#2179 Siem Reap, Cambodia

Pardon the interruption on Tuesday the 19th. I took the time to celebrate my son's 21st birthday. 21!! I kept repeating to myself all that day, "T is 21 years old. I have a son and he is 21."

I'm back tonight and I want to tell you a little bit about the city of Siem Reap, Cambodia and in particular the night market and Pub Street. This is the main tourist-y area of Siem Reap, other than Angkor Wat. We went to this area both nights we were in the city. The first night was fun because it new and interesting and there was lots of stuff to look at. The second night was kind of overwhelming and after spending the whole day in the hot, hot Cambodian sun looking at the magnificence of Angkor Wat, I wasn't in the mood for the Pub Street vibe after all. We went there and walked around but we didn't have dinner or much of a good time, and I'm sorry to say that is my fault.

We took a tuk-tuk from our hotel to the night market. It's about a 10 minute ride. We probably could have walked, but we didn't really know where we were and you have to be careful when you are wandering around at night in a place you are unfamiliar with. The tuk-tuk was cheap and quick. It was about $3 US. Here's a pic of MT in the tuk-tuk:

He kinda looks like he's hanging on for dear life! They get up to speed pretty quickly. It's safe and fine but you do have to sort of find your balance and not move around too much.

Oh, you probably want to know what a tuk-tuk is, am I right? In Siem Reap, it is a motorcycle that pulls a little cart where the passengers sit. It looks like this:

This is NOT my photo. I found it using Google search. siemreaptuktuktaxi.com

There are about a jillion of them in the night market/Pub Street area. Those areas are closed to cars and tuk-tuks, but the drivers will approach you and make a hand motion like they are reving a motorcycle. It's really, really easy to find a ride.

The Pub Street/night market area is a bustling, busy, chaotic place. There are so many cars, tuk-tuks, scooters, motorbikes and people that it is a wonder there are not more accidents. Crossing the street is at your own risk because there aren't really any crosswalks and not many traffic lights and vehicles don't really yield to pedestrians. The scene was unexpected for me.

This photo shows the main road and we are aiming to get over the the night market over there on the left.

In this photo we have safely and successfully crossed over to where cars are not allowed and we can easily reach the night market.

The night market is a collection of vendor stalls all selling approximately the same souvenirs and trinkets and t-shirts and scarves and knick-knacks. Where you purchase something largely depends on what happens to catch your eye and if the people running the stall seem friendly because, like I said, they all have the same stuff.

I've seen stalls like these in places around the Caribbean, but what makes this place unique is that it's open at night - hence the name night market. I guess it's too dang hot during the day to have it and it was still plenty warm at night. Plus most people are probably touring Angkor Wat and the surrounding areas which are closed at night.

The night market looks something like this:

Actually, this photo was taken at a wide spot. There are rows and rows of stalls and mostly there is about half the space of the sidewalk in between the two sides. It's tight. This photo makes it look nice and orderly. It's kind of deceptive.

The best thing about the night market is that most of the stuff is inexpensive. The worst thing is that the t-shirts sold there aren't really in "American" sizes. MT loves to buy t-shirts when he is on vacation.  He prefers to have a small design on the front left chest and then a bigger design on the back. Those kinds of t-shirts aren't really available there, but MT bought a few t-shirts anyway. Those are now my t-shirts because they don't fit him in a comfortable manner.  I should have paid more attention when he was picking out shirts!

Pub Street is kind of a southeast Asian mix of Bourbon Street and the Las Vegas Strip. It is packed with restaurants and bars blaring music with people trying to get you to come in to their place. There are 50 cent beers and cheap cocktails and all kinds of food available. There are plenty of massage places that also offer fish pedicures. There is lots of neon. There are lots of people. It's amazing and overwhelming all at the same time.

Across a main road on the other side of the river is another collection of market stalls, but they call themselves the Art Center Night Market. They basically have the same stuff over there but it is a lot more quiet. I'm including this photo because it has cool Khmer letters on it:

As you can see, you can buy all sorts of fresh fruit. There are also vendors selling street food - everything from fish to Asian BBQ to ice cream and so much other stuff that I don't even remember. It's all a festival for the senses.

Did you catch my reference to fish pedicures? I know you've seen these places because they exist here in the States but you have to try to find them. In Siem Reap (and the places we went to in Thailand) these hungry fish are everywhere. It's sort of my worst nightmare to have a bunch of fish nibbling on my feet. I thought MT was going to do it, especially when we saw these two men. They were giggling and shifting sort of uncomfortably around but they were smiling, so I think they were kind of enjoying it.

In the end MT did not feed the hungry fish his dead skin. Gotta leave something to do next time!