We were brought to this big white mansion. There were few ladies standing in front of the building and seeing our van pulling in, they quickly went in. (pic stolen from Emily)

I heard bout ‘special’ massage in Thailand but unsure if there are such service in Cambodia. No taking any chances, I told Sat that NO SPECIAL SPECIAL AH, and he told me don’t worry about it. Lol!

We were greeted, rather coldly. Eh, wait. Were we greeted? All I know is we went in,and there was this lady behind the cashier who gestured us to sit at the rattan chair. I wasn’t sure if it was because we were foreigners where they couldn’t speak to us because the universal language is English or because there were girls in the group? I dismissed the second thought.

Then the ladies came with plastic hand basin of half filled water, a wash brush, and a towel. They placed the wash basin on the floor, hand signalled us to lift up our feet and placed them onto the washbasin. Then they started washing and brushing our feet!

It was one hell of gelicious (ticklish) moment, making me felt like laughing out loud! But it was a quick wash. Just when I began to enjoy the foot wash, the ordeal finished. The lady wiped cleanly my feet with the towel she brought and then gestured us to the room upstairs.

We were separated into 2 rooms situated just opposite of each other. In the room, there are 4 mattresses and 4 sets of pyjamas!

Initially I thought we have to be naked! Thank god for the pyjamas! Haha. We changed into the pyjamas and took a picture of ourselves in PJ!

Then the ladies came in. And the nightmare begannn…

It started with the feet massage… and I remember laughing and giggling nonstop! Well, not only me who was laughing, but the rest too. Soon, the ticklish became bearable and the laughters stopped and we started talking to each other.

Not only us talking, the lady massagers talked too, to themselves. Haha.

I can still remember, there’s this one pose she did on me, which was like mind-blowing.. BUT after she did that, my back felt very good! *ahh.. I’m so in  need of a Cambodian massage now*

No, there are no oil applied on the body. Just massage and krakkkk!

After nearly an hour, the massage session finished… again just when I began to enjoy the massage. Real potongstim-ness!

The ladies left the room and we quickly changed. We met with the guys on the way down, and their faces looked very pale – which was rather surprising. Then Sat told me, “wait. I got something to tell u in the van.“

Which made me VERY VERY CURIOUS!!! And the rest HORRRRRRR! at him.

We thanked them for their massage, bid goodbye . On the way out, my slippers broke and I walked like a crab from the entrance to the van. –”

The initial plan was supposed to send us back to lodge after the massage session. However, we asked Mr. Siya to sugest us a nice place to hang around at night.

That’s when Mr. Siya mentioned the word – Pub street!

Done negotiating with the van driver, our van made its way to the famous street. Sensing the atmosphere in the van was rather weird, I asked Sat what happened in the room earlier.

He then said, “Oh. The ladies asked us (the guys) if we want extra.“

I was like WTFISHHHH? Like seriously? The rest of the girls were dumbstucked too.

Everyone went quiet.

Then I continued, “then? what happen?“

“We say ‘don’t want’ and nothing happened.“

Nobody spoke. Realising the odd silent, Sat said, seriously! Nothing happened!!! and the rest of the guys laughed.

I almost stranggled Sat, but we reached our destination when I was about to do so. We got off the van, thank Mr Siya for his good care for the past 3 days. Knowing that we couldn’t see him again the next morning, we bid goodbye bitterly.

Seeing the van went off, we walked towards the famous Pub Street. The place is super duper bopper happening! There are rows of restaurants, pubs, bars, cafes and shops!

I was having difficulty in walking since my slippers broke. Sat and I went around looking around for slippers while the rest scouting for restaurant. Found a stall, but the guy wouldn’t sell me one for the price less than USD3.

Me on the other hand, wouldn’t pay USD3 for a thin-looking-woven-slippers.

So, I told Sat – It’s okay. Worst come to worst, I’ll rather walk barefooted if the slippers couldn’t support anymore. We then joined the rest in scouting place to eat.

Price on this street is slightly expensive than other place, but who cares? It was the last night on Cambodia, and paying more for the last dinner meal after few days of dirt cheap food is acceptable. Afterall, it’s a holiday trip, not some camp trip.

A very minor dispute, again if not mistaken. But hunger overcame it all and we ended up sitting in a cosy looking restaurant, Khmer Family Restaurant which serves Cambodian food.

Menu came. Sat and I decided to order their set for 2. For the last time, we ordered Angkor Beer!

LeeMay’s set.

Aaron’s – if not mistaken.

Didn’t take picture of the rest as it was farrrr from my reach. LOL.

We had a very satisfying meal, far satisfied and delicious than the first meal we had in Phnom Penh.

Since it was still early, we walked around the place, just to see what Pub Street’s offers to us. The initial plan is to sit in one of the pub, ting tong-ing. But the plan turned out to be  books scouting!

Ohya, I found a pair of slippers while walking around. It costed me USD2.5 though. (And the slippers is still at home, but the bottom rubber part has got thinner LOL! ).

There’s queerness about the bookstore. Something that I can’t explain why as I can’t really remember. But the bookstore gave such a strong impact on my mind. Was it because of the abundance of books, or was it because of the angmoh that sat behind a stall in front of the store? Or was it about the Cambodian lady, who is the owner of the bookstore itself? I just can’t figure out what. Hmm…

Nevermind about it. We left the bookstore and walked past by this store selling branded bags. Boldly, May, Emily and I walked in and checked out the goods there. We touched few bags – but again, I’ve forgotten about the remarks we made there. (That’s why I must quickly finish this post and write about Indonesia!) We then went to their mini-market where Ailing and Emily bought some cheap souvenirs for friends.

Tiredness began to set in, resulting in stopping 2 tuk tuks back to Jasmine Lodge. Knowing it was my final time in riding a tuk tuk in Cambodia as I know I won’t be going there again anytime soon making me cherished the ride even more despite having sand coming into my eyes.

However when we reached Jasmine Lodge, the tuk tuk drivers asked for double the amount we agreed earlier. This made us very furious as we felt cheated. Can’t believe it happened on the last night of our trip as everything went on so smoothly! So the guys quickly argued on them not staying true to their words, and Sat quickly asked us girls to walk in first for safety reason. We walked to considerably safe distance (where we can shout for help should anything happen) and waited there. From far, we seen that the tuk tuk drivers finally agreed on the initial price as the guys handled over the money to them.

Everyone washed up, pre-packed backpacks and dozed off. The next day, we woke up super early as our flight is at 7am and we need to be at the airport 2 hours before departure. We had actually pre-ordered our breakfast the night before, but because of minor dispute again in the kitchen, we had to tapao our breakfast and ate at the airport! Haha! When our van came, Mr Kunn (the owner of Jasmine Lodge) personally sent us off and we can’t thank him enough for comfy bed, clean shower water and deliciously, healthy breakfast! All of us got into the van and I turned back to look at Jasmine Lodge for the last time.

I was feeling blue on the way to the airport. But the blues were gone by the time we reached the airport! LOL!

We thank Mr Van driver for being such a good driver, checked in our backpacks and ate our packed breakfast!

Then we paid the departure tax, and waited at the departure hall for our flight back to Kuala Lumpur with AirAsia.

And that wraps up the entire 6D5N trip to Cambodia on 14th-19th January 2009.

Wenyan went to Cambodia 6 months before mine. While vacationing, she was saddened with the fact that the children in Cambodia lost their parents due to war (with Khmer Rouge) and landmines. Hence, she vowed to donate the remaining USD50 from her trip to the orphanage. However she couldn’t place the donation herself in the airport, thus asking me to donate on her behalf.

She did tell me to bank in the money to the orphanage of her choice (which she included in) – if we couldn’t go to the orphanage or see any donation box for children welfare.

However, I couldn’t do so as by the time we finished our tour in Angkor, the bank already closed.

So, Sat told our tour guide, Siya about Wenyan’s intention of donating money to orphanage. Lucky for us, Siya’s sister is working in NGO for children’s welfare and he called up his sister for advice.

I can’t recall if he asked us to pass the money to his sister or not, but I think we told him that we want to personally give the money to the orphanage and I added in that I don’t want the money to fall into wrong hands.

Siya understood and told us that we could stop by an orphanage centre on the way back from Prasat Kravan.

But then, we went back directly to our lodge. On the way back, Siya told us that there is one nearby our lodge and suggested us to buy rice from the market for them instead of donating money.

Which made us asked him, “how much is a bag of rice?“

“USD50 per bag of 50kg.”

Which was then the decision of chipping in the money to USD100 to buy 2 bags of rice arised. I mean it doesn’t look good going all the way to the orphanage just to send in a bag of rice. Afterall, we as a human aren’t made of cold heart – should do charity if we could. So the suggestion of everyone paid equally of about USD7 or more if one insisted came up too.

Thinking back, contributing RM24.50 to charity is like so little only! –”

Everyone agreed, and off we went to our lodge for quick shower and dressed up for that night was our last night in Cambodia.

Since the guys were faster in showering as compared to the girls, the guys went to the market with Siya and our van driver to get the rice. Which was a good thing as we could rest a little longer. Kaka!

However we weren’t that slow. After we were done, we walked down and waited for the van.

Though a minor dispute happened – but we got our rice! And off we went to the orphanage with excited heart. I don’t know bout the rest, but I know I was super excited in meeting them. Kaka!

The orphanage is situated opposite a paddy field, a few streets away from our lodge, well hidden from the main road. The orphanage itself is a stilted kampung house with extended building at the back, and a big land for the kids to run around.

Mr van driver (I feel so bad for not remembering his name ) parked his van at the side of the fence and the guys quickly unloaded the rice bags after getting down from the van.

The kids were playing in front of the kampung house and when we reached, they stopped and stood in a line, looking at us either shyly or cheekily.

The ‘father’ of the orphanage walked to us after knowing he has visitors. Seeing the bags of rice, he kept saying thank you nonstop and bowing at us - as though we were Japanese. Lol.

He then signalled the kids to say HELLO to us!

Which was rather funny as they repeated it after we hello-ed at them back. Then the owner explained to us about the orphanage. Took us for a little tour around his ‘castle’. He used to be a tour guide, but knowing that the kids roamed around the cities and having no place to cover their head and sleep, he decided to open up an orphanage and went around the market and roads taking kids in. One of the boys is a victim of landmine who lost one of his legs. One of the girls is tested positive for HIV and she doesn’t even know about it. They keep it a secret from her and the rest of the kids because they want her to have a normal life and not being outcast by the rest.

My heart saddens upon hearing that – that’s why I can still remember all these details though it has been more than a year.

He asked us if we want to look around the area. Gladly we said yes! while Siya waited for us patiently at the water well with our van driver. Yes, they have their own well like the kampung house in Malaysia! Haha!

He led us to the kitchen, and introduced us to his cooks and other caretakers. If not mistaken there were 2 ladies in the kitchen, cooking a big pot of rice and soup.

He then explained what the children normally ate. And told us that the 2 bags of rice we donated could last them 2 weeks.

2 WEEKS?! We repeated, astonishingly.

He said, yes. 2 weeks. Because rice is their staple food and they have about 17 kids and 4 caretakers to feed. That’s why 2 weeks.

Seriously, after hearing that I wish I could donate another bag of rice.

He then led us up to the ladies bedroom.

The place is small, but surprisingly neat! Unlike my room! Haha! There are 2 types of bed in it. A king and a queen size bed. If not mistaken, the lady caretakers and the 4 young girls sleep on the King size bed while the younger boys sleep on the queen size bed.

But I know that the owner aka caretaker and the few older boys sleep in the room downstairs.

After a quick look and snaps by the rest (I didn’t bring my DSLR out, therefore the pictures here all stolen with permission from the Satkuru, Aaron and Emily!), we went down.

There is a hut in front of the kampung house and a vegetable farm at the side of the house.

The hut is the place where the children learn and study after school. Mr Caretaker/Owner told us that he taught the children himself when he’s free, but sometimes if the visitors drop by, they would teach the children English too! He even asked us if we wanna teach the kids awhile. But because we were in a hurry (need to go somewhere else later), that’s why we couldn’t spend much time there. Or else I would love to mingle around with the children and teach them a little bit of Mathematics! Haha!

Besides being taught by Mr Caretaker/Owner and visitors, the children, especially the girls also learn Apsara dance steps once a week from a volunteer who is a dancer.

As for the vegetable farm, they grow their own vegetable to reduce their marketing expenses and also to instill hardworking attitude in the kids.

Done with the introduction and explanation, Mr Caretaker/Owner then asked the kids to sing songs to us.

Which they did!

They sang few songs. One is the Hello Hello song, which everyone knows and we sang the ‘hello hello’ part too. Lol. While singing they clapped hands too, which we followed too! Some of them sang louder and louder until at a certain point, it seemed like shouting rather than singing. Lol.

They then sing Khmer songs which we didn’t understand but really appreciated that. I wish Wenyan could be there to witness all these, but since she can’t, we took numerous videos which Sat joined them together into one!

With heavy hearts, we said goodbye to the kids as it was the time for us to run and head to our next destination. Before leaving, we took a group photo with them!

Which supposed to be nice… until Mr Caretaker/Owner asked the kids to do the YEAHHHHH! Pose! Kantoi kao kao. Aaron’s face totally BLOCKED!

Here’s the video Sat compiled.

Last year I wrote about the carved riverbed and Cambodian food at Borey Sovann Restaurant. Today I’m gonna cover 3 temples – Banteay Srei, Banteay Samre and Prasat Kravan. So this post is gonna be lengthy again. Or should I make it short and break this post into two? Oh well, let’s the flow decides the length.

Prasat Banteay Srei is located about 15 minutes from Kbal Spean; was built in honor of female deities – therefore the name “Citadel of Women”. This temple representing strength, unity, and safety and was told by Siya that the whole temples was carved by ladies!

There are two water lilies ponds in front of the temple. Sadly, there were no flower on the ponds as it was dry season. If only the flowers bloom, the whole place would really be beautiful and totally suits the name – the citadel of women!

The crowd at this temple weren’t much compared to the prime temples. Location might be a factor, as it’s about half an hour away from Angkor Wat. We would have miss this temple too if we took the 1 day pass. But after googling about this place, we realised we must be foolish for not stopping here.

The first thing I noticed in this temple apart from the red building, is the floral motif!

Just a simple floral motif, they are certainly carved beautifully and looked as though they’re real.

Each and every carving has its story, but I couldn’t tell you that as I don’t remember them. It’s been one year laaaa… T____T

Among so many temples I’ve been to, this temple is my favourite! The womanliness touch in it – the flower, the colour, the very detailed carvings; just attracts me so deeply. Even deeper than the famous Angkor Wat.

It was sunny when we reached there. The redness of the temple plus the sunny day, made the entire place even hotter. I wouldn’t walk around without my trusty umbrella. But then, the sunny clear sky complimented the red building, making the building stood out in the picture!

We walked around the temple, snapped endless pictures here and then left. On the way out, we were surrounded by local sellers! One of the small boys tried to con Satkuru into buying books from him by telling him USD1 for a book. But when he stopped and reconfirmed with him again the price,  he quickly said, “11 dollar!” I don’t know if this is one of the business gimmicks, but Sat and I encountered the same tactic again at Kek Lok Si – which I will tell when I write about that in future.

Next, we visited Prasat Banteay Samre.

Again endless stairs!

If I said that there weren’t much visitors at Banteay Srei, there were even lesser at Prasat Banteay Samre!

And it was so sunny…  that Emily walked hunch-ly along the corridor.

Okay, I made that up. She was looking for something or taking picture of something I think. Lol.

From the stairs, we walked along the corridor on the left and towards the back of the 3 main towers.

As we walked, we realised that we were the only visitors there! It was really quiet with only the sound of the wind can be heard.

So quiet that when I told them to look at me for photo group, it became an echo!!!

…And I kena marah by someone because of the stupid echo. Wuuwuu.

So, for those with loud voice like me, if you happen to be here, please remember to talk softly. If not, your voice will turn into echo and will ‘sort of threaten this beautiful temple to fall into pieces’ with your loud voice! Lol.

Walking from the back of the temple, we went to the main tower to pray!

It was quite dark, with limited light. Do bear in mind there are no electricity within the vicinity of the temple. That’s why all the temples are closed by sunset.

I pai pai-ed before I snapped. Like minta permission la. And then I looked up, and wow-ed by the structure of the tower.

If feminine is the word to describe Prasat Banteay Srei, then peaceful is the word for this temple. One will feel calm in this place. Don’t believe me, ask May! See how relax and bergaya she is…

I’m surprised to find so many nice photos taken there. As much as I wanted to post all up, but I don’t want to flood this post with pictures of the same temple only. So, next Prasat Kravan!

Prasat Kravan is one of the small temples, situated about 7-10 minutes drive from Angkor Wat. The temple consists of 5 brick towers with the central tower stood out prominently from the rest.

By the time I reached this temple, I was so tired and weary that I didn’t want to move much. In my mind, all I want was to quickly look around the place, quickly snap whatever necessary photos and find a place to sit!

Which I did – in under 10 minutes! Haha!

We headed to the central tower first. The central tower housed the carvings of Vishnu. On each side of the wall except for the entrance.

It was very dark in the tower. Very hard to take picture without flashing the carvings. T____T

Then we walked to the side towers. I notice that I have only 2 pictures of the carvings of the side towers. Was it because of no access to the rest of the towers, or was it because I got too frustrated due to snapping under low light? Can’t really recall the reason. LOL.

But I do remember sitting down at the side, taking picture of SIYA! Keke.

Feeling very tired, sleepy and hungry, we walked back to our van and went back to our home in Siem Reap. I was so tired that I slept on the journey back. Keke.

What’s next? Do stay tune!

Before I start, I need to warn you – this post contains lots, lots photos! This place is different from the other temples we’ve covered. This needs our physical strength.

Hidden up in the hill of Kulen, tuck away from the city of Siem Reap, there is this popular retreat place for the King in the past, and also the hiding place for Khmer Rouge troup during war.

The place is known as Kbal Spean.

Kbal Spean is not a temple, nor a building constructed up on the hill of Kulen. It’s a carved riverbed. You might be thinking, whyon earth we had to climb a hill since it’s a carved riverbed. Well, that’s a food for thought then. Kaka!

The journey up there supposedly takes 40 minutes, took us an hour instead. We were slowwwwww.…

The route are the combination of proper stair steps, long flat soil and steep, rocky trails. Along the way, we heard birds chipping and felt breeze blowing. We stumbled upon weird, twisting vines and gigantic plants. One of the interesting yet unexplainable thing is the big stone being supported by tree branches and twigs like the photo below.

At certain part of the route, we could hear the sound of waterfall.

Siya then told us, “did you hear that? That’s the waterfall and we’ll go there later.”

With DSLR hang around the neck while walking, we couldn’t resist the temptation of camshadowhoring.

Btw, do the word even exists?! LOL.

Finally, after sweating like cows, we reached THE PLACE.

To be frank, I thought that we’ll be seeing a small temple when we reached. Or a small building for prayers like the small Chinese alters since there’s no ‘wat’ in the name. So, to see carvings on the stones and on the riverbed instead of walls of building is an eye-opener!

If you’re wondering what’s the bell shaped thing carved on the riverbed, that’s the lingas. It’s said that there are a thousand of lingas carved along the stream, thus the name – “valley of 1000 lingas”. The lingas were carved in hope to fertilise the water that flows from the peak to the East Baray and finally to the rice fields nearby.

One must becareful while walking around there. If not, you might find yourself suddenly ‘shorter‘ than your friends because of these holes.

I don’t know if because I was feeling tired because of the hike or because of the sun shone through the leaves, but the place looks rather mystical. Hmm.

We crossed the stream by stepping on the exposed stones to get to the other side of the land to see more carvings. While crossing, the ‘pros’ decided to stop in the middle and take pictures of the water. I did too. Some even washed their feet with the ‘holy’ water.

I squatted down to take closer picture of the water. Something made me touched the water. It was cool and refreshing. At that moment, I was thinking – if the water is purified by the lingas, will the linga-water purify my skin and heal it as well?

No, I didn’t dip my entire hand into the water to see if that’s effective.

After everyone satisfied with taking pictures there, Siya led us downstream. There we could see more and more lingas! It was really a spectacular sight to behold!

The water looks so inviting that I even thought of taking a dip there. Keke. Too bad or should I say thankfully, I didn’t bring extra clothes there. Or probably they don’t allow people to ‘wash’ up there. LOL!

Following the stream, we walked lower and lower, and found ourselves to be closer to the waterfall as the sound of the waterfall getting louder! Animals and deities carvings are spotted along the stream prior to the waterfall.

Don’t mind the blurness of the picture above. I know it isn’t clear – but still I want to show out the carvings!

Couple more steps then we realised that we were standing on the top edge of the waterfall. At the side, there are big stones that looks like cave. Offerings were seen on the floor of the inner side of the cave.

Seeing that, I quickly put my palms together, paipai-ed and walked away.

To get to the bottom, one needs to use the wooden stairways. However, one need to becareful of their steps as some of the wooden planks have been infested with moss.

We walked down the wooden stairways and tadaaaaa! Waterfall!!!

Very sui (pretty) leh!

It’s said that the King used to bath there! Probably the King felt that the water ‘running’ through the lingas and then to him will make him feel more ‘man’ and ‘holy’ since you know, the water is for fertilization and purification purposes.

Couple of local and tourists stood at the waterfall and let the water washed over them. The hot sun made me sweat so much that I thought of joining them too! But then, after thinking that the ‘water’ coming down from the people who dipped their feet onto the water and then pouring onto my head and body turned me off immediately.

Ohya, Ailing’s Nike shoes decided to take a dip too, and thus the nick “the holy shoe” sprouted from there.

From the waterfall, we descended to the entrance gate. The journey down surprisingly pleasant too, although sun was blazing its heat above our heads.

Once we reached the entrance gate and walked heading to our van, we were ‘ambushed’ by local sellers. Luckily, they’re not the persistent type like the young kids in Angkor Wat.

Ohya I forgotten to tell about the young kids in Angkor Wat, let me tell a bit here.

The kids are cute, cutely annoying. @.@ They would approach you and then ask you to buy something from them, say a bracelet or postcard set of 10 cards. Because you don’t feel like buying things, you would smile at them and say, “no thank you” or “don’t want, thank you.” They would continuously walk alongside with you and keep persuading you to buy it. They would even initiate small talk with you. Like, “why you don’t want to buy from me?” and “big sister, you don’t like small sister. You don’t want to buy from me” and “I don’t believe you. Show me the stuff” when you tell them that you have already bought the stuff.

Some would even go the length of wearing the bracelet on your wrist and tell you that “see, it’s pretty.”

Cute right? Cute until you don’t know how to say no. Therefore you’ll buy something from them.

UNLESS, you show grim face and ignore them at all, then probably they would be scared and run away! Aha!

Okay, back to the story. We got back to our van feeling very hungry and tired. Luckily, we were brought to Borey Sovann Restaurant which was situated along the way back to Angkor City.

This lunch is included in our package, which is a blessing in disguise because if we were to pay on our own, it would definitely cost a bomb! So, thank you Mr. Kunn!

See how happy and thankful we were?

Ailing looked sleepy and tired in the picture, and she needed food to energise her up! Hoho!

Though the drinks weren’t included in package, the price of the drinks, ie a coconut won’t do much damaged as compared to paying the whole meal here.

The dishes came and we ate like one pack of wolves!

All finished in within a minute! Okay, that’s too much. But we ate very fast.

Though someone did bising about the insufficient food, but for the rest, the food was enough to make the tummy stop growling.

Next : The red building…

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2010/02/cambodia-ep-18-1000-lingas-for-a-day/feed/ 3 http://phingelicious.com/2010/01/cambodia-ep-17-conquering-3-angkors-in-a-day/ http://phingelicious.com/2010/01/cambodia-ep-17-conquering-3-angkors-in-a-day/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:41:01 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=1133 Continuation…

I was really amazed with the architecture of Angkor Wat. Really spell-binding. @_@

Was so attracted to the temple until I took thousands of pictures of it. Okay la, maybe not thousands but hundreds. Yet I felt I didn’t take enough. Hmm.

Carvings adorned most of the walls of Angkor Wat. However, some were badly damaged and were replaced the new ones, like the one below.

It’s common to see local sitting at the corner, with small kids. I think they’re selling water to tourists, judging from the bottles in the plastics bags.

… or probably collecting empty bottles. Hmm.

From the library in between the third and second level, we walked to the third level, then to the pavilion of the first level building in the South where the Gallery of Bas-Reliefs is situated. There are total of 3 levels – the outer square is the first level, the middle square is the second level and the inner square surrounded the middle tower is the third level.

Once entered the pavilion, we were amazed by the bas relief of the Heaven and Hell gallery. It’s so marvelous that I wanted to put my hand on the wall and touch them.

But obviously I didn’t. There are queue-up stands placed more an arm away from the wall, to prevent locals/tourists from touching them. But still there are some who tried, stretching their arm out to feel the carving.

A closer look at the bas reliefs. The top depicts heaven, while the bottom tells hell.

We could see very clearly that those in Heaven were treated like a King, and lived lavishly. While the those in Hell being tortured and slaved.

However, I believe in karma. What goes around, comes around.

At the end of the gallery, we turned left to the Gallery of Churning of the Sea of Milk.

Due to the water leakage that threatened to ruin the bas reliefs, certain parts of the gallery were covered for maintenance.

After a quick walk at the gallery of Churning of the Sea Milk, we entered the 2nd level of Angkor Wat through the East pavilion. There, we sat awhile, took some pictures, enjoyed the view of Angkor Wat.

We even saw monkeys mated briefly on the roof! Unsure if anyone takes picture of ‘the moment’. Lol!

And I noticed this ‘weird’ stone arrangement at most part of the temple. Didn’t know why it is arranged so, but it did remind me of the ‘nipple island’ we stumbled near Redang Island. Haha.

We exited Angkor Wat thru the North gate, and there we spent 10 minutes admiring the majestic place from afar.

Ailing even sat on the grass, gazed at the building with amazement. Haha.

From Angkor Wat, we went back to Jasmine Lodge to freshen ourselves. An hour later, we were in our van heading to Amazon Angkor for our buffet dinner.

The place looks grand, and expensive! We were thankful that this place is covered in the package as we knew that we wouldn’t have gone to this place for dinner if we were to do this on own.

Spoilt with choices of food available there, I took little bit of each dish and tried them. I only took extra servings of those I fancy – like their fried calamari and their local popiah! Yums! ♥

Besides eating there, we were treated to traditional Khmer dance performances.

Though our table wasn’t situated right in front of the stage, our view was still fabulous. The view weren’t majorly blocked by heads in front. All faces of the dancers can be seen clearly, and we just sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the dances.

Though there were 6 dances altogether, but I could only remember to take 3. I realised I took most pictures on the Apsara Ballet – which is also my favourite dance among all!

… and I purposely walked near to the stage to take closer picture of the dance.

It started with the main dancer, danced solo beautifully. She looks graceful and poised.

Soon, 6 more apsara dancers joined the lead dancer. Altogether, they repeated the whole steps again.

I took continuous shots of the dances and compiled them together to make a gif file – showing the part of the dance steps.

Halfway snapping, I spotted this sweet looking dancer – and she looks like the Hong Kong actoress, Shirley Yeung Sze Ki (杨思琦)!

I showed this picture to Sat and he too showed me the picture of her! Apparently both of us agreed that she’s the prettiest and sweetest girl there!

The show ended at around 9 something. We felt it was too early to go to bed that day since we were still energetic and restless! So we asked the driver to drop us at the popular night market in Siem Reap and told him that we’ll be going back to the lodge on our own.

Reluctantly he agreed, and he brought us to the Angkor Night Market.

The place is totally different from the Central Market that we went the night earlier. This is more happening and more tourist-y feel.

And the price differs too! It’s nicer to bargain at the Central Market, but one can get pretty good deal here too.

We walked on own initially and I spotted a very nice bangle with 2 crystal flowers. I showed Sat this and he agreed that’s nice too. We asked for the price, and the lady quoted us USD15! Sat knew that I wanted the bangle, so we bargained and acquired it for USD12. And he bought that for me. ♥ ♥ ♥

That made me a very happy girl that night!

Before we left the place, we bought few stuffs like scarfs and their Khmer pants and had Angkor beer at one of the bars there. Then we took tuk tuks back to our place and rest well for the night.

Next post : River of thousand linggas.

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2010/01/cambodia-ep-17-conquering-3-angkors-in-a-day/feed/ 2 http://phingelicious.com/2010/01/cambodia-ep-16-angkorwat/ http://phingelicious.com/2010/01/cambodia-ep-16-angkorwat/#comments Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:40:18 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=1109 Time for Cambodia post! Must quickly finish up to make way for Indons!

Lunch at one of the restaurants in Angkor compound : Can’t recall the name cz didn’t jot down. T.T

Since that day was so eff hot, I ordered coconut to cool myself down. If not mistaken it’s about 1USD.

We’re in budget backpack trip and the price are quoted in USD, therefore we tried to spend less on food – if possible.

And that’s why I ordered this – some stir-fried noodles. Hehe.

After lunch, we crossed the road to get ourselves to the famous ANGKOR WAT! But before we managed to cross the road, we were ambushed by the young locals a.k.a. young kids.

One of them came up to May and thrust a piece of paper onto her palm. She caught a glimpse of the paper and immediately gave back the young girl.

But the young girl said, “nono… I want to give you.” Then she ran to a considerable ‘safe’ place and looked at her with full of hope.

Curiously all of us wondered what had happened and took a peek at the letter.

Only then we know this young girl wanted to make friend with May by inviting her to her house!

How sweet! But too bad our schedule was too tight for a short visit.

We continued walking towards Angkor Wat with the young sellers kept asking us to buy something from them. I walked quickly, showing stone-face… which it worked as they no longer bugging me with goods. Kakaka!

While walking the longggg pathway to the first gate we spotted few monks heading the temple. Suddenly everyone (our gang) started taking pictures of the monks – which I joined in too.

We actually went to Angkor Wat for sunrise viewing in the morning, but because I forgotten to slot in battery into my DSLR, I couldn’t take any shot of sunrise. *Wuuwuu.

And because of that, I took extra photos of the place to ‘pay back’ what I’ve missed. Kaka!

In the morning, we walked to the outer compound only where the famous spot for sunrise photography is. Many with tripods took pictures of orange ball ‘coming out’ from the back of Angkor Wat.

Obviously mine doesn’t have the sun coming out la since I forgotten my battery. T.T

Though I wished I have orange-y or purplish sky as background, but I’m quite satisfied with the blue sky! <3

It was a sunny day, therefore I quickly snapped and walked towards the main building for shelter! Gosh, there are so many things to snap there, as the architecture are fantastic!

At the entrance, there are statues for devotees and visitors to pay respect.

We ‘pai pai’ the statues and then walked in. Big long pillars of carvings greeted us.

Siya explained something here – but I didn’t listen. Haha. I think he was talking about the origin of Angkor Wat and the purposes.

Although I wished I was paying more attention to Siya, I was too fascinated by the bas relief. Like the one below. Tourists visiting Angkor Wat must be naughty for making certain part ‘shiny’.

On both side of the corridor of the long pillars, there are libraries. We went to the one on the left. Seemed like it had been burnt down.

Despite looking at the long, steep, narrow stairs, we decided to climb up the library with 4 limbs! Yup, turned into a monkey there!

But really worth the energy climbing up there. The view from there was spectacular. It was windy. It was so nice to the on top of a … library. Haha!

But the library was deserted. There are no books, no tables, no chairs – nothing. What left there are the fallen stones and hole full of cigarettes’ ends.

to be continued…

From Neak Pean to Preah Khan took 5-10 minutes as they’re not far apart. Just as I finished eating one small packet of biscuit, we have reached the outer entrance of Preah Khan. Quickly we got down from the van and walked towards the majestic gate of Preah Khan.

As we walked on the bridge towards the gate archway, two ladies were seen cycling towards our direction. Siya stopped them and asked us if we want to try balut!

One of the lady began preparing balut for Siya while the other looked curiously. The lady probably felt pressured while preparing the balut as 7 DSLRs were aimed at her. Haha!

Siya then took a bite of the balut. We then bombarded him with thousands of questions like “what’s it taste like?” – like chicken egg, he said; “got feather onot?“, “the balut got bone?” and many more. We even asked him what’s that yellow and white thingy in the plate. Siya said, that’s the pillow for the duck to sleep. We  gave the !!!!!! look and he laughed at our expression.

Humorous indeed, our tour guide is.

The other lady just smiled politely while waiting for her friend. Probably she’s smiling at our ohhh and ahhh! Lol!

After Siya done with his food, he asked if anyone of us wanna try it? He encouraged us to take a bite, as it’s a local delicacy!

William decided to try first, and he told us that it was nothing peculiar. Just like an egg. Hearing that, out of sudden LeeMay and Ailing have the guts to try too. But they decided to share.

…and we laughed cause their expressions are totally priceless.

Sat recorded the whole ordeal. Lol.

Then we continued walking to the temple. Halfway walking, another lady in bicycle stopped cycling and asked in Khmer language to buy some food. Siya translated and then just out of curiosity, Sat and I bought one to try.

It tasted like our pulut udang, but the filling obviously isn’t prawn. Can’t recall what’s it called nor the filling. But I know it tastes nice!

By the time Sat and I finished our Cambodian pulut, we reached the inner entrance of Preah Khan.

The temple is so secluded that there was nobody else there but us. It was kinda scary yet adventurous!

Preah Khan may look grand and well-preserved while walking to way to the temple, but once stepped into the inner compound, the perception of grand, well-preserved temple vanished immediately.

The temple is in very poor state of repair. There are bricks slab everywhere. I had to mind my steps while walking through the temple. There are lots of ‘no entry’ sign. Some of the windows are closed with ‘bricks’. Some of the doorway are blocked with large brick slabs, signaling unsafe to enter.

Today, Preah Khan is surrounded and habituated by greenery. The roots of the parasite trees penetrated through the bricks and caused them to fell. However, the green managed to work its way; blending with the temple creating another type of beauty which will make you go wahhh.

The cravings are eroded by the harsh weather of Cambodia.

History has that the thieves of the temples ruined the beautiful cravings by slashing them and took away all the diamonds, precious stones that once long, long time ago decorated the walls of Preah Khan.

Siya mentioned that in the past, when the sun shone from the top to the walls adorned with the precious stones and diamonds, that air-well would be very brightened. I quickly imagined how it looks like centuries ago, with all the stones on its place and ‘created’ the brightened air-well in my mind.

Ah, it was indeed beautiful.

Though the temple is a Buddhist temple, we found a big linga statue there.

I then laughed at myself for thinking that only lingga can be found in Hindu temple as there are lots similarities between the Buddhism and Hinduism, especially in Angkor.

We found ourselves walking to this high raised enclosed corridor. Despite the blazing sun outside, the temperature in the corridor was lower by lots. It was so cool that I told Sat that I wanna stay there. And he said, okay. I’ll go first, bye!

Cis. Evil boyfie I have.

To be frank, I can’t recall what route we took in the temple, but I know after going through few cooling corridors, we came to this entrance again.

No, it’s not the same as the one we entered. We exited through another gate. Which was nearer to Angkor Wat.

It was shame to see the very nicely craved temple be in such bad condition. I believed many people are pouring in help to restore the temple back to its glory, but I guess it maybe too late as the plants have already intervened with the temple. But who knows, maybe it can be restored!!!

Our van picked us up and then brought us to our lunch place in Angkor.

to be continued…

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2010/01/cambodia-ep-15-balut-at-preah-khan/feed/ 3 http://phingelicious.com/2009/12/cambodian-ep-14-ta-som-and-neak-pean/ http://phingelicious.com/2009/12/cambodian-ep-14-ta-som-and-neak-pean/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:00:28 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=1067 Exactly a MONTH to go! *yoohoo* Eh, means a month for me to finish up the Cambodian Hour series. *gasp*

Mr. Kunn arranged us to visit 5 temples on the 4th day of our Cambodian trip (which was alot!)… and Ta Som was the 2nd one in line.

First look at the entrance of Ta Som, it does resembles the South gate of Angkor Thom but in smaller scale. Those 4 beautiful faces won’t fail to put a smile on my face.

Ta Som maybe one of the small temples in Angkor, but it has 3 gates for us to pass through! @.@

Now that I’ve came back and looked through pictures taken there, I seriously can’t recall exactly where the shots were taken. All I remembered was me walking hurriedly to catch up with the rest as they quickened their pace on this temple due to lack of time. As much as I want to stop, look around and remember the surrounding of the temple, I can’t. So, I let the pictures do the remembrance. Lol!

I was surprised when the ‘fast batch’ stopped in front of me. I thought they suddenly being thoughtful, decided to wait for the rest to catch up. Manatau, Siya was actually telling story about the stone with the feet. Can’t recall the story he told – but I remembered seeing both Aaron and Ailing standing on top of the feet and feeling ‘enlightened’. Lol.

We then reached the final one. The front look.

The look from the other side. Which made me think this is the entrance too. @.@

Confusing it is – but the last gate stands out more. Probably because of the fig tree again. Lol!

Since it was the outstanding one, we took a family photo here too. But I never get to see the family photo because the person who snapped this never send the picture to us. Tsk tsk.

At there too there were few stalls selling goods – from books on Cambodia/Lonely Planet for bargain price, T-shirts, batik clothes to small souvenir gifts. The children were found running and flocking the tourists, begging them to buy something from them. Some of the kids are pretty good salespersons as well. But becareful, you might end up paying more than it supposed to be when you thought you’re paying less for more. (We almost got conned – not here but at another temple.)

Some begged you for money too – “one dollar” they would say. 1 dollar maybe a small amount to those earning in USD, BUT not to me who earn in Ringgits. I can’t afford to give a dollar away, therefore I wish I had brought sweets or small toys along. That way, I could as least offer them something rather than turning them away.

Emily got herself a very nice batik printed cloth here. I remembered this because I wanted to get one too, manatau she went and bought one d. My bad, cause I never inform her earlier.

We then left Ta Som for Neak Pean – a small Buddhist temple built on a small island in a pool.

Bah, the picture was dark, as it was photographed with sun shone slightly behind the temple. And boy, the sun expanded its rays on us! It was so hot that I had to take out my trusty umbrella to keep me from melting. T.T

Thanks to abundance of trees, Leemay, Emily and Siya were protected from mighty sun’s rays.

Siya told many stories about Neak Pean. Among the many stories he told, one of it was the origin of the name. It derives from the tale of 2 nagas (snakes) on the base of the small island. These two nagas are said to be the representation of the 2 nagarajas of lake Anavatapta in Himalayas. IF you see the picture closely, you can see 2 snake heads on the base. Their tails twisted at the end.

Purpose of this built : for medical healing purposes, just like the one in Himalayas where it’s said to have mystical healing power. So anyone wanna take a dip in the pool?

The picture below shows the Balaha statue. It’s a horse statue. Don’t really know much about the story though. Was busy enjoying the serenity of the temple there.

A man was seen walking down the stairs towards the Balaha statue and the small island. Out of the blue, Siya asked us “who want to go to the island?“

With most of us wearing sport shoes and seeing the ‘condition’ of the water, we said, “nooooooo!” and then laughed. Lol!

We then went to see the 4 chambers where the water from the big pool would flow out to 4 smaller pools in North, South, East and West during wet season.

Big discovery : my white short shoes has been coloured with red brownish shades by the time we left Neak Pean. Conclusion, never wear white sport shoes to Angkor even though white shoes looks nice! Lol!

Slippers maybe a good choice but you’ll end up having 2 shades on your skin! Like Sat’s.

We managed to squeeze in another temple before our late lunch. I was hungry, gastric threatened to attack me – therefore quickly opened up biscuit packs in my bag and munched them. Which temple was next in line before lunch? – that I’ll feature in next post.

Woke up super duper early at 4.45. Washed up and then gathered downstairs. Siya greeted us and off we go to Angkor Wat for sunrise viewing at 5.20am. As much as I wanna show the picture of the sunrise, I couldn’t as I forgot to slot in battery after charging it overnight. Sigh!!!

The sunrise was magnificent. It was nice seeing the  orange sun coming out from the back of Angkor Wat, the birds chipping, the serenity in the morning; including helping the man setting up the tripod and watching him snapping pictures of the sunrise with green-y eyes. *wuwu*

Then went back to lodge for breakfast at 7.30am. Took bath, then went out for the famous Ta Prohm. The temple where Angelina Jolie fought with bad guys in the movie Tombraider.

It is scary seeing the roots penetrating the building.The roots are super duper big somemore. If you’re wondering what tree roots is that, it belongs to silk cotton tree.

However, no all trees in dominating Ta Prohm are silk cotton trees. Another type of tree, strangler fig can be found there too. If not mistaken, the tree in the picture below is the strangler fig.

Temples are always donned with beautiful cravings. Like the one below. Though it’s badly preserved, but we can still see the bas-relief. I’m always amazed by how the bas relief could withstand the harsh weather and the damages made by the robbers/soldiers.

And I couldn’t stop wonder how the temples in Angkor would look like if they’re all well-preserved since the glorious days till now?

One astonishing discovery! The roots found its way down the earth, carefully avoiding the apsara’s beautiful face. Coincidentally, the aprasa in the picture below was smiling beautifully!

It’s said that Ta Prohm was abandoned after the fall of Khmer empire. It was until in the 20th century that people began to do something to this temple. But I think they need to do alot here as the some part of the buildings have gave way.

In one of the buildings below, if one stands at a side and pounds chest once like Tarzan, a thundering sound can be heard in the chamber. I tried it, but the echo wasn’t that thunderous. Ah, probably not ‘hard’ enough. LOL!

Walking around in Ta Prohm wasn’t easy. There are some part where we had to climb over the big fallen brick stones and bent over to avoid the branches jutting out from the trees. But despite all that, I love walking around this temple.

Why?

Because of the shades provided by the trees! They made the place cooler!

On the way to our van, we were ‘taunted’ by the locals – asking us to buy something from them. I was super paranoid with this, as I was told that when one bunch of people surrounded you, you need to be on guard as while you’re distracted with their goods, their hands will work their way to your wallet. Luckily we didn’t encounter such problem. *phew*

Since I’m not interested in the good they’re selling, I quickly walked to the van. Satkuru and Emily found themselves good bargains, therefore gotten themselves few Angkor-temples print t-shirts.

Next, Ta Som…

Siya and the those who walked first stopped at the side of the ‘building’ and waited for us to gather there. Seeing this, the ‘belakang’ ones quite walked there. He then explained that we were standing under the South Gate of Angkor Thom. We asked him on why the arch is built so high up. He said,

“for the elephants to walk through in the past.”

Immediately all of us went “Ohhh!”

We quickly crossed as there were cars and lorries going in and out through that entrance.

And we found overselves at causeway of a total of 108 statues on both sides.

On the left side of the gate is the statues of Devas (Guardian Gods).

While on the right is the 54 statues of Asuras, the Demon Gods.

Siya explained the 54 statues depicted the myth of the Churning of the Ocean, where the Devas were pulling the head of a Snake and the Asuras were pulling the tail of the snake in the opposite direction.

Siya did tell us the myth of the Churning of the Ocean, just that I don’t really catch what he said. Again, was busy snapping around and walking here and there. Lol. So I wikipedia-ed about it. Apparently there’s more story behind the Churning of the Ocean.

The Story of Samudra Manthan : Once Indra, the King of Devatas (guardian spirits), while riding on an elephant came across a sage named Durvasa who offered him a special garland. Indra accepted the garland but put in on the trunk of the elephant. The elephant was irritated by the smell and it threw the garland on the floor. This enraged the sage as the garland was a dwelling of Sri (fortune) and was to be treated as prasada. Durvasa Muni cursed Indra and all devas to be bereft of all strength, energy, and fortune.

In battles that followed this incident, Devas were defeated and Asuras (demons) led by Mahabali, gained control of the universe. Devas sought help from Lord Vishnu who advised them to treat asuras in a diplomatic manner. Devas formed an alliance with asuras to jointly churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality and to share it among them. However, Lord Vishnu told Devas that he would arrange that they alone obtain the nectar.

The churning of the Ocean of Milk  : Mount Mandaranchal was used as the dasher (churning tool), and Vasuki, the king of serpents, became the churning rope. The gods held the tail of the snake, while the demons (Asuras) held its head, and they pulled on it alternately causing the mountain to rotate, which in turn churned the ocean. However, once the mountain was placed on the ocean, it began to sink. Vishnu in his second incarnation, in the form of a turtle Kurma, came to their rescue and supported the mountain on his back.

Note that the Mahabharata version of the story differs in many respects from the one in the various Puranas such as Bhagawat, Brahma-vaivarta, and Agni. For example, in Mahabharata, it was not Vishnu who took the Kurma avatara, but the Akupara, the king of tortoises, who did it on request from Devas and Asuras.

Interesting story. And I feel of going to Angkor again to see the statues and bas relief after knowing all the stories.

From the South Gate, we proceed to Phnom Bakheng. But we stopped for toilet break on the way there. Haha.

After relieving ourselves, we walked to the ‘base’ of the hill where Phnom Bakheng is sits on top. Apparently Phnom means Hill. So Phnom Penh means Hill Penh?

As we were walking there, we were surprised by loud thuds coming from our right.

It was an elephant!

Luckily we froze in time. Or else accident involving human and elephant would happen. Lol!

We then began our hike up to the top. It wasn’t that steep, just easy brisk walk. But we walked quite fast – afraid that the sun might set by the time we got up there.

After like half an hour hike (I think so la, can’t recall d), we reached Phnom Bakheng!

Well, didn’t really reach yet – as we need to climb up the steep stairs to get to the top. Before climbing the very the steep stairs, I saw alot of people offering prayers to a statue of ox. I never know why is that so, I couldn’t ask Siya on this as he’s no where to be seen at that moment. So, I assumed it’s because this year is the year of ox. Lol!

Uncle Google told me that the ox statue is Shiva’s guardian. It’s not surprising to see a Nandi statue there then, as Phnom Bakheng is dedicated to Shiva.

We got up the very high and steep stairs that required us to ‘climb’ up using our limbs. And in front of me and Sat, there were this girl in a SHORT DRESS!

You see, short dress and very steep and high stairs are not the right combination. The girl was practically holding the lower end of the dress to avoid being ‘exposed’ while climbing up the stairs. And the boyfriend constantly placing his hand on her butt, sort of protecting the gf’s dress from flying up due to strong wind.

And they took forever to climb up.

Seeing that, Sat and me decided to wait for awhile. I wouldn’t want to see the girl’s undees, nor wanting Sat to have ‘eye candy’ there, so yeah, we sort of waited down there. However other people just climbed up behind them, sort of glance up – intentionally or not, that I didn’t know. Lol. But I think the bf realised that, as he walked behind the gf instead of beside her halfway up the stairs.

We met up with the rest after finally got upself at the top level. They gotten themselves a nice spot, which was too ‘sunny’ for me. Moreover, it seemed like there wasn’t enough room for us. So we walked around the temple. The view from Phnom Bakheng is stunning! We could see Angkor Wat from afar, could even spot the Siem Reap city too. Didn’t know why I didn’t take any pictures of the view. Hmm.

Done rounding the area, we managed to find strategic spot to photograph the sunset. If you didn’t know, we were the for the sunset viewing as Phnom Bakheng is claimed to be the best place to see the sunset.

I snapped pictures while paktoring with Sat. It’s a very nice moment to paktor what – holding the hands of the person you like while seeing the sun goes down, ahh.. heaven! XD

Once the sun set, we quickly packed our things and left the place. I took one shot of the area and climbed down. The climbing down process wasn’t easy at all – but Aaron made it very easy! He went down damn fast! @.@

As you can see in the next picture, the reason why everyone left quickly is because the sky got dark very quickly.

I turned back, took a glance, took a last shot of the temple. It was getting dark and I wondered why some people hasn’t leave the temple yet.

We joined the crowd, walking through the ‘jungle’ to get to the foothill. It got dark very fast, therefore quickly took out my torchlight to look out for rocks/holes/exposed roots on the trail. I can still remember the journey down the hill, it was very scary (to me) and I held Sat’s hand all the way.

Our van picked us up at the road near the Phnom Bakheng foothill’s base. We headed back to our lodge, feeling very tired and hungry. That’s why the first time we did after we got down from the van was to look for food.

Well, we didn’t look very far. We walked to one of the restaurant near our lodge and ordered the food there. It wasn’t easy speaking to the lady, but we managed to order something edible with the help of the menu. Haha.

After dinner, we walked back to our room and rest early for next day’s activities. Stay tune for Day 4 in Cambodia.