Finally we're in Siem Reap, the 5th and final country on our plans!! hahaha... yeah... its really amazing tat we've managed to come so far... and we're on the 13th Day of our trip!! =D
Today we'll be shopping around in Siem Reap, before heading to buy our entrance tickets to visit the Angkor Temples the next day.
so we woke up not early today... hahaha...finally no need to wake up so early... we left our accomodation at around 8am to wander around the town. we went to Pasaar Chaa.... the biggest market in Siem Reap. where u're able to get anything and everything u want. =D
and we got our breakfast at this market too... nobuko, keiko & me bought noodles (in fact is instant noodles) cooked with veggies and some cambodian sauce... and the stall was along the road... hahaha.... and we tried the food.... not bad... and in fact it was nice... but a little sweet on the side.... when the rest ate the noodles, they commented tat it was nice... but sweet... then i told them, yeah... the Cambodians have sweet tooth... hahaha..... so almost everything they will put sugar in it...
well... Toshiko & Harumi have not had their breakfast yet, so we went to one of the 'restaurants' to order some food... i ordered a coffee shake... coz i've got experienced before other drinks were super super sweet... machiam like the cook added 20 packets of sugar (Macdonal sugar pkt) into the drink... while both keiko & nobuko ordered fruit shake.....
and u kno wat??? my coffee shake was so sweet tat it was really undrinkable.... urgh... and i diluted the drink with my water until it was to my taste... but diluting the drink also make the coffee not strong anymore.... urgh... couldn't finish my drink.... after our breakfast, we walked around the market and do our necessary shopping.... hahaha... yeah shopping seems to be the main thing today... we visited 2 main shopping markets in Siem Reap today. 1st was Pasaar Chaar and the other was the Central Market! yeah... we bought quite a no. of Cambodian souvenirs including T-shirts... hahaha... buying T-shirts seem to be something tat we will not miss out when we're in 1 country... coz the T-shirt designs found in 1 country is only exclusive in tat country... if u think u're able to purchase it in the next country tat we're heading to... then u're really making a huge mistake and missing the opportunity... hahaha... =D
anyway... by now all of us are pretty gd in bargaining things... meaning in haggling the prices of the items tat we wanted.... =P
and i managed to buy 3 pieces of oil painting of Angkor Wat in the background... coz i'll only be keeping 1 but the other 2 will be giving them away... 1 to my MD leader while the other will be for my Prof. =D
the reason y we did not go and view other areas besides shopping this day is because, Siem Reap do not have much tourist attraction places to visit except for the Angkor Temples...sometime i feel that if its not for the Angkor Temples tat are situated nearby, think most likely the town will not be triving and neither will tourists visit the town....
and during lunch,we found a restaurant tat was recommended by the guidebook. so we sat down and ordered our lunch... and u kno what as we were eating, we saw sights tat is really very heart-renching...
while we were eating, children dressed in rags, carrying a huge plastic bag on their backs came up to ask us for food... as they were not able to speak english and the only english word they knew was 'hello'... and they sad tat to get ur attention... and they will use their hands to do an action to indicate tat they want food.... and its really very sad... but we din give them any...
right beside our table was an ang mah by himself... he had juz finished his lunch.. but he left quite a lot of rice on his plate... hmmm.. not too sure if he was not hungry or tat he was not used to eating rice... coz the food was really very nice. =D
anyway he called one of the little boys who were begging for food to come over and pass the plate of remaing rice to him. and the boy took up the spoon and quickly spoon huge spoons of rice into his mouth greedily... after a few spoons... afraid tat the shop owners will come and chase him away, the boy gave his thanks and smiled to the ang moh and ran off into the winding alley. yeah... this is a common sight u see in Siem Reap.
anyway, tat evening we boarded 2 tuk tuks tat will bring us to view the magnificient sun-set in the Angkor Temple grounds... Keiko and me took 1 tuk tuk while harumi, nobuko & toshiko took another tuk tuk. =D
and 1/2 way to the Angkor temples, our tuk tuk driver stopped his tuk tuk and do something.... take a look at the picture and guess wat do those bottles contain??
managed to guess correctly?? all those bottles displayed on the metal shelves contain gasoline... hahaha... yeah... u're not able to find any petrol kiosk in Siem Reap... (in fact having travel for so many days i've only managed to find petrol kiosk in Bangkok, Vientiane & KL) vehicles will juz stop alongside the roads and fill up their petrol tanks with these sort of petrol in the bottles. yeah... tat's wat our tuk tuk driver did... he stopped to fill up his petrol tank...
and he told us tat petrol in Cambodia is rather costly. 1 liter of Gasoline = USD1. (yeah... people in Cambodia use USD for trading... but they do have their own currency... and tat's the Cambodian Riel. but the pple use tat as coins rather than trading... hmm... USD 1 = 4000 Riel.)
anyway after filling the petrol tank, we continue our journey to the Angkor temples. and we've 1st got to purchase our tickets at the entrance... and the ticket is rather costly... hiaz... each person has to pay USD 20 for the entry... and this ticket will only entitled us to 1 sun-set and visting of the Angkor Temples for 1 day (and tat's the next day). and i've read from the guidebook that although the Cambodians earn alot through charging tourists when they visit the temples, however, 60% of the money goes into the government officials pockets and the remaining money will be used for the restoring work of the temples.... yeah... tat's really sad isn't it??? so u can say tat corruption in Cambodia is still at huge... and the common people are not able to do anything abt this... really sad...
anyway our tuk tuk drivers drove us to Ta Promh Kei, instead of Angkor Wat to view the manificient sun-set over the Angkor Temple grounds... hen we reached there... my goodness!!! swamps of people were there... and we even saw people on elephants and the elephants will bring the riders up to the temple to view the sun-set... so u can say tat save them the tiring climb up to the temple.
and when we reached there... hahaha... wah more people seen... hahaha... wonder when those people had sat there waiting to capture the perfect sun-set pictures in their cameras?? hahahaa... and this can be a pretty interesting and hilarious sight. =P
anyway keiko & me walked very fast and soon, the other 3 were very far behind us... hahaha... coz we wanted to be like the rest of the silly tourists to capture the perfect picture. =P
and tat's wat we did... and along the climb... we saw a small little boy squatting along the pathway playing with sand... seeing his soulful eyes... as if he has lots to tell me but was unable to.... i felt pity for him... but i did not give him any food for fear tat swamps of children will come to me...and i juz took a picuture of him...
when we finally reached the temple, the both of us climbed up and look for a perfect spot to settle down and wait... and wait we did... until the time comes and we got ready to snap as many pictures of the sun-set as we could... really the sun-set was really really very beautiful....juz a pity tat there were no mountains in the far lands... else tat picture would have been a winner... =P
after the sun has set completely, loud applause could be heard all over the temple... hahaha... i guess everyone present had been able to get good pictures tat evening!! =D and tat's when the mad rush take place... meaning tat once the sun has set, the whole temple area will start to get dark very very fast... and the terrain down to the bottom of the hill was very rough and with everyone rushing to go down the mountain, one has to be super super careful and have to walk down... coz we also dun want to be trapped in the area...
tat night, we bought our dinner back to the guesthouse and ate in our room. and whilst we were eating we drank Angkor Beer..
hahaha... yeah... Angkor Beer is the Cambodian local beer... and i tell u, having drank the different beers in our trip in the different countries we were in... Angkor Beer is the worst off... hmm... coz the beer was too gassy... and its really difficult to drink... but its a light beer... hahaha... i managed to drink 3/4 of it before giving up on finishing it... coz my stomach was too bloated with the beer gas. hahaha... then after tat we knock off early as we'll be waking up at 4am the next day... coz we'll be heading for the Angkor temples @ 5am the next day... so tat we can see the sun-rise! =D
Today we'll be shopping around in Siem Reap, before heading to buy our entrance tickets to visit the Angkor Temples the next day.
so we woke up not early today... hahaha...finally no need to wake up so early... we left our accomodation at around 8am to wander around the town. we went to Pasaar Chaa.... the biggest market in Siem Reap. where u're able to get anything and everything u want. =D
and we got our breakfast at this market too... nobuko, keiko & me bought noodles (in fact is instant noodles) cooked with veggies and some cambodian sauce... and the stall was along the road... hahaha.... and we tried the food.... not bad... and in fact it was nice... but a little sweet on the side.... when the rest ate the noodles, they commented tat it was nice... but sweet... then i told them, yeah... the Cambodians have sweet tooth... hahaha..... so almost everything they will put sugar in it...
well... Toshiko & Harumi have not had their breakfast yet, so we went to one of the 'restaurants' to order some food... i ordered a coffee shake... coz i've got experienced before other drinks were super super sweet... machiam like the cook added 20 packets of sugar (Macdonal sugar pkt) into the drink... while both keiko & nobuko ordered fruit shake.....
and u kno wat??? my coffee shake was so sweet tat it was really undrinkable.... urgh... and i diluted the drink with my water until it was to my taste... but diluting the drink also make the coffee not strong anymore.... urgh... couldn't finish my drink.... after our breakfast, we walked around the market and do our necessary shopping.... hahaha... yeah shopping seems to be the main thing today... we visited 2 main shopping markets in Siem Reap today. 1st was Pasaar Chaar and the other was the Central Market! yeah... we bought quite a no. of Cambodian souvenirs including T-shirts... hahaha... buying T-shirts seem to be something tat we will not miss out when we're in 1 country... coz the T-shirt designs found in 1 country is only exclusive in tat country... if u think u're able to purchase it in the next country tat we're heading to... then u're really making a huge mistake and missing the opportunity... hahaha... =D
anyway... by now all of us are pretty gd in bargaining things... meaning in haggling the prices of the items tat we wanted.... =P
and i managed to buy 3 pieces of oil painting of Angkor Wat in the background... coz i'll only be keeping 1 but the other 2 will be giving them away... 1 to my MD leader while the other will be for my Prof. =D
the reason y we did not go and view other areas besides shopping this day is because, Siem Reap do not have much tourist attraction places to visit except for the Angkor Temples...sometime i feel that if its not for the Angkor Temples tat are situated nearby, think most likely the town will not be triving and neither will tourists visit the town....
and during lunch,we found a restaurant tat was recommended by the guidebook. so we sat down and ordered our lunch... and u kno what as we were eating, we saw sights tat is really very heart-renching...
while we were eating, children dressed in rags, carrying a huge plastic bag on their backs came up to ask us for food... as they were not able to speak english and the only english word they knew was 'hello'... and they sad tat to get ur attention... and they will use their hands to do an action to indicate tat they want food.... and its really very sad... but we din give them any...
right beside our table was an ang mah by himself... he had juz finished his lunch.. but he left quite a lot of rice on his plate... hmmm.. not too sure if he was not hungry or tat he was not used to eating rice... coz the food was really very nice. =D
anyway he called one of the little boys who were begging for food to come over and pass the plate of remaing rice to him. and the boy took up the spoon and quickly spoon huge spoons of rice into his mouth greedily... after a few spoons... afraid tat the shop owners will come and chase him away, the boy gave his thanks and smiled to the ang moh and ran off into the winding alley. yeah... this is a common sight u see in Siem Reap.
anyway, tat evening we boarded 2 tuk tuks tat will bring us to view the magnificient sun-set in the Angkor Temple grounds... Keiko and me took 1 tuk tuk while harumi, nobuko & toshiko took another tuk tuk. =D
and 1/2 way to the Angkor temples, our tuk tuk driver stopped his tuk tuk and do something.... take a look at the picture and guess wat do those bottles contain??
managed to guess correctly?? all those bottles displayed on the metal shelves contain gasoline... hahaha... yeah... u're not able to find any petrol kiosk in Siem Reap... (in fact having travel for so many days i've only managed to find petrol kiosk in Bangkok, Vientiane & KL) vehicles will juz stop alongside the roads and fill up their petrol tanks with these sort of petrol in the bottles. yeah... tat's wat our tuk tuk driver did... he stopped to fill up his petrol tank...
and he told us tat petrol in Cambodia is rather costly. 1 liter of Gasoline = USD1. (yeah... people in Cambodia use USD for trading... but they do have their own currency... and tat's the Cambodian Riel. but the pple use tat as coins rather than trading... hmm... USD 1 = 4000 Riel.)
anyway after filling the petrol tank, we continue our journey to the Angkor temples. and we've 1st got to purchase our tickets at the entrance... and the ticket is rather costly... hiaz... each person has to pay USD 20 for the entry... and this ticket will only entitled us to 1 sun-set and visting of the Angkor Temples for 1 day (and tat's the next day). and i've read from the guidebook that although the Cambodians earn alot through charging tourists when they visit the temples, however, 60% of the money goes into the government officials pockets and the remaining money will be used for the restoring work of the temples.... yeah... tat's really sad isn't it??? so u can say tat corruption in Cambodia is still at huge... and the common people are not able to do anything abt this... really sad...
anyway our tuk tuk drivers drove us to Ta Promh Kei, instead of Angkor Wat to view the manificient sun-set over the Angkor Temple grounds... hen we reached there... my goodness!!! swamps of people were there... and we even saw people on elephants and the elephants will bring the riders up to the temple to view the sun-set... so u can say tat save them the tiring climb up to the temple.
and when we reached there... hahaha... wah more people seen... hahaha... wonder when those people had sat there waiting to capture the perfect sun-set pictures in their cameras?? hahahaa... and this can be a pretty interesting and hilarious sight. =P
anyway keiko & me walked very fast and soon, the other 3 were very far behind us... hahaha... coz we wanted to be like the rest of the silly tourists to capture the perfect picture. =P
and tat's wat we did... and along the climb... we saw a small little boy squatting along the pathway playing with sand... seeing his soulful eyes... as if he has lots to tell me but was unable to.... i felt pity for him... but i did not give him any food for fear tat swamps of children will come to me...and i juz took a picuture of him...
when we finally reached the temple, the both of us climbed up and look for a perfect spot to settle down and wait... and wait we did... until the time comes and we got ready to snap as many pictures of the sun-set as we could... really the sun-set was really really very beautiful....juz a pity tat there were no mountains in the far lands... else tat picture would have been a winner... =P
after the sun has set completely, loud applause could be heard all over the temple... hahaha... i guess everyone present had been able to get good pictures tat evening!! =D and tat's when the mad rush take place... meaning tat once the sun has set, the whole temple area will start to get dark very very fast... and the terrain down to the bottom of the hill was very rough and with everyone rushing to go down the mountain, one has to be super super careful and have to walk down... coz we also dun want to be trapped in the area...
tat night, we bought our dinner back to the guesthouse and ate in our room. and whilst we were eating we drank Angkor Beer..
hahaha... yeah... Angkor Beer is the Cambodian local beer... and i tell u, having drank the different beers in our trip in the different countries we were in... Angkor Beer is the worst off... hmm... coz the beer was too gassy... and its really difficult to drink... but its a light beer... hahaha... i managed to drink 3/4 of it before giving up on finishing it... coz my stomach was too bloated with the beer gas. hahaha... then after tat we knock off early as we'll be waking up at 4am the next day... coz we'll be heading for the Angkor temples @ 5am the next day... so tat we can see the sun-rise! =D
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