Our hotel was just a block or so from the night market, a tourist trap, of course, but with a marvelous atmosphere. Brightly colored lights lit up the streets. Musicians played traditional music. Food cart vendors and souvenir stands were eager to make a deal.
The streets here are... well, different. Despite being a good sized city (a quick Google result says about 250,000), many of the roads lack any sort of painted lines, nor room for two full lanes. Many are dusty and where potholes have formed, the resourceful people have broken up bricks to fill in the holes.
The night market was visited just about every night. We made purchases of souvenirs we didn't need, had a fishy pedicure and ate fried ice cream rolls. They were delicious. Mixing our chosen ingredients over a frozen pan, almost as if for a crepe, the mixture was flattened and the rolled up like an egg roll.
One night, we ventured to Pub Street, just a few minutes walk from our hotel. It almost felt like Bourbon Street. Bars and restaurants lined the street that was overflowing with tourists.
We treated ourselves to henna tattoos. I have had a few of these for Hindu weddings and loved them. The people who do them are typically just excellent doodlers, artists at their own craft. I asked the guy for a lotus, but I told him to be creative and he could design how he wanted. His eyes lit up and he seemed to enjoy the freedom to design!
Our food was all delicious. We had mainly Khmer food of curry, noodles or more amok and we enjoyed all of it. None of the food has had the spice of Thailand, but all have had unique flavors of their own.
On our last evening, after a delicious meal, we decided we should be fair judges and get a massage in Cambodia like we had done in all other countries. It was a wonderful massage! Almost like the Thai massage, but not quite as much yoga-type stretches. A great way to wrap up our trip. I sure am going to miss getting massages for under $10!
In one section of the night market, we had happened upon a unique scene and decided we should be part of it. At the back of the market, under the large metal roof, we got a foot scrub and pedicure. That doesn't seem out of the ordinary, I know, but add to that the stage entertaining those getting pedicures. And, on that stage were cross-dressers lip syncing to great artists such as Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. It was fantastic, oh so entertaining and oh so random.
Our last evening, while wandering around the busy, lively streets, we overheard "Sweet Home Alabama" and "American Pie," signs we were quite certain that meant we should be heading home.
For a while, Jessica and I thought that we may have completed our journey backward, really just based on how we had enjoyed the things we had done. But Siem Reap changed that. It was the perfect book end to our trip. The city was a perfect size, the people were some of the kindest we've met, food was delicious, shopping was fun and the energetic atmosphere that the city gave off was contagious.
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