Angkor Wat Temples – Small Tour

I’m calling it the small tour coz we covered only the top temples, the ‘must sees’ for any new visitor to Angkor Wat. We only had a day to do it hence the small tour choice. It was also scorching hot, so we just picked the one’s conveniently located near each other so we won’t have a hard time especially since my 7 year old daughter was with us.

Moat surrounding Angkor Wat..

The Angkor Archeological Park is located a few kilometers from Siem Reap city. The first time I went there I thought the temples were close together but I was surprised to learn that the park actually covers a huge huge area with hundreds of temples dotted everywhere. Visitors either go by hired cars, some by bikes and more popularly by tuk-tuks. We made arrangements for our tuk-tuk for the day. Costs $15 for the whole day and we could take him anywhere except Banteay Srei and other far flung temples. We did not hire any guide since Hi-ace was with us anyway, and I had a guidebook in hand.

Road to Angkor Thom

We left early. A little past 6 we were already on the way. We missed out on the sunrise since Chinks was difficult to wake up and I didn’t have the heart to drag her while she was still sleepy. We decided to do this route:

Morning: Angkor Thom Gate, The Bayon Temples, Terrace of the Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King, Ta Phrom, Banteay Kdei. Afternoon: Angkor Wat and Phnom Bakheng.

Angkor Thom Gate

At around 11 am it was already scorching hot so we decided to drive back to Siem Reap. Had a leisurely lunch in Pub Street, then we went back to the hotel for a quick swim and nap. Then at around 3:30 pm we were back exploring Angkor Wat and after that we were just on time for watching the sunset in Phnom Bakheng..

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Wordless Wednesday 09: That Red Building in Phnom Penh..

The National Museum of Cambodia located in Phnom Penh. Definitely one red landmark and a must visit!

A Bit of Siem Reap City..

I’ve finally gotten around to posting this! You see I find it so easy to string words together for a post but whew! editing pictures is a lot of work for me. I download photos from my camera by batches and more often than not I get too overwhelmed by the volume of photos I need to edit. I don’t take the best photos so all needs a bit of cropping, adjusting brightness etc and I also need to compress it to save on my server space and for fast loading..

Khmer Traditional Puppets on display at the Old Market

And a blog post without much photo for me is just bleh! Anyway, last May we took advantage of the few days holiday to bring Ouwie to Siem Reap. We had been wanting to do this but Siem Reap always takes the back seat whenever we hie off somewhere for the weekend.I’ll be dividing this into two parts, this first part will be all about Siem Reap City and the next one will be all on the Angkor Wat temples..

Alley St..Boutiques, galleries, restaurants, bars..

We left Phnom Penh early by bus. We find this a lot more convenient to go around as there’s plenty of bus services and its very affordable too. The trip was uneventful, the road in excellent condition and at around 1 pm we were already in Siem Reap. The hotel I booked has a free pick up service so it was an added convenience.

I love Siem Reap, not just the temples but the city itself. And Ouwie aptly described Siem Reap as ‘cozy’ and friendly place. I love those quaint little souvenir shops, almost endless rows of restaurants and bars, and of course, galleries, galleries and more galleries. Those who travel with me knows, I could just walk the whole day soaking up the atmosphere of the place, and I would appreciate it all the more if there are galleries and craft shops.

That’s actually what we did the whole afternoon after we got there. Once we checked in the hotel, we picked one that is close to the Old Market so everything was just a short walk away, we just wandered about different shops, eateries..

Check out more photos at my Photo Gallery page..

Laugh-Inducing Fish Massage in Siem Reap

I heard about this countless times before and I swore I won’t give it a try. But on our first day in Siem Reap, I jumped ahead and gave it a try. That should say something about my conviction eh?

I hope you understood at least a little of the above signage..

I was just so curious as to why this became a popular thing in Siem Reap and I was filled with pity with those little fishes begging to have some dead skin out of my feet. Looking at my unkempt feet gave me the last prompt to give this ‘fish massage’ a try.

And besides the signage says if the fish cannot make me happy I won’t be charged and I’ve also managed to convince Hi-ace to join me. Hehe..This has got to be one of the most unique experiences I had..

They are so hungry..

First, I had my feet washed with warm water, then toweled dry. Then, its time to submerge my feet on the water and feed those fishes. The fishes looked so hungry and fierce that for a minute I got scared. Hi-ace telling me that the fish will probably eat the meat off my feet bones was not helping either, but it’s not like were violating the gulf coast jones act, so I just closed my eyes and plunged my feet in.

please just ignore my humongous feet..

hi-ace’s feet.. Why does it look better than mine? ugh!

Then I screamed! God, it was so ticklish.. Not painful. More like a thousand fingers tickling your feet. I couldn’t help but laugh like crazy the whole time.

Definitely a recommended and unique experience. Of course, the dead skin is still there. But at least for 20 minutes I could laugh my heart out. And oh! they also give out free drinks =).  Chinks got so jealous of us laughing like that so the next day she gave had her own tickle fest too..

Chinks.. she’s complaining why there’s less fish eating her dead skin..

Shopping in Phnom Penh: Boeng Keng Kang Market

Just a quick aside~~~~~

I’ve just been back from a few hours of coffee and girl talk with some really cool friends I have here in Phnom Penh – the Peluka Sisters. Thanks J, C, Z and E! Just some time spent with them (I call it my decompression time..) is really enough to rev me up, so now I’m blogging like mad.

One of our fave places to shop here is the Boeung Keng Kang Market located where else but the Boeung Keng Kang area also well-known as the NGO quarters.  So what’s in BKK that got us hooked? Aside from the usual wet goodies, some clothing stores, there’s a lot of second-hand stuff you can find in BKK.

a typical store in the market..

A few weeks ago, I was having some blogging/writer’s block from trying to research mesothelioma survival rate with no apparent success so I dragged Hi-ace there because I was looking for a belt that would go with a black turtle neck dress I found in another thrift shop. Of course, BKK did not disappoint. I found this…Only 6000 Riels ($1.5)

my belt!

Second-hand belts galore

Second-hand brand-name bags

And of course,there’s more. Second-hand men’s shoes. If you’re lucky you can even get pricey brands at super low prices. Hi-ace found an Esquire men’s shoe that fit him (which rarely happens) and he’s seriously in seventh heaven with it!

Men’s shoes..

Second-hand ladies shoes

And one of my favorite things to look for here..Rugs, carpets, bedsheets, comforters, pillowcases, toilet seat covers, towels, curtains etc..Jeans, shorts, polo shirts are right next to the rows selling second-hand shoes. You can also find some second-hand clothes in makeshift tents outside the market.

Relaxing Kep Cambodia

I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Kep, Cambodia that I didn’t stop bugging Hi-ace to go there. He’s usually always so busy and we could only go somewhere when there is a holiday, so the Labor Day was our ‘Kep’ time. I promised myself I’d eat a lot of seafoods and really take advantage of the time to de-stress.

We just took the bus going to Kampot which passes by Kep. Travel was pretty straightforward and quick. We left around 7:30 am and before lunch time we were already in Kep. My first impressions of the place, it was soooo quiet and so unlike other Cambodian towns where you’ll be confused by gazillions of moto’s, in Kep the streets were wide and almost devoid of any traffic. I was still on the bus but I already had the feeling it was going to be a super relaxing holiday, just what I needed.

We stayed at Kep Lodge, a quaint little place about 700 hundred meters from the main road, with airy bungalows nestled among the greens and a really nice view of the Gulf. A plus was the infinity pool which Chinks enjoyed to the fullest. Me? I just loved the hammock on the bungalow’s veranda. Perfect for lazing around.The lodge also has a restaurant with friendly and attentive staff, with lots of books you can borrow, no foosball tables here but the billiard table was great and the bar serving a good variety of drinks and cocktails.

There’s not much in terms of entertainment in Kep. So if you’re in the mood for a wild party best head over to Sihanoukville, coz Kep is really a place to relax, be lazy, enjoy nature and of course, seafoods.It’s quiet, serene and it reminds me so much of our place in Bicol. No wonder this place is where the Khmer elite used to vacation before the Khmer Rouge years.

Yes! Seafoods! You can either go to the seaside shacks fronting the provincial capitol building, or those lining the road in front of Kep Beach. The staff in Kep Lodge gave us a map of places to go in Kep, and they also recommended we dine at the Crab Market. And that’s what we did for the next two days, eat a lot of seafoods. If in you’re eating there try KimLy Restaurant and Kep Thmei Restaurants.

It was a really, really lazy and relaxing weekend and for sure well be going back there sometime soon. I’ll be uploading more photos once I get a hold of the copies coz my desktop has been acting up..

Food Trip Friday 09: Seafood Lunch, Kep Crab Market

One of the reasons I wanted to visit Kep was Seafoods! And it didn’t disappoint. It may be a little bit pricier than in Sihanoukville, but the food was definitely worth it! We got there around lunch time, the receptionist at Kep Lodge gave us a map and recommended we have our lunch at the Crab Market. These are all shacks cum restaurants lining a portion of the beach.

Since it was on lunch hour, almost all restos were jampacked and I we were already starving. We settled on the not-so-crowded Kep Thmey Restaurant. Hi-ace wondered if the food will be any good coz how come this was the only one not full. But whatever, we were hungry so we ordered..

Ever tried fried crab? My first time and it was sooooo good! This was one of those few times that I felt the urgent need to eat without spoon or fork! Fresh crabs were stir fried with vermicelli, a bit of chili sauce, and topped with peanuts and spring onions. Truly yummilicious.. That’s one Khmer cuisine trademark, adding peanuts to dishes, it adds a lot of flavor and crunch..

Deep Fried Fish. I forgot to take a photo of the sauce. But this one was good too.

Prawn Soup with Mint..Made me sweat but it was really good too..

And we got free pineapple slices too.

We also finished off a big pot of rice. Even Chinks (who loathes getting her hands dirty when eating) ate with her hands lol! Total bill? 83000 Riels about $21.

Wordless Wednesday 05: Sompiah

A cute statue making the traditional Cambodian greeting called the ‘sompiah’ and welcoming guests in Kep Lodge, Kep Cambodia.