I was told that most people would do Siem Reap once in their life but doing it twice would be crazy as some put it to me. I remember the sneers and the quirky look when I informed my friends that I am going to Siem Reap....again and so soon. They questioned my rationale in going to Siem Reap so soon after my first trip but I must say that I am happy to be in Siem Reap again.
I guess, the lure of Angkor Wat and the surrounding ancient historical temples and places were just too difficult to resist. Incidentally, I had SLing going with me and I really wanted to show her the majesty and the beautiful architecture of Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples of great history. I hope to show to her that there is more to life than shopping at modern cities of the world. In all honesty , I wanted to show her the beautiful creation by the human hands and also the rich culture that comes with it. I must say that it was an adventure that would change her perspective of third world nation what beautiful landscape was available.
We started out early by hitting the road to the airport. It was a good drive and when I parked the our car at Tune Hotels car park, I was excited and ready for a great day of adventure. The two hours flight from KLIA2 to Siem Reap was easy and we arrived quite early in Cambodian time. It was quite disturbing and daunting when I realised that the hotel had not sent anyone to pick us up from the airport. Being here before, I knew where to get a tuk-tuk and get to our hotel. I did not want to stress SLing out and I just needed to remain positive. Our tuk-tuk driver, Mynangsari is a young man who spoke little English but was unsure where our hotel was. Luckily, I still had the direction to our hotel and I just wanted to get to our room and rest for the day.
After refreshing ourselves and a change of clothes, I became the unofficial tour guide for SLing in Siem Reap town. We waded through crowds of tourists and locals as well as we made our way to the wet market and a beautiful temple in town. It was a beautiful temple with a hugely Thai influence architecture. It was weird that the temple grounds was full of people and chanting was on going through the loudspeakers. It was like holiday like atmosphere and I realised that the Cambodians were deeply religious people as offerings of beautiful flowers and colourful rice cakes in multicolored basket were presented for prayers. For me, I just enjoyed people watching and enjoying the beautifully adorned temple pillar and architecture. I even took SLing to Charlie's, a local pub to sample Mojito drink (USD $1.50 or 6000 Riel) while I had a mug of draft Angkor Beer ( USD 50 cents or 2000 Riel) to quench our thirst after a long afternoon. I told SLing that day that I ain't gonna pay USD $2.00 or 8000 Riel for a small bottle of mineral water. Yup, these are tourist prices and there is nothing one can do about it except if you have a local to buy it for you. I guess, the one thing that SLing seemed to enjoy a lot is the fresh juice (USD$1.00 ) of mango & passion fruit concoction and num pang ( 8" baguette with stuffed grilled meat (chicken & beef ) and some nice condiments of pickled papayas, cucumber and lettuce ) which cost USD 50cents when locals buy it or USD $1.00 when tourists buys it.
I had taken the opportunity to show SLing the artistic streets whereby beautiful art pieces, paintings, clay pieces or even metal pieces were put on display and on sale plus the cafes around Siem Reap. I came to realise that Sister Srey Cafe was closed that day as it was Phcumn Benh Day sorta like All Souls Day holidays. Aha! That's why there was a crowd every where especially the market and everywhere in town! Anyway, it was fun to see the crowd of people as towns get alive because of its people, right?
Soon, it was time to meet up with my cousin, Jerry who has been in Cambodia for quite some time now. It was good to see him and passed him the apples and the Dettol products he wanted and we had to lug all the way to Siem Reap. I must say that it was well worth it as his smiles says it all.
Moreover, he helped us more than I could ever imagine for the following day trip to Angkor Wat and the temples. It was good to see him again. He came with a bag of goodies for us later in the evening after we came back after dinner and a night walk around the Night Market. I had shown SLing the crazy loud music Pub Street, bustling Night Market and changed some local Cambodian Riel for our usage here in Siem Reap. SLing was in awe as the money changer was the least perturbed by the ongoings at the street or even had any protection mechanism in place. It was a relaxing walk and people watching time as we walked in the town. Tourists were in abundance but it's part and parcel of the travelling world and places, right? Just avoid the Chinese nationals - they are a real nuisance ; any place they went - trust me!
Pho noodles @ USD 2.50 or 20,000 Riel ( Vietnamese type of soupy noodles with beef balls and beef pieces ) was our dinner that night before we packed two banana pancakes @ 3000 Riel or US 0.75 cents each ( more like roti canai pisang, actually ) for our breakfast for the next morning activity which would gruelling and tiring as I would put it. Yunno why? I was determined to see as many temples as possible and just enjoy the sights and beautiful surrounding at the UNESCO site.
We slept early that night foregoing the night life at Pub Street plus all the noisy fanfare. Before that, I managed to show SLing , the type of bus I took on my journey to Phnom Penh the last time I was here.....ahhhhhh....sweet memories indeed........
Welcome to Siem Reap...for the second time......
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