Siamese Defeated

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16th November 2010


Today we got a bus through Cambodia from Kompong Cham to Siem Reap (meaning Siamese defeated), where were met by a frenzy of tuk-tuk drivers. Our guidebook is always warning us to avoid touts and mostly we follow their advice as there are a lot of scams. But this time when we were met by Mr Sree we took a chance and viewed his hotel. We lucked-out with a nice, quiet, reasonably priced hotel on the edge of the city.



In the evening we walked into town which was buzzing with people everywhere. We haven't seen so many westerners since we left Europe. The streets were lined with bars and restaurants, each stylised with different themes. It was very surreal after cycling around the Cambodian countryside yesterday. It felt almost like walking down sixth street in Austin, except there were a lot of motorised tuk-tuks and the restaurant staff were khmer.








We found a restaurant with a show of traditional Khmer dancing, including Apsara dancing. In the Hindu legend of the churning of the ocean of milk, Apsara nymphs were created when the gods and demons stirred the ocean in an attempt to make the elixir of life.

The peacock costumes in this dance are amazing!


Comments

Unknown said…
Amazing dancing and costumes!
30 December 2010 at 16:19
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