I don’t believe it. I have spent the last two days, posting about 7 days of my trip in Siem Reap. I am almost done documenting this!
On my last day in Siem Reap – which was the 11th of February 2014 – I decided to go for a Cambodian massage at Lemongrass Garden and Spa. It is US$10 for 60 minutes. But the place only opens at 11am.
Having time to kill, I decide to look for some photo gallery somewhere in the Pub Street area. Since I found all the photos rather clinical, I’d rather not say which gallery it is.
I wandered around more and got some boiled peanuts from a vendor dragging his cart around. I went back to Psar Kraoum and had another goreng pisang. It wasn’t the best because the banana wasn’t ripe enough, but the batter… it’s the black sesame seeds, I think. It really is good.
Thinking back on it now, I feel like really getting down to working out a good batter for goreng pisang. Most of the time, I just make it with a mix of water and rice flour. No measurements, just a feel of just how thick you want the batter to be. Not good enough.
The massage was a pleasant experience. Came with a cup of tea, interesting taste. Whatever of the boiled peanuts I couldn’t finish, I gave to the staff who at first thought I wanted it thrown away. Why throw good food away? But I tried to explain that they should eat it and not waste it. They seemed appreciative.
After the massage, I got a tuk tuk to first take me to lunch, then the airport for US$6. I really wanted to try Green Star, one of these NGO run restaurants. But I arrived at the place and it was closed. I rang another NGO-run restaurant and they were fully booked. It was not going to happen.
The tuk tuk driver took me to what he called “a good place”. It turned out to be a place called Kitchen Angkor Chey. I had the Khmer Chilli Fry and chose the fish. It was good and it came with the freshest fish I’d tasted this whole trip. But it was priced for the tourist.
And so this is how I left Siem Reap. I really hate how Western some things are. For all the ruins that are there, there is a certain lack of authenticity in the main town / Old Market area with the millions of tourists that land there. Battambang was a fun visit.
But man, that goreng pisang in the market of Srah Srang. That was really something… You know what, this will be a double upload – one in the gallery and one here – why not:
