To start the morning off properly, I tried a new cafe that specialized in cashew milk coffee. For about an hour, I was the sole customer in the shop. First, I drank an Americano, which tasted better than most Americanos I'd tried in Cambodia. I followed that up with their cashew milk coffee. This drink was delicious.
After the place started to get a bit crowded, I headed out to find a spot for lunch. Decision fatigue had hit me hard over the past few days, so I just chose a place on the corner at the end of the street I was staying on. I'm so glad I did. This restaurant had one of the best noodle soups I've ever tasted. The beef tasted fatty and tender, and the soup had a distinctively rich flavor that I couldn't quite identify. I also had a Jackfruit smoothie with the meal. I enjoyed this meal so much, I came back for dinner and had the beef noodle soup again with a passionfruit smoothie.
For my site-seeing event of the day, I chose a sunset cycle tour of the Cambodian countryside instead of the Grand Circuit of Angkor Wat. A group from the hostel biked out to the rice and lotus flower fields. Viewing the rice fields, I had never seen something so green.
The tour guide showed us to a Hindu-Buddhist temple complex and talked about how Cambodians have a la carte way of picking the best of each religion (mainly from Hinduism, Buddhism and Animism) and discarding the rest, while not viewing any one religion as superior. Some even celebrate Christmas. On paper however, Cambodians are predominantly Buddhists.
On our last stop of the cycle tour, we stopped at a countryside restaurant for a cold beer and fried rice. Watching the sunset over the Cambodian rice fields as Cambodian men played Cambodian rap on a giant speaker (and probably smoked some ganja), put me in a state of deep relaxation and appreciation.
I finished the night with the beef noodles, Asian candy, and a packing session. Tomorrow, I bus it to Phnom Penh.
Other notes:
Cambodian people are some of the warmest and friendliest people I've met. The children are a joy to see as they wave, smile and say hello to the tourists.