Love those air-conditioned buses. It certainly helps manage the six hour road trip. We are sharing the bus with another G-Adventures group but they are half our number and I’m not sure if they are quite as lively as our bunch. They kept pretty quiet.
We stopped first at Skun where we were invited to taste some deep-fried tarantulas, crickets, silk worms, frogs and I’m not sure what else. Bruce and Beth didn’t hesitate. I eventually tasted some tarantula legs but drew the line at anything else. It seems they are usually eaten as a snack with beer though I imagine they provide a fair amount of protein and would be an inexpensive addition to any diet. The tarantula legs were crispy and sort of reminded me of deep fried smelt.
We stopped for lunch at a lovely restaurant overlooking the Stung Sen river. It was very picturesque. I had bought some bakery goods last night so ate them and shared a plate of spring rolls with Linda. We each topped it off with a glass of fresh passion fruit juice.
Just before we got to Siem Reap we stopped to try bamboo sticky rice by the side of the road. One foot lengths of bamboo are stuffed with sticky rice, soya beans, sugar and water and are lined up on a long coal burning contraption where they cook for 35 minutes or so. Then they shave the bamboo down to the point that it is easy to peel away from the rice. The concoction was delicious.
So now we are at our hotel in Siem Reap. I have a lovely big room with two beds. Linda and Deb have already headed for the pool to cool down. I should go out and look for a shirt with short sleeves for tomorrow. I have a long sleeved shirt and I can use that in a pinch. There is a strict dress code for Angkor Wat and I don’t want to disrespect the temple. We have to catch our bus at 4:30 am to get the sunrise at Angkor Wat. That’s a darn early start!
After a dip in the pool and a drink to celebrate Happy Hour we cleaned up and headed out for a quick orientation of the area by Bun. Half the group decided to go to a dance show that included a buffet dinner. The buffet had more choices than any I have ever seen and everything I tried was delicious – especially the fish dumplings.
The dancing was beautiful – what I would call Siam dancing – where the dancers seem to be able to balance on one foot as if they were born that way. The costumes were colourful and elaborate.
To bed…