Back from Cambodia (Day 2 continued below!!!)

Tuantuan? and Puanpuan? (Ladies and Gentlemen in Malayu), I'm back from Cambodia!!!!! Its such an awesome place and I'm really glad that I went. Although it was a war-ravaged country that regained peace and tranquility like 18 years ago, still it was a good experience for me. Guess I should start from day 1 at Changi Terminal 2.

We are getting on a SilkAir A319. At first I was a bit worried when I saw that our tiny plane has to carry like 160 people but my mum pointed to a nearby Beechcraft 1900D "so you mean this plane can't even fly?" The trip was estimated to be 2hrs and 10min. The view of Cambodia in the air was marvellous, there ain't any skyscrapers, just farms and swamps. When we touched down, we realized that our flight was the only plane in the airport, damn cool.

We've got 6 planes on our tail XD Final approach to Siem Reap Angkor International airport

The hotel that we'll be slacking in is Empress Angkor, a good hotel with excellent service. We've got a brilliant view from our balcony overlooking the fields. Our afternoon was free so we decided to make a trip to Tonle Sap lake to watch the sunset. Along the way we saw the true rural areas of Siem Reap and it was saddening to see those people living in houses not bigger than our bedroom for some it was not even the size of our toilets!!!

See those huts on the water? Its houses!!!!
Our boat trip to Tonle Sap lake

Life on water

We had a bit of a 'pitstop' on a large floating platform on the lake and they have all kinds of weird pets like anaconda, spiders and even crocodile!!!!!

Hang on! am comin down to feed you!!!

At about 5.30pm, we went back onto the boat to sail out into the lake to watch the sun slowly sink into the water. It was such a romantic and emotional moment.

Dinner was at a local buffet restaurant. The food was perfect and we can even watch a live Cambodian dance and it cost only US$12/ pax!!!

Me drinking beer? You sure?

Day 2

Our hotel provided us with a scrumptious breakfast that fired our energy level to the max for the day. We started with the Angkor Thom tour that takes us to the Bayon temple. Here there are 54 statues of Smiling faces that was dubbed as the "Khmer's smile". Although it was a remnant made 800 years ago, it was in good shape.

South Entrance to Angkor Thom

While touring the site, our guide directed us to a position, told me to sit on the ledge and took a photo of me. At first I didn't know what he was up to, but then...... Kissing with a statue?!

We then proceeded to the nearby royal palace area and the terrace of the elephants before moving on to our next sight-seeing location, Preah Khan. There we saw the Banteay tower and the area where swords were once stored. They call this a tower? It is only 2.5m tall!!!

The last place that we went to before our lunch was the Neak Pean. It was a hospital for the people during their times. There are four different pools that housed 4 statues of animals: elephant, lion, horse and human. The people will first go to the central lake to scoop up water, then depending on their illness, they will pour the water behind one of the four caves that housed the respective animal. It was believed that the water flowed down from the elephant statue can treat blood illnesses; body injuries for the human; internal organs for the lion and the respiratory diseases for the horse. I mean a hospital that relied on beliefs to treat people??? kind of ridiculous isn't it? Neak Pean

After Lunch, we went to the most famous Angkor Wat, it is a temple that was featured on the Cambodian flag and was the most well-reknowned structure in Cambodia. I have to admit that Angkor Wat is probably the most awesome structure I've seen in my life. Imagine people from the 11th-12th century were able to construct such a majestic place from only stones and boulders. I think it can definitely compete with China's forbidden city or any other structures. It is absolutely brilliant. But sadly, there are some conservation works going on so part of the building was inaccessible.

Angkor Wat

We were able to make it for the sunset at the top of the nearby Mount Bakheng. We had to walk a long claypath to reach the top and it wasn't over yet. To have an unblocked view of Cambodia as well as the sun, we still have to climb up a temple and beware, the steps are really steep and small. If you have no idea of how the steps looks like, try looking at your wall, it is that similar. Many people were reluctant to climb up because it looked really dangerous but guys, I'm doing it just for you.

We had dinner at the Pub street near the famous Old Market. The street was full of restaurants and we decided to eat at a local Khmer BBQ. I was dead hungry and went a bit crazy for a moment =D We had BBQ frogs, chicken beef and salad. It was fantastic.

Get away from my food!!!!!

There are no taxies in Siem Reap. But they have motorcycle carriages which they called 'Tuk-Tuk'. Without our driver, we decided to take a 'Tuk-Tuk' ride back to our hotel. It cost only US$1/pax. Feels good.

I'm in a 'Tuk-Tuk'=D