May 14th, 2015 - Siem Reap - Day 272
After having such a busy time in Phnom Penh for the past 5 days we were all ready to sleep in a bit, and have a pretty mellow day. The only problem was we were only going to be in Siem Reap for 2 nights and from what we were reading online we would need at least a couple of days to tour the temples at Ankor Wat. However, after this much time on the road a break sounded better than two days touring temples. So Stacie and I let the kids sleep in and went for an early morning walk to find some coffee. Siem Reap is a much nicer town than Phnom Penh and you can tell the influence of tourist dollars is having an impact here. Things are nicer, cleaner and a little more expensive.
We had a nice walk and then went back to our hotel for breakfast.
Sister Srey Cafe - good food with a purpose
Later in the day we went to a cafe for lunch called Sister Srey. It was started by two sisters from Australia who moved to Siem Reap last year and are trying to help out by training local street kids for a career in the hospitality industry. Like I said in another post, these types of "for purpose" organizations seem to be everywhere in Cambodia which is refreshing and a trend I hope to see followed everywhere in the world.
After our lunch we went back to the hotel and hung out for a while before heading out to dinner. We had dinner at Olive, which is a French / Asian Fusion restaurant, and it was fantastic. We remarked that the place could easily be on 8th street in Boise, or up in Sun Valley. The food was great, the service was amazing and best of all it had AIR CONDITIONING! It has been in the upper 90's since we have been in Cambodia with like 90% humidity - it's surface of the sun hot here.
After dinner we went to the night market. The markets in Siem Reap are also benefiting from the tourist influx and are much nicer than the Phnom Penh markets. We had a VERY productive evening there and capped it off with a Dr. Fish foot massage. This is where you put your feet into a tank of Dr. Fish and they come by and eat the dead skin off your feet. It's one of those things that you might have only one chance in your life to do, so we did it and had a big laugh. Stacie and Lea went first and were laughing so hard that Peter and I had to join in. It does feel really strange, but after a while you get used to the sensation and let the little guys go. I have to say my feet have never felt better :-)
Feeding the fish!
After the foot massage it was 10:30 - which of you know us well is WAY past our bed time, so we jumped in a tuk tuk and headed back to the hotel and off to bed.