9.10. The Night Market

Today we started early because our booked bus left at 8 o'clock and we, as inexperienced and excited backpackers, naturally arrived 45 minutes early. However, we were able to use the remaining time to stock up on Thai breakfast, which consisted of very light pastry but was unimaginably sweet. The bus then took us to the border with Cambodia, where the bus drivers took care of the entire border crossing process and we just stood by looking fancy. During the journey, I also had the pleasure of trying my first insect because a fellow passenger bought a whole bag of beetles during a break and offered me one. Since you should try everything, I took one too. The taste was surprisingly unspectacular: salted peanuts.

Afterwards, we went to Siem Reap, a city that mainly thrives on tourism attracted by the Angkor Wat temple. Tomorrow, this most famous tourist attraction in Cambodia will also be visited, for which we have to get up at 4 o'clock to be there for the sunrise. It is supposed to be worth it.

Today, we took the evening to stroll around the huge night market, which stretches across several neighborhoods and offers everything from massages to clothing and art. However, you also have to haggle properly here, because there are never prices on the goods and while you feel great that you negotiated the seller down by half, you also wonder why this was sometimes so easy...

Overall, everything is still very touristy here, but at least I haven't seen any Oktoberfest signs and waitresses in dirndls like in Bangkok.

Status update on the backpack: it was found, but is now on its way to Bangkok, hopefully finding its way here...