Siem Reap and Battambang 16-21 Mar 08

Off we went the five of us to Cambodia. Well four actually, can't believe we lost LH to stomach flu. Tinge of disappointment but I guess things happen. There always a next time ! right? heh heh

Short flight from Singapore to Siem Reap. Calvin was pretty excited, judging by the happy chatter from him. Jace just plonk down and passed out asleep in her seat. Our ride was at the airport to pick us up flashing our dear friends name at the airport. First impressions as our plane landed were the wide open spaces comparative to the clustered tall buildings in our home country. Greenery and brownish open landscapes with the occasional sight of rivers and lakes. Bears a slight resemblance to Chiang Mai actually.

Accomodations was good at the Golden Temple Villa guesthouse. Simple , wasn't expecting much anyway. Walked out of our guesthouse, was stopped by a tuk tuk driver who negotiated with his limited english...price was fair, he seemed sincere, so we hopped on and began our 3 day temple visiting.

Angkor Wat is where we started our tour. Thats why we were here for and we wasted no time exploring. Somehow for me, there's always a certain attraction to history and ruins. The temple is vast and pretty much intact. Long walkway all the way in across some river. What use to be libraries, swimming pools, statues and carvings against the backdrop of greenery make quite good pictures. Lots of tourists from everywhere. Local guides speaking English, Mandarin, japanese, korean. The local kids seem to be learning English at their schools cause there were quite a number of them peddling drinks and books just outside the temple. How the temple survived the ages for us to see today is quite amazing. Intricate carvings line the corrdidors and pillars of Angkor but maybe we lacked a guide , maybe we lacked someone to tell us a story. We just wandered around at our own time. Scuttered off to nearby Phnom Bahkeng to catch sunset over Angkor. Disappointment man, nothing like what they said in the lonely planet. Tons of tourists on a piece of rock trying to catch a glimpse of far away Angkor Wat. I was more amused with the monkey trying to open a mineral water bottle and GM trying to eat the sun.

Dinner at the old market. Over the next few nights, we ate at Amok, Khmer Family Restaurant, Blue Pumpkin, Temple and even the roadside stall on our last night in Cambodia. Khmer food has quite a bit of flavouring ingredients and vegetables with little meat. Tasty nonetheless but takes some getting use to.

Second day. Got up early to catch sunrise behind Angkor. Pretty Pretty. After breakfast nearby, we visited the huge Angkor Thom. Large collection of temples within an area surrounded or use to be surrounded by citadels. There are four gates leading into this area. We began with the popular Bayon. I liked the place. Reminds me of Borobudur. Faces carved into the exterior of the terraced structure. Slightly erie but nice. Laughed my head off when Calvin started dripping sweat, trying to take a picture for us. Thats dedication for you. haha..thanks cal. Visited the rest of the ruins like the palace, terrace of the elephants but we got quite tired under the hot hot sun. Started to show signs of temple fatigue. Nevertheless we went on to climb another ruins at Ta Keo. So steep...do these guys know how to make stairs? always so steep and narrow. Jace and Calvin clearly weren't too comfortable with the stairs..but we made it up.

Day 3. We wanted to catch sunrise at Bayon but our driver told us the "city" doesn't open till 7. Another sunrise at Angkor Wat. But this time we caught it from the rear of the ruins to capture another perspective of the place. It was nice...away from the crowds as the light started to rise on the temple. We then made our way to Kbal Speen to catch river carvings and then to Bantey Srei to catch the mini but intricate carvings of yet another temple. There were another 2 along the way...but by this time I think we were really burned out from all the temples.

Ta Prohm was refreshing though. The temple ruins and gigantic trees seem to amalgamate as one. Puzzled at why a giant trees grew out from the base of the temple. Erie, looked as if the place came under some kinda evil spell. It was nice nonetheless. Had fun exploring once again. Fruitful visit.

Next stop, bang bang battambang !

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