Siem Reap

Thursday, December 1, 2005
Siem Reap province
Just arrived in Siem Reap province, the largest Angkor area but not had an opportunity to go there. We took 6 hours by bus to arrive but we were a little tired because we had taken rest on the way. There are beautiful landscape and high houses; hence they reminded me of the time when crossing from Sumatra island of Indonesia to Johor of Malaysia, it is almost the same in tropical forests and high houses. The difference is that in Sumatra we cross hills and lakes but here there are not mountains and hills because they are plain areas; and there are a lot of Buddhist monasteries.

Now we get ready for dinner. During lunch break on the way, we hardly ate because John felt uncomfortable with pork we requested fried rice with beef. Using Khmer language, John asked a waiter whether it was pork or not; the waiter replied yes. John let him take it back but someone nearby (at the same table), who can speak English a little, said that was really beef. Maybe John asked by using Khmer language with California accent so the waiter listened wrongly. Finally we decided to eat there. There was a kind of funny food, i.e. fried cricket; but it is fairly delicious despite eating with fear. Did perhaps I had no choice but to eat fried cricket? However, it was better for me than pork. Thanks a lot, John! (Sorry for two weeks with no pork.)