Part 2: Let's take a look at the city and our first Khmer meal
After resting in the villa for a while, we went out to the city by Tuk Tuk provided by the villa. It was very hot in the afternoon, but we were very excited to explore new food and new place! The city is about 5 min drive from the villa. The number of people walking around and the number of motorcycles plus Tuk Tuk did surprised me for a while.
Siam Reap, previously known as Khmer, is a popular resort town as the gateway to Angkor region. Don't be surprise with the number of hotels in the city... PLENTY!! Siam Reap people focus a lot on tourism and hence it is not hard to find a hotel/hostel. And restaurants too! You will only have problem on what type of cuisine you want to pick for today's lunch/dinner. There are Khmer, Indian, French, Western, Mexican, Japanese, you name it, they have it. =D
To search for our first lunch, we started walking around to find our ways to Haven Training Restaurant. We walked under the hot sun using google map to guide us. After about 10 minutes of searching, we found the restaurant! BUT..... it was closed for training. How disappointing. According to my friend who did the research, she said it is one of the restaurants that serve good Fish Amok. Oh well..... Then, we proceed to...... ANY RESTAURANT that seem decent and serve Khmer food. Trying our luck out. XD
While searching for the restaurant.. Took photo of the street.
I love Siam Reap street view. It feels so historical.
In the end, we stopped by at Angkor Herb Khmer Food Restaurant for lunch. Too hot, too hungry and too tired to find. We just simply go into a restaurant. This restaurant is located at Pub street and it serves Khmer BBQ too. However, we were dying to try Fish Amok and hence all of us ignored the BBQ menu. 3 of us ordered Fish Amok and others ordered Lok Lak.
The menu of the restaurant.
The restaurant is very decent and it has a feel like those western restaurant in Publika. XD
First of all, let me show you Lok Lak.
Lok Lak is actually stir-fried marinated, cubed beef served with fresh red onions, served on a bed of lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes and dipped in a sauce consisting of lim juice, sea salt and black Kampot pepper. It is the Cambodian rendition of the Vietnamese dish Bo Luc Lac, which means "shaking beef" in Vietnamese. ~~ Information from Wikipedia
According to my friend who ate this, they said it is nice! Because I don't eat beef, hence I have no idea how Lok Lak taste like. Sorry for not able to describe that. =)
And then it's time to show my Fish Amok ($5.5)!
Close up! (I'm sorry for the bad lighting... it is suppose to be yellowish green X( )
"Amok" refers to the process of steam cooking a curry in banana leaves, or to the resulting dish. Thick coconut cream and galangal are classic ingredients. Amok is a major national culinary tradition in Cambodia, and also popular in Laos and Thailand. Amok is thick soup cooked with fish, meat, vegetables, eggs, and coconut milk. Unlike in Thai and Malaysia, the curry is not intended to be spicy, but rather fragrant, zesty and flavorful. ~~ information from Wikipedia
AHH!!! No wonder all the curry I've tried throughout the trip is non-spicy. Spicy level 0%.
And of course, I ordered a mango shake ($2) to quench my thirst and cool down my body.
The texture is so thick and it feels like heaven!
Lunch was great and satisfying! Something different. FIRST Fish Amok --- CHECKED!!
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Immediately after walking out of the restaurant, we saw a man driving a motorbike that sells ice cream baguette. ICE CREAM! Hesitated for about 10 seconds and we ran across the road to stop the man. Bought two ice cream baguettes for the man for $0.50. Cheap Cheap!
Baguette is another famous food in Siam Reap city. You can find baguette served with BBQ, ice cream, etc etc... It is because this city was colonized by French in the past and they left their food culture here.
The man who sells Ice Cream Baguette.
Ice Cream Baguette -- Done preparing. It is served with 3 small scoops of ice cream, some condensed milk and my favourite peanuts! Yumz yumzz...
Tourist photo time! Yours truly and le ice cream baguette.
I was actually very full that time and I still finish the baguette by myself. There's always some space for dessert. =P
Then, we stroll around the city to explore a bit.
Arts are everywhere. Cambodia people can really good in arts.
From the beauty of all the wats, to the nice paintings. Talented.
Pub street in the day.
Spotted a batman Tuk Tuk! haha!
After that, we found spiderman and other -mans too!
Visiting one of the tourist spot -- Old Market.
They have everything from fruits, vege, meat, fish, gold, silver, souvenirs, food stall, etc etc....
Something interesting is that I found a stall selling dried fishes located beside a stall that sells gold. So contradicting!
Further inside is the dry area. Souvenirs and food stalls.
More souvenirs shop. Temple pants are everywhere. Tempting.....
Bought a shirt at the Old Market at $5. Plan to wear it to Angkor Wat tour =D
Outside of the old market, we found a lot of stalls selling fruit shakes. All of them offer the same menu and all of them are selling at $1. Fruit shake for $1?! Yes, you don't get me wrong. They have $1 fruit shake EVERYWHERE. My first cup of fruit shake was passion fruit shake. Very nice! Friends' got themselves avocado shake for $1 too. Really cheap!
Yes, siam reap to me is about motors and fruit shakes and temples. Haha..
We also saw the children hospital while walking.
On a Tuk Tuk!
After a while, we could not stand the hot weather and decided to go back to rest until dinner. Friends want to go for a swim and hence we caught 2 Tuk Tuk-s to transport us back to the villa. On the way back to the villa. Look at the traffic. They don't have highway and the traffic can be congested sometimes because of the narrow roads. The route from airport to hotel also looks like this, just a bit less congested. New experience.
Next post will be about night market. Stay tuned! =)
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