Siem Reap travelogue IV

We went to Ta phrom after spending some considerable time at Angkor Thom, and this is the place where Angelina Jolie shoot her Tomb Raider. As I have said earlier on, there are a lot of reconstruction being carried out in Angkor, Ta phrom is one of them. Some of the places looks different from other photo taken last year, coz they have built the pathway and block some places.

The trees are just too strong and had conquer the ruins

Amazing roots

If you have visited the night market before the Angkor city, you should roughly know the price to get the souvenirs. No you are wrong, we realize that the price can be really low. But don't squeez the people too much la... They are also earning for a living. You can find a lot of souvenirs seller as well as books sellers in Siem Reap markets and Angkor city. No need to worry there are no souvenir to buy, but actually, the variations are just limited- books, silk, scarf, drawings, key chains, t shirt, bla bla bla...

The toilets here are just superb. The toilets are built further away from the ruins, but all the toilets are clean and 5 stars, according to my tuk tuk driver. :)

After we came out from Ta phrom, oops, we realize there are 2 entrances & exits. The gate we enter is not the gate we came out. We tried to walk around to find ways, locals offered motor taxi, but we wanted to walk on our own. Finally, we turn back into the temple again and walk back. Well, the view that we walk back is different from the way we walked in. Not bad, at least we see something different.

And when we are out, it's lunch time!

fried morning glory with minced meat. It's pork!

khmer style chicken

I have forgotten what else did we ordered, but the total bill was 12usd. Yes, another 12usd again, but we were already immune to it. Later when I checked with coll Peter, he said the local brought him to those place where 1 meal is just 1-2 usd. T_T well, we are tourist there, okla... spend a bit more...

Just when we finish our lunch, the rain came. It was so heavy that we need to wait until the rain to ease before we continue our journey to Angkor Wat.

And voila~

The famous Angkor Wat

It's not easy to catch the view. you have to go down on the grass and look diagonally towards the building. If you don't have the tips, you will just get to view 3. Another 2 is symmetrically at the back of the left and right tower.

Whenwe got back to our hotel, we met Peter there and we let the tuk tuk driver off work. We went Maybank branch to make a short visit and went to pub street to have our dinner and chill out. We went to the Temple bar, and had our dinner there as they have this free khmer dance.
And as a routine now, we report to the massage parlour again before went back to our hotel to rest.

Siem Reap Travelogue III

This is my 3rd blog about Siem Reap and why I still couldn't finish the post???? Semester break already started and I am still stuck here. So my objective today is finish the Siem Reap travelogue!

After Bakheng Hill, we went to the Noon night market to scout around and to fill our stomach. We were so tired and I just realise that we didn't take any photo from the noon night market. Well, for the first night we were walking around there, we were kinda scared as the streets are quite dark and there are not much tourist on the street. Well, we were just scaring ourselves; heard from kun that the people there is actually quite good and their crime rate is just LOW. On our way back, we went for foot massage @ USD4bucks per hour. It is just too comfortable that we fall asleep for the whole session.

The next morning, we were up at 615am to get ready for breakfast and 645am, our driver is waiting for us.

Off we go to Angkor city, first, Angkor Thom

Magnificent entrance

Bayon temple with 256 buddha's smiling faces

Baphuon temple...i think..

Elephant terrace

The whole Angkor Thom is so big that we took around 3 hours to cover what we wanted to see. Meaning, there are still places that we were unable to cover. There are a lot of reconstruction being done there, some of the places are blocked and I think, if you want to visit there, you should go now, or you just wait and wait until they fix everything. However, I assure you, that is gonna take a long long time as there are so many to be done at a big area.

My next log will cover ta phrom and angkor wat!

Siem Reap travelogue II

I have been too busy and too lazy to upload my 2nd travelogue and I am already back from Sibu :P

I should continue to finish this post.
After the Tonle Sap lake, we were brought to a restaurant to have our lunch. When I first saw the menu, I was like walaueh, so expensive. Then I was soooo heart ache for the money we spent for the meal. It was whopping USD12.50 approx. RM44 for a fried rice, 2 local dish + 2 coconut drink + 1 plain rice...

Local dish, fish+mince meat+egg

Local dish, Khmer curry

the restaurant~

After lunch, we visited the Les Artisan Handicraft centre, where the locals are train to do handicrafts like carving, silk making, drawing, and etc.





Then, we went back to hotel to take a rest, supposedly, we should, but after we took a bath, we went to the shopping complex, Lucky Mall, next to our hotel. And here we found the 90cent USD gelato!!!! After that, we were here everyday to report to the gelato counter :D

Angkor star aka the hotel we stayed

The Lucky Mall, just next to our hotel :D

90cent USD gelato counter

The way of displaying the ice cream is just fantastic!

Around 4.45pm, our driver came and off we go to buy the ticket for Angkor city.
1 day pass is USD20, 3days is USD40 and 1 week is USD60. If you want to visit temples in Siem Reap, you will need the pass.

The counter

After buying the ticket, we headed to Bakheng hill inside angkor area to watch the sunset. Angkor city is open to those who hold the ticket for next day after 5pm.

USD20 per pax to have a ride up to Bakheng Hill, but we didn't sit that...a bit regret...

We had to climb up thru a hutan lipur kinda track to come up to the building

Look, the steps are as high as your calf

And every step is a narrow step. Additional with some stones are not too stable...

Monkey faces while waiting for the sunset

And here comes the long waited sunset. Too much clouds and it disappoint many visitors there