After the Temples . . .

Besides the temples in the Siem Reap area, the city is also a pretty happening place for foreigners. I don’t think I have been to a town that is as touristy as this place. Because of the proximity to the temples, and the fact that they are one of the main reasons people come to Cambodia, it wouldn’t be surprising to find out that the majority of the local population works within the tourism industry in one way or another.

Case in point: Pub Street. Yup, an entire street in this little Cambodian town is called Pub Street. They even have street signs with that name on it.

And it is probably one of the reasons that I got drunk for the first time in a very long time on this trip. I blame Val. And Lucy. And Juno.

Ah, hell. I blame everyone.

In between full days of getting our fill of ancient Khmer architecture and religion, Val and I chose to chill out and let loose a little. The first day that we met up had us finding the local Swenson’s and getting some good ice cream. Val said it best when she said “You can’t mention a place has good ice cream without going in to try it yourself!” I’m sneaky that way.

The first night out was pretty low key at the Temple Club. 2 for 1 cocktails, Long Island Ice Tea becoming my signature drink(it had the most alcohol of all the cocktails).

However, the second night out became our undoing. We met up with the gang from the Mekong Delta tour(Nicola, Juno, Jan, Julia, Jens, Isabella, and Lucy). We began at Temple Club again for some drinks before finding some place nice to eat. And then, as Val mentioned on her blog, we were beginning to feel a bit tired. It didn’t take much to coax us out for “one last drink.”

Famous last words really. I’m not sure how one drink turned into . . . well, I’m not sure how many it turned into. There were buckets involved. I got a free t-shirt. Table dancing. Hot German guys who were surprisingly confusing to figure out(I thought he was checking Val out, but then he smiled and winked at me). Then a couple Asian guys bought me a beer(I don’t even like Heineken), though I’m not sure why as they disappeared soon after. Were they looking for a threesome? I’m not that type of boy.

Usually.

When we finally decided it was time to go home, we had been out about three hours past when we said we were going to bed. Then I sent drunk tweets to Jaime from Breakaway Backpacker. Among other people.

After that debacle, we took the next night off from doing anything scandalous. The Monday night however, being my 1 year travelversary, we went out for a few drinks. Both Val and I settled in for a beer and a fish foot massage which felt so cool. Once you get over the fact that you’ve got little fish eating the dead skin off your feet, and once you got used to the feeling, it was quite cool. Not sure why, but the fish loved my feet and swarmed me, leaving Val with only a couple dozen. I probably could’ve used another hour in the tank to finish the job. My feet certainly felt smoother afterwards.

It was actually some of the best nights I’ve had in a long time. I’m not a huge party person as I’m still quite shy and, dare I say it, old. But when I’m with an amazing group of people, inhibitions drop and I have a ton of fun. It’s up there with the Santiago Crew, Amsterdam Pride, and the boys in Dahab, Egypt. Huh . . . all times involving beer.

Coincidence?

It wasn’t all drinking though. We did manage to spend plenty of time beside our hotels swimming pool doing absolutely nothing. And we also managed to head out to the market in an unsuccessful trip to find Val some nice dresses to wear in Asia. I did find some shorts though!

And was called fat by a woman in the market. “I have good prices! I have shirts for fat people like you over here.” I understand there’s a somewhat lack of a filter in Asia, and with English not as the first language they may not understand certain nuances and etiquette. But at that moment, it made me pissed. It probably wasn’t nice of me to turn around and say, rather curtly “Ok, that was very rude. I’m not buying anything from you at all.”

But maybe that shows a change in me as I would never usually confront someone like that before.

But still, I probably could’ve handled it better.

And I’m sexy. I know it.