actually is a road sign that says pub street. I wonder what the old name was but if it had been some local hero, sorry. Practicality or money comes first.
Pub street is food street. There you can have a draft from 50 cents, if you dine there that is. This is one road that starts from the local food stalls at one end to the next junction. That is not all as there are passages, what we would call back lanes that have been converted to seating areas and restaurants. There you find western fare as well as local Khmer food. For US3, you can get something to bite but if you fork out US10, you can have quite a fill. Is that cheap? I find food expensive but maybe it was because my brain keep converting them and comparing them to what is available back home.
I hear that the restaurants in pub street are foreign owned. The locals put up the buildings and foreigners rent them and fit them out. What happens is what you get to see, a good mixture of tastefully done up joints. Once inside those narrow passages, the dust and dirt of Cambodia seems so far away.
It seems these joints fold up often. Competition is stiff and investors with thin budgets don’t last long. Some though have been around long as the locals can remember. For now, it seems likely that pub street is there to stay. For good or for bad, time will tell. Cambodia is poor and the poor don’t get to choose their destiny, not much. The dollar speaks loud. By the way, the greenback seems more like the national currency than the riel. What does that say? Should the Cambodians do something?
Next to pub street are the local roadside stalls. I did not take a photo but these local food stalls are make-shift off the road side concrete balustrades. You won’t see the balustrades as they drape a plastic sheet over it. The cooking area is one side and guests sit on the other near the road.
Siem Reap's Best Cook
Food good? The BBQs are ok but anything fried or soup comes with loads of seasoning and sodium glutamate. No, not for me. And the price is not cheap either. A plate of fried noodles is US3 to US4. That’s aircon comfort in Kuala Lumpur. Same bland fare, the only difference is that in Siem Reap, the food is fresh whereas in KL, it’s microwave.
Best Food in Siem Reap
Now I must really talk about the best food to be found in Siem Reap. Nothing like good local good. This is the one. Porridge with pig’s blood and internals. This stall is just across Lucky Mall. Make friends with the flies. They are very friendly.
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