After the good and spicy Lao food Nick really liked, he is looking forward to seeing what real Cambodian Khmer food has to offer, but he is disappointed that there is hardly any spice or strong flavours to their cuisine. I myself am less than dazzled by the fare and give myself permission to start eating stuff like pizza and pasta.
Both our hotel as well as another one we looked at has these disturbing pamphlets at the reception desk. They’re for the tourists and have the distressing title of “Do Not Hurt Our Children” translated into English and several European languages. It’s warning tourists not to pay for sex with Cambodian children. Many pedophiles come to SE Asia where the child protection laws are lax, where people are poor and therefore exploitable and expendable, and where enough money can get you whatever you want.
Organizations like UNICEF, ECPAT and Save the Children estimate that around 50 000 to 100 000 women and children are in the sex tourism trade in Cambodia. According to the Cambodian Health Minstry, 20% of sex trade workers test HIV-positive.
I begin to look differently at the tourists around me and wonder who is here for child sex tourism. It’s a very horrible thought and I push it away.
I end up chilling out at the Blue Pumpkin café and restaurant in the downtown of Siem Reap. It’s definitely foreign owned and conceived, with its white one white on white minimalist décor (which I wouldn’t usually like) but its bed couches and every meal in bed gives the place the relaxed atmosphere of an opium den. I stay here and read and write for 5 hours. It is air conditioned and has very good fresh rolls and iced chai tea. They also have a bakery downstairs and fantastic gingerbread cookies and yummy pastries.
I begin to look differently at the tourists around me and wonder who is here for child sex tourism. It’s a very horrible thought and I push it away.
I end up chilling out at the Blue Pumpkin café and restaurant in the downtown of Siem Reap. It’s definitely foreign owned and conceived, with its white one white on white minimalist décor (which I wouldn’t usually like) but its bed couches and every meal in bed gives the place the relaxed atmosphere of an opium den. I stay here and read and write for 5 hours. It is air conditioned and has very good fresh rolls and iced chai tea. They also have a bakery downstairs and fantastic gingerbread cookies and yummy pastries.
Wow, Cambodia is sweltering. It is much hotter here than in the south of Laos where I’ve been for the last five weeks.
I had read about Fish Foot Massage, but I didn’t know it would be literal. On this one street corner lots of tourists offer up their feet for a pescatorian meal. I almost want to do it, but the thought of all that marinating foot juice turns me off; it also seems really touristy cheesy.
I had read about Fish Foot Massage, but I didn’t know it would be literal. On this one street corner lots of tourists offer up their feet for a pescatorian meal. I almost want to do it, but the thought of all that marinating foot juice turns me off; it also seems really touristy cheesy.
(photo taken from web)
I used to have a stamp collection when I was a kid. I love stamps because stamps are specific to different countries (often revealing the national government endorsed psyche), they can also have the most surprising images on them, and because each one is often beautifully printed in miniature…each is a perfect little painting. Okay…now it’s out…I’m a stamp geek! At a street corner I buy some stamps for collecting. Starting now, I am renewing my hobby.
Some parts of the market are open at night and sell everything from fruits to textiles to postcards and every other tourist souvenir. They seem to have an obsession with Tin Tin here (he’s on posters, postcards, t-shirts) as well as the phrase “Same Same But Different” which is found on lots of tourist t-shirts.
At 10pm Nick and I stop at a restaurant and order pizza on Bar Street. I get a coconut drink and Nick gets beer for $0.50. The pizza crust has the texture of hard baked pita bread. The fresh toppings save it from being a total mistake.
Nick and I rent some rickety and ill-fitting bikes and decide to go for a midnight ride around the city when it’s cooler and the roads are less hectic.
Street night scenes.
Some parts of the market are open at night and sell everything from fruits to textiles to postcards and every other tourist souvenir. They seem to have an obsession with Tin Tin here (he’s on posters, postcards, t-shirts) as well as the phrase “Same Same But Different” which is found on lots of tourist t-shirts.At 10pm Nick and I stop at a restaurant and order pizza on Bar Street. I get a coconut drink and Nick gets beer for $0.50. The pizza crust has the texture of hard baked pita bread. The fresh toppings save it from being a total mistake.
Nick and I rent some rickety and ill-fitting bikes and decide to go for a midnight ride around the city when it’s cooler and the roads are less hectic.Street night scenes.
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