Siem Reap, Cambodia
Next stop for our #VCCTravels, our official hashtag which stands for Vida, Courteney and Charlie James, is CAMBODIA.
As per Wikipedia, Siem Reap (Khmer: ក្រុងសៀមរាប, pronounced [siəm riəp]; is the capital city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia, and a popular resort town as the gateway to Angkor region.
Siem Reap has colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old French Quarter, and around the Old Market. In the city, there are museums, traditional Apsara dance performances, a Cambodian cultural village, souvenir and handycraft shops, silk farms, rice-paddies in the countryside, fishing villages and a bird sanctuary near the Tonle Sap Lake.
Our travel dates is from November 18-21, 2016. We travelled from Kuala Lumpur through Air Asia for a very reasonable price. It's similar to Cebu Pacific Airlines.
The weather when we arrived was sunny but later on rained, same as other asian tropical countries, it is unpredictable but nevertheless, we are used to it, rain or shine, we will enjoy.
Their currency is called Cambodian Riel but it is not just the only currency used here, USD is also widely used in transactions in SRP. If you pay using USD they will either give you change for Riel and USD.
We booked a bed and breakfast suggested by my friend Jennifer, the place she stayed when she was their. They managed to arrange a TUK-TUK pick up for us from the airport. It is an open motorcycle vehicle with a comfortable chair at the back that could carry about 4 passengers at a time. I do find it's similarities in Cagayan de Oro City's motorela.
It's name is BOU SAVY GUESTHOUSE, although I'm the check in process is not so straight-forward and maybe due to no lunch yet, I get easily irritated but it all went well after a lot of misunderstandings due to language barriers. We managed to finalized our next day temple tour with the tuk tuk driver. Below is our room and it costs $30 per night, not bad for 3 pax, it is quite comfortable.
This time, we did manage to take a dip in the pool because we do have a lot of time to rest here.
We went to their very small mall called LUCKY MALL to find a cap because rather than buying an umbrella, a cap would be more flexible while roaming around and guess what we bought one from a filipino brand PENSHOPPE.
We also went to buy a simcard for easier mobility data wise, so we can connect to the world. The sim we acquired is the SMART SIM which you can buy for $5 with already phone credit and added about $6 for internet data good for our stay in SRP.
I usually us the app TRIPADVISOR to find best place to find nearest restaurants with good reviews. We went first to a place called Grill Wine Cafe and ordered their modern style Khmer/Cambodian cuisines. It was indeed really good.
We have to gear up for the next day, so after dinner we went back to the B&B so we can rest because we have to catch the sunrise in Angkor Wat.
Day 2, we woke up very early, around 3:30 am, prepared and went to meet the tuk tuk driver who will bring me us to the location for buying the tickets for this tour. The tickets are personalized which means you have to be there so they could take a picture of you and print a ticket with your face on it. It costs $20 each for 1 day only. The tuktuk ride is also $20 to bring you to the temples for already the 3 of us. Then we're off to this TEMPLE RUN.
Our personalized ticket
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Wikipedia:
Angkor Wat (Khmer: អង្គរវត្ត or "Capital Temple") is a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world, with the site measuring 162.6 hectares (1,626,000 m2; 402 acres).[1] It was originally constructed as a Hindutemple of god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple toward the end of the 12th century.[2] It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II[3] in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura (Khmer: យសោធរបុរៈ, present-day Angkor), the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from the Shaiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious center since its foundation. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia,[4] appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.[citation needed]
Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple-mountain and the later galleried temple. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls.
It is nice to see the sunrise but due to a very big crowd, it became so touristy that you wish you should have gone later and had longer sleep. You can still appreciate the beautiful landscape in any time of the day.
Few monks can also bless you inside the temple, there is a small container nearby for donation.
A little bit of humour with the picture above. My sister was just amazed with tourists who are strangers to each other talking about commonality of travels and advises. Just happened to capture my sister's eavesdropping moment. Peace Court!
This is in the outside grounds beside some food stalls where we had breakfast.
There are a lot of children selling souvenir items and inviting tourists to eat in their food stalls. My sister have read before travelling to SRP to avoid entertaining them so that we don't encourage them to settle in working in an early age and opt not to go to school. Nothing wrong with that but they could have better jobs once they have finished their studies.
Another area at the left side facing Angkor Wat to take pictures for it's lush trees.
Along the way, going to each temple you can also see the beautiful nature of lakes and forests. I just happened to capture one still photo because we are riding in a tuktuk:
We also went to some other temples and appreciate the intricacy of the builders of this place. We just took pictures and not really memorized the exact temple it was taken. The tuk2 drivers are well oriented to theses places and will suggest the best tour for your pass or you can also decide to cut short the trip like us. We just got so tired due to waking up so early, jetlag and humid weather.
Here are some of our photos:
Bayon Temple
Bayon Temple
Bayon Temple
Besides Angkor Wat, TA PROHM temple is also famous because this is the place where the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider starring Angelina Jolie have shot the movie. We wouldn't miss the chance ta take some photos.
After the tour, we went back to our B&B to rest for a couple of hours and geared up to roam around SRP. We had our lunch around 3pm in a small center and since every good places to go here are mostly walking distance, we found these places:
OLD MARKET, NIGHT MARKET, ART MARKET
We all went there to see souvenirs where we could buy and bring to our loved ones.
Souvenirs are priced similarly all over SRP even in their markets so if you either buy in Angkor Wat or any places, you could possible get a great rate and try to negotiate prices because they usually give in. But not to much also because they are trying their best to have a very decent living. Pay the price where you think is justifiable.
While walking to fine some good place to sit and cool down, tripadvisor (my constant companion) showed a place where we could have authentic gelato which is nearby the markets. While looking for it, we didn't realize we already are in the area where they called as LITTLE ITALY.
There are little Italian shops and restaurants there, and the GELATO LAB that we were looking for. It was a good one.
After the rest, we went a little bit of window shopping and ended up arriving in the PUB STREET. Originally, we want to divide places to go in our 3 days stay but finished it for the whole day. What to do when every place on our list are just literally around the corner.
This is a buzzing area full of tourists relaxing after a whole day of temple run 🏃. It has restaurants and bars that serves either International or Local delicacies. There are also street vendors who sells fried insects i.e scorpions, crickets and the like as food consumption. Didn't manage to take a photo, just can't handle it. There are also foot massages after all that running 😃. They have a draft beer for 50 cents and we found a good place to sit and have one before calling it a night.
Next day, we just relaxed, have some coffee and color some coloring stuff which I brought and usually do to relieve stress. This time I'm not coloring alone, I'm with my siblings.
BROWN COFFEE is located right across the street of where we stayed, so in our down times, we drop by there to have good coffee and good food.
Outside the coffee shop, some of my sister's blogger post.
A school near where we stayed.
Our last dinner in SRP also in Pub Street called AL FRESCO. This meal was massive but we did managed to finish it. 😂
When visiting SRP, it really depends on your willpower and fitness because there are so much to see. If you are like us, who wants to see the most famous tourist destinations, then a day or 2 is enough. We got bored on our 2nd full day because we already finished our desired places. But if you still want to know more about the culture and history then more days is advised. They are rich on this, although locals are trying their best to communicate because a lot of tourists are coming in and out, there are some miscommunications that you should be ready for. Research is a must, a common rule any tourist would do before you go to a foreign country.
Now we are off to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
But please see below our video montage for our Siem Reap trip. Enjoy!
*All photos are taken from Iphone 7 plus, mostly unfiltered.
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