The journey and experiences of Amethyst and Sapphire, two 50-something Love, Life and Soul Partners, from Cape Town, South Africa to Thailand and beyond.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on Siem Reap. Slowly we can feel our town starting to come to life again. Almost as if it is taking it’s first deep breath, after being on life support for the past 2 years.
With Siem Reap taking this fresh breath, we too are feeling refreshed and excited to witness the rebirth of this beautiful town, we call home.
With renewed energy we took out yesterday to walk around town. It was wonderful to see so many new places ready with open doors, to welcome back the tourists.
Along the way, we strolled through the grounds of the Wat Damnak Pagoda.
Wat Damnak Pagoda is the largest pagoda in Siem Reap. It is a haven of peace and a place of worship for the devout Buddhists.
This pagoda is also a training and education center. One of the buildings even houses an extensive library.
The gardens are well maintained and the pond area is very inviting with its shady trees.
There were quite a few people enjoying the shade and the tranquil, peaceful surroundings.
Richard took a seat in a shady spot to be present in the moment, while I snapped away, taking a few photographs of the temple buildings, the shrines and the surrounding gardens, trying to capture the beauty and tranquility of this charming place.
Richard enjoying a well shaded spot
Shrines are spaces where Buddhists can make offerings. These offerings demonstrate special appreciation to the Buddha. Offerings usually include flowers, to symbolize that things don’t stay the same – they are always changing.
It is hard to believe that this peaceful place was under the Khmer Rouge reign of terror in the 1970s and served as a military base. The thought of this peaceful pagoda being used for war is very saddening.
We were reminded once again of how blessed we are to have these pagoda’s within walking distance of our home.
We made a promise to ourselves to pack a picnic and visit this particular pagoda again. Next time we will also pop into the library.
Hot and sweaty after our long walk, we decided to cool off near the famous “Pub Street” and enjoy a nice cold beverage.
We will be sure to share our next adventure with you all. Stay tuned.
After finally finishing isolation, that seemed to go on forever, we were very excited to leave our apartment and venture out.
As we still need to acclimate to the heat and humidity after being away for so long, we decided to take a tuk tuk, instead of walking in the heat. It’s like having a private open aired taxi always at our disposal. We use “passap” (very similar to Uber) except to book a tuk tuk (not a car). Within minutes of booking, we have a tuk tuk waiting for us, just outside our gate. (You will notice from the picture below, that we live on a red unnamed dirt road). Every time we ride on a tuk tuk, with the cool breeze blowing through our hair, we feel like tourists all over again! It’s such a wonderful feeling!
As this was our first day of freedom, we wanted to take a drive into town, walk around and visit a few of our favourite haunts, before stocking up on some supplies.
On our drive to “funky lane”, we soon realized, besides the current road and river project that is underway, we have come home to a very different town.
When we left Cambodia in December 2020 to travel to South Africa, the number of COVID 19 cases recorded was less than 500, with no recorded deaths. However in late February, a new wave of community transfers hit Cambodia resulting in the first official deaths being recorded. The total number of cases are now exceeding 23 000! The increase from 500 positive cases to now over 23 000 cases, in just a few short months, has had a devastating impact on this little town we call home.
With the Cambodian borders closed to tourists, restrictions like curfews and alcohol bans in place, the usually bustling streets are ghostly quite. So many of the restaurants and pubs, usually frequented by backpackers, tourists and expats, have been forced to close and many of the expats have returned to their home countries.
After finding a few of our restaurants of choice closed, we were very happy that one of our favourite Western styled restaurants, was still open. The Red Piano on Sok San Road will always be very special to me, as this was where we had our last dinner with my daughter Nicole, before she left Cambodia to return to South Africa after her holiday here with us. The Red Piano also serves the most divine food and the best ribs in town!
We were then very pleased to find the locally Khmer owned bar “Tree” still open. So we popped in to say “Sues-Day”to our favourite barman Mr. T. who gave us the warmest welcome back. With the alcohol ban still in place, Mr. T offered us cold refreshments as long as we sat inside the establishment. After supporting local entrepreneurship, it was time to stock up on supplies.
We are extremely fortunate to live within walking distance of the BEST, extremely well stocked and very modern supermarket in Siem Reap. What a pleasure it was to shop there, without the aisles being jam packed with Chinese tourists.
Angkor Supermarket caters for tourists as well as the diverse expat community so there is a extensive variety of products from local Khmer cuizine to Italian pasta’s, sauces and a great selection of charcuterie cold meats, French baquets and cheeses, Chinese noodles galore, Japanese fermented foods, Australian products including imported beef and lamb, a wide range of fresh, locally grown and imported fruit and vegetables and the list goes on… The entire upstairs section is well stocked with everything you need in household crockery and cutlery, cleaning products and home appliances. We have an eye on a Phillips Air Fryer which we were very happy to find in stock!
I have included a few photographs to show how well lit, spotlessly clean and spacious this air conditioned and well managed supermarket is. Although it is a far cry from the local markets, we do still visit the local markets from time to time, just to support the locals.
Although we are in walking distance to our apartment, we usually take a tuk tuk home. This is also to support the local tuk tuk drivers, who are now more than ever, struggling to make a living. As we pay double the usual rate, regular drivers like Broser, wait with a smile to drop us and our purchases, off at home.
After a very hot and humid day out and about, it was wonderful to come home for a refreshing swim.
We hope you enjoyed spending a typical day with us. We look forward to sharing more exciting experiences with all our readers soon. Due to lack of tourists, the Angkor Archaeological Park is offering expats a 12 month pass for a mere $200 (a daily pass is usually $39), so we look forward to sharing some footage of these magnificent ancient temples with you soon…
Please leave your comments below as we so enjoy reading them and hearing from you all!
