Today was my laze around and do nothing day. Yeah, I went to another country to watch TV and Plurk. Get over it.<\/p>\n
Despite my plan to sleep early last night, I ended up sleeping past midnight, since it took me almost six hours to finish that one blog entry (including editing photos, uploading and many breaks in between). I relished the fact that I didn’t have anything planned, and enjoyed my sleep until 9am. <\/p>\n
\nI went down for breakfast, again at Mandalay Inn’s own restaurat. I order the same fried rice that I had at that Khmer family restaurant inside the Angkor Heritage Park yesterday, but this time with pork instead of beef. I brought my laptop with me and took my time eating my breakfast as I catch up on e-mail, blog comments, Plurk, flickr and RSS subscriptions. I finish around lunch time, and went up back to my room. I meant to walk around the town, but since it was still too hot to be walking anywhere, I stayed inside my room, relishing the gentle breeze from outside the window and from my room’s ceiling fan, indulging myself with Discovery Channel shows.<\/p>\n
About half past two, I finally got up and went out to the street. The sun was once again in full force. I cross the street, walking parallel to the Siem Reap river. Aside from checking out the market, I also wanted to change my US$100 to smaller bills, since I don’t have enough for the US$30 taxi ride to Poipet tomorrow. Luckily, there’s a bank right across the Old Market, and I go in to ask if they can accommodate my request. They can, and after checking the bill’s authenticity, the teller went to the vault and came back with a wad of tens and ones. Oh, funny note: while I was waiting for the teller, I was looking around the bank’s interiors. There was a huge sign with the interests for different time periods and different kinds of accounts. There was a section for dollar accounts, riel accounts, baht accounts and GOLD. Wow.<\/p>\n
The local currency, the Cambodian Riel doesn’t have any coins, nor do they use the US coins. So if you’re supposed to get change less than $1.00, expect to get it in riel (though sometimes you can also get it even if your change is US$5.00). So my other problem is how to get rid of these extra riel when I get out of Cambodia. Though the prices are quoted mostly in US dollars, you can actually ask the seller for the price in riel. The standard exchange rate is US$1 = 4000 riels, but it can change according to which rate favors the seller better. I’m not one for bargaining, so I pretty much just pay whatever price they give me (as long as it’s reasonable). <\/p>\n
I cross over to the Market, circling the entire block, looking at souvenir items that all look the same. I buy a couple of postcards that I intend to send a couple of friends. The shoplady quoted me $1 each, but for some reason, when I asked her how much for the two postcard, she told me 3,000 riel. Hey, I’m not complaining, as long as I get rid of these riels. Further along, I buy a couple of magnets and bunch of spices to give to Ming whom I’m meeting in Bangkok.<\/p>\n
On the way back to the guesthouse, I stop by a minimart to look for some snacks. Right next door is an Indian restaurant. I know I should try more Khmer foods, but I just can’t resist a good curry. I only meant to look at the menu, but I was gently pursuaded to order a non-vegetarian lhasi, which is a meal with rice, garlic naan, dahl, pork curry and vegetable curry for US$4. I ordered a mango shake to go with it, as well as a small bottle of water. Back in Manila, I usually just get the regular house water from restaurants, but I didn’t want to risk it while traveling. It’s an additional expense, but hey, better than getting sick. The drinks arrive first, and one sip of my mango shake and I immediately regret it. It’s not *that* bad, but it’s not as good as the mango shakes you can buy off the streets in Manila. <\/p>\n