cambodia trip!!

DAY 1

Once I got down from the plane and stepped out of the airport, I had a great urge to turn back and fly back to Malaysia and into the sanctuary of my room. The only proper tar road there was was the main road in the pekan, the rest were all tanah merah. Once there was a great wind, habesla mata, mulut, hidung and rambut and of course your skin. Even the school ground was tanah merah and I could see the kids running barefoot. Not only that, they even played in the BIG drain by the roadside barefoot and some bogel.. I kept wondering if I could stand the 6 days in Cambodia, well, I have made it, haven't I? We reached Siem Reap at about 8am in the morning and then checked in at Palm Garden Lodge, the place we were staying for 4 days. The people there were very friendly and nice. Phew~they can speak English, though really broken. We then, booked their mini van to bring us around for 3 days, it cost around USD85 after much bargaining from the starting price of USD100. The ticket to all the temples in Siem Reap was USD40/3 days. If you are rich enough, you can hire a tour guide which will make your trip more enjoyable, about USD25/day. Well, let the pictures do the talking, shall we?

Siem Reap International Airport which looks like Rasa Sayang Hotel..

Palm Garden Lodge

1st stop- entrance to Angkor Wat (Hinduism)

Angkor Wat, rainy road which rained whenever we passed by..

2nd stop-South Gate of Angkor Thom. Notice the Buddha face? (Buddhism)

Bayon where there are Buddha faces everywhere (Buddhism)

Baphuan-under renovation (Hinduism)

Terrace of Elephants-all elephant carvings (Buddhism)

entrance to Royal Palace

Phimeanakas with scary stairs 80 degrees (Hinduism)

view from phimeanakas

Sras Srei-bathing pools for the king and his concubines (the big one at the back is for his concubines and the smaller one here is for the king)

Leper King at Terrace of the Leper King (Buddhism)

Phnom Bakheng-we had to climb up ourselves as the elephant ride cost USD20/person (Hinduism)

at last, we have reached the top

the 80 degrees stairs with slim and high steps

the view from top, worth the climb. ah..the hot air balloon, i sooo wished to ride it, USD15/person

ta-da, windy day and quite cloudy due to the rain so no sunset to see

Pub Street-dinner time..hungry..

local dishes, right-chicken amok, left-potato omelette at Khmer Kitchen Restaurant. Thumbs up

DAY 2

We planned to watch sunrise at Angkor Wat so we woke up very very very early as in 4.30am +7GMT to get to Angkor Wat just in time to see the cloud clouding the sun. Sigh~too bad for us. But we ended up taking lots of picture of Angkor Wat and its famous reflection.

morning at Angkor Wat

the famous reflection, don't mind the dirt on the pond

local breakfast-beef mihun

Ta Prohm-famous for HUGE trees growing on the temple. Tomb Raider was shot here (Buddhism)

now, i look mini..lol..

HUGE and complicated

the kids chasing us to sell the bracelets 10 for USD1. i really pity them..feel soo lucky i am in Malaysia

Banteay Srey-citadel of the woman (Hinduism)


carving depicting the story of a war between 2 brothers

East Mebon (Hinduism)

entrance to Ta Som (Buddhist)

Ta Som

tuk-tuk in the rain

entrance to Preah Khan

Preah Khan (Buddhist)

My friends somehow found out that it was my birthday and nothing much happened, just wishes and laughters. Lol..But it was fun and special for celebrating my birthday in Cambodia.

fresh spring roll with peanut sauce

Khmer curry which reminds me of Penang otak-otak. my friend said it tasted like thai curry

fried mekong fish (catfish) with pineapple. after the whole trip, my conclusion is pineapple is cheap there..

fried Khmer spices

traditional Khmer pumpkin desert, tasted like bobo chacha

night market

open air night market..cheap if you consider USD1 is cheap

After two days of temple visiting, I wanted to scream for a break. Lol..It was soo tiring, climbing all those stairs, steep, slim and high steps. And I looked soo ugly climbing on all four. Maybe if I am rich enough, I might just take my own sweet time visiting them and hire a tour guide to enjoy the trip more instead of cramming all into few days. I just loved the night time there as it meant nice food and Pub Street aka ang mohs and foreigners!! Lol..

Day 3

Another half day of temple visiting..

Bakong of Roluos Group (Hinduism)

Preah Ko of Roluos Group (Hinduism)

miniature Angkor Wat

can't remember what miniature this is..lol..

miniature of Lolei

miniature of Bakong

can't remember...

miniature of Banteay Srei

Lolei (Hinduism)

Next stop is Artisans d'Angkor at National Silk Center

silkworm in pupa

making silk

WORMs~ feeding on mulberry leaves

night time came..this is supper..lol

we had a few drinks. this is Temple Sour Sdey (the only non-alcoholic we ordered) USD2.75

Bahkeng Sunset USD2.75

Pina Colada USD2.75

Angkor Temple Sunrise FOC

Planter's Punch FOC

It was buy 1 free 1 for the cocktails. I had 2 cocktails and in the end I had rash all over my back, damn itchy and red. I can't remember the name of the rash. Always have it whenever I drink. The alcohol there was cheap. Beer only cost USD 0.50/glass.

to be continued...