CKS trip to Siem Reap

So after Kampong Chnnang, we stuffed ourselves into the vans to go to Siem Reap. Which would've been rather uneventful, save for the fact that the particular van I was in needed to stop roughly 3 different times for long periods because one of the teachers was driving her car and it kept breaking down. So then after they finally gave up on it, everyone that was riding in the car got into our van, resulting in a very tight squeeze for several hours. Not the most pleasant trip, but eventually we made it to Siem Reap. We stayed in a very very nice hotel on airport road, so that made up for it. I immediately had a shower and a beer. Nothing like a squat toilet and a bucket bath to make you appreciate western amenities. After everyone was cleaned up, we went over to another hotel for dinner and an Apsara show. The Apsara made us realize how much we needed to work on our  coconut dance. The dinner allegedly made a lot of people sick the next day.

a real Apsara performance

The next morning, we all went over to the Center for Khmer Studies campus in Wat Damnak (a neighborhood across town) to attend the CKS conference, where various academics, including one of my classmates from Khmer class, presented on topics related to Cambodia. It was pretty cool but I was a bit burnt out. Megan picked me up at lunchtime and we went to Soria Moria, where I had an enormous sandwich. It was awesome. Then a few of us went to the Angkor National Museum, where I got to learn more about the history of the Angkorian empire. It was pretty cool, plus they had A/C so that was awesome. After the museum, Megan picked me up again on her moto and we drove around a couple neighborhoods looking at where I might want to live. Then, sweaty and tired, we went to Golden Banana for a swim.

Sunset at Golden Banana

After that, we met up with friends at Viva, my favorite Mexican place (in Cambodia...), and then went to Warehouse to play trivia. Last stop of the night was Angkor What bar. Typical evening in Siem Reap.

Pub Street

The next day was pretty much the same. Saturday I skipped going to the temples in order to continue looking for somewhere to live. Unfortunately I only made it out til about noon, before I started feeling pretty damn awful, so the rest of my time in Siem Reap was spent in bed in the hotel. Battambang up next.