Birthday adventures in Siem Reap

Today I really wanted to just walk around and get more of a feel for this vibrant city. We began at Bayon Pastry School - a wonderful social enterprise training up girls from underprivileged backgrounds. It's a year-long program that provides housing with the training, which also includes internships at top notch restaurants. It's part of a larger program that also runs a school and green farming project. Oh - and the food was sensational! We then strolled to the Royal Residence and gardens, where the temple of Phomcheck Phomchom stands; which was particularly busy this week during the festival of Pchum Ben - a 15 day long festival during which time families pay respects to their ancestors. In order to get off our feet for a bit we took a tuk tuk out to the Killing Fields memorial. Not a joyful thing to do on a birthday, but a profound experience. We then made our way to the Old Markets, but didn't spend long (feeling bad that we're not really interested in shopping, which is disappointing to the stall holders who really thought we should buy things!) Then off to lunch at a great vegan restaurant, followed by ... another massage! But I'm the birthday girl, so I can have another massage, right?!Read more