Siem Reap | Epic!

As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in an almost-real kind of coffee-shop, just drank a "watermelon and lime together in a shake", not sure what's gonna happen to Mr. Timmy.

It was a 'not-okay' ride on another not so VI (Very Important) kind of VIP bus, my neck hurts, my legs feel like they have been tied up for a long time and I was packed in a smaller than me space.

After checking in early in the morning, I napped a big bit in my three bed room in the guesthouse up until the almost - noon. I came along with two genuinely patient people. We came out for food, ended up eating wherever we wandered to. It started to rain and we could not wander around any longer and so I ended up eating more, we were now seated at the almost-real kind of coffee-shop I mentioned earlier.

The Siem Reap trip that I have been waiting for a whole year finally came true and it went EPIC as grand can be. I ate everything, every time, and everywhere.

The Pub Street was a nightly routine, I would go there right after the long unusual afternoon naps, either was a nap out of exhaustion or was just a nap out of freedom to do so. Happy Pchum Ben Holidays to everyone.

The muddy soccer field, the sound of lizards and geckos chitchatting at midnight, the live music concerts of the sleepless toads, the dormitory with the bunk beds, the un-lockable door, the rob-probable windows, the unkind stingy shower hose; that is only how I could describe the guesthouse I stayed at. It was great. That guesthouse named, Garden Village, about a half a mile away from the Pub Street, has been tagged by Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor.

On the way out of the guesthouse to the Pub Street, right by the main road-side, rite in front of a mart, there is this Pho Yong, a street food vendor with so much people eating and waiting for just a simple bowl of Pho, the Vietnamese noodle dish. The site was, still is unbelievable. It posed as if that was it.

To make things worse, I was denied thrice by this Pho Yong. First shot, they had run out of meatballs. Second shot, they would not give take-aways. Third shot, there weren’t any seat for me. Everyone was there; farangs, locals, other asians, Khmers from other provinces and I was not counted for. “Get a life”, I motivated myself.

I never gave up, and got my share of bowl and that was when the rain decided to rain a bit. No one moved though! People there seemed to care enough for their seats and the Pho that none took cover and showed respect to the sweet rain. Not to forget, there are many interesting places to eat almost anything just rite across the street into the Pub Street. We all so patriotically stuck with the Pho. And, I was so lost with the Pho that I did not even take a foto of it or the corner. 

Foto Courtesy: google

There was one signature thing that I didn’t do, and I still do not consider doing it any time soon; FEED OUR FISH WITH YOUR DEAD SKIN.

It’s not that I did not or do not have the soccer balls to do it, it’s just that I really did not want the fish masseurs to touch me at all. Just like one of my fellows that hates most of the reptiles, it’s not like lizards can scare him, it’s just that there will always be something in everyone’s life that we all dislike, it’s between the “scared of it” zone and the “I don’t like it” zone. I was lost in this case as well, I did not take any fotos of the fish masseurs. 

Foto Courtesy: google

It’s not my first time here in Siem Reap, my last visit was five years ago, I was too young to enjoy whatever fun that Siem Reap had to offer to me back then. I would still consider myself as a first-timer in Siem Reap, and as always, first-timers visit the best of the best, Siem Reap has to offer to us.

I tagged Angkor Wat with my second day in Siem Reap.

Angkor Wat gave me goosebumps. It is the real deal.

I woke up as late as routinely, “the sunrise of Angkor Wat” plan got absolutely denied, I just felt like Angkor Wat could not be running away, and so, I took my time.  

I tuktuk-ed all the way to Angkor Wat, and on the way was a ticket counter, but I did not get off, obviously because I am a Khmer. Just right when we were done there, there was a lady who we had to pass through with the entry tickets for my fellow expat compadres, so they showed the tickets, I didn’t have any as I did not need one and then the lady looked at me, “Ticket please”, she asked in a very practiced accent, “Nhom Khmer Ta (I’m a Khmer)”, I answered and she hit me on my right shoulder out of shock. I had my fishing hat on.

We reached the Angkor Wat, with the Angkor Wat style, taking fotos straight up, that’s how we did it! I’m not gonna say anything further, please check the fotos I took and see if you could see what I saw and felt there.

                   

Same applies for Ta Prohm.

I’m too young to talk about LIFE; but somehow, I’ve become friends with LIFE. Let’s just say that I see the Pub Street as something more than just a public street filled with colored lights. In Pub Street, I found life, I found the Banana Pancake.

Me eating and me describing the food are different, the last happens the least and I gotta say that the Banana Pancake has made its way to “HONGYY ALL-TIME FAVORITE FOOD”.

Saying that its taste is indescribable might be too much, it’s just a pancake, many would say. There are certain food in the world that I would want to learn to cook, and to be honest, it is one of them, that’s how much I liked it and liking it.

There must be a reason behind this best-selling snack in the Pub Street, the simplicity of both its look and its taste, making the wait very much worth it. The only thing that’s making them not relevant, is that they would appear only at night, but if you see it like I see it, then appearing only at night had made all the banana pancake vendors become slightly more special. It’s a fun mix as well, just like eating chinese buns and drinking coffee, the mixture of simplicity and koolness is indeed very hard to find these days, but there’s no doubt you’ll find it in the Pub Street.

I might sound like I’m exaggerating the whole thing just for the sake of the article, but it’s never like that, believe me, it was an extraordinarily crazy. There is something about simple things that catches the heart and soul.

I have willingly chosen not to upload any foto of the banana pancake. I would want you to find it by yourselves as and when you get a chance. Fotos say thousand words but banana pancake in the pub street speaks more….try it!....not just the banana pancake but the whole street, it is for the public.