Life of the Mayers: Cambodia: Siem Reap Streets + Food

Hello Cambodia!

Blessed with national holidays off and good trip deals, we were off to Cambodia to celebrate our holidays! We left the day after Christmas and celebrated into the New Year with a fantastic trip.
First stop was Siem Reap, where our minds were blown, our bellies filled, and our fatigued muscles massaged! Massages average about $8/hr here so we enjoyed at least one daily, and enjoyed the happiness that our "large" tips brought. It is incredible how huge of a difference a "few dollars" to us makes to people here. It is a country where you are suppose to haggle/negotiate prices, but I found it really hard to do when everything was already so cheap and people are living on pennies a day. I just found it hard when I was negotiating on principle and they were negotiating for their livelihood.
Yes, Cambodia is an extremely poor country (not nearly as impoverished as Nepal was though), but it is absolutely breath-taking in beauty and filled with some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Seam Reap is a bustling little city that is definitely built to support the tourist, thus the Cambodian economy. It is located around near many cool sites, but there is not too much within the city itself unless you want to shop. What they do have, that was incredible, was the street food markets that popped up as the sun went down. Do yourself a HUGE favor: If you come to this city, do NOT step a single foot into a restaurant while you are here (we did for a bit, as we were with a group tour, but instantly regretted it)....walk around, see what tempts you and try it. Yes, you can eat snake and bug and spider, but there are plenty of recognizable meats and noodle dishes, so DO not shy away. As long as it was cooked in front of us and it was hot, we were not worried about food safety, and not one single time did we (or have we) get sick.