The Pub Street greets us in the afternoon after a long slumber recuperating from a feverish ride at the night bus. I was struck with a bad case of flu and the constant dust in the air resembling that of a mini sandstorm every time a vehicle passes made it worse.  Siem Reap is lovely. I felt a lot better during our stay there.  A promise of a fresh pint ran along the alleys and streets, with tourists treating themselves to a 4pm happy hour. USD $ 1.00 per 1 hour foot massage couches lined up the streets and carts of various offerings from books to exotic food.

You will notice that Travel Gourmande will start featuring Interior Design more and more. I have given up my first blog, Design Gourmande in order to focus all of my energies here. 

As a tribute to our life in Dubai, I would like to re-post an apartment makeover. Here are some before and after shots of my friend, Christine's One- Bedroom apartment.  Some of the furniture are existing when we moved in the flat, provided by the company she's working for particularly the sofa set. One of the rules in the building is to never remove the chandelier (heartbreaking, I know).

A Mountain Pagoda.  A Buddhist temple stands on top of a hill. Legend has it that a rich widow named Penh found three bronze statues of Buddha inside a large koki tree. She had this shrine constructed in 1373 to house and protect the statues and was then transformed into a sacred sanctuary.