My new travel friend J.C and I decided to check out Banteay Srei, that’s about 32 kms from Siem Reap. As no motorcycle can be rent by foreigners, we were hoping to ride bicycle there. Ending up we took the tuk tuk instead, as it did seem a bit far under the dreadful sun.

As we started off from the city, I asked the tuk tuk driver to bring us to a place to eat. For some reason, he didn’t stop to a restaurant until we were well into the Angkor Wat area. Where prices are inflated for tourist. $6 for a fried rice, while something similar can be had for $1.25. He assured me there is nothing near Banteay Srei, and the shops is there area is not safe to eat. That this particular restaurant has really fresh ingredients. He puts it in such a way that he had us in the best interest. As much as I cannot denied if he is being truthful, we decided to try somewhere else. 

He was right though. All the neighboring street food stalls aren’t safe, we won’t dare walking too close, won’t even think about eating. It’s only 11am, there is a lot of cooked food just sitting around. It feels like the food has been in the open for awhile. Crawling with flies, and what ever insects that love hovering around food. Although the tuk tuk driver seemed truthful at the moment, once we got to Banteay Srei, there are some decent food
for reasonable prices. At that point, he lost all credibility. We stop believing anything he said.

One thing about eating street food though, eat only those that are freshly cooked in front of you. That has been the way I have traveled so far, without much drama.

The rest of the day ended with a lot of temples. Angkor Wat is very nice, but Bayon in the Angkor Thom palace is one of my favorite. It’s amazing you can just get lost in there. A surely worthwhile visit. As we tried rushing to see then sunset at the Palace, kinda rushed through Bayon. I’m sure will be returning here on the last day.

Once we got back to town, we tried the Khmer BBQ/hotpot for dinner. It’s raw meats mixed with raw egg for the bbq, but it was really delicious after a long exhausting day.