Friday 11 May 2012

Cambodia: Final day

Meat section - Siem Reap market
On our final morning I strolled round the market area while it was still relatively cool as the early morning light began to illuminate the busy streets.

Hundreds of bikes with one, two or even three riders flowed in neat lines to local schools while motorbikes weaved in between; women cooked on carts to feed small groups of customers that huddled around each other as if guarding some precious food; the sweet aroma of waffles drifted over the less savoury smells from the piles of rubbish along the pavements created by female road sweepers in green overalls. 

Dried fish - Siem Reap marketThe heat in the covered food market was already building as women arranged colourful displays of vegetables, plucked and scraped skinny chickens, hacked bloody lumps of meat with cleavers and wrestled with live fish that flapped around in shallow pots of muddy water. The occasional cockroach scuttled across the aisles. A little girl brought up her breakfast as I was framing a shot. Another lady playfully scolded me for taking her photo while she snoozed on her dried fish stand.

The food was making me peckish so I returned to the hotel for breakfast. Two hours later, we reluctantly placed our bags in the van for the short drive to the airport where Mrs M spent the $50 we had saved for the departure tax (which is no longer payable) in the ‘Artisans d’Angkor’ gift shop.

We sat in the Blue Pumpkin café reflecting on a wonderful few days. We did not want to go home.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Aww sounds like an amazing time, and I would love the cookery class and quad biking! Keep writing paps, it makes me giggle xx