Tuesday 17 February 2015
Tucson, AZ

As promised, here is the adventure at the Siem Reap night market and the Street Food Tour.

Saturday Night 7 February 2015
Siem Reap, Cambodia

At 6pm I am back in the hotel lobby to meet the tour guide for the evening adventure.  Waiting outside are two tuk-tuks:  one for me and the guide, the other with three folk from yesterday's Angkor tour (not the same folk on this morning's tour), a young married couple from North Dakota, travelling with the husband's younger sister.

We begin the tour at the night market, where we are invited to sample some exotic fruits and vegetables as we explore the busy and narrow aisles full of local shoppers.  Our guide is very careful about the food he offers us, making sure both he and the vendor wear gloves as they handle the food and the local currency he uses to pay for everything.  

  

  

Tour Guide at Night Market

From here we ride to what is locally known as "Barbeque Street," lined on both sides with vendors who come out each night to sell barbeque (chicken, pork, beef, frog) and other more exotic foods.  I sample a number of items, including local snails in their shells (not quite escargot!), re-stuffed and broiled eggs (the yolk and whites are sucked out through a small hole, mixed with herbs and spices, stuffed back into the shell, and then baked over hot coals--then just peel and eat), grilled and stuffed frogs, and various grilled chicken parts.  All of this is very tasty and just the appetizer to prepare us for dinner at a local restaurant.

The restaurant provides a respite from the noise and crowds of the markets and streets, and we enjoy a family-style dinner of Cambodian specialities, including egg rolls, soup, vegetables, and chicken.  The food is very much like Cantonese cooking, using interesting, unfamiliar herbs, but not very spicy.  Dessert is fresh watermelon and pineapple.

The guide escorts us back to our various hotels and I spend the evening packing for my mid-day flight back to Singapore tomorrow. I will be very sorry to leave the wonderful surroundings of the Angkor Village Hotel and the charms of the city of Siem Reap.  It would be nice to spend a week or ten days at the hotel, taking day trips to various other small cities and temple sites in central Cambodia.