Old Market & Puppet Show

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Today we went to the Old Market area to see if we could snap a few photos of the food market. The market itself is several blocks long and is jammed packed with things to buy; silks, wood carvings, purses, fruits, veggies, dried & fresh fish. The foods in the market are truely interesting and beautiful and there is a real buzz in the place with many locals buying their foods for the day. The fish market is hard to view as the smell of warm fish, not on ice, is not appealing and triggers and instant gag reflex. There are also things for sale that I particularily have a hard time with, like baby turtles. 😞 I was telling Dan my plot to find out where they live, buy them, and release them back to their homes. However, I'm sure they would be caught another day to be placed back in the market.

Later in the evening, we decided to check out a puppet show. Puppet shows are supposed to be a Khmer tradition and popular around Cambodia. Well, Dan & I keep hearing about them, but can't seem to find one that is playing. The one we wanted to see was closed for renovations. okay, fine. A tuk-tuk (motorcycle with buggie for 2 people) driver told us of one he knew that was great. When he dropped us off, we asked the people at the door, "How much does the puppet show cost?". They returned with saying it was $12 for the buffet and the *puppet* show was included. So, Dan & I went inside and filled up our plates at the buffet. The food wasn't worth $12, but we wanted to see a show while in Siem Reap. My first bite at the buffet was something that looked like a veggie fresh spring roll with peanuts. Well, my first bite told me different. The peanuts were actually fish bits that tasted like I had licked the floor of the first market above. It was all I could do to was the bite down with a drink of beer and not spit it out all over. Got to love adventurous food in new places. 😉

Now, back to the show.... When the show started, it was Khmer dancers which we had seen the night before.... We figured it was just a starting performance as it seemed like no one was really playing attention anyway. As more songs started, Dan & I started to feel like we might now be seeing a puppet show after all. 5 songs later, we asked the Aussie group next to us about the puppet show and we got the strangest looks... "Puppet show?", they replied. "We know nothing of a puppet show..."

Oh, now we were feeling suckered. The tuk-tuk driver said it was a puppet show after asking several times as well as did the people who were running this show. So, we found our way to the man who was running the show and we all had a good laugh with him saying he didn't know what puppets were. Whether the tuk-tuk driver did understand and got his commision or the manager of the buffet, it seemed to turn out okay. We only had to pay for 1 person at the buffet and we came out with an interesting story and the understanding that we'd drink beer instead of trying to find this puppet show. 😊

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Photos

Old Market 1
Vegetable area of Old Market in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Old Market 2
Fish portion of Old Market, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Old Market 3
Old Market in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Comments

[hai]

warm fish!
the open markets are the same way in vietnam....warm fish sitting out in the sun all day. funny thing is....everyone is used to eating like that so they dont get sick. puppet shows!

[Nancy]

Puppet Show Woes
Oh the misunderstandings in foreign countries! (Just remember the grease soup with the questionable bones that your dad used to get in Russia! Yikes!)

[Carol]

Shopping
Yeah I've learned to never trust a tuk-tuk driver, or even anyone in these popular tourists areas while in Thailand. Your fish market story also reminded me of a similar local market I visited while in Koh Samui - lots of raw meat cuts laying on the counter, lots of flies landing and taking off. People still buy them and eat them just fine. I guess we are tougher than we thought!