Day 2 of Siem Reap (24 Feb 2012) - Lunch and Tonle Sap

Since we finished early with the temple ruins, we had lunch at 11+am. Then again, considering we started our day at 5am (waking up at 4+am), it was not that early to have a hearty meal. Lunch was at Angkor Flower, a restaurant with aircon serving Khmer food. It was probably a tourist restaurant as the food would be considered pricey at around US$5 per dish. Across the restaurant was a river which the guide said was the King's swimming pool. Huge one.

I felt a bit strange to dine there and our guide and driver were left to their own devices (or settled their own meals). What is the protocol when you hire a guide and driver for the day? Do you also invite them to join in or would they feel awkward too? In the end we decided to just leave it and just go along with wherever the guide wanted to take us. We figured he would be earning some commission from bringing tourists to the various places. But most of the places he took us were not the typical tourist traps but more of finding beauty in the way of life and craftsmanship.

Our guide recommended the Amok (fish and chicken) which was my all time favorite food in Siem Reap. It was a light curry, similar to Thai green curry but a bit sweeter and cooked in coconut. This came served in a coconut which made presentation pretty. We also ordered seafood tom yam soup and fried rice. The tom yam soup was so-so and the fried rice was decent.

After lunch, we decided to visit Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, and home to a floating village. The homes were built on bamboo or something as they would float and go with the levels of the tides. These were different from the usual kelongs (houses on stilts) which were more common in Thailand and Malaysia. It was interesting to see the people travel across the lake in a small canoe. Every time the boat (ours and others) cruised by, I feared for the villagers paddling in the canoe as their craft would bob about in the wake of the waves.

There was even a floating church in the middle of the lake and school and a restaurant/market which was obviously for tourists. There was a mini exhibition there explaining the existence of the floating village and how the tides affect the lake and the different types of fishing cages and nets were available to the fishermen. There were also crocodiles being kept though I was not sure what were their purposes.