Limping Marathon Runner

After a night of rain, I think I gained enough sleep through therapeutic sound of rain drops hitting on roof top. It sort of cooled down the temperature since it was really warm during the day. Since we did not require Mr. Ben Wee's service after the first day, we were on our own moving around. His service has been great. But, we felt that we wanted to move around on our own. After a discussion, we settled for bus as our transport to Siem Reap on the third day. Mr. Ben Wee was kind enough to pass us Mr. John Teng's contact for us, in Siem Reap. To get ready for our second day out, we had a hearty breakfast in continental style - Banana pan cakes, toast, coffee and orange juice. Russian Market was our first destination for the day. After a bargain with the motor-taxi, we hopped on the vehicle and reached our destination within 10-15mins. It would not even qualify for a long ride. Walking the entire Russian Market, I found that it is rather small. It is the stores and things I see that interest me. A parking place for motorbikes and bicycles?! Ha... A parking attendant will issue the bike owner a ticket for him to collect his vehicle later. We navigated around the area, exploring wet markets around the area. Just like the 80's, back at home.

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It was around lunch time, that we thought of resting our legs. We were not exactly hungry (after the heavy breakfast) and merely wanted a place to sit down with drinks. Stopping at Jars Of Clay, we ordered some drinks and pastries while relaxing. Endlesstrail and I bought a journal each .. .maybe we can use it for the next trip. We did more walking before leaving the area. Hmm.... rolled cigarettes on sale? Weed cigarettes?

Next stop - Central Market. We went there on foot. Since the shopping mall where we got our dri-fits is nearby, the thought of having a simple late lunch comes to mind. Now, Central Market is really huge. The cement, solid looking structure has lots of shops in it, mostly selling "near genuine" clothes, watches and sorts. Surrounding the market, more stores (mainly made of wooden planks) selling food, fashion and "near genuine" ever famous reprinted Lonely Planet books. We came across a store with BBQ-ed giant squids. A small setup selling insects was spotted as well. We could hardly finish viewing all the stores before it was near to their closing time for the day. Just a stone throw away from our guest house, we walked back to deposit our purchases of today before picking a place for dinner.

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Our resting place for our legs today ... Friends Restaurant
This restaurant helps the society in getting kids off the streets by teaching them culinary skills. Ordering a virgin Pina Colada to go with the sandwich, I slumped back into my chair while doing a recap of what we have seen for the past two days. Just beside the restaurant, they have a small little shop that sells handicrafts made by them too! Some very innovative and nice ornaments that they have. There were second hand books on sale as well. I bought a couple of coin purses as gifts. Back in the guest house, the cable T.V. was showing Soul Plane. Bloody hilarious! Snoop Dogg in the show?! What can you expect?!

Lights out ... we have a morning bus to catch ... to be on our way to Siem Reap.