Day 10 - Siem Reap

We vegetated most of the day.  We went out when the sun went down.  We got a Tuk Tuk and went to Miss Wong for drinks.  It's a cute place down an alley off of Pub Street.  I really liked the drink I had.  I don't think kumi could say the same about her mocktail.

After drinks, we decided to find a place to eat.  It was a choice between a restaurant called MonSoon and another place.  As it turned out,  MonSoon was about 40 ft from Miss Wong.  So it won out.  It's a very nice place.  Great service.  Excellent staff.  Shout out to Osa!  Very good food and drink.  I really liked the the Signature Fish Curry I had.  I can't spell or pronounce what kumi had, but she said it was good too.

We went to Pub Street from MonSoon.  This seems the place to be for night life.  Bars, restaurants, shops, etc. all here.  There is a wide variety of things to eat, drink, and do.  Night Market is next to Pub Street.  We spent some  time here before getting a Tuk Tuk back to Anantara and calling it a night.

Day 8 - Siem Reap

This was supposed to be a mellow day.  We started out with the Anantara breakfast buffet.  While at breakfast, the Anantara Angkor social media representative stopped by our table and introduced himself.  He also gave us recommendations for things to do and places to eat.  One of the places he recommended was APOPO.

The APOPO Visitor Center in Siem Reap is an information center highlighting the recent history of conflict in Cambodia, the impact of landmines on local communities, and it gives the opportunity to meet and see the HeroRATs in action...  Yes, rats.  They use well trained rats (trained to the cost of 6000 euros each) to find landmines.  These are big rats, but they don't weigh enough to set off landmines. It was actually very interesting.

After APOPO, we went to the Angkor National Museum.  As far as museums go, this one is very nice.  The layout is well organized with a defined path of which way to go through the museum.  The combination of ancient artifacts displayed with current technology worked well together.  The optional audio tour added a very nice touch.

We decided to have an early dinner after the museum.  We got a Tuk Tuk outside the museum and had the driver take us to Jungle Burger.  I normally never eat burgers while traveling because there is so much other stuff to eat.  But this place was recommended by Anantara social media guy, so we went.  It was great.  Gourmet burger, fries or potato wedges, and a beer (I don't drink beer so I opted for something else) for around $7.00.  I had the Mushroom and Creamy Black Pepper Sauce Burger.  kumi had the Blue Cheese and Bacon Burger.  BTW, the Bob Marley Burger is no longer on the menu.

Our Tuk Tuk driver was waiting for us when we were done.  We had him take us back to Anantara just in time to get my complimentary happy hour drink.

Day 14 - Sri Lanka

Long day.  We had time to eat breakfast though.  We had hired a driver to take us on a day trip to Galle.  After breakfast, he was there waiting for us with his Tuk Tuk.

Side note:  We found out something interesting.  It seems a lot of people hire drivers to take them to many places around the country.  So much so, some hotels and resorts (Avani included) have rooms available just for the drivers.  That way they don't have to drive home at night (which in our driver's case would be Colombo, 2 hours away) and they're there when you need them.

So off we went.  It's about a 2 hour trip to Galle.  Along the way we stopped at tsunami memorial.  A lot of monuments, temples, shops, etc.  We kind of saw the famous Sri Lankan stick fishermen too.  By kind of I mean we saw them, but they now know they're famous and a tourist attraction, so they won't go on the  sticks unless you give them money.

We had lunch at a place in Galle fort called Fort Dew.  I don't know why it's called Fort Dew.  We didn't choose it for any particular reason.  Turns out it is a very nice place.  Rooftop restaurant, we didn't know that.  Great views all around and very good food at good prices.

After eating, we began our return to the resort and learned something else new.  Our driver got pulled over for a traffic violation.  By pulled over I mean there about 3 policemen were standing on the side of the road.  One of them waved his hat and our driver pulled over.  Our driver got out and went to see the police.  While he was talking to them, in less than 2 minutes, 2 other vehicles were pulled over.  When our driver came back, we left.  But we weren't heading back to the resort.  He was looking for a post office so he could pay his citation.  Once he did that, we had to return to the police with the receipt to prove he paid the citation AND to get his license back because the police took it.  Once we did that, we were on our way again.  We did do another stop along the way, turtle hatchery.  After that, back to the resort... with a quick detour to another temple.  I was templed out by this time, but the driver offered, and kumi said yes.  Then we returned to the resort.

I am guessing we returned about a half hour before sunset.  We dropped off our stuff in our room and went to Chatters.  It wasn't our intent, but we chose good seating to view the sunset.  kumi went to the beach to get a better picture of the sunset.  I decided walking the 20 meters to do that required too much effort and stayed where I was at.  I think I made the better choice.