Drew & Marta's Travels: Cambodia: Siem Reap, Monday

With the temples of Angkor checked off the list, our Monday mission: cooking classes and shopping.

Cooking classes kicked off with a trip to the local market for lunch ingredients. Though determined to jump into Marta's lap, we passed on the catfish who was being read his last rights. After our trip to the market our friendly, though militant, instructor put us to work peeling and chopping for our spring rolls and salad. Next it was more chopping for main courses of curry and amok (basically a different type of curry). Already sweating, it's questionable whether our teacher had devious intent when she presented Joe with the mortar and pestle to turn our freshly cut produce into a curry paste. Of note, we discovered a hotter place than the midday sun at the temples: a kitchen in Siem Reap. After putting us through Khmer cooking boot camp, our instructor commended our efforts as we sampled our creations. All were pretty good and perhaps we'll be able to reproduce a few of them back in the States.

After cooking class, a customary afternoon dip in the pool was in order followed by... shopping!

It's shopping day! Over the last several evenings we have been scouring the markets and boutiques looking for the best handicrafts, best causes and best prices. Though we have purchased a few gifts here and there, we saved the bulk of our shopping for Monday afternoon. Nothing beats creative inexpensive handicrafts that support good causes, because who doesn't like to feel good when spending money?

We had a special treat for dinner as Marta's friend Sarah Conway happened to be in Siem Reap with her friends Sara and Laurie. We will actually be traveling with all three of them over the next three weeks so you will probably see their names and faces pop up from time to time. Here's the rundown on them: Sarah (now to be referred to as Conway in this blog) is Marta's friend from college who has lived and worked in Bali for the last 4.5 years. Though her official job title remains elusive, she is unofficially a professional travel planner - thanks Conway. Laurie is Conway's roommate who is from California. She will be diving in Komodo National Park with us in a couple weeks. Sara is from Oman, went to college in London and is now doing public health work in Bali. She will be going to the Philippines with us.

After dinner, drinks and a little shopping, we bid the girls farewell until next week, made a few more purchases and headed to bed. Food and a couple beers is quite the sedative.