We landed at Siem Reap airport barely an hour after takeoff. Our Vietnam Airlines flight from HCMC to Siem Reap was the most expensive leg of the trip, and all we got was a baguette with sausage and ham and a piece of tastes-like-Goya Bonier (chocolate shop from the night before) chocolate. It pays to be a monopoly. I regret forgetting to try get banh mi, a Vietnamese baguette sold almost everywhere especially on the streets.

There were plenty of fisherman pants, table runners, silver, lacquerware, and T-shirts depicting Angkor themes. At the outer edge of the market were stalls selling paintings on canvass. It appears that design and art are flourishing in Siem Reap. Ernest and Nikki became interested in the paintings of daily rural life, Angkor monuments, religious icons and other themes. A two-paneled painting of a Smiling Face of Bayon particularly caught Ernest’s eye, but he held off purchasing for the moment. Nikki and K bought magnets.

We decided beforehand to have dinner at Khmer Kitchen and then burgers at Burgers Without Borders. I personally missed American food and was craving for hamburgers. I also wanted to eat at Hotel de la Paix’s famous Meric restaurant, but it was delegated to “We’ll see if we have time.” Food was the agenda in Siem Reap after the temples.

Amok (Khmer curry) was the highlight of the meal. Dinner was marked with parched throats for all of us which I would later discover as the sensation known as having cottonmouth. I felt so dehydrated that I couldn’t speak for a time. Despite that, we spent dinner all cheerful and happy with Melissa the butt of jokes. I attempted to take advantage of her vulnerable state by asking her who her crush was, but she hadn’t taken leave of her senses sufficiently enough to give me an answer.