Deliciously Me
Putting the 'licious' in everything
Archive for the ‘Cambodia’ Category
The Phimeanakas – the Palace of Heaven is our next stop.
Indeed, we feel like stopping and skipping the temple after looking at the long, steep stairs. @.@
Immediately I thought of the embarrassing moment at the Great Wall of China. No way I was going to let that happen, so I braved myself and climbed up the stairs without much hesitation. Afterall everyone went up the temple, how can I stay at the ground?
Siya didn’t follow us up though. He explained everything and stayed put there.
The moment I reached the top, I was dumbstucked! The Palace of Heaven is not really like any palace in my mind. Very poorly maintained. But this place is now a ruin, what can I expect it to be. Like Temple of Heaven where it’s still glorious and beautiful?
There’s nothing much room to walk about too. We explored the whole area in 5 minutes! No wonder Siya didn’t join us. Lol!
We took few photos there. Obviously not using my camera, if not I would have published them here. XD
We tried to get to the tower, but can’t since there’s a ‘no entry’ sign there. Tried to be rebellious still but the stairs are really blunt and unsafe. So, better don’t find any form of ‘pain’ there.
From the beautiful temple of Bayon, we walked on foot to another temple nearby, the Baphuon temple. It was a brisk walk, with many ‘opportunities’ to take pictures!
A big Buddha statue sitting on a hut – which drew a lot of tourists there. We didn’t stop by – don’t know why. So, I took picture of the statue from afar – counted as visited already gua... Lol!
Right after I took picture of the statue, I saw this!
Ya said that these feet belong to big statues (should be guardians of the temple) that were brought down by either the Khmer Army or the robbers.
As I occassionally stopped to take pictures of the surrounding area or things that fascinate me, I walked last among the rest. Luckily B waited for me – or else I’ll be left stranded alone there! *wuuwuu*
What will you do when you’re feeling hungry?
A. Immediately look for food!
B. Whine and cry like nobody’s business!
C. Duduk diam and wait for people to bring you food!
We were hungry after touring Tonle Sap and Artisans d’Angkor. Ya heard our predicament and brought us to this nice restaurant in Cambodia. It’s called Bayon Restaurant and they served ridiculously delicious food!
From the overall look (exterior and interior), I know that dining at this restaurant won’t be cheap.
7 of us were seated on this round table, and the waiters started pouring us teas and bringing in food. One by one they brought in food.
Like usual, we pointed our dslr to the food for food-porn first but doing so drew many stares and looks from the waiters and waitresses, as well as the diners from next table.
What surprised us is the amount of dishes served!
There were 6 in total – something that we didn’t expect since it’s a free treat from Mr. Kunn. Mr. Kunn is the owner of the Jasmine Lodge in Siem Reap. We stayed 4 nights there. A nice and cosy (most importantly clean) place to stay for budget travellers like us. 
Thanks again, Mr. Kunn for the yummylicious lunch!
After a heart-warming cruise, we were brought to another place to witness the art of craving and painting.
A popular tourist stop-by in Siem Reap, the Chantiers Ecoles (school building) of Artisans d’Angkor is the place where young Khmer learn the art of stone carving, wood ornamental sculpture, lacquer. Les Artisans d’Angkor is sponsored by the European program REPLIC and the government of Cambodia for the Cambodian to learn as a living skill.
The guy in brown in the picture above in our guide in Chantiers Ecoles. He explained slowly in English, and would pause here and there to gain our attention. We were led from one building to another. Each building has different workmanship produced by the hands. Some of the workers are deaf and muse. The way of conversing is via hand gesture. There’s even a big hand-signal poster hanging on the wall; in case tourists want to communicate with the workers.
I’m astonished to see the details on the statues above. According to our guide, a small statue will take about 2-3 days to craft out. Finishing the statue might take up to 5-7 days in total due to drying, lacquering, shellacking, gold-leaves-pasting, etc2.
Fact of the day :
Do you know that Artisans d’Angkor has been awarded the “Seal of Excellence for Handicrafts” by UNESCO?
Seal of Excellence for Handicrafts competition organized by UNESCO
Artisans d’Angkor has been awarded by the highest authority for supporting craft producers: UNESCO. Congratulations for all Artisans d’Angkor’s team who worked so hard to reach UNESCO’s expectations!
The expert panel from UNESCO awarded two Artisans d’Angkor items (Candle Holder and Krama Picnic Tray) with the “Seal of Excellence for Handicrafts”. this award is granted to product which meets high standards of quality, innovating, cultural authenticity, as well as social and environmentally responsible production.
With this award, I’m pretty sure buyers will feel at ease buying something. I would get one too – if the price is not a problem to me. Hehe.
I love the statues made out of the stone. It’s amazed to see how a slab of stone (like the stones below) being turned into beautiful home decorators like above.
Back to the guides at the Artisans d’Angkor, most of them are trained to speak in numerous languages. We met with a Mandarin-speaking guide (who guided a group from China) who teased us in Mandarin. When we ignored him and conversed in Malay among each other, he spoked us in Malay plak. Which left us in state of shock!
“Don’t think I don’t know what you guys are talking about ya. I know few languages,” he laughed before walking away to serve other tourists.
And we totally dumbstruck by his statement but buat bodoh to avoid any problems. Haha.
The tour ended with the guide leading us to the gift shop. He bided us goodbye before telling us that he is not allowed to enter the shop. To express our gratitude, we took pictures together with our Artisan’s guide and Siya.
Inside, many things captured my eyes. The statues, the scafts, the Khmer shawls, the baskets, the clothes, the paintings – all of them are beautifully made, but being jobless at that time doesn’t allow me to touch nor dream of having anything there. Moreover, the stuffs there are priced in US Dollar. So, T.T
By the time we left the place, our tummies were already growling like mad. We were brought to a very nice place for lunch which I’ll cover in the next post. Till then, byebye!
Satisfied with our morning breakfast, we moved to our first destination – the lake of Tonle Sap. It was a jolly 20-30 minutes ride. But at that moment, I seriously didn’t have a clue on where we were heading to despite knowing the whole trip itinerary way before going Cambodia. Probably brain was still sleeping. Haha.
Our tour guide, Siya (or Ya) is a friendly person. He broke the ice by introducing himself and brief us his country, the history and the culture. He’s a soft spoken guy, so accompanied with the noise coming from the van’s engine, those sitting at the back of the van couldn’t hear anything at all. Probably should install a mic in the van then everyone can hear loud and clear.
We passed by this kampung area where we could see a bright arch on top of a hill from afar. As we moved closer, I could see the stairs leading up to the temple on top. I noticed that there is a small gazebo at the middle of the hill. Before asking out what’s that, Ya explained that is a temple where the villagers especially the fishermen go there to pray for safety and well-being as well as big catches from the river.
