Milo jeans
Our 17 days adventure started right before our flight 3K595 takes off for Siem Reap. Our President of the planning committee - Ang, decided to start the trip with a "Bang". Imagine boarding a plane with his jeans and shirt soaked in Milo, funny as it may sound, that was what exactly happened. However, the stains were quite artistically done though!
Arrived at Siem Reap International Airport at 0705 local time and met up with Sun Same, the driver we contacted via email during pre-trip preparations back home. Sun Same is a young 25 year old man, friendly and fluent in english. We knew it was a right choice to hire him and he definitely lived up to the reputation of a gentle Cambodian!
A short stopover at Siem Reap Hostel to drop our backpacks and proceeded to "Soup Dragon". Read quite a number of good reviews from trip advisor about it, coupled with Sunsame recommendation, how can we miss it? It is a local restaurant selling the Khmer Cuisine, a great welcoming breakfast upon arrival at Cambodia. Sun Same introduced us the local eating style where the vegetables, consisting of beansprouts and other spices, were added into the soup separately at your own preference. Our first taste of Cambodian food...
After our first breakfast in Cambodia, we proceed on to the legendary Angkor Park, home to the ancient Angkor Wat. We bought a 2 day pass which cost us a whopping USD 40 each - equivalent to 20 meals in Cambodia! What was more impressive was that they EVEN had a "webcam" at their service counters, taking pictures for our personalised pass into Angkor park. Cool!
Faces of buddhas made from several boulders were also a common sight.
Churning of the milk sea - a typcial site in all temples of Angkor
The walls of the temples were intricately carved, depicting ancient history of the Angkor times.
Whatever the language, Español, Italiano, 华语, English, にほんご, you name it, you get it. The multi-lingustic Cambodian guides are fluent in the language of the tour group whom they are guiding, a really fancinating scene of tanned South East Asians speaking a foreign language (video above). You should have seen Ang's expression, he practically dropped his shoulders and jaw to the ground when he heard them speaking.
The Cambodians believed in 'No pain no gain' and hence the steep steps to reach the top.
Scene of children posing for a picture and asking for money from Song thereafter.
The hardship and poverty of the country was well illustrated by the children at the Angkor Temples. At an innocent young age, they are located all around the temples, begging for money, selling Angkor guide books, flute etc. Forced to work under harsh conditions, its a pity for the kids to be working instead of studying in schools. We truly feel sorry for the kids....
Go go go! Fire in the hole!
Besides sightseeing, we had our own fun as well(video above)! No offence to the Angkor ruins, the terrain was just too similar to typical shooting games and we just cant stop our creative juices from flowing. DO watch the above video to find out what we are talking about! Stick together Team!
Lunchtime! Another opportunity to dig into tourists' pockets.
Angkor and its reflection
In the late afternoon, we finally arrived at Angkor Wat - ONE of the World Heritage sites! We stood in awe and soaked in the atmosphere as a majestic and grand temple stood before us, under the shining rays of the sun. Explored the temple, scrutinized the artistic carvings on the temple walls, before heading off to view the sunset.
Mysterious trees that somehow grew onto the temples
Met Cody (the dude with the camera) on our way up the Angkor Park hill to view the sun-set. He's an easy-going Canadian who spent a semester on an exchange programme at NUS previously. We sat down,shared some travelling insights and enjoyed the sunset after a full day of temples visiting.
Dinner of Khmer cuisine with its typical fried rice and fried spring rolls were really tasty. Watch Wei Yang describe the taste of the spring roll in the video above! *Do take special attention of his expression as he was totally unaware how hot the spring rolls were as they had just been fried.
Blue Pumpkin, a classy cafe themed by its white elegant decor, is an excellent place for desserts after a long tiring day at Siem Reap.
Its desserts, each costing USD 3, can only be described as fabulous. It was especially enjoyable as we chilled in this relaxing atmosphere. What a perfect end to the start of a great adventure!
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