Nico's Vacation - Day 7

19/12/2009 - It was an Angkor Temples day. After breakfast, we set out to Angkor Thom and started the temple crawl from Bayon. There were already a lot of people on each site even though we started early. It was quite hard to take pictures dodging those tourists. But then again, I suppose those tourists also thinks that they should start early to avoid crowds. It's just quite amazing that Angkor has so many visitors every day and yet there are still some parts of it that is quite run down - particularly some paths to the temples which are still sandy roads. I suppose the boom has just started a couple of years back and possibly it will turn better in the years to come.

It was 1ish when we finished Angkor Thom - the place is really big, luckily we are on the mini coaches that drove us around the temples. Otherwise, I would imagine it will take almost a whole day to cover the temples. Drove back into town and had lunch at a Cambodian Chinese restaurant before being dragged into a gems store where the only thing they do is give you free cambodian coffee and tries to con you into buying their gems and jewelery!

Next in the itinerary is Angkor Wat itself! The scorching sun hold us back. Went back to the hotel to freshen up and relaxed by the pool for about an hour before heading back out.

As the bus turned into the junction nearer to the sacred building, the moat was the first insight. The moat itself is pretty amazing. I felt very peaceful and calm and as the building itself came into view - there is just a very 'sacred' and 'holy' feeling that I don't quite know how to describe - serenity is the word. It is quite evident how grand and amazing it is. We got to Angkor Wat around 4ish and it took about another one hour to visit the temple. The crowd has subsided then. There are still a fair amount of visitors but not as busy.

Headed for dinner buffet and cultural show at a restaurant called Amazon. There were a lot of cambodian, vietnamese and thai food. I particularly like the vietnamese Bang Sung. The cultural show was a bit boring and so we left after half an hour of the show and went shopping at the Night Market instead!

Angkor Night Market is another buzz. A lot of tourists having their beer and fish massage sessions. Most of the stuff they sell are souvenirs ranging from handicrafts, bags, clothes, local produce etc.

That is it for a 2 days in Siam Reap...

Will be looking forward to another visit - a photography expedition!

Nico's Vacation - Day 6

18/12/2009 - Another super early morning as we depart from Phnom Penh to Siam Reap. The bus journey took 6 hours but with 3 scenic stops. First stop is a place with a couple of hawker stalls selling edible tarantulas, crickets etc. They look really gross. I think the only thing that puts me off is the flies that parties over them. The guide said the crickets are the tastiest...hmm...never in a million years will I dare to try them out! There were also other random stuff like mangoes, dried seafood produce etc. Some local children were trying hard to get tourists (like myself) to buy the tarantulas and bananas. They will pester you to death I swear!

Second stop was just a normal toilet stop at a resort like restaurant. Took the opportunity to sleep on some hammocks there for a while before continuing the journey. 3rd was the Kompong Kdey Ancient bridge which used to be the connecting bridge between Phnom Penh and Siam Reap. It is too old now for vehicles to cross and therefore not used excessively nowadays.

We reached Siam Reap around 1pm and went for lunch straight away. It's another chinese meal but with herbal crocodile soup - tasted like normal pork ribs herbal soup but a bit more stronger taste. Proceeded to Les Artisan Angkor - a local handicraft centre and then to Tonle Sap Lake for a one hour cruise around the floating village. It is quite amazing to see how those people live on the lake. Some houses are really very small but have to fit a lot of people! There are even floating school and church. The guide told us that 3 years back, there was no cruise for tourists. Visitors have to walk on mud to get to the center to the floating village - we went on the right timing! We got off the boat on one of the tourists stop in the village, lingered for a while before heading back to the main pier.

By the time we finished our cruise, it's almost 4ish. Next in the itinerary is to view sunset of Angkor Wat from Phnom Bakeng. The trek up the hill was about 15 minutes. Once up there the bigger challenge was to climb to the top of Phnom Bakeng. The steps were really very steep. That said, by the time I reach the foot of the temple, there were already a big crowd on top of the temple. As I squeezed my way through the crowds, I managed to take a couple of shots of the almost setting sun - satisfied!

Dinner was at Green Suki Soup Steamboat. And checked in Monoreach hotel after that...

Nico's Vacation - Day 5

17/12/2009 - Morning call was pretty early, but I woke up earlier than that since there were 3 of us in a room. Went down for breakfast quite early too so that we can try out the buffet in our own sweet time. Breakfast for me that morning was soup rice noodle, toast, coffee and fruits. Other than that, the breakfast buffet also has fried mee, fried rice, some random oriental stir fry dishes, omelette, porridge etc. I particularly like the soup rice noodle.

Started the city sightseeing tour at 8 and first stop was the Independence Monument and then to the Tonle Sap river side before proceeding to the Royal Palace. Unfortunately, the prime minister of Vietnam were visiting that day and therefore we can't go in to the Royal Palace itself, just the exterior gardens and Silver Pagoda. One of the interesting sights in there was the Cannon Ball tree and there are a couple of buddhas under the tree and they called it the Buddha tree. Apparently the flowers bloom in the morning and withers in the afternoon. Next stop was Wat Phnom - a temple on a 27m high hill. There are quite a few people praying in there and inside the temple the guide asked us to wash our hands with the 'holy' water which was supposed to bring good luck...hmm.

Lunch was at TonleBassac restaurant - international buffet -with most of the food of the type Vietnamese and Thai. We then spent about an hour at the Russian Market (Psar Tuol Tom Pong). It is an indoor market but it's quite stuffy and narrow. Most of the vendors sells souvenirs, handicrafts, jewelery, wood carvings etc. There are also some food stalls selling baguettes(french bread), fried and soup noodles etc. After a full one hour of free sauna, we proceeded to the Tuol Sleng Museum (Genocide Museum). The building itself used to be a school which was turned into a prison, a centre of detention and tourture. The exhibits are mostly about the barbarism of the Khmer Rouge leaders and stories of the victims.

Next stop was the Casino! It's actually owned by a Malaysian but not Genting. We got a 4USD voucher bet each courtesy of the tour company. The guide taught us a way to win 2USD each by playing banker-player. It is really a sure win method. But with 4USD voucher, we need to top up 10USD each and bet 6USD on Banker, 4USD + 4USD free voucher on Player. So if the Banker wins, we get 12 back which makes us profit of 2. If the player wins, we get 8 back which make us a net profit of 2 (8 - 6 which we lost by betting on banker). Such a tourism gimmick! Drinks are free as long as you are gambling. Managed to try out the Angkor Beer there which was pretty ok.

The last sightseeing stop of the day was Central Market - an open air market selling stuff that are pretty much the same as the Russian Market. Didn't manage to buy anything since we didn't feel the need to get souvenirs so early in the trip. Dinner was at a Vietnamese-Chinese restaurant called 'Yee Bo'.

Nico's Vacation - Day 4

16/12/2009 - It's another travelling day. Bro drove us to KLIA LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal...hmm what a name!) which is serving the budget airlines and had brunch at Old Town before meeting the tour leader and checking in. There were 19 in the group, aged from 9 to 72!

Boarded the 15:15 AirAsia flight to Phnom Penh and touched down approximately 4ish Cambodian time. The flight was pretty ok. I can say AirAsia has higher standards stewardesses tan MAS! The tour booked us in for a chicken rice meal (so-so only) and reserved seats and so we didn't have to be kiasu and queue early to get seats together.

We met up with the local tour guide and straight to dinner from the aiport. Dinner was in a Malaysian Chinese restaurant - the boss is actually Malaysian and according to the 'si tau po' - boss' wife, she actually preferred to stay in Cambodia because she felt safer there - hmm I'm not quite sure about that though. After dinner, the guide brought us to a local fruit market and introduced to us one of the seasonal local fruit - milk fruit - it's round and sized of a small coconut, just that it has smooth skin and apparently it comes in green and brown colours with white coloured flesh.

Checked in Diamond Hotel where we stayed for 2 nights in Phnom Penh.