Travelogue - Siem Reap
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Getting to Siem Reap was faster than we thought. Sat beside this really nice guy on the bus who chatted to Jiayu because I was too sleepy to be sociable and friendly.
When we got to SR we were surrounded by tuktuk drivers the moment we stepped off the bus. One of them even tried to con us! Horrible. They told us our hotel moved to somewhere out of town. Which was actually quite ridiculous since we only booked it one week ago from Agoda. Luckily we did not fall for that and one of them, probably he 良心发现 said he will bring is to the right location.
So we managed to make it safely to Moon Villa which had some of the BEST staff and service ever. I am seriously NOT exaggerating! Will explain more in a bit.
Anyway, went to rent some bikes for our cycle to Angkor Wat the next morning to catch the sunrise and went to eat some street food.
People have been warning me left right and centre about the perils of Cambodian street food and how it will cause you to laosai. But I survived and their street food is damn delicious! I got some deep fried pig skin and JY got this grilled chicken thing which was a bit salty.
Went to Old Market for a walk and then to Pub Street.
Touristy place with restaurants and bars selling all sorts of western cuisine. Each restaurant's menu was super extensive. They had a section for Khmer food and then the rest for western food and drinks. Madness.
Had an early night as we had to wake up at 3.30am for the cycle to Angkor Wat. It is about 7km from Siem Reap to Angkor Wat.
We got the best hotel ever because all we had to do was cycle in a straight road and we can reach Angkor Wat!
Our journey began at 4am. The hotel had kindly packed our breakfast for us so we could bring it along.
It was dark when we left the hotel. Guided by street lights we started off, cycling on the roads. What was annoying was that the bikes were damn high so ot was difficult to stop and my butt began hurting.
Along the way, there were also no street lights wtf, so we were basically cycling in darkness. Our bicycles had no lights too. Luckily there were a lot of other tourists makingg their way to Angkor Wat in tuktuks so we made use of their headlights to help us see. We had to stop by the ticket office to grab our one day passes to Angkor Wat which costs US$20. Then it was just more cycling!
Here we are awaiting the sunrise! Unfortunately for us, it was a cloudy day. :( the sky just brightened and that was that. We never got to see the egg yolk sun rise.
Luckily, Angkor Wat more than amazed us with its splendor.
Another thing checked off my bucket list!
The place was huge and was such a marvel!
We also cycled the mini tour, and visited the other temples along the way.
So amazing! We were pretty early, so it can get quite eerie exploring the temples on our own. Inside some of the temples can be quite dark and the floor is uneven with steep steps so we got to be careful about that.
It started to get pretty hot when the sun was up and we were getting tired from the cycling and all the temple climbing so we decided so skip one of the temples. Turns out we made a bad decision and ended up skipping the famed Tomb Raider temple, Ta Phrom. Oh well. We were really very tired at that point of time. Goes to show how important it is to do your research!!
Dumped our biked back at the hotel once we were in the city. We were quite sick of cycling. Started at 4am and we were back by about 2pm. 10 hours with our bike! No more thanks. Then we went to Old market for a bit of lunch and buying of snacks. Went back to our hotel to clean up and nap a bit heh. Then it was back to Pub Street and the nightmarkets.
Next day it was just me again. Since she was not interested in going to the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity, she was heading to the War Museum instead. I had arranged for transport at the reception to take me there because it was out of the way and very far.
One of the receptionist was going to take me since it was his day off, for a fee of course. Left the hotel at 10am!
Would be going past all the Angkor temples again. And being a cheapo I was, I was like yay! Can see all the temples that I missed out the previous day. While I could see some, the famous Banteay Srei was located deep down in the forest, out of sight from the road. So that was a pity since I had no pass. The centr was also located beside a waterfall which I wanted to hike too, but once again, no pass no hike. :(
When I reached the centre, I realised that two other receptionists from the hotel came along as well! So it was me and three new friends.
It was early so we had lunch. And the tour started promptly.
It was really encouraging seeing their efforts in conservation and education. In a country where illegal wildlife trade and neglect in care of animals is still rampant, it was just heartening to see that there are people who still care about such things!
Along the way back, we stopped by the landmine museum as well. I do not like to be faced with stuff like that. Seeing all those landmines and reading those stories were just depressing.
Why is war even a thing? It does nobody any good and it kills and hurt so many innocent lives in the process. Even after its end, the efforts and damaging and long lasting.
:(
Anyway met up with Jiayu back at the hotel and we swapped stories of our day.
Went for more food!
My friend really loves her cheap alcohol here.
Fish amok! A Khmer dish.
Some super spicy papaya salad.
Last night in Siem Reap so we chilled out a bit at this ice cream place called Blue Pumpkin. Yummy raspberry yogurt icecream in a really crispy waffle cone.
Woke up bright and early the next day cause we had to catch the mini bus back to Phnom Penh.
Last few moments in the Pub Street area with some tourist in Cambodia fashion.
Got the pants for a few dollars in the market and they were really not a bargain. The material tears really really easily and is not durable at long. At least it is super light weight and good for the hot weather but seriously, don't expect it to last more than 1 day.
That concludes the end of the Siem Reap portion of our adventure!
Last bit on Phnom Penh coming up!
Labels: cambodia, siem reap, Travelogue
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Travelogue - Siem Reap
Getting to Siem Reap was faster than we thought. Sat beside this really nice guy on the bus who chatted to Jiayu because I was too sleepy to be sociable and friendly.
When we got to SR we were surrounded by tuktuk drivers the moment we stepped off the bus. One of them even tried to con us! Horrible. They told us our hotel moved to somewhere out of town. Which was actually quite ridiculous since we only booked it one week ago from Agoda. Luckily we did not fall for that and one of them, probably he 良心发现 said he will bring is to the right location.
So we managed to make it safely to Moon Villa which had some of the BEST staff and service ever. I am seriously NOT exaggerating! Will explain more in a bit.
Anyway, went to rent some bikes for our cycle to Angkor Wat the next morning to catch the sunrise and went to eat some street food.
People have been warning me left right and centre about the perils of Cambodian street food and how it will cause you to laosai. But I survived and their street food is damn delicious! I got some deep fried pig skin and JY got this grilled chicken thing which was a bit salty.
Went to Old Market for a walk and then to Pub Street.
Touristy place with restaurants and bars selling all sorts of western cuisine. Each restaurant's menu was super extensive. They had a section for Khmer food and then the rest for western food and drinks. Madness.
Had an early night as we had to wake up at 3.30am for the cycle to Angkor Wat. It is about 7km from Siem Reap to Angkor Wat.
We got the best hotel ever because all we had to do was cycle in a straight road and we can reach Angkor Wat!
Our journey began at 4am. The hotel had kindly packed our breakfast for us so we could bring it along.
It was dark when we left the hotel. Guided by street lights we started off, cycling on the roads. What was annoying was that the bikes were damn high so ot was difficult to stop and my butt began hurting.
Along the way, there were also no street lights wtf, so we were basically cycling in darkness. Our bicycles had no lights too. Luckily there were a lot of other tourists makingg their way to Angkor Wat in tuktuks so we made use of their headlights to help us see. We had to stop by the ticket office to grab our one day passes to Angkor Wat which costs US$20. Then it was just more cycling!
Here we are awaiting the sunrise! Unfortunately for us, it was a cloudy day. :( the sky just brightened and that was that. We never got to see the egg yolk sun rise.
Luckily, Angkor Wat more than amazed us with its splendor.
Another thing checked off my bucket list!
The place was huge and was such a marvel!
We also cycled the mini tour, and visited the other temples along the way.
So amazing! We were pretty early, so it can get quite eerie exploring the temples on our own. Inside some of the temples can be quite dark and the floor is uneven with steep steps so we got to be careful about that.
It started to get pretty hot when the sun was up and we were getting tired from the cycling and all the temple climbing so we decided so skip one of the temples. Turns out we made a bad decision and ended up skipping the famed Tomb Raider temple, Ta Phrom. Oh well. We were really very tired at that point of time. Goes to show how important it is to do your research!!
Dumped our biked back at the hotel once we were in the city. We were quite sick of cycling. Started at 4am and we were back by about 2pm. 10 hours with our bike! No more thanks. Then we went to Old market for a bit of lunch and buying of snacks. Went back to our hotel to clean up and nap a bit heh. Then it was back to Pub Street and the nightmarkets.
Next day it was just me again. Since she was not interested in going to the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity, she was heading to the War Museum instead. I had arranged for transport at the reception to take me there because it was out of the way and very far.
One of the receptionist was going to take me since it was his day off, for a fee of course. Left the hotel at 10am!
Would be going past all the Angkor temples again. And being a cheapo I was, I was like yay! Can see all the temples that I missed out the previous day. While I could see some, the famous Banteay Srei was located deep down in the forest, out of sight from the road. So that was a pity since I had no pass. The centr was also located beside a waterfall which I wanted to hike too, but once again, no pass no hike. :(
When I reached the centre, I realised that two other receptionists from the hotel came along as well! So it was me and three new friends.
It was early so we had lunch. And the tour started promptly.
It was really encouraging seeing their efforts in conservation and education. In a country where illegal wildlife trade and neglect in care of animals is still rampant, it was just heartening to see that there are people who still care about such things!
Along the way back, we stopped by the landmine museum as well. I do not like to be faced with stuff like that. Seeing all those landmines and reading those stories were just depressing.
Why is war even a thing? It does nobody any good and it kills and hurt so many innocent lives in the process. Even after its end, the efforts and damaging and long lasting.
:(
Anyway met up with Jiayu back at the hotel and we swapped stories of our day.
Went for more food!
My friend really loves her cheap alcohol here.
Fish amok! A Khmer dish.
Some super spicy papaya salad.
Last night in Siem Reap so we chilled out a bit at this ice cream place called Blue Pumpkin. Yummy raspberry yogurt icecream in a really crispy waffle cone.
Woke up bright and early the next day cause we had to catch the mini bus back to Phnom Penh.
Last few moments in the Pub Street area with some tourist in Cambodia fashion.
Got the pants for a few dollars in the market and they were really not a bargain. The material tears really really easily and is not durable at long. At least it is super light weight and good for the hot weather but seriously, don't expect it to last more than 1 day.
That concludes the end of the Siem Reap portion of our adventure!
Last bit on Phnom Penh coming up!
Labels: cambodia, siem reap, Travelogue
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