3 Cafés Not to Miss in Siem Reap!

Hey, and welcome to this mini blog post! 

Everybody loves a café and when I was in Siem Reap, Cambodia, there were plenty to try.  Siem Reap town centre was fairly compact and feeding off of the rather seedy and aptly named 'Pub Street' were much quieter, quirky little side streets with boutique shops, art galleries and a variety of restaurants and cafés to suit all tastes.  

Those of you who know me, will know that I follow a coeliac diet, so whilst traveling in more touristy areas I've searched for places I can find gluten free food.  I found two cafés in Siem Reap that had specific gluten free options, but were still wildly popular with all tourists.  

Sister Srey Café is a fabulous enterprise which helps to support young Khmer people to continue their studies whilst supporting other family members.  You can read all about their ethos here: Sister Srey Cafe

They provide delicious freshly prepared food and there is a real friendly bustling atmosphere in this little cafe which looks out onto the street and river. 

I opted for the pumpkin soup which was gluten free and served in this uber cute mini frying pan! 

I then decided to splurge a little more and ordered the RAW (gluten free and vegan) passion fruit cheesecake... delicious!

New Leaf Book Café was another of my favourites whilst in Siem Reap.  Tucked away on a quieter street, but still just round the corner from the main hub; I found this to be a little escape from the busy Siem Reap town.  It had a very relaxed feel about it; just the effect a good book should have! It had shelves stacked with plenty books to choose from.  Here's also where I had quite possibly the best coconut shake - and I should know, I've certainly tried enough! New Leaf also supports local NGO's which was another great plus.  You can read more about it here: New Leaf Cafe

CAKE! Who, may I ask, doesn't like cake!? That's a rhetorical question, because of course the answer is no-one! So everyone would love Blossom Café.  It serves a delicious range of cupcakes and specializes in cake art.  Their cakes are simply amazing; with so many fabulous designs - I spent a good 15 minutes or so deliberating over whether or not the handbags in the window were in fact bags or cakes!!! That's how good they are.  When I was in, a little girl came in with her parents and after much indecision picked the 'rainbow' cupcake - she was so excited when she cut it open and saw all the colours and it was fun to watch, but whether you're a kid or an adult this café is a fantastic treat!  It has a good selection of gluten free cupcakes too - so it was heaven for me! Like the other two cafés it also has a charitable aspect and is in fact a not-for-profit organisation that supports local women.  Here's the link to their website if you fancy a browse: Blossom Cakes .

Sweet Treat Heaven!

So there they are 3 cafés you definitely shouldn't miss if you're traveling in Siem Reap! I hope you enjoyed this little post! Thank you, as always, for reading. 

VIP Access to a Muay Thai Fight in Siem Reap

So, here is a post I never thought I'd be writing in a million years! But here goes!... 

When I was in Siem Reap, Cambodia, I met three other girls travelling solo when I signed up for the Angkor Wat tour at the hostel I was staying in; we got on well and ended up sticking together the next few days.  One of the girls, Masha, heard of a Muay Thai fight that was taking place and asked if we fancied going along, I am always up for new experiences and felt that since Muay Thai is so popular here that I should go along and see for myself what it is like.  It was also quite an important fight, I'd been told, and was going to be televised - so that clinched the deal!  Boxing, wrestling and fighting has never been something that I've been interested in and I wasn't even sure if I liked the idea of it at all - it seems so aggressive and violent; but going to the Muay Thai fight completely changed my opinion and I actually now can see it as a sport and respect the competitors.  The men were incredibly lean and disciplined, they showed a huge amount of respect for their opposition and fans. Watching the four fights and some junior rounds as well really made me appreciate the training, skill, discipline, fitness and agility that is required for Muay Thai.  

The receptionist at our hostel said there was a man also going to the fight and asked if he could join us in the tuk tuk and share the cost of the ride - of course we didn't mind (although the tuk tuk driver took some persuading to let us squeeze 5 people in!) and it transpired that our new friend was in fact a boxer himself and had fought at the same indoor arena.  So, it turned out to be a strong case of it's not what you know, it's who you know!  We were given VIP seats on the stage with the best view of the arena! Cue lots of inquisitive stares from local Cambodians and from the few other travelers also 
there!

On the stage in the VIP seats. 

A tiny (super cute) fan! 

A short clip of one of the fights:

That's the end of this post folks! I hope you enjoyed reading - let me know what you think? My advice; if you're traveling in Asia, definitely go and see a Muay Thai fight - even if you don't think you'll enjoy it, you might be like me and surprise yourself! 

A Traditional Thai Fishing Village

Living and volunteering in a foreign country can definitely be challenging and I have my moments where I get frustrated by one thing or another; whether its my plethora of mosquito bites, the extremely laid back attitude to time (2pm means 5, or possibly 6pm!), or the incredible humidity that drenches me after I've just had a nice cool shower!  But on the other hand, volunteering in Pakpraekwitthayakom school has allowed me to integrate into the school community and experience a rural Thailand that the vast majority of tourists and backpackers never get to see.  I've been lucky enough to go on various day trips with Teacher Joy, Rachel and Bethan (the other volunteers) to places only local Thai people usually visit.

In this post I'll show pictures from a local fishing village community: Ban Koh Rad - it was a sleepy little community, with colourful houses, fish drying the sun, locals napping in hammocks in their doorways and chickens running around.  Strangely the smell reminded me of being at home by the seaside; a salty breeze blew in off the sea.  There were many traditional long - tail boats and their fisherman wore the Asian conical hats.  There was a small school, and a lot of the houses doubled up as tiny 'shops' selling shrimp paste and other local foods, you could walk round the entire village on the pathway and most of it looked out onto the sea while the rest wound between the little houses.  I could have spent all day there quite happily wandering and sitting down with a good book.

After the fishing village, we visited a temple called: Khaosuwanpradit Temple (Wat Luang Poh Choi ).

The temple was set at the top of a hill overlooking the sea and fishing village we had visited. 

Bonsai Tree

Local restaurant we stopped off in for lunch!