Next?

It was A Little Pain and Starless Night back then.

Then it was Yoru Wo Kakeru.

What's next?

Cambodia - Siem Reap Day 2/6

Day 2:

Woke at 7am, to stone, bathe, stone then head to Sojourn's restaurant for breakfast. Everything on the menu was included in my free breakfast. Cool! Ordered a big breakfast and a latte cos the wine yesterday made me wake up starving.

Big breakfast of scrambled eggs, baby tomatoes, toast, bacon and sausage. Yum.

My package included a Temple Pack Lunch which consists of 2 drinks and a sandwich/salad. I picked out a wholemeal chicken sandwich. All off them stored in this cooler bag.

9am, met up with my tour guide for the day, a young man called Sokha. (I think I spelled it right.) A very friendly and chatty person, occasionally lame but I'm sure older tourists will love him. LOL. Mr Han sent the both of us to Angkor Wat.

Mr Han left me and Sokha to wait at the Tuk-tuk while we went to explore the gigantic stone landmark. Walking. Nice.

View again from Angkor Wat across the moat.

At the start of the bridge across the moat. See the Stone Lions? Apparently they had tails, probably made of metal, but it was plundered a long time ago. ALL of the lions in ALL of the temples had no tails. How strange is that?

Tourists and security guards along the Bridge. Yep, It's a long bridge.

We didn't walk into Angkor Wat straight away cos the entrance was under restoration, instead we made a detour around it.

View of a part of Angkor and one of it's many ponds beside it.

Another view of Angkor. Can you see the green netting covering the restoration?

Angkor from the back.

Sokha brought me throughout the entire first layer, explaining the histories and details. Unfortunately for the poor man, the ancient names are completely lost on me. Using Wikipedia now, this place is built by Suryavarman II. Back at Angkor, I called him S the Second.

For the top layer, Sokha didn't follow me up, so I climbed up 2 storeys of vertical, scarily high stairs to explore the place on my own.

View of the forests around Angkor from the top layer.

Climbing down was a complete biatch. The height is just scary, lose your step, and it's pretty much a free fall. The French couple before me clung tightly to the handrails and another group of Japanese tourists were complaining about the height. Welp, we gotta go down, don't we?


On to the Second Layer we could see HUMONGOUS bas reliefs, all of ancient legends or histories. I saw 3, the last one, The Churning of the Sea of Milk was under restoration. Booo....

A Bas relief of Hell. This one was highly interesting to me. The bottom section was of Hell, middle was of Earth, and the top was Heaven. Now, Heaven was very simply decorated, mainly of flowers, and swirly designs. Earth was more detailed, we can see villagers going about their lives, the nobles holding their meetings and groups of musicians. The most detailed realm? Hell. I saw people being hung up and stabbed, burnt alive, eaten by creatures, chopped into pieces by demons, you get the picture.

This is how long a bas relief wall is. AND THERE ARE 4!! (I think.)

The corridor right before the Bas relief walls.

Last view of Angkor Temple. The fan thingy in the centre is called a Naga. A very common motif found in most temples and artwork.

Had a quick lunch, was so hungry clamboring up and down Angkor, that I polished the sandwich off without taking a picture, heh. One thing I remembered was there were kids running around looking at me sitting alone having a sandwich. I'd have offered some of mine if they seemed hungry but they seemed more interested to make me talk to them then to eat. Hmm.

Next up, Bayon! Personally, this is one of my faves. I love crumbly ruins.

Reliefs on the pillars at the entrance of Bayon. Apsaras, which simply put, celestial maidens *rolls eyes*

Sokha had asked me to sit at this spot to take a photo of me. But he asked me to look forward without telling me why. I complied and this was the result. ..... LOL!

The many many many faces of Bayon. Fantastic.

Last view of Bayon. I really adore that place.

Another Temple, which, I'm sorry to say, I have forgotten the name, didn't really explore it cos the stairs were :/

Yet another Temple called Phimeanakas. I remembered the story Sokha told me. According to legend, the King built this Temple to sleep with a Naga disguised as a beautiful woman. The King had to sleep with her every night or else calamity will befall on his country, or so the king said. NICE EXCUSE!!

After that temple, it was a 15 min trek to the next spot, Elephant Terrace. Now this is spectacular.

According to Sokha, the plain you see here was actually a parade ground for the elephants in the ancient kingdom. People from all over the country, at a certain time of year, will bring their elephants here to show them off to the King. The elephants will perform a series of tasks, for hunting or for war. If the King likes the elephants, he will recruit them in his army. This place was also used for the King to view his army.

Yep, the terrace was a really long terrace

Elephant, elephant.

Beside Elephant Terrace, is a structure known was Terrace of the Leper King. Sokha told me, a King (I forgot the name) fell ill due to Leprosy and understanding the pain his people suffered, that King built (if I remembered right) over a hundred hospitals during his reign and this terrace.

Inside the Terrace of the Leper King.

Another temple, but I forgot the name :D

And another one. :D

After that temple, I called it a day, and it was good-bye to Sokha and back to Sojourn for a much needed bath and short break then it was off to Siem Reap town again for an early dinner so Mr Han can get me back to Sojourn before 6pm. Again, to Pub Street for Red Piano, since it was so famous.

Picture of the Angkor Wat pass, taken while I was waiting for my food.

Red Piano's menu.

Amok Fish with Rice. It is made up of some local spices, chopped onions, and of course, fish. IT. IS. AWESOME! I cleaned the whole plate :D

There was a street of blue tent thingys just across the Red Piano. I walked past it and they were selling food, at USD 1!!! For a plate of fried rice!! Imma head there next!

Mr Han picked me up at 5 and back to Sojourn we went.

And cos the day was rather overcast, I grabbed my swimsuit and headed for the pool. First dunk and I was bleh, saltwater. Guess I'm too use to chlorine pools. Got out, took a nice long shower, skyped mom and dad for a bit and went to bed.

Day 3 up next!

Cambodia - Siem Reap Day 1/6

6 day trip, full of so many many interesting things, not sure if I can remember. Here goes:

Day 1: I bunked over at Fi's so her Dad could drive us to the airport together, all went well, luggage is all packed, passports, tickets, everything in order. Had breakfast at Coffee Bean in T1, took a few shots, had a few laughs and it was time for boarding. Headed to the boarding gate and boom!!

Fi can't go Cambodia with me. :( Turns out, her passport was like only a week past the required 6 months for entry into Cambodia. Can't even describe how bad I felt for her. It's insane!! But I was already the last one into the plane, so I had to leave her behind and board. I'm so sorry dude!!!!

Anyway, still in a semi-daze, I boarded the plane, caught a few zzzs and landed in Siem Reap's airport in a jiffy. 1 1/2hr flight. Sent an sms to Fi and Dad and proceeded out of the airport to meet the bloke who was supposed to pick us up.

My Official Ride for 6 days. A tuk-tuk.

The bloke who picked me up and will be my dedicated driver. I call him Mr. Han.

Trying to take a view of the Cambodian Countryside, with a fantastic view of the tuk-tuk cover instead.

My very own drink pack!! (I feel so pampered)

The place I'll be staying at. Luxury villa 15 mins drive away from the town.

While they were processing my check-in, drinks and snack on the house. I think it was iced lemongrass tea and Khmer pancake with coconut and palm sugar. Yum.

Off to my pad!

My room, no.2. It's a humongous room, with a humongous bathroom + humongous stone tub.

Humongous bed

I should've brought a larger luggage huh?

Writing corner....?

The view peeking out of my window. Yep, that's a pool. Saltwater in fact. Me no likey saltwater pools.

After resting a bit, I went out again, mainly for lunch but Mr Han suggested I drop by Artisan's Stone Centre for a bit. I read about the place in the Lonely Planet guide. The Centre was originally set up by a French woman, who wanted to train impoverished or handicapped Khmer people in handicrafts so they can have a skill to sustain themselves. Now, if I remember right, 20 or 40% of the centre is run by a Cambodian organization, so less "Ang Moh" influence. Goodo.

Young man hammering out elephants on a piece of copper.

Look at the detail!!

Scribbles here ain't vandalism. The master marked out problem spots for correction.

Stone panels depicting Ancient Cambodian life.

After Artisans, I was starving, so Mr Han brought me to Pub Street (my request) to try out the restaurants here. It's a street that pretty much caters to tourists, but since it's my first time, in Cambodia, I intend to eat at a place where I can read what they are serving.

Clear noodles with Pork? Bring it on!!

And the serving that came was HUMONGOUS!! I may be fat, but I can't eat THAT much. See, this is Before:

And after:

I hate stuffing myself when I am already full, so I asked the waitress to pack it up for me. And cos I had like half an hr to kill before Mr Han picked me up, I wandered over to Old Market for a look see.

Spices and Teas sold in colorful weaved baskets and containers.

2pm, Mr Han picked me up and back to the villa I went. I had planned to clock in 2-3 hrs nap cos I will be going out to Angkor Wat for a sunset picnic at 6.30. That nap never succeeded because Mom started freaking out about me being in Cambodia alone, Dad was asking about the car (don't ask) and Uncle was also asking about the car (again, don't ask). So all in all, I slept.... 10 mins.

Wheee~ Off to Angkor Wat!

The queue before the ticketing booths for Angkor Park. I got a 3 day pass for US $40.

Sunset (but there was none! Bloody clouds...) picnic across the moat at Angkor Wat. Sojourn gave me a 2 person share of olives, cheese, toasted bread and a whole bottle of wine.

Back at Sojourn at 8pm, wondering what to do with the leftover food.

Day 2 to come!!