Backpacking in Cambodia — Day 3— Phnom Penh to Siem Reap
Day 3— Phnom Penh <-> Siem Reap [November 21, 2022]
If you need to catch up on Day 2
And that’s a wrap at Phnom Penh
Having checked out, we grabbed breakfast at the restaurant with another round of passion fruit shake (yet again!) before sitting and waiting for the bus that was about 30 minutes late and we finally left at around 930 AM. A tour group was headed for the Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields and had a fun tour guide briefing them. Later we’d get to know Cambodians in general like to display their sense of humor. She then moved on to talk about pickpockets — “ you may think you are stronger than them. You might be but they smart and this is the only skill they have expertise in.”
There were people sleeping in random yet comfortable places — like the couch in the corridor landing on first floor, another two guys sleeping in a mini library / reading room set up that had a mattress lined up. A couple and bunch of British lads seemed to be waiting for their bus or maybe were on the same bus as us. We also discussed how we barely saw any stray dogs around.
Finally, a mini bus turned up about 35 minutes later and was a full house once everyone from our stop got on. Fortunately got the last seat down the walkway which meant I had ample leg room unlike the other seats whilst Jagnoor took the remaining seat next to the sliding door.
It’s a flat flat flat flat world.
No! I don’t mean I subscribe to the Flat Earther’s philosophy but Thomas Friedman’s theory of how interconnected the world has become. After the initial silence, people started warming up and talking to each other — 2 Danish girls (one dressed like she was a scientist right out of Jurassic Park), 4 British blokes, a Hungarian couple, a French solo backpacker, a making out couple and a Hyderabadi couple. Soon folks were sharing their itineraries, notes , professional backgrounds, cultural theories and everything else under the sun. The driver managed about a washroom break every 2 hours in what’d I say are pretty clean public toilets usually tied up to a convenience halt or a petrol station. The British bloke next to me turned out to have an interesting back story. We started talking as he kept on clicking the countryside that passed us — the ponds, the bridges, the rural houses and the loitering cows.
Brought up in Jersey island where the cows are atleast three times the size of the Cambodian ones we saw enroute, he had studied to be a cardiologist and then got cooped up indoors so changed professions to be a gardener / landscaping artist. Now he and the boys were on a 6 month break to relax in South East Asia and then take a call. With the Soccer World Cup starting off with England v/s Iran the same day, a lot of conversation steered towards that. We followed up with discussions on British colonialism and how much of it got taught in Britain itself.
A Bug’s life in Stueng San
Around 1:15 PM, the driver stopped at a restaurant in Stueng San named Arunras. They have pretty clean washrooms for sure, can’t comment on the food though. On another note, bugs have a short life span in this part of the world.
The Indian couple were out for a month having been in Vietnam earlier and planning to head out of Thailand. Interestingly they’d been surviving on a diet of curd rice for bulk of their trip being queasy about having non vegetarian food cooked in fish and shrimp oil. Most of the folks decided to skip lunch grabbing Pringles and other identifiable safe brands of chocolates and candy whilst taking photos of the delectable insects and fruits on display for sale. Jagnoor was our brave local food connoiseur picking up a plate of the famous traditional lok lak — a filling meal for under $4.
Even cheaper nourishing meals are available right outside i.e. if you are up for the challenge. Suggest going for the spiders which are a delicacy based on what the locals told me. For some reason — I am told everything tastes like chicken — even rat meat (which is also available). As for the vegetarians — this no-fly zone makes it a lot more easier to joke about.
The women sellers were used to inquisitive tourists I guess and gave a bored wave when we requested for permission of a photograph of their wares. After a thirty minute break, we were off towards Siem Reap. Most folks had crashed by now.
The TukTuk deal
Around 4 PM, the driver finally announced we had reached our destination. Turns out a kilometre or so outside Siem Reap, he had stopped with multiple remorques and tuktuks waiting there. Turns out they drop you to your hotel / hostel for free of charge with the hope they’d be able to seal a deal with you for Angkor Wat and other travels during your stay. The guy we got assigned seemed like a good fella so we decided to go ahead with him for the next day too. He mentioned he’d pick us up by 4 AM and we could then decide whether we wanted to do the main circuit alone or the main and minor circuit. We were leaning towards the main circuit alone. Took his contact details down and he dropped us off at the hostel.
Mad Monkey Siem Reap
A smaller but livelier branch of Mad Monkey greeted us at Siem Reap. Also we realised why it had been costlier than the previous one — we had got ourselves a fancier room (Standard Double Plus) — though I still want to know why does anyone need a bath tub in the bedroom and also why are there trippy blue lights in the bathroom. There was also a complimentary bottle of water which surely meant we were in a premium room. It also had a balcony. The phone auto-connected to the wifi because “Surprise!” the password remains the same across locations. The scenery gave a very rural vibe with the setting sun adding to the golden hour highlights. We decided to relax a bit, read up on Angkor Wat sunrise and then hit the main tourist centre of Siem Reap — Pub Street.
Pub Street
About a kilometre or so from our hostel is Pub Street which is the epicentre of all tourist activities. Siem Reap pretty much makes its bread and butter from tourism courtesy Angkor Wat and you can see that all around. A livelier version of the French Quarters in Puducherry is what Pub Street reminded me of. No doubt a former French colony , the architecture gives itself away. Also a number of touts were walking the street ready to solve any borderline illegal desires you may have and that got a bit jarring and wish I had a “Not interested” T-shirt or board to wave them away. We had reached early; for the place seemed like it was still setting up around 6:30 PM and there were just a handful of people loitering around. There are a number of roadside fish spas where they have these raised seats with a fish tank below for them to nibble away at the dead skin in your feet.
We decided to walk around the alleyways and figure where the vibe would be the best especially for the World Cup game between England and Iran. A mix of pubs, clubs, multi cuisine restaurants and souvenir shops are dotted across this square and is a pedestrian only zone. Having staked out the entire area in about 20 minutes including a detour at a souvenir shop that seemed to have a good collection of souvenirs especially fridge magnets along with them handling bookings for overnight buses and other tours, we bookmarked the place for a visit the next day. The hunger pangs hitting us, we decided not to go by SEO toppers in vegan restaurants — the Indian ones. Instead as we strolled by, Elia Greek Kitchen gave some good vibes so we decided to give Greek cuisine a go.
Gobble-de-Greek
The upstairs section was shut and service was only on the ground floor when we went in. There is a fine dine feel to the place with classical symphonies playing with a very quiet audience all around. We ordered in cheese moussaka, doner wrap and a couple of desserts along with a bottle of water — the portions of each dish were good for 0.75 persons. The desserts were decent, not much to write home but the moussaka was good. Being centric to foreign tourists — vegetarians and vegans needn’t have to worry about options in Pub Street compared to the rest of the country. A lot of tuktuk guys stand around the restaurant and call out patrons to take a ride with them once their meals are done which was an interesting concept. Forgot to mention — the restaurant opens up to the street which allows them to do the same.
World Cup 2022 — England vs Iran live telecast
As soon as the game began, the Barmy Army was vocally visible all over as the streets started filling up and pubs had patrons flowing into the streets. You just know the local beer industry is going to have a field day. With a raucous collection of England soccer jerseys going back to the 1994 World Cup on display and English defence not being troubled much, we decided to walk back and prepare for an early morning and a super long day that was lined up for tomorrow with a short detour to 7/11. England was 2–0 up and pretty much had the game wrapped up. By the time we reached the hostel, they were 4–0 up. The hostel lobby had all the British fans lined up feverishly supporting their team and we joined in to watch Iran manage a consolation goal. As things slowed down and the crowd went back to their eating and drinking, we headed to the room to hear more yelps of ecstacy as English offence continued to make merry and finally closed out with a 6–1 hammering.
Snacking up at 7/11
The comfort one feels seeing a familiar brand in a foreign land is very understated. Seeing brands like Pizza Company, McDonalds and even 7/11 were a whiff of familiarity. Having heard that there aren’t places to get water or snacks in Angkor Wat and it being a long day, we decided to stock up on snacks at 7/11. The country loves their meat — in their chips and chocolates too. After scanning through for pure vegetarian options scanning through tiny English fonts and Google Translate for Khmer ingredients. Finally picked up biscuits and chocolates — a lot of sugar and free calories. Angkor Wat would take care of burning it all. There were large water canisters available too which makes it economical to refill your smaller bottles.
Key Details
Phnom Penh to Siem Reap — Mini Bus — $13 per person — ~7 hours journey. ( Carry water and snacks. )
Breakfast at Mad Monkey Phnom Penh— ~ $11 for a meal for two.
Arunras Restaurant — $ — ~$7 for a meal for two
Mad Monkey Siem Reap (Standard Double +) — ~ $25 per night
Elia Greek Kitchen, Siem Reap — $$ ~ $20 for a meal for two
Angkor Wat awaits you on Day 4