SE Asia - Siem Reap, Cambodia - 2

Cambodia, Day 4, January 30, 2014

Siem Reap, Cambodia

This morning, in Siem Reap, Paul and I had chosen the optional tour to the Banteay Srei ruins. As it turned out, Paul was a little under the weather and chose to not go and also he gave his knee a rest. We left at 7:45 for what seemed like a long ride on a bumpy road to the far west side of the greater Angkor Wat area.

This was the Chinese New Year and I think everyone was on holiday here. Actually, the Cambodians do a little partying on this holiday as well. Anyway, the place was extremely crowded, but our guides did an excellent job or steering (herding) us through the complex so that we could see it from all angles. It was amazing how detailed the carvings still were considering this complex was built in the late 12th and early 13th centuries.

On the ride back to town we stopped to visit a young woman who specializes in making Cambodian style rice noodles. She showed us the whole process from kneading the rice flower, putting it into a tube with a grate on the bottom, and putting it in a press to squeeze the dough through little holes to produce long noodles. It was kind of like a potato ricer in a way. It took both Erika sitting on the end of a long fulcrum and then Tom adding his weight at the end of the long leaver to get the mass all squeezed out. The gal then washed the noodles a number of times and divided them into small packets that she would sell. She put some into a pot of broth to cook for us to taste. I thought they were very good.

The next "Learning and Discovery" stop we made was to visit a family that was making sugar from Sugar Palm sap. They boil it down until it is a very thick light brown consistency, which was then spooned into rings of palm leaves about an inch in diameter. It then hardens quickly so the pieces of sugar can be packaged in various ways. I had been sent with orders from Paul to buy a bunch, which I did. He has a significant sweet tooth.

We made a stop at a very nice place for lunch, which was included in the optional tour, then back to the hotel for an hour before heading out for the afternoon adventure.

At 2:00 we headed southwest of Siem Reap to Tonle Saab Lake, which was huge and famous for floating villages. The level of the lake was going down as it was the dry season and the villages were moving farther out in the lake. We boarded a wooden boat and headed out to some of the canals that still had floating homes. The residents live their whole lives on houseboats and fishing was the main source of food and income. 

We made one stop, at a Crocodile Farm. They had several very large crocks in pens attached to their home. At breeding time they move the female to shore to lay her eggs. The lady had prepared some snake soup for us and a few people tried it. Not me!

Back on shore, and a short bus ride, we were met by a number of farmers and their water buffalos that were harnessed to carts. We rode two per cart along a path through the rice paddies. Since the wheels were wooden and there were no springs it was a very bouncy ride. Paul chose the bus ride, took pictures and met us at the end.

That pretty much rounded out the day, with dinner at the hotel. Tomorrow we finally get to Angkor Wat.

That's it for now. Grace and Paul