My Angkor Wat Vision.

I went to Angkor Wat.  This is how I saw it.

Preah Khan.

I was fond of this hole.

This is an elephant's trunk.

Which is actually a brontosaurus.

Neak Pean.

Hmm.

Ta Som

Pre Rup.

Ta Prohm.

Angkor Wat.  The main temple.

Bayon.

I always, always call Cambodia by its Vietnamese name, Campuchia.

Last month, my friend Spencer asked me if I wanted to join him on a trip to Cambodia.  I realized that since I’d been in Vietnam, I hadn’t taken advantage of my multiple entry visa.  So, after a spontaneous yes, I soon found myself on a 12 hour bus-ride from Saigon to Siem Reap.

I happened upon this during our one hour stopover in Phnom Penh. I really hope that man knows how famous his ad is...

My trip to Siem Reap can and should be separated into two parts.  The beautiful temple structures of Angkor Wat is definitely one, but the other could be described as the complete opposite: a 5-star accommodation and a glorious food vacation like no other.  What do you think about when you see/hear the word “Cambodia?”  Well, I’ll start with the 2nd part of my trip just to illustrate how your expectations will be shot down almost instantly.

So, we’ll begin with the hotel, which Spencer got free with his American Express/Starwood Preferred Guest Points.  It was called the Le Meridien Angkor, and I think it was the first 5-star I’ve ever stayed at, actually.  Just a tiiiiny bit different from my life this year at the shelter.

This was the first thing in our suite that caught my attention.

And then walk outside, and here’s [the empty] Khmer-themed pool, surrounded by cascading water falls and tropical gardens.  There was even atmospheric music playing softly around the whole pool area.  It was kind of too insane.

We also ordered lunch there.

Crab Mango Salad.

Cold Gazpacho soup with garlic bread.

The best *** club sandwich I've had in Asia.

A fish/chicken/beef mini-burger sampler.

and back inside.

just some lounge.

I think I did something similar once, only it had glow-in-the-dark creepy crawlers between the rocks.

Oh, and can’t forget about room service breakfast.  What?

some tastey eggs benedict.

Oddly enough, the actual city of Siem Reap doesn’t look that much different.  A few points:

-It’s obsessive-compulsively clean and I was  shocked when I couldn’t use piles of trash as landmarks.

-Because it’s a tourist city, everyone speaks English extremely well- even little children.  One little girl actually came up to Spencer and I and said, “If you don’t buy from me, then you are bad tourists.”  Haha wow.

-Every cafe/bar I went to had pillows, couches, or beds and the friendliest customer service.  I  actually didn’t think outdoor bars with beds existed outside of television.

-Everything was in USD, and it was actually kind of frightening to throw dollar bills here and there (considering I’ve been living on a dollar or less pretty much everyday in Vietnam.)

-The Khmer food was a delicious fusion of Thai/Vietnamese food, but the city also had amazing Mexican/Indian/Italian food.  I had my first worthy burrito since Chipotle last summer in NY.  Who would have thought?

-We went to Siem Reap’s night market a couple times, and the experience was the complete opposite to that of Ben Thanh Market in Saigon.  As I would walk by sellers, they would say in nice, polite voices, “Hello, would you like something?”  Then, I’d say, “No, thank you!”  and I would literally wait for further pestering, yelling, or bad-mouthing, but it never happened.  It was so care/stress free, and people never raised their voices at me.  It was so disorienting to have a pleasant, relaxing market experience in Asia.  I can say that because this past year I’ve been slapped by a giant, wet fish that a running woman was carrying, had chicken guts fly onto my lips, and was pushed by an old grandmother because I was unknowingly blocking her stall from the customers’ view.  And you wonder why I always shop at the supermarket down my street.

At first, we were terrible at bargaining tuk tuk rides.

Some more weird, clean streets.

At the night market, we got a “fish massage.” 

They call them “Doctor fish” and they supposedly love to eat dead skin off of your feet.  At first, the tickling was unbearable and nobody could keep their feet in for longer than 5 seconds at a time.  Also, it’s just weird having fish attack/peck your feet- not exactly something you get used to right away.  But, after a while, the tickling became sort of addicting.  (First thought that comes to mind is a Cambodian “drug addict” who locks himself in the bathroom and passes out with his feet in a bucket of Dr. Fish.)

Maybe they just never feed them anything and they’ve gotten accustomed to eating whatever they can get… makes me think about  a Dr. Fish with a facebook who put down “Whatever I can get” with the intention to find delicious human feet skin cells.  Now that’s real love.

Now, an awkward transition to food.

Fish Amok. Seriously, so tastey.

It's been a while since I've eaten a meat that wasn't 80% bone. haha

Cambodia's happy herb pizza

Alright. I’ll post some Angkor Wat photos next.

What? An All-You-Can-Eat Dim Sum Buffet? Uhh…

A few weeks ago, I went down to Saigon to get my food fix.  I realized I hadn’t eaten Chinese food in a while, nor had I been in Cholon (the Chinese-Vietnamese area where I used to live during my study abroad) in quite some time.

So, Spencer and I went to the best Chinese restaurant in Saigon, which was oddly enough located in the Windsor (5-Star) Hotel.  Once we arrived, angels greeted us with an opportunity of a lifetime: an all-you-can-eat dim sum buffet for 110,000 dong.  That’s a little more than $6 USD.

I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced such a thing, but it’s basically like holding a piece of paper, closing your eyes, and making check marks as if you were sketching a field of grass.

These are all of the dishes we called between the two of us- and surprisingly, we managed to destroy pretty much all of them.  I don’t know the names of most of the dishes, so you’re just going to have to deal with that pain.

Also, funny, ironic coincidence happened: I only had one day in Saigon before I went to Cambodia, and so I called up my friend Tyler to see if we could meet up.  He said he had to work though, and if I wanted to- I could meet up with him in a far-away district for lunch.  Spencer and I basically headed straight to the Chinese restaurant right after we got off the plane, so I figured I wouldn’t catch him in time for lunch.  After about a week, I came back to Saigon (from Cambodia), and met up with Tyler for drinks before heading back up to Hue.  He told me got this new job a few weeks ago as an English grammar proofreader for a 5-star hotel.  He was working at the Windsor Hotel, where we ate the dim sum buffet the week before.  He was probably on the same floor as us.

Weird.

Seriously, you can find any delicious international food in Saigon.  This Korean restaurant had some pretty good bi bim bop.

bi bim bop.

And in case you were wondering, this is what Saigon looks like from the top of the Windsor Hotel.  Now you can live on with your life with this question finally answered.  Rest well tonight, friend.

Paper mache smore, roller-skate more.

For those of you who enjoy Anh-Thu & Dave’s company, entertainment, and smiles- here are the last batch of photos from their visit.

For those of you are tired of Anh-Thu & Dave’s company, entertainment, and smiles – here are the last batch of photos from their visit.

paper mache-ing balloon hearts.

paper-mache masks.

They done. holla.

There was a mess. I was a mess.

The kids like a s'more or two.

Our Charlie Brown bonfire.

Thanh Nho's sweet roast.

The night wasn't sweet enough, so a basket full of ice-cream came shortly after.

We had a last-minute roller-skating goodbye party.  I really like the combination of words in that sentence.

It's strange having friends come to the shelter to document crazy people other than the kids.

Sometimes, I grab a branch and gently scrape patterns onto Hau's forehead. Then, I tell him, "You have been healed, child. Now, go."

But, little Nhi is definitely nutso.  I’m not sure if  I had anything to do with that.

These photos are non-children related. I know. I’m also confused.

Some more activities with Anh-Thu and Dave.

Breakfast Buffet at "Green Restaurant."

Fruit shakes at Phuong Nam so I can get my usual boring fruits.

My usual Hue cakes spot.

There was a fierce sunset.

I seriously couldn't stop laughing in this traffic jam.

location: a minute bike ride outside of the shelter.

Some gifts: a butterfly dust-mask and a camouflage motorbike helmet visor.

This was before I got a back seat cushion for my bike. Sorry Anh-Thu.

What a comfy-looking bed of pillows.