9th October 2008
Gina and me decided to go on this trip to Siem Reap Angkor through friends recommendation. We departed from LCCT on the morning of 9th October 2008. The flight took 2 hours to reach Siem Reap International Airport. We stayed in an AirAsia affiliate hotel called City River.
But for those of you who are on a budget can go there and look around for cheaper accommodations. We booked the hotel and transportation in advance as it was a holiday for us and we wanted comfort. We manage to get a good "tuk tuk" driver who spoke English well, very polite and accommodating.
"Tonle Sap" Floating Village
10:00am - As soon as we checked in, Tonle Sap was our first destination. The "tuk tuk" ride was very dusty but did let us have the "feel" of Siem Reap. Along the way, we witness how the villages lived.
Makes me wonder how different our own lifestyle and culture are compared to them even we are all humans. They live a simple and rustic life but seem very happy and peaceful. City people have so much luxury equipped with the latest technology, but are we happy?
This place is called the "Floating village". As the name implies, people build and live on wooden houses at the side of the river "Tonle Sap". They have floating schools and restaurants around the massive lake which seems like a sea due to the size.
One thing caught me by surprise was a young village girl who took a photo of us while we were walking to the boat. And when we returned after the boat ride, she was trying to sell us our photo that was engrave inside a plate. Pretty advance and innovative for a village girl, you reckon?
Lunch
2:00pm - We had our lunch at a restaurant at the infamous Pub Street called "The Soup Dragon". This street is where all the pubs and tourist will hang out during the night. It's a famous place due to one of Angelina Jolie's movie that was shot at "The Red Piano restaurant" at the other end of where "The Soup Dragon" was located.
Sunset at Phnom Bakheng
5:00pm - This is where tourist fly around the world to witness the sunset at the top of Phnom Bakheng. There's a photo of it below. You'll be the judge : ) One thing's for sure, tourism in Siem Reap is most definitely thriving. Along the hike up to the temple, there are traditional bands jamming away. The musicians are actually land mine victims that are raising money for charity.
Dinner
This is our first time in Cambodia and wanted to experience their local dishes. Most locals recommended "Lok Lak" (Rice serve with beef) and "Amok" (Unique local curry with fish or shrimp)which was really tasty. We had our dinner at a restaurant called "Dead Fish".
What a name, rite? This and most restaurants at or near Pub Street features "Apsara" dancers every hourly as light entertainment. One thing worth noting is that commerce is done in US Dollars and meals at restaurants could amount from 8 to 15 dollars for two, depending on your selections.
We walk around Pub street, settled down for a beer at "World Lounge" just in front of "Red Piano". The street was inundated by tourist with a traditional 10 piece band droning their brand of music away on the side walk. Their music is very repetitive with melody taken by the string player. We called it a night after the drink.
10th October 2008
Angkor Wat
We started our day at 7:30am as we were told there's a lot to cover. The driver took us to Angkor Wat as our first destination. The other temples are quite near one another but not near enough to walk. Still need a driver to fetch you from one temple to the next, unless you rent a bicycle.
You can actually hire a day tour guide to take you around all the temples to illustrate their history for US25. I notice there were also some local tour guides that can converse in Japanese, German and even French.
Angkor Thom - Bayon
Angkor Thom is a huge area that has many temples. The main temple being Bayon.
Prasat Suor Prat & Ta Keo
At this point of time, we were really tired. Climbing the steps of the temples under the hot sun for hours. I guess we should be lucky that it didn't rain, as it's the raining season.
Bapuon & Elephant Terrace
Srah Srang & Banteay Kdei
The amount of times we have been solicited to buy T-shirts, souvenirs, fruits etc from young children who seem to enjoy selling. When I got back to KL, I got still hear "Please buy from me sir", "Please buy something", "Bangkok Mango", "Hello sir, you want buy scarf"....
Prasat Kravan & Ta Prohm
Ta Prohm is among the most unique temple I've seen, with old trees thriving on top of the temple. With that, we've finally ended our mini tour of Siem Reap temples and head back to our Hotel.
That night, we had our dinner at "Moloppor Cafe" which is a cosy little pub/restaurant next to our Hotel. The price is reasonable and their "Amok shrimp" was utterly awesome. After dinner, we went back to "World Lounge" for a beer before retiring.
We came back to KL the next morning. In conclusion, it was a good experience. I'm glad Gina arranged and booked this trip for us. I will make it a point to travel on a more regular basis. ~ Jason
0 Comments