Chinks and I left Phnom Penh last Tuesday, July 6th. We made a brief stop in Singapore just so Chinks could hop on the Singapore flyer (photos when I’m less lazy to sort it out ) and for me to walk around a mall. We ended up in Suntec City and wandered there aimlessly. And one thing I love doing in Singapore is to eat in hawker centers and that’s exactly what we did in our limited time there. Eat and eat lol!

Then we took a plane to Manila, stayed a day and thank God I was too tired to go malling otherwise it’ll be another bomb on my wallet! Haha this vacation is starting to get costly, I keep wishing I have some rfid blocking wallets to keep me from spending too much! Anyway, after staying with my brother for a day, we flew again to Legazpi to my parents house. Then after resting for a day, I flew back to Manila to do a gazillion errands. I’m just halfway through it and tonight I decided to give myself sometime to browse the malls and shops..

I also bought myself a netbook yesterday and I was just ecstatically happy coz I had perfect timing! Asus had a back to school promo and I got a whole lot of freebies, cash discount! Really really good value for my money!

One thing, I could say, Manila is as I remember. Crowded, chaotic, hard on the wallet if you stray in malls, and I just love people watching here. Lots of yuppies with bold fashion sense. =) Glad I’m back though I’m missing Phnom Penh too..

Yesterday, we were supposed to be looking for some new tv stands after visiting a travel agency to make travel arrangements, but we ended up just driving around, then going to the supermarket then piling up on pastries. Ugh, really really bad for me but Hi-ace was on his element trying {and totally succeeding} to make me eat some calorie laden muffins and doughnuts.

Since the shopping trip was postponed yesterday, I decided to go this morning not for tv stands though since I prefer to have Hi-ace when I buy that, and since he’s in Takeo province today, it was just me doing a bit of shopping in where else but Russian Market (Psar Tuol Tompong). I didn’t really have a clue what to buy and I was thinking of buying a pair of sandals but I didn’t like what I was in the stalls. I ended up wandering about the market when one seller called me. I remembered she lives a few doors down from my mother-in-law’s flat and she asked me to have a look at the new things she’s selling..

My, my! Really nice swimwear and lingerie, which is really hard to find around Phnom Penh. I bought a few Merona tankini’s to give to my friends and some Gap bra’s (and no they are not fake, all authentic!!). How much? $6 for the tankini’s and $5 for a lacy bra in nude color. All a steal with those prices considering that Merona tankini’s retails from $15 – $40..

Here’s just some:

She has this really small shop and I tend to overlook it with all the other shops crammed about the market but it was a great find! She has a lot of branded lingerie, bikinis, swimwear, sleepwear and tank tops. And she gives a fair price too and is not really scary to bargain with.

Several stalls down I also bought a sexy little tankini for Chinks for only $3..

I’m looking at my check list of to-do and to-bring and I don’t know where to start. I’m already done packing a big luggage filled with ‘pasalubong’ and gifts to family and friends. Now, I have to start packing Chinks and my stuff, mostly clothes, thankfully all light. I’m just bringing some causal outfits hehe thankfully we don’t need any specialized outfits like a diving suit or maybe an equestrian apparel. This would be a seriously lazy vacation where my only tasks are to chit chat and visit with friends, be lazy and get pampered in my parents place, eat a lot {ugh! bad for the diet!!}, shop till I drop and just have fun.

I’m thinking I’ll probably gain 100 lbs by the time August comes, so be forewarned. Lol! On with the packing, my priority of course are Chinkee’s things. I usually travel light and don’t bring those not necessary and what we could just buy there so were sticking to basics. Hmm, what is it about packing that makes me so lazy? But it has to be done. After this post, that is..

Then I’m on to attack the laundry pile. Ciao!

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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..

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

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..