Cambodia: Feb 19: More Siem Reap

Because our arranged tour lasted only three days, we had this day to ourselves. We used it to explore more of Siem Reap. Although we'd already seen the Old Market and the touristy area nearby, we hadn't yet walked everyday streets, seen any of the notable buildings or temples, or strolled along the river.

These pictures capture highlights from the day. Di Yin took many more. The latter link goes to the first picture from this day (picture #452) in her album from our trip to Singapore and Cambodia. When you see a picture of us landing in Singapore at night (picture #530), you're done with her pictures for the day / from our trip to Cambodia. I'll link to her Singapore pictures in other posts.

We began the day at 7:30am (before the heat) by walking to downtown from our hotel (a mile or two), observing morning life along the way (students in uniforms on bicycles heading to class, etc.). Once downtown, we walked through the Central Market but found we were there too early and most shops weren't open.

I grabbed breakfast from a street stand, and we made our way to see one of the town's temples, Wat Damnak. It's a large complex with many towers and many kids at play, hanging out, etc. We also went to another temple complex, Wat Preah Prom Rath, with monks and a large Buddha statue. I think I read that this was the oldest complex in Siem Reap, but I can't make out my notes clearly.

For lunch, we returned to the The Blue Pumpkin, where we ate the day before. It was decent.

We headed through the Central Market, which was open by this time. It's like the Old Market but less cramped.

We had planned to returned to a place for ice cream--we had even discussed and selected our flavors (banana and galangal)--but nixed the idea because it required too much of a walk in the heat.

We walked back to our hotel from downtown, seeing a variety of sights along the way (mostly documented by the pictures). We stopped by the McDermott Gallery, a gallery created by a photographer famous for his pictures of Angkor. And, yes, he had some pictures that I wish I took. Anyway, we ambled slowly back to our hotel, partially due to the heat and partially because I was feeling a little odd (and hence I had less energy than usual).

Our tour guide picked us up at our hotel and delivered us to the airport, and we returned to Singapore. Di Yin flew economy; I flew back to Singapore on business class because, when I bought the ticket, it was the only ticket available. Sitting in business class, I got lots of attention, which was a little overwhelming at first.