Siem Reap (13.06.2012 – 16.06.2012) – Part 2

our day started very early as sunrise starts from 5.30am.
first stop will be at the main attraction of this trip, Angkor Wat
 
but first, you’ll have to show your pass to one of the few guards here!

after around 5minutes walk, at last we reached the main building. too bad the front building was under restoration back then.
anyway, back to the sunrise…

the most important thing – get a nice spot! coz the crowd is crazy… notice the carpet on the above? those belongs to creative entrepreneurs. if you want to sit on it, be prepared to buy expensive coffee or sandwiches from them!

next, frame a good shot while waiting for the sun to wake up! haha!


voila! the end result. too bad for our lousy photography skills. else, it will be a nice photo!
after spending an hour or so, we proceed to the interior of the temple
not going to elaborate much on the temple other than the attraction which is the Bas Relief. what it is?

 
the carvings on the wall are Bas Reliefs. these carvings surround the whole temple itself.

for those without a Guide to explain the events carves on the wall, we can only see a brief descriptions on the info placed on various places. just remember to follow the correct way/chronology when reading!
After Angkor Wat, it’s back to the hotel for a quick breakfast. yes, we can go out of the and back to the temple area a few times as long as the pass is within the stipulated time

some noodles for breakfast where we add everything in the photo above together. not bad! taste a bit like asam laksa with lots of coconut milk.
anyway, back to the Temple trip!

not really a temple here, but it’s just a gate – South Gate of Angkor Thom.

the heads lining on the side was heavily damaged and restored. can you see which one are the restored head?
not far from the gate are one of my favourite temple

Bayon. where there are hundreds of faces in the temple itself!


different from your usual temple, no?
next stop is the temple that max out our stamina!

Baphuon

this temple consist of a few crazy steep levels!

although the steps were steep, i am adamant to climb to the top as i was curious of what is in store for us there…

upon reaching the top, i was like WTF???!!! i risked my life just to see this??!! aih…

and the dreaded walk down…

the view at the back of the temple. can you guess what is it?
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it’s an image of a reclining Buddha.
after all the climbing at Baphuon, we have no more energy to climb…

imagine our horror when we saw the stairs leading up to Phimeanakas. we ended up sitting under a tree for half and hour while observing other people struggling to climb up. haha!

Terrace of Elephants. great carvings!

Terrace of Leper Kings (if i’m not mistaken). Greater carvings!
by this time, we were exhausted, sweaty and hungry!!!

this photo show it all… taken in some unknown temple on the way for lunch

lunch was some simple stir fried beef. this dish cost us freaking USD5!!!
Tips : be sure to bargain for every thing, especially food. due to our lousy bargaining skills, we are only able to bargain to USD4. if you are a great bargainer, try to bargain till USD1. haha!

amok. One of an Cambodian signature dish! don’t really fancy it though. too much coconut milk.
after filling our stomach and getting a breather, we are ready for our next destination

Ta Keo.
nothing really special about this temple though…

but the children here (and in any of the temples here) make this place an interesting place. great memory (don’t ever say you will come back again to buy if you don’t intend to, they will remember), smart in dealing business (try bargaining with them and you will know) and speaks great English (we had a good laugh seeing them speaking with other tourist. serious, they are good in English!)

to the top of Ta Keo.
OMG was the first sentence that was uttered out of my mouth when i saw this. the Mat Salleh aunty who heard it also told me that was what she said when she saw that too! haha!
the 3 of us ended up watching people climbing it instead…
next stop will be the temple where the movie Tomb Raider was shot – Ta Phrom

a 15minute walk in a forest trail before we reach the main temple.


at last, we’ve reach the temple!
the main attraction of this temple is that the huge trees that are grown from the temples!





come to think of it, which is the Tomb Raider tree??? haha!

 
some other parts of the temple which are not under restoration
this will be our final temple for the day – Banteay Kdei

looks pretty normal from outside?
 

the interior of the temple is their intricate carvings.
this is one of the tiring trip! and we are only covering small circuit (there’s a big circuit which was not covered by us).
i think in order to truly enjoy the temples, 1 day will be a bit rushed! if the budget and time is not a problem, get at least a 3 day pass.
next post will be about our adventures in the Siem Reap Centre!

Siem Reap (13.06.2012 – 16.06.2012) – Part 1

This is one tiring trip. even before leaving Malaysia. Why?

coz our flight departed on 7am. meaning check-in will be at 5am. we ended up leaving to the airport at 10pm the night before and spent the whole night there coz Tune Hotel rates were sooo high!

luckily it was EURO 2012 season, and i ended up watching two football matches while waiting for the night to pass!

Anyway, after 2 or 3 hours of flight, we arrived to a small resort-like airport,and then ushered to our hotel in a Tuk-Tuk. The version of tuk-tuk here is a 4-seater carriage powered by an EX5. never knew that EX5 can be so powerful.

here’s a passenger’s view of it. it is not that powerful actually. imagine if it is carrying 4 big adults, i bet it will be crawling…

first impression of Siem Reap? dusty and full of sand. haha!

anyway, we checked in to an affordable hotel (thanks to Groupon!). comfortable, clean and the owners are very nice too. the only gripe is that it is quite far from Seam Reap Centre, around 30minutes walk. but it is not really a big problem for us though.

the staff are nice enough to make a simple decoration to the bed knowing that it is our 1st anniversary trip!

here’s the link to the hotel website.

we wasted no time upon reaching our hotel. not long after, we were off to our next destination, Cambodian Cultural Village.

which is a total waste of our USD15 per person…

there was nothing for us to see. so bad that we only took 3 dismal photos there. maybe because we went there too early (we went there at 10am), that’s why there were no shows yet. but then again, we don’t think we will go there even if we go to Siem Reap in the future.

about an hour later, we were off to another destination, Angkor National Museum.

which is a little bit better than that cultural village.

for USD12 per person (if i remembered correctly), you will get to see and understand more about the history and what-not in the Temples of Angkor. you can say it’s like attending a crash course of Angkor’s temple before you hit the real thing. it’s a good thing if you did not bring a guide together when visiting those temples.

if you ask me, i will save up the money for the 2 places above and use it for the pass for the Temples instead!

feeling a little hungry, we went to the Old Market to grab some quick lunch

 

nothing too fancy. just some simple lunch.

and some roadside snack. the above is a tapioca cakes. freaking expensive. USD1 for a piece. managed to bargain it till USD0.50 though. still, it is quite pricey.

the real angkor adventure only starts from 4.30pm. we went to get our pass for the next day at 4.30pm. (for your information, 1day pass costs USD20, 3day pass is USD40, 7day cost USD60). since we are in Siem Reap for only 4days, we only bought ourselves a 1day pass.

tips : if you go and get your pass at 4.30pm, you will be allowed to view sunset for free. just make sure that you go there early to avoid queue. once you get your photo taken and paid up for the pass. you are good to go!

around 15 minute hike to Phnom Bakeng for our sunset view!

one of the many steep steps which we will encounter a lot! consider this as only level 1!

Humans at every corner!

see that cylinder thingy in the middle? it’s actually a male fertility symbol (aka Lingga). it is laid on top of squarish shape which is female fertility symbol (aka Yoni). can see this on almost all, if not all temples!

at last! sunset!

more post of Angkor Temples in the next post!