Cambodia Day 7 and 8

Day 7 was an off day. Shopping day for us and research day for Dr. Yeoh. We went to the nearby market square to buy some souvenirs. For dinner, we decide to go to one of the restaurant nearby. That place looks like Khao San. Filled with tourist and bars and restaurants. Watched the traditional dances. Then, we head back home to rest. Everyone couldn't wait to be home to Malaysia again.

Day 8. Woke up with diarrhoea. I think it must be from the ice I took yesterday. Coz I was not feeling very well at all. So just lie there and wait till the afternoon where the van will pick us to the airport.

Finally at the airport, Kerry is doing an interview with Sarah for her documentary of this trip

In the plain, all worn out and tired. I'm looking dead with the discomfort from my stomach.
The joy of reaching back to KL! I love being back home! My Char Koay Teow, Nasi Lemak, Fried rice, milk tea and etc etc....

However, I have to wait for a week before I can consume all that. I was down with stomach flu (viral gastroentritis). The diarrhoea, body ache and fever died down in a few days. But, i was nauseatic for the next few days despite me wanting to eat so much!

Cambodia Day 6

That's Dawn and I on the tuk tuk. It is really very cold and since the tuk tuk is not sheltered, the wind just keep blowing right on our face. I'm all wrapped up like Kenny :) Its Freezing! We woke up really early and started our journey at 5.45 am. Our guide FFK us, so we have to go without. We reach there and its pitch black. But lotsa people are walking into the gateway of angkor wat. Actually, in the guide book, they usually recommend to watch sunrise in Angkor Wat and Sunset at Bayon. However, we saw both at the same place. The road that leads straight into Angkor Wat is packed with photographers and tourist at 7.00 am onwards

This picture above is taken at 7.25 am. I actually had a picture taken at every 5 minutes, starting from 7.00 am. This is the best moment :)

Angkor wat at 8.17am.

Shaz and Mal doing the Bollywood thing :)

Then, its time to head back for breakfast and to check in to a new hotel.

Angkor Wat & Angkor Thom

Carving of the Apsara goddes on the walls.

Two little Cambodian gals, they were really posing for us at this spot. Cute!

Somehow I never got to this part of the temple. Coz am still stuck at the front part. This is the centre of it if I am not wrong.

The picture above is the Angkor Thom. This is one of my favourite among the others that I have seen.

A groupie photo in front of the Buddha face. This place is quite a hike. The steps are really steep as well.

Looks like our Sunway pyramid, just that it is not a SPhinx

Angkor Thom is located further inside. It is quite a distance from Angkor Wat itself.

Terrace of the Elephants & Terrace of the Leper King

Moving on from Angkor Thom, the picture below shows another place that we have visited. I don't know what this is called , that's the problem going to Angkor Wat without a guide..heheh. The temples are huge, and we dont' really get to know what purpose does each hall has and so forth.

At this spot where the picture above is taken, I met a kind 15 year old Cambodian girl. She was trying to sell me scarfs but I was not interested. Before I reach here, the rubber layer beneath my shoes came out and it makes walking difficult. We were just resting here looking at Dawn and Ben attempting to climb up the temple in front. I was still fiddling with my shoe, wondering what I can do. The little girl looked at me and said find something to tie it up. Then she walked away. I was actually going to untie the strings from my bag to fix it coz i can't find any strings around. Then, she came back with a rubber band. Then, the idea works! I was about to sit contentedly there. Suddenly, she went off and came back with a tiny bottle of strong glue. I was really touched by her kindness, going all the way to help me. The rest of the journey will be hard if the rubber thing keep coming out. I got to know a little about her, she studies English and Art in school. She says she like drawing. That's cool, hope she will be an artist one day :)

After that we moved on to the next place which is the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. It is just next to each other, all in one stretch. Both are part of the walled city of Angkor Thom. Below are some of the shots I have taken. Beautiful carvings :)

As we were walking out of the Leper King, Shazzy had a little injury here, she slipped and fell. Hope her sprained leg has got all better now.

We are off to lunch after that. We are always surrounded by little kids who try to sell us postcards and bracelets for US1. They will go on and on. This little girl is one of them, but she is rather chatty and Dawn we asking a lot of question. Then, she came out with this phrase 'No money, no honey' after much questions..We were all stunt. Hahaha, never expect it to come out from a little girl like her :)

Ta Phrom

Ta Phrom, the most distinctive feature in this place are the silk cotton trees. They are huge and the roots drapes on the roof of some buildings. I am really facinated with the sight of the trees. They look almost silver under the hot afternoon sun.

Tree roots that draps on the roof of the building.
The silk contton trees are brilliant beyond description

This picture above, I think I saw something like this from the pictures in the National Museum in Phnom Penh. This could be the spot where that picture is taken.

Besides, Angkor Thom, this is my second favourite :)

That's me pretending to read and ignoring the kids. They have been chanting the same phrase '3 for 1 Dollar' the moment I stepped out of the temple. It gets scary when you start to sit down to get some rest, a bunch of them came over and tries to pursues you to buy it. About to go cuckoo at that point. But I won :) They gave up and started playing games unknown to me with shells.

Preah Khan

This is the last temple that I am visiting for this trip. This Preah Khan, very different from Ta Phrom. The buildings here seems more squarish where else the Ta Phrom's building seems more rounded at the edges.


This is the main entrance into Preah Khan.

Carvings here are more masculine than the one in Ta Phrom

Picture below is the last part the Phreah Kahn temple. They are lots of Apsara goddess carvings around here.

Well that was the end of the journey. We are going to meet up with the rest who went off for a elephant ride.

Cambodia Day 5

Today we reach Siem Reap in the late afternoon. I like this town better than Phnom Penh :) More treeesss..hahahha. We stayed at skyway hotel, but then we realize this place is a bit outskirt from town. So, we've been skimming to move out eventhough we placed a booking for few days in the hotel.

In the evening, we plan to go over to Angkor Wat to watch the sunset. Apparently, the ticket can still be used the next day if you buy it during the evening to watch sunset. Hence, it cost US20 to enter the place. Its a breathtaking place. Feels like I'm in Jungle Book cartoon, at some point I felt like I was in Aztec. If ever I come back to Cambodia, I will be back fro Angkor Wat with a good camera to take more shots of the ruins. Its beautiful beyond description. Just magnificent and..well, just be there to see it yourself. HOw on earth did they built this temple? The effort to carve on every single stone that makes up the temple.

Doesn't this look like where the Monkey King from Jungle Book lives?

That's me, doing the tourist thing. But its Angkor Wat, so am willing to take a pic that says 'I was here'. haha

Love this spot in the main temple ruins. Nice place to catch the sun set along with that statue

The place did not look that yellow like it is in this picture, by adding a flash it creates this effect. :) my new discovery for someone who know nuts bout photography.

Its another part of the lovely spot that I like.

Finally, the group photo. The sun has officially set in. Its time to head back home for dinner! :)

Cambodia Day 3 & 4

After yesterday's trip, it's just all purely pleasant places to visit today. So after breakfast, we started off to the National Museum. It is a lovely place with lovely architecture. Rather similar to buildings you see in Thailand.

This is the front view of the national museum.

This is the middle section of the museum, there is a lovely garden there
Here is another angle of the garden. They are lots of stone artifacts inside this museum. Besides that, lots of stone carvings of Buddha from historical site. They are also bronze and silver accessories displayeed here. After the museum we zoom off for a drink. We requested for a place where Cambodian normally hang out.
I call this 'yam cha' place cambodian style. There are no chairs but 'hammocks' (i think that's wrongly spelt) hanging at each poles. Then, there is a table in the middle. The coke here is definitely way cheaper from the tourist area.

Next destination is the Royal Palace. Here are some pictures of the place.

We went to the Japanese bridge, which is nothing great. Just an ordinary concrete bridge.Hahahha. However, what lies after the bridge are seafood restaurant which cost a bomb to eat there. So, we decided to head back to areas near our hotel for dinner instead. Oo, then we went for the massage. after much bargaining, Jia Xin manage to pull the price down to US 5 per person :) It's the Cambodian massage with oil. Very very nice...after such a long lonnngg dayyyy!

Day 4 is basically spent in Central Market, so its a shopping day. Hardly tried any food there coz the locals really charged us with a high price. In this market, they have lots of silver goods, jewelry, spectacles, clothes, bags and any other items you can find. I find it not cheap to shop in Cambodia. After that, we head over to the Russian Market. This place reminds me of the Jatujak market in Bangkok. Except, it is not as huge as the one in Bangkok i think. In the evening, Malina's Cambodian friend brought us to dinner, in the centre of the town. This is the first time I felt that this place has more development in it. It reminds me a bit of Ipoh town. The food in this restaurant is way way better! The best food within this 4 days in Phnom Penh. The food is still slightly sweeter than what I normally expect from curry and tom yam. They have something that is similar to our otak otak, but I cant' remember what it is called..aaargghh. The night was spent listening to Billy Page, singer songwriter performing at the next door cafe. Actually got a copy of his cd, very country rock feel to it. It is our last night here in Phnom Penh. the next day we will be travelling by bus to Siem Reap. A 6 hour journey!

Cambodia Day 2

It is a beautiful morning today, that is the front view from the hotel from the balcony. That's the Mekong river, but the smell ain't so great :P
That's a view of the hotel from below. The street is already buzzling with cars, tuk-tuk, motor and etc. Today as planned from yesterday night, we will be heading to the Tuol Sleng Museum. This place used to be a school but it is transformed into a prison for interrogation and torture place, during the Pol Pot regime, also known as S21. This place gives me the creeps when the tuk-tuk first stopped at the entrance.
It gets even more eerie when I stepped around the area of this picture above. This is the Block A, where prisoners are held for interrogation, facing lashes and electric shocks. Classrooms are transformed into interrogation cells. On the walls, they are pictures of people that were found dead (either from starvation or torture) in the room after the end of Pol Pot Regime. Nobody knows what goes inside this place until the regime ended. People just know that nobody ever comes out after they enter the place. Just right in front of the Block A there is the security of regulations, explaining how each prisoners should behave and the punishment they will receive if they disobey.
This is the information board describing Block A.

This is how each classroom looks like. There we have a guide explaining about the room. Here is one of the signboard in front of the graves commemorating the victims.

Next, we move on to Block B. This area is not as eerie as the Block A area. This building has been wrapped with electric barb wire to avoid prisoners from jumping down to commit suicide. Each classroom is transform into tiny cells to hold the prisoners.

There is basically nothing in this small cell except for a tiny hole for the guards to provide water. According to the guide, the prisoners are only fed twice a day and they are not allowed to do their business without the permission of the guards. If they did, they will have to eat up their own shit/pee.

As we move on to Block C, this block exhibits a lot of prisoner's pictures when they are taken into the place. There are also pictures of how Phnom Penh looked like after and before the ruling of Khmer Rouge.

The two pictures above are just some of the torture device used for interrogation.

The trip to Tuol Sleng Museum was a very disturbing experience to me. This is my first time entering a post-war site, a place where genocide happens. The amount of people that are being killed, pictures of women, children and men that have been murdered without rational reasons...they all haunt me for a few days. Such cruelty done to humans are just very sad. It took me a while until today, before I can blog about this place that I have been. Its just very sad...I do not know how to describe it but it is for you to experience it. Pictures above may just be pictures, it does not really describe the feeling of being there and stories shared by the Cambodian guide. War is horrible. Maybe peace be with those souls that have died innocently.

As for our next destination, it is the Killing Fields of Chong Ek. This is the place where mass graves are being found. It is located about 12km (or 20 km, cant remember) from town, rather outskirt. The prisoners from S21 are being transported here to be killed.

This place looks like an empty ground. The first view you will see is this memorial stupa. From the top of this building till the bottom holds many human skulls of the victims dug out from the mass grave found in this area.

Some of the skulls has a crack on the head (beaten to death by bambook stick) and some with bullet holes.

These are the clothings and others that belongs to the victims.

This is how the excavated graves looks like. This place feels very peaceful now and they are lots of butterflies hovering around the grave.

This tree is what they call the Magic Tree. I don't know what so magical about it. It is said that on this tree is used as a tool to hang a microphone which make sound louder to avoid the moans of victims while they are being executed. After these two places. We head back home. Tired, emotions all hair wired for me. I cant sleep for that night. Beer to relax for the night.

Finally, it is dinner time after such a disturbing trip. This is a Malaysian restaurant that serves halal food. What's more, it is the cheapest place among the rest. One meal cost US1. This guy called Weni can speak Malay, and it has became our hang out place for the past few days in Phnom Penh.