Back from Cambodia

Day 3

Day 3 started even before sunrise. This was because we ARE going to watch the sunrise =p Our driver picked us up from our hotel at 5am and we proceeded to Angkor Wat. There weren't any lights along the way so we had to bring our torchlight and it was only until I shone my light at the tower did I realized that we were at the same place that we've been to the day before. There were a lot of people, seriously a lot. We had expected the sun to come up from behind the towers but......

Angkor Wat at dawn

After breakfast, we went to Banteay Srey. It was a palace for the young prince of Cambodia dating back to the 10th century. However, this isn't exactly a palace. The area is only 100mx450m big. Small for a palace? Obviously! It doesn't even have the neccessary rooms to live in.

Can you believe that this is the actual size of the palace???

After which we went to the Ta Promm temple. Why is it famous? Because it was the filming site for Tomb Raider *o* The temple was very special not only because Tomb Raider was filmed there, but also, most of the trees grew on top of the buildings itself!!!!!

If I'm not wrong, our dear tomb raider ran out from this door in one scene

Look at the size of the trunk! Its even bigger than me!

After lunch, we had a bit of a massage and spa at the hotel. They were good. Especially the sauna, it was very hot inside and my father was constantly pouring water into the heater to make the sauna hotter OMG I sweated like a mofo. It was relaxing though.

Night time came at around 5.30pm and we went to a popular restaurant called the Red Piano. It served mainly Khmer, Western and Chinese dishes. The food was awesome. I took their signature dish "spaghetti red-piano", damn good. We also got a seat that overlooked Pub street. Guys, I strongly recommend you to eat at Red Piano the next time you visit Siem Reap. Oh and they do have a very special cocktail that is exclusive only at Red Piano......

Tomb Raider Cocktail??!?!?!?

Day 4

Our flight back to Singapore was at 6.30pm so after checking out at 10am, we departed for Beng Melea, a ruin located 65km away from Siem Reap. The trip took 1hr and along the way, we saw the lovely countryside of Cambodia. Beng Melea was constructed approximately 1000 years ago by a Hindu emperor. However, through the ravage of time, the temple is now partly collapsed. However, this is what makes it fun! We trekked through the remnants, climbed through large rocks and secret passages. There are boardwalks at the later part of the tour. We can see a lot of stone carvings from the fallen boulders as we can from other ruins.

Beng Melea entrance The most perfectly ravaged ruin

Boardwalk inside the ruin, as you can see, theres no way to walk on the sandstones

The last part of our trip was to visit the Rulous Group, a pack of temples situated not far from the city. After visiting so many ruins, visiting this one doesn't appeal to me as much anymore XD

We went to the Siem Reap airport at around 4.15pm. The airport as I've mentioned before, is very small. However, it was delicately designed and was full of newly renovated shops. We also got a full view of the airport from our seats. It was good. Occassional planes taking off and landing just makes me excited.

Air China B737-700 taking off at sunset

OK Well, I guess i should stop here. More photos are available on my facebook. Any questions or words of wisdom just drop it on my chatterbox =D