Being a tourist in a city I have lived in for two months
Visiting Siem Reap for the first time
I’ve been living in Siem Reap, Cambodia, for almost three months now, but I haven’t really done too many touristy things in that time. The only time I ever go to the main tourist market is to get my groceries, not souvenirs. I never went to Pub Street, I only ever got a beer at a local restaurant. And to be honest, I spend most of my time working.
And I’m not mad at it, that was the main point of moving somewhere for three months. So that Jordan and I could really grind at our jobs and make some money before we started backpacking again. And for the most part, that’s what we’ve been doing, working, except for the brief excursion to Ho Chi Minh City [read about that here].
But there was another reason we didn’t do any touristy things: we knew Jordan’s good friend from home, Jose, would be coming to visit, and we wanted to make sure he got the full tourist experience while he was here. So to make sure we didn’t do everything twice, we decided to save all of the touristy things in Siem Reap for when Jose arrived.
Daily life in Siem Reap
Before Jose came to stay with us, my days followed a very consistent rhythm.
A typical day for me looked like this: wake up, eat chia pudding, go to gym, make lunch, do work, eat dinner, watch How I Met Your Mother. Now obviously this wasn’t totally set in stone, there was room for interpretation. For example maybe I was out of ingredients for lunch, so instead we went to a restaurant that had $1 burgers and $.50 beers before heading to the market to pick up groceries. Or maybe we watched a movie. Or maybe I went to the cafe downstairs to work instead of in our living room.
But yeah that’s pretty much what I did. And maybe some would consider it a little bit boring, but honestly I loved it. After so much craziness for a year, it was pretty nice to just have a simple routine to ease into and relax with.
I didn’t realize how at home I felt in Siem Reap until I was so busy for two and a half weeks straight. First traveling to HCMC, then hosting Jose, then going to Phnom Penh, after all of that craziness, I seriously missed being at home. I missed my coconut water matcha from the café downstairs. I missed my $1 chicken burger spot. And I missed my fruit stand across the street which sells my favorite fruit.
I think part of what I missed most was just the calmness of having a place to call home that was my own, not shared with anyone (except, of course, my boyfriend). I could escape from everything and just be in my own space, which is something I really haven’t had in a long, long time.
Seeing my city through a tourist’s eyes
And then Jose came to visit. As much as I do love my little routine, really Jordan and I had been waiting for this moment to do all of the fun touristy stuff that we had been saving up for the past two months. To throw a wrench in the quiet, lazy routine we had created to have a bit of fun and do some things out of our comfort zones.
We really hit all of the stops in Siem Reap. We did Angkor Wat (duh), went to the Cambodian circus, visited APOPO (the rat sanctuary), went on a tour of the floating villages, ate street food and bugs at the night market and got a beer on pub street. We did it all, and not one of these things had I done before in the whole two months that I have been here.
It really opened my eyes to a new side of the city that I had been almost subconsciously avoiding because it didn’t fit into my quiet lifestyle. But it was actually really nice to see all of that, a whole different side of the city that is not far at all from where I live. It certainly opened my eyes up to things that I would be more than happy to do again, like get dinner at the night market.
Here’s an unpopular opinion for you: I love traveling with tourists.
And yeah — I know I’m a tourist. But I guess what I mean is someone who hasn’t been traveling super long term. Who’s fresh in the game.
Why? You may be asking. Well because every single time I travel with a newbie, they open my eyes to the magic all around me.
When you travel long-term, it’s kind of easy to become a bit jaded when you see new things. Part of it is because you’ve seen so many new things in such a short period of time that it’s hard to process it all and get excited about every single thing. But also, you adapt and get used to your surroundings faster, so you’re not spending so much time making googly eyes and hanging your jaw when you see something new.
And when you’re traveling with someone who is completely awestruck by everything they see, it becomes infectious. You start seeing things through their eyes, seeing them for how cool they are.
“Okay that’s great, but Abby what does this have to do at all with Siem Reap.”
I got to see it with an entirely fresh set of eyes. Eyes that have never seen any of Asia before. Eyes that haven’t been jaded and worn with use.
I saw an entirely different city than the one I had come to know and love, and through this new set of eyes, I have come to like Siem Reap even more. I got to know it by living here, and I got to know it even better by tramping around the city as a tourist for a week. Doing all the cliché and basic things, that are (lets be honest) usually pretty fun.
After a long two and a half weeks of nonstop touristing and hosting, it is very nice to be back in my favorite cafe with my coconut water matcha and my green tea writing this blog post.
And with only two weeks left in my amazing little city, I’m going to make the most of it. I’m not going to wait until someone else comes to visit and use that as an excuse to explore. I’m going to see as much of this place as I can, while still leaving room to savor slow mornings in my apartment and afternoons listening to jazz and writing at my local cafe.
Thanks for reading!
xx abby
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