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!

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/2009/11/cambodia-ep-12-romantic-sunset-view-at-phnom-bakheng/ http://phingelicious.com/2009/11/cambodia-ep-12-romantic-sunset-view-at-phnom-bakheng/#comments Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:16:31 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=1035 From afar, I could see high rise majestic ruin. 4 beautiful faces ‘building’ of high archway. But I never asked what’s the name – well, couldn’t do so because I walked last.

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.

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 wonderful lunch, we went to the UNESCO heritage site, Angkor. We were brought to the ticket booth where all of us need to make a pass to access the guarded area. At USD40, we got ourselves at 3 day visit pass, in hope to explore whole temples in Angkor.

Then we were given a short introduction on Angkor by Ya as seen on the picture below. He was pointing at the place we stood at that moment.

The first temple we visited is the Bayon Temple. Bayon is situated in the centre of Angkor Thom, which is a capital city during Khmer empire somewhere in late 12th century. To get to Bayon temple, we need to pass by Angkor Wat, one of the famous temples in the world.

As the van driver drove inner, less and less people are seen and suddenly he stopped. Ya got off the van and told us that we had arrived. We got down and there, a long path leading to Bayon is just right in front of us. Amazed, we started walking towards the temple with Ya explaining little bit on the history of Bayon. Unfortunately, I didn’t really hear much of his explanation.

The front part of the temple is basically ‘torn down’ and many statues were either brought down by robbers or destroyed by the soldiers of Pol Pot regime.

Ya led us into the heart of temple. We followed, carefully placing our foots on the uneven stony pathway. I was glad that I wore sport shoes. Walking with sandals would definitely made me feel unsafe.

As seen in the pictures, the temple is dusty. Probably it’s due to the stone decaying process, slowly grinding stone into sand. Moreover, the sun was maximising its ray on us, making the heat unbearable. I kept drinking water to keep me from being dehydrated. Luckily Mr. Khun supplied us unlimited supply of water bottles for the entire trip. If not, we have to fork out at least USD10 for mineral water in the entire trip.

Apparently, Bayon was the last temple to be built in Angkor and it was dedicated to Buddha. It was said that the faces in Bayon temple were craved to King Jayawarman VII face feature. Some said it’s similar to the face of bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokitesvara.

However, it doesn’t matter to me who those faces belong to. All I know they smiled at me, making me felt warm and at ease. No wonder the temple is dubbed as the Mona Lisa of the East. The smile is absolutely mesmerising!

We lingered quite long there. We took our own sweet time talking pictures of the places. Poor Ya had to sit at the side, waiting for us to finish our business. Haha!

Off and on, Ya explained on Bayon. But because we were busy taking pictures of the temple, we didn’t get all his explanation. Only heard when he happened to be right beside me or near me.

At the middle of the temple is the central tower where a Buddha statue in seated meditation posture there. We walked in, few at a time to pray/pay respect to Buddha. The tower may look big from outside, but we realised there isn’t much space in it. Probably most area in the central tower were closed to public due to the damages and restoration work, that’s why it ‘looked’ smaller.

I took picture of B taking picture of the sisters with a smiling face behind! Haha!

and…

I spotted a guy drawing at the temple!

Ohya, that’s the central tower! Big right? Haha!

I love that picture! Even tho it might look senget, but I don’t care. Still love the picture. Ahaks!

Ya then said, time to move, and led us out from the temple. But we had to climb down very steep stairs.

That’s why there’s a steel stairs built at the side. It’s for those who don’t trust the century-year-old-stones. Lol!

By the time we got out of Bayon, the sun shone so bright over our head making me dizzy. Afraid of gotten myself heat stroke, I quickly drank water and opened up my trusty umbrella!

Ya then led us to other places in Angkor. Where we walked to, I’ll feature it next week.

By the way, we took a group photo at Bayon temple with 3 smiling faces as background. But the thing is, WHERE THE HECK IS THAT PICTURE?! It’s been many months since Cambodia and I have yet receive any group photos taken from the trip. -.-”

Before I end this post, don’t you think this rock in the picture below is cute? Hehe!

Till then, bye! ♥

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!

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2009/08/cambodia-ep-8-artisans-dangkor-chantiers-ecoles/feed/ 2 http://phingelicious.com/2009/06/cambodia-ep-6-dinner-supper-and-breakfast/ http://phingelicious.com/2009/06/cambodia-ep-6-dinner-supper-and-breakfast/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:44:58 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=849 I was super duper hungry as I ate bread and ice-cream for whole day only. After refreshing ourselves, we gathered and started walking for food! Unknowingly where to, we just follow our instinct and walked.

Not far from our lodge, we saw winter jackets and clothings on blue plastic mat and the clothes hanger stand by the road side. As it was quite chilly that night, I was tempted to walk over and get myself one but was too hungry to do so. Haha. I was far behind the troop because of ‘no’ energy to walk. Ops.

Finally, roughly 15 minutes later, we saw few restaurants! We then finally settled for Neak Pean Restaurant. And we were thankful that the restaurant owner speaks ‘understandable’ English, making our order wayyyy easier as some of the terms on the menu are rather hard to understand.

Don’t believe me? Tell me what’s sao mao then? Bleks.

The food came quite fast too. I ordered fried rice lok lak with pork. If you’re wondering which is mine, check out the lower left of the picture below.

As you can see, there’s a can of beer in the picture below. That’s because drinking beer is just like drinking water. A can of beer costs as ‘much’ (or probably cheaper) as the drinks we ordered. If not mistaken, that can of beer costs USD1. So go figure!

As for the answer to my question earlier, sao mao is rambutan. We know what sao mao is through the owner of the restaurant. He purposely went to the kitchen, grabbed the fruit and showed it – where all of us went “OH, RAMBUTAN!”

We finished our dinner, paid and continued exploring the area. We passed by this shop which I can’t remember the name but is similar to our local shoes shop, Vincci. Emily, May and I walked in immediately to check out the price. Indeed, it is WAYYYYYY cheaper – but we didn’t get anything there. Lol!

While walking, we passed by this massage parlour/local shop where this cute dog guarded the entrance of the shop. It may look filthy but it do look cute to me. I felt like giving him a pat on the head that time.

Soon, we reached this big greyish building where it houses many stalls. It was when we left the place only I knew the name of the building – the Central Market. We walked in to check out the good, souvenirs, clothes – and I ended up buying 2 scarf for USD2 each.  Emily got herself an elephant bag at a very cheap price! – which I regretted not getting one too. Ailing and B got printed Cambodian shirts while the rest got souvenirs for friends.

We lingered there until the place closed. Then we walked back to our lodge. By the time we reached our lodge, some were hungry, so off we went searching for supper.

Those yang hungry, ordered; while those who’s not (like me), sat at the side with heavy eyelids.

I have to talk about the food in the lower right picture (above). B and Emily ordered something like mix fruit dessert to try. I guess the unique name got their interests, but afraid that it will turn out weird, they ordered one to share. When it came, both of them were kinda disappointed. It’s actually shaved ice with cut fruit of dragonfruit, papaya, mango topped with condensed milk and cocoa powder. Asking if the dessert is nice, they said it tastes weird. Lol!

After filling up tummies for some, we went back to our room and have a good night sleep.

The next day, I woke up at 6.09 in the morning as I couldn’t bear the cold temperature in the room. I wore jacket to sleep and yet I was shivering! In cold, I tiptoed to the bathroom and quickly wash up and showered. As much I want to warm myself with hot shower, but the water wasn’t heated up yet as the lodge uses solar power for water heater. May woke up after I finished showering. We packed our bags as we were going to change room later.

At the lodge, breakfast starts at 7 in the morning (if not mistaken). The night before, we agreed to meet up at 8, so we only have our breakfast an hour later. We managed to get the long table, and were ordered our breakfast off the menu given to us. The breakfast is considered lavish as we didn’t expect to get such a good and healthy breakfast in any of our backpacking trip. So thumbs up to Jasmine Lodge!

Breads in Cambodia are harder than any of our bread in Malaysia, but we gratefully finished them up! Gosh, I yearn for that breakfast now. Haha.

After breakfast, some did last minute toilet break while the rest gathered at the stone table at the entrance of the lodge. A van waited for us, along with our tour guide, Ya. Mr Kunn introduced Ya to us, told us to have fun and bid goodbye to us as our van moved away from Jasmine Lodge.

Our destination in next post :

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2009/06/cambodia-ep-6-dinner-supper-and-breakfast/feed/ 3 http://phingelicious.com/2009/06/cambodia-ep-5-phnom-penh-siem-reap/ http://phingelicious.com/2009/06/cambodia-ep-5-phnom-penh-siem-reap/#comments Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:24:31 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=810 .. and we stuck in a terrible jam somewhere near the Orussey Market on our way back to our guesthouse. I guess people were busy marketing there thus the terrible jam. We reached the Capitol Guesthouse at 11 in the morning. Since we had roughly about an hour to spare and our tummies were playing orchestra, we decided to drop a visit at the Central Market for food.

But unfortunately, we couldn’t find one. Weird right – in such a big market, we could find clothes, accessories, plants, raw foods, vegetables, fruit but no cooked food. Or in another words – no sight of hawker stalls.

Disappointed, we walked to the nearby street for food hunt. I saw a hawker stall operating at an alley, but we didn’t stop there for food. Maybe because it looked kinda dark or something like that – I also don’t know why. Lol!

Wasting half an hour looking for food, we bargained for 2 tuk tuks to get our way back to the guesthouse.

While our tuk tuk taking us back to our guesthouse, I took opportunity to take as many pictures as possible on the city of the Phnom Penh as we’re going to leave the city soon.

The moment we reached our guesthouse, we ran up to our room, washed face and then checked out from Capitol Guesthouse. We then walked to the bread stall that we patronised in the morning for lunch. While buying bread, we saw a bus parked right in front of the bread stalls. Guessing that’s our bus to Siem Reap, we quickly did our purchase and the guys went and showed the bus conductor our tickets. Using simple english and lots hand gesture, the bus conductor confirmed that was our bus and soon our backpacks were labelled with brown sticker with a Q sign – if I’m not mistaken. Or was it 10? Lol!

One by one, our bags were ‘threw’ into the lugage compartment under the strict supervisor from the guys. I guessed they were afraid that our backpacks would be stolen or left out. The girls went in first – followed by the guys 5 minutes later.

The bus was packed with locals. And 2-3 ang mohs. B seated beside me. Funny – I thought I’m gonna sit with May, but I’m not compaining cz it’s a bonus sitting with B! So, thanks, May!

Since it’s odd number among us, so someone has to sit with somebody else. And that someone happened to be Aaron – who got to sit with a lenglui. Not sure if she’s local as the way she dressed was different from the local.

Once seated, all of us unwrapped our bread and started eating. The bus moved 5-10 minutes later, wielding its way out of Phnom Penh city.

When we decided to take the express bus to Siem Reap, I thought nothing could go wrong with taking bus. Despite knowing that the journey there took 8 hours, I felt that the journey should be smooth and comfortable like our express buses from Penang to Singapore.

But I was wrong.

We got ourselves 4-seaters bus – meaning that the comfort level decreased by 50%. With a backpack on my laps, I felt uneasy and uncomfortable all the time. At times, my legs got numb and I had to massage my legs to ease the numbness. -.-”

Half an hour into the journey, everyone started to fall asleep. B was already in his dreamland while I gazed out the bus window, thinking of what I saw in the morning – the Tuol Sleng and the Choeung Ek Killing Field. I couldn’t imagine anyone would kill their own people just like that.

As I sat near the window, I took opportunity to take picture of the building/scenery along the way. Saw many unique buildings which I’m unsure if they’re temples or palaces or a rich man’s house. If they’re temples, I’m pretty sure the Cambodian are very religious as I saw many of those!

The ride despite being slightly bumpy, was considered a nostalgic one. Why nostalgic – well, probably because of the view from the bus window that caused me to daydream a lot. It was rather quiet too. Only the loud noise from engine and occasional honks were heard. I guess most passengers were asleep that time. I tried to, but couldn’t. Kind of jealous of B for able to fall asleep like a baby. *isk.

At 2.30 in the afternoon, the bus pulled a stop at one of the ‘resthouse’. Everyone went down – either for toilet break or for lunch. B and I walked all the way to the back for toilet while the rest I heard went to one at the side. Which the ladies had to use a mop stick to close the door. Haha.

We noticed there are food stalls operating in front of the zinc roof-ed building – but we didn’t order any food from there despite feeling hungry. The bread couldn’t satisfy our tummy but we had to bear with it since we didn’t know how long is the toiletbreak. We couldn’t recognise our driver and even if we do, I don’t think we’re able to get the answer that we wanted. I guess you’ll know why. Haha!

So, we satisfied our hunger by eating ice-cream. Made from Shah Alam, Malaysia. And that stick of ice-cream costed me 2000 riels. Which is equivalent to US0.50. Which is actually RM1.80.

Expensive?

Yeah, cz I could get the same one for RM1.10. -.-”"”

Soon, a driver called people onboard and seeing that it was our bus, we followed.

Outside, the ‘canvas’ changed from concrete to nature. Presented upon my eyes were the paddy fields, trees, and domestic animals. Kampung house on stilts are very common at the outskirts. Most kampung houses have few stacks of hays in their compounds for the cows to munch. I even noticed that the cows are mostly white in colour. Wondering why is that so. Haha.

The bus driver decided to kill our (the passengers’) boredom by playing a movie. I didn’t know what movie is that – but according to B, it involved actions of a gymnast, footballer and karate practitioner. And the movie is funny as most of the people who watched that, laughed their head off. I didn’t really watch the movie as it required me to stretch my neck and tilt my head in order to watch it.

But when I decided to stretch my neck to get a few glimpse of the movie, I happened to laugh as I deemed that part was funny when everyone didn’t feel so. Which made B stared at me and asked me not to laugh for fearing of hurting the local’s feeling. Which made me pissed off for being ’scolded’ for being myself.

So, I put on my earphone, and played with my itouchie… the entire trip after that.

The bus made another pit-stop at around 3 something. It stopped at a restaurant and all of us got down to stretch our body. Sitting in an uncomfortable position for such a long hour isn’t good for backbone. So, we went down and walked about, making jokes and had brisk talks. B brought a 100 plus (if not mistaken) to quench thirst. I stole few gulps. Haha.

I could see the local were looking at us while we were waiting there and I don’t understand why. It’s not that we were scantily clothed or did awkward things in front of them. Our dslr weren’t out too. It can’t be that they’re not used to see different skin tone people – as I believe, more than thousands of people from around the world visits Cambodia yearly. So, I really couldn’t figure out why.

Uncomfortable with the looks and stares, I went up to the bus. They followed 5 minutes later, after the driver signalled to everyone that it was time to move.

By 5 in the afternoon, the sky got darker and I felt colder. Couldn’t bear with the cold, I donned jacket to warm myself. In fact, everyone in the bus did that too. Except for the angmohs of course. They’re in short sleeves while the rest of us balut-ed up like a bak chang. Lol!

The bus suddenly stopped at a small town at around 5.30. The sun was setting that time and all I could see was a thick layer of dust. People got off the bus and we wondered if we had reached Siem Reap that time. But judging from the look of the brownish town – it doesn’t look like Siem Reap to me. So, we just waited on the bus.

15 minutes, the bus continued moving and about one and an half hour later, we reached our destination! Yay!

I looked out and I saw many people waiting at the side – some holding boardcard bearing names. I too realised that the sky was already dark. One whole day wasted on travelling because wanted to save costs on plane. Lol!

We went down to get our bags and suddenly Emily shouted, “SAT! I SAW YOUR NAME! “

A man was assigned to pick us up by Mr. Khun, the owner of the place where we stayed in Siem Reap, the Jasmine Lodge. He carried a board bearing B’s name,… and he kept calling him Mr. Sakura. Lol. He guided us to his van and from there we were brought to our lodge.

Siem reap is definitely different from Phnom Penh. It’s lively at night. The night life in Phnom Penh is nothing compared to Siem Reap. There are more cars, people, lights, shops, pubs, etc etc. Probably the town of Siem Reap is blooming ahead because of Angkor Wat which is the main tourist attraction. Therefore the development differences.

Our van driver is friendly, often making conversation with B – as he sat in front. Little did I know that he  was our driver for the whole trip in Siem Reap and he is a very nice man.

About 15-20 minutes later, we arrived at the Jasmine Lodge. The Jasmine Lodge consists of 3 buildings – where 2 of them are interlinked. There is a internet cafe and a free wifi connection! Whee! Those whose handphone could be connected using wifi used the opportunity to update their fb status, plurk , email and even shout at ShoutOutLounge. But the thing is, the wifi connection is kinda weak. Luckily it was strong enough for me to send out emails to my dad and wenyan and update my plurk/fb status using my itouchie.

B went and did the check-in process while the rest of us chit-chatted at their comfy lounge/common area. As it is situated on 1st floor on the left building, one needs to climb up a flight of cold stone stairs to get there. On the left is the common area/lounge while on the right is the registers and kitchen. There is a pool table in the middle of the lounge area, a tv set at the corner, a very cosy 3 seaters and 2 seaters sofa, 2 round rattan chair with warm fabric seats, few rattan tables for 4 and a very long wooden dining table – all at the lounge area.

I can’t believe I didn’t take any pictures of the lounge area. -.-”"”"”"

By the way, everyone needs to take off their shoes before entering the rooms/going up to the common area.

B then told us that we’ll be sleeping separately for a night. Instead of getting 2 rooms of boys and girls, we were divided to 2 per room and someone had to sleep alone. This time, that someone happened to be B! Hahaha!

Moral of the story – don’t travel in odd number! Haha!

Below is our (May and me) room for the night. It is comfy and cold – the floor tiles made it even colder… and the room is considered dark as the whole room is brightened by the 2 fts long flourenscent light only.

We quickly washed up (some of them showered) before meeting up in front of the internet cafe. Then we started walking around to search for food as it was already beyond our dinner time. What we ate for the night – that I’ll cover in the next Cambodia Hour post. See ya~