The Great Dopamine Rush of 2025

Today I woke up with a pinched nerve in my left shoulder. Yay for me, it seems murphy’s law has really got me on this trip. Many different little annoying things have happened. Alas its still a mile ahead of working in a Canadian winter. I delayed my morning trip to Angkor archaeological park and booked a massage.

Before my message I drove around the streets near my hotel looking for an shabby looking restaurant full of Khmer people. That is a sure fire way to get incredible local cuisine. I didn’t have to go far, I found what I would say looked like the front of a mechanic shop back home with a little sign in Khmer. This place was packed with locals. I ordered duck leg in clear soup with noodles. It was shockingly simple, just a few ingredients. It was absolutely delicious with tender duck meat, perfect noodles, and a surprise wonton. There is two main options for Khmer breakfast, fried meat and rice, or noodle soup. Both have been fantastic so far.

My masseuse was waiting for me when I arrived back at my hotel. I’ve never had a massage in my hotel room on the bed before, when the concierge said the masseuse would meet me in my room my first response was, Huh? Anyway the massage was just fine, it didn’t fix my shoulder but made me functional enough that I could indeed ride my scooter.

Armed with some information from James the friendly climbing guide, I rode out of town to go find some hidden temples. On the way I did a speed run of 4 temples I hadn’t seen the day before, Temples are incredible and the history is rich, but I have adhd. After a while they kind of all look the same to me. What really intrigued me is the hydraulic system that the angkorian’s designed to feed water to their cities, and protect them from droughts and floods. Funny enough because of the increased demand of tourism on Siem Reap’s water systems, The 1000 year old hydraulic system of reservoirs and canals also provides water to Siem Reap. After mass restorations of the system from 2004-2008 all of the reservoirs stay full all year round, and they protect the city and surrounding flatlands from flooding.

When I arrived at the pin provided from James of a secret buried temple all I found was farmland and extremely poor rural Khmer people. I did what every tourist does and confidently marched onto a random persons property speaking a language they absolutely didn’t understand asking for directions. Thankfully technology gave us translating apps and after a short google translate session. I now had a Khmer woman leading me through half a dozen fields towards a stand of trees I couldn’t see from the road. Now because I had just inconvenienced this woman, I gave her 8000 riel as a finders fee. Which I’m pretty sure made her day. Btw the road I drove the last kilometer to this temple on was fully silted, I’m talking like 4 inches of silt. It was like surfing on a scooter.

After finding the temple, and checking it out I hopped back on my bike and headed back into town. This temple was wicked cool. truly ancient and decrepit.

From the temples I went and got some dinner at a local street vendor. I ordered a local Khmer dish that I could not pronounce, that I from this point forward will always call this dish “swamp soup”. My god this soup was green and full of unrecognizable vegetables stained green. This is to this day the single most un appetizing looking dish I have ever eaten. Now it was really good but it was also really weird, I liked it, but I have no idea what I ate other than the chicken on top and the noodles. It was a very earthy flavor and I somewhat suspect it was algae soup as the color very closely resembled the algae infested river I was sitting beside. I’m glad I tried it but I think ill pass next time.

From the dinner stall I drove about 300 meters to another stall serving Siem Reap giant coconuts and diced fruit. For 10000 riel ($2.50) I got a coconut and a huge bowl of delicious fruit. I had my book with me and sat for a few hours in the bustling streets and read, which I don’t think I have ever done before. I try very hard to participate in my environment, and to completely zone out reading as the world buzzed around me was a new feeling.

I met up with James the guide at 8pm so we could pick up a moto for me to take on tomorrows adventure. I’ve never driven a semi auto before, but its a step up from the put puts towards a real motorcycle. Did you see how I called it a Moto, its not a motorcycle, its not a scooter, its a moto. That’s what the locals call them too, I just find it funny.

I’m off to bed now, in the morning I’m going to Kulen province with James on a full day Moto excursion. Till tomorrow.