An Evening on the Town in Siem Reap

Nope, I had never heard of that town either -- but Angkor Wat and other temples are located near Siem Reap in Cambodia. I had heard of Cambodia -- after all I was in college at the beginning of the Viet Nam war. We didn't plan much for our trip here -- mostly just to recover from jet lag. What a mistake! But is there any place that's so boring that recovery can happen in the comfort of your own bed? We should have stayed here a week! At least.

After our cooking class we went back to our room instead of exploring the surrounding city. We'd been here less than 12 hours and had only slept 5 of them (after 26 hours of travel with little sleep). That bed looked far more comfortable than my walking shoes. We had a free massage scheduled  over two hours away, but neither of us ever naps for long, so "Let's just take a little nap!" Guess what! We slept through out free massage! We went down and tipped the masseuse who at least had an hour off her feet and the insited that we have our free massage later! Could these people be nicer?


Off we went for a look around and have a night on the town! I loved the public market -- the sellers were so interesting and the items for purchase were tasty looking -- mostly. 








Some things were a total mystery. Are these fish?

The sellers look so happy. 

This is the noodle lady!

We found the restaurant that had the dinner/traditional dance program, but we were an hour early for the performance. While we walked around, gawking, we walked into the foot massage block. Hey, this $1 massage will help us pass the time.


Very relaxing. However, oily feet in sandals are anathema to walking. Only a block away, I was getting dangerously tipsy (without a drop to drink) and saw something that had interested me last year when we were in England. Pedicure -- by fish! I must say it seems much more in harmony in the Old Market of Cambodi than in the shopping area of Oxford.

Only "Two Dollar. As long as like! Money back if not happy." Really, my main thought was the fish would eat the oil on my feet and I'd quit slip sliding away.

The first tank I tried had bigger fist -- 4-8 inches long. Boy, did they swarm! A hundred hungry mouths looking for dead skin. And I had enough dead skin on my feet to feed a thousand fish for a week. However, Death by Nibbles was totally unexpected. I have no analogy for the sensation of those adolescent mouths feasting on the fruits of my years of ignoring the state of my pedicure! I was seriously thinking I had just wasted my $2 and I am such a skin flint that I wan't ready to part with that fortune without giving the fishies a good chance at a successful career.

Finally, I swung around to dip my toes into the tank with the smaller fish. Ahhh. This was a sensation that I could come to enjoy -- and enjoy I did while Jim stood in the street watching the lively scene and listening to the band at Molly Malones! 


Finally, with dried feet and towelled off sandals, I could walk normally. Off we went to the show. Frist we had to decide what to eat -- after our cooking class, we realized that we'd pretty much covered the menu choices -- however, the glass noodles seafood and cashew chicken set us up to watch the dancers.


By 8:30 we were falling asleep in our beer -- so off to our hotel by tuk tuk cab!