Refreshed from breakfast we had time to relax before taking an early lunch and then gather for our visit to Ta Prohm. I set off with Bob and Lesley in a rickshaw for the central market in Siem Reap. This market sold everything from food – yes still walking and flapping – to clothes, furnishings and souvenirs.
Lesley wanted a traditional ladies costume – the name of which has dimmed in my mind – for which we searched amongst the myriad of stalls all seemingly selling the same range but in fact on close inspection all had their specialities or different suppliers. One thing was for sure they would go to great lengths to get a sale as we were to witness for having found a stall that had something of the right style and colour the stall holder did not have the correct size. “No worries, we will find one in the market”. Off went the stallholder to negotiate with other vendors in the market who had similar costumes for sale. Every so often she would come back with a different garment either in the wrong colour or size but eventually the right colour and size was found!
My purchases were somewhat quicker. I had spotted some traditional woven silk shirts and within seconds I was the proud possessor of not one but two shirts in the largest size available – the Cambodian men are much smaller in stature than Europeans. There is a photo of me sporting one of these shirts in the posting on the Final Dinner. The shirts are a delight to wear and so well made.
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