DANCING IN THE RAIN

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When we walked down for breakfast we discovered the reason the hotel had such good reviews…. The staff. Each and every one of them from the manager to the gardener stopped what they were doing, gave us a big smile, a wave and a cheery good morning. The receptionist came over and had a chat to us while we ordered breakfast and gave us tips on what to do and see. We felt a little bad telling him that we were checking out.

The tuk tuk dropped us outside the Mandalay Hotel. We were shown a room which was just $1 more than our previous hotel, but $1 made all the difference. We now had freshly painted walls, modern furniture and best of all we were just a few minutes walk to the market and pub street. We had to wait for our room to be cleaned, but there was a lovely restaurant with very attentive staff so we took a seat and waited.

Pete was off to see some of the temples and popped in to see us on his way out. Our room had not been cleaned yet so we couldn’t go with him, but we were still pretty exhausted from the previous days travelling so a day wandering around the markets was much more appealing. We arranged to meet Pete in the Angkor what? bar later that evening.

After a walk around the market we found a great place for lunch called The Khmer Kitchen. I ordered baked potato with vegetables and chicken and Andy ordered Khmer curry. I was a little surprised when my food arrived . When I placed my order I was expecting a baked potato with some vegetables and chicken on the side, but this was served in a metal dish and had a crust on top. I took a small spoonful and tried it not knowing what to expect. To my relief it tasted delicious. I’m not sure how it was made but it tasted like a mix of spiced mashed potato, chicken and vegetables which had been baked in the oven. It may not have been what I was expecting, but I’m glad I ordered it. I will definitely looking up the recipe when I get home.

Andy was just as impressed with his curry. It was made with coconut milk in the same way as Thai or Vietnamese curry, but the spicing was just amazing. In fact it was so good that he said he preferred it to his favourite Thai curry - another recipe to try when we get home.

In the evening we walked down pub street to meet Pete at Angkor What? bar. We were also joined by Lisa and Nils from Germany, who Pete had met on his first night and a couple of lads from the Faro Islands who were working with the church in Siem Reap. We all had a few jugs, but Lisa and Nils left early as they were booked on an early morning coach to Battambang. Shortly after I noticed Andy grinning at me. This is normally a sign that he has had one too many so Pete and I took him next door for a pizza.

Halfway through our meal rain started to come down by the bucket load. People from the nearby bars and clubs started piling out onto the street jumping and dancing in the rain. We watched as one girl started spinning around with her arms outstretched looking to the sky. It was obvious what would happen when she stopped. She spun around for what seemed like ages, I was getting dizzy just watching her. Then she stopped, wobbled for a moment fell to the floor like a sack of spuds. There she sat, completely drenched in a huge puddle of water while her friends carried on dancing around her.

I have to admit it did look like great fun, but we hadn’t drank nearly enough to be tempted to join in - well maybe Andy had but by now the pizza had soaked most of it up.

We waited it out for a while but we soon realised that the rain had no intention of stopping. We walked out of the door and turned to say goodnight to Pete, but he was already running down the street in the opposite direction to his hotel. By the time Andy and I reached our hotel we looked like drowned rats - much to the amusement of the hotel staff who couldn’t hide their giggles. Maybe an umbrella might be a good idea next time.

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Comments

[Rex]

Little Hello from the UK
Hi Emma & Andrew, See you are in Cambodia now, you are certainly seeing the world, you will also be cury experts as well. Saw Sally & Ashey last Sunday as Alan is sailing in Greeece until today. Take care & Enjoy, Love & Best Wishes Rex