And so it begins: the first 48 hours of our life in Siem Reap.

Here are a collection of observations:

     Never having been here in the rainy season before, it’s fun to see what the weather has been like so far. It’s not nearly as hot as other times we've been here, and sometimes it’s downright pleasant and breezy. I can often sit outside without sweating at all, which I find disorienting. We’ve had one day with no rain at all, one day with brief intermittent sprinkles, and one day with a good but short-lived downpour in the afternoon and the occasional sprinkle later in the day. The puddles dry quickly, but my feet still get dirty riding through the spray from my tires. The countryside is green and lush rather than the dry empty rice paddies we usually see in March and April. There seem to be a few more mosquitoes than usual, but nothing a little DEET on my ankles won’t take care of.

     

     It’s wonderful to be back at Seven Candles Guest House with the family. The kids are all a little bigger, but no less amusing and engaging. "The kids" are Yaya (age 5), Alice (also age 5 but a few months older than Yaya), Alice’s brother Fifi (age 6) and Yaya’s older sister and brother  Sasa and Sith who are (I think) 11 and 13. We see very little of the older kids, especially Sith, but by Day #2 the younger ones were at our door, ready to see if we brought any good snacks and jump on our bed and draw pictures of mermaids. Fifi seems displeased by the notion that we will be moving out into our own house, but we talk about how he will come and visit, and in the meantime, he’s very happy to go anywhere with us.

     

     The town itself looks the same, though it is obvious that it is not a busy season for tourism. There are still construction projects scattered everywhere, as well as numerous examples of Constructus Interruptus – half-finished buildings of all sizes that appear to have been abandoned mid-stream. A few familiar restaurants and businesses have disappeared, and new ones have taken their place. My favorite place to get iced Vietnamese coffee has been dismantled and is being reborn as a guest house. Some of Jaz’s friends have set up a little noodle restaurant that opens every evening in a space otherwise occupied by a computer business. A new upscale restaurant opened between the guest house and downtown – we chanced upon it one night and splurged on a nice meal and cocktails with our friend Lori.

     Food! Glorious food! On our first full day here, we were a bit extravagant. Steve and I had breakfast at one place ($7 for eggs, toast, coffee, tea, etc. for two, though ordering a "vegetarian omelette" got me two poached eggs with a side of hot dogs and french fries....?), Jaz and Steve went somewhere else for lunch (another $7 for curried chicken with rice and a tuna melt) and then we had the very splurgy dinner mentioned above ($35 for several cocktails and some fascinating Khmer fusion cuisine that included things like Mango Lobster on a Cucumber Nest, Leek Mushroom Cappucino, Mekong Lobster Tagliatelle, and two cocktails each.) The next day, we ate simply. Breakfast cost a dollar each for eggs and beef served on a cast iron griddle with baguette on the side. Lunch included 50-cent drafts of my favorite beer and $1 tacos, and dinner was Jaz’s treat at her friends’ restaurant, where a plate of noodles, meat and vegetables costs a dollar, though beer is a little pricey at a dollar. I’m still most excited to get our own place so Steve can set up the kitchen and start cooking, but clearly eating out here can be plenty cheap – and the choices are almost endless.

"vegetarian omelette" -
well, there were vegetables on the side...

     How we spend our time so far: When we’re not eating or hanging out with the kids or making house-hunting plans, we sit on the balcony and watch the traffic and the monks go by. We listen to the morning roosters, quickly followed by the sounds of ice being chopped or metal being cut or someone with a loudspeaker driving around town announcing something we don’t understand. We watch the construction across the street and marvel at the low-tech methods for building multi-story concrete buildings. We zip and unzip our bags looking for surge protectors or toothpaste or something else we can’t quite find yet. We compile lists of things we should do: buy bikes, find a decent map, stop by Wat Damnak to say hello. Sometimes we just sit on the front steps of the guest house chatting with whoever is around, or sitting and doing nothing at all but watching various projects going on around the house. Sitting, watching, smiling, wondering.

     Other expenses: Our room at the guesthouse will cost us $15/night while we’re here. (We get the friends & family discount – it’s usually $20.) We had some laundry done, which cost $3.50 for 10 T-shirts, 3 pairs of pants, and a pile of underwear – all washed dried, folded and ironed We stocked up our mini-fridge with milk, juice, beer, diet soda, coffee, cereal, a few snacks,  and even a bottle of wine, which came to $27. We bought $20 worth (40+ hours) of internet time. We bought SIM cards for our phone ($3 each) and $5 worth of calling credit for each of us.  We hired a tuktuk for 2-3 hours one day while we went around looking at houses for rent and paid $10 for that – we probably could have paid much less and still been fair, but we like to take good care of the drivers, especially when tourism is slow and business is scarce.

A tuktuk (pronounced "took took") -
most of the motorbikes are 100-125 cc,
and I have no idea how they pull such loads.

     The housing search:  We had been in contact with two real estate agents before we arrived and told them what we were looking for. (Three bedrooms, close to town, some a/c and hot water, in the range of $350/month.) We went out briefly on Friday afternoon with one agent to see a couple of places and made arrangements to see more with him on Monday morning. On Sunday morning we were expecting the second agent to come by at 9:30, but he postponed until the afternoon, which led us to spend the morning out on our bikes looking for “House For Rent” signs. Our first stop was a house that we liked quite a bit, and we were able to look inside with the owner, who lives downstairs. We rode around town for a couple of hours and looked at a one or two others, then saw six more with the agent in the afternoon. Each one he showed us had some good features – either a nice yard with trees, or a bright clean kitchen, or a fantastic second-floor covered terrace – and some drawbacks – too far out of town, dark musty interior, tiny inadequate kitchen. By late afternoon, our heads were swimming with the choices. None were just right, and my thoughts kept going back to the one we had stumbled upon ourselves in the morning. In the early evening, the family piled us into the van to take us to look at yet another house that belonged to the friend of a friend, and this one was clearly not it - while it had its good points, there was no kitchen at all! (When we pointed out this small problem, we were assured, "Oh, no problem! We make kitchen for you!") Then we took the family back with us to look at the first house again – and we all agreed it was the right one. Not surprisingly, it turned out that some of the family members knew the owner, as he works for Laos Airlines and they cross paths in the course of their jobs.  More house details to follow – I’ll keep you in suspense for now, but it looks like we’ll be moving in next week!

No shortage of places for rent...
finding the right one has been the challenge.

     We're adjusting to the time change rather well - I'm awake between 5:00 and 6:00 every day, which is fine. Brief naps are a nice way to pass a bit of the afternoon, so I can still awake past 9:00 pm. 

     List of Things To Do Today:

• Buy bikes
• Pick up a package we mailed to ourselves at the post office
• Start looking in the markets for household items we will need
• Find Steve's camera battery charger
• Read
• Relax
• Drink beer

That about covers it. As I hope you can see, all is going well.


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