(Trip was from 171213-221213)
Here's the group at the airport:
Friends & Relatives before the flight
Flight was ok, seats were pretty small but then again its economy class.
After a ~3 hours flight, touchdown at Siem Reap airport!
Tbh, it was my first time alighting from a plane onto runway/taxiway grounds. Was a totally new feeling right from the start. Not to mention, it was COLD. We were kind of shocked cause none of us expected the place to be ~15 degree Celsius. We actually expected it to have the same weather and climate conditions as Singapore. A lot of us did not pack much 'warm' clothing, all we had were thin shirts and berms lol. GG. The jeans were our only saving grace.
Siem Reap
Straight out of the airport, we met up with our 'tour driver' which sent us to our hotel. The hotel looked rabak from the outside, but the interiors were quite artistic and the rooms were pretty comfy!
This was part of the lobby, nice right? Haha
Proceeded to have our very first meal in Cambodia at a nearby restaurant. That was when we were all introduced to their local beer:
Angkor Beer!
Wah I tell you man, this shit is damn cheap and good (50c for 1 can). For the rest of the trip, this thing was nearly in every single one of our meals.
The first thing on our itinerary was to visit one of the famous floating villages of Siem Reap : Kampung Phluk. This place was introduced to us by our tour guide and the trip was worth it! It showed legit Kampung fisherman life whereby the people don't wayang in front of tourists, this allowed us to really appreciate the traditional kind of lifestyle that Sg has long lost.
All aboard!
The whole boat was being driven by 2 kids. 1 was 14 and the other was 17, not bad right?
Going to Kampung Phluk:
Entrance
Shiok ah!
Arrived at the fishing village. Was a huge eye-opener for me. I was like wow, I'm finally see-ing that Kampung life my parents have been talking about since I was like 9. This time I'm there in the flesh. Everything here is literally done on water. Lodging, manufacturing, peddling and even their latrine.
Kampung Phluk
Boat then brought us all the way out to the ocean to make a U-Turn. This time, everyone was on top! Breeze was good as well. Uncle bought a couple of drinks from the boat peddler which we shared on the way back.
Angkor Wat
Yeah yeah, this is always the highlight for any tourist that's going to Cambodia, the ancient temple Angkor Wat. Woke up damn early to try and catch the sunrise, sadly it was blocked by the clouds that day.
Trying to catch the sunrise, or lack thereof :(
Angkor Wat with water Reflection
Anyway, taking the photos was really lol. I had to squeeze in between tons of PRCs and Koreans who were all buay song cause people were all blocking each other. Not to mention, there was this tall fuck in front of me who refused to squat down and I had to manoeuvre my cam to weird positions then can take.
Presence @ Angkor Wat (Checked!)
We then headed into the inner halls of the temple to appreciate the stories behind the temple and the history of its origins. Sounds boring I know, but the stories were actually quite interesting.
Jungle Temple (Sorry I forgot the name)
Spot the hidden-Buddha
Apparently, this temple's attraction is for having big trees growing on it's walls. Our tour guide also mentioned that they used this place to film several action scenes from Tomb Raider.
We then headed to Angkor Tom, which is a big site filled with loads of Mini Temples. Didn't really remember much of it though, except some story about a king fighting wars + I got a pic of a pregnant monkey.
Bayon Temple
This place had alot of carvings showing many different faces depicting all kinds of emotions. The one to take note of was the 'East's Mona Lisa's' Smile. Took a couple of good photos here as well.
'East's Mona Lisa's' Smile
When we're done there, we took the bus to some nearby mountain, trekked up for about 20minutes before seeing this :
I know what you think it looks like haha, apprently this is the 'Yin-Yang' for the Khmer (Cambodian) people.
Night Market
Hohoho, this is where the real good stuff is at! It is super crowded and for good reason! Things were dirt cheap, after bargaining of course. There was an abundance of imitation goods which I like... Ended up buying several shirts. They were like 3 dollars each!
Went to Pub Street as well which was within the premises of the night market itself. Basically, it was a stretch of pubs, bars and restaurants. Now you thinkin' that they're all some-what pricey? Nope. Price was pretty affordable, unexpectedly. Sat down at a bar and chilled with my bro and cuz, 'HTHT' a little hahaha.
Bar we were at
Oh yeah, forgot to mention that the street stalls served pretty tasty food and I still cannot emphasise this enough, it is really damn cheap!
Sleeping Buddha/Elements/Yin-yang Temple
Ok, the only reason for the title is cause I really cannot remember the names of every temple, sorry lor. Hence, I just put 'whatever I saw there' temple! Lol...
Here-within, lies the Sleeping Buddha. (No photo-taking inside)
Statue holding 4 different tools, representing the 4 different elements. (Earth, Fire, Water & Air)
Waterfall Visit
Yup, sight see-ing again. Travelled for about 2 hours through a damn bumpy road, (kudos to skilled dirver) before reaching some village with a really majestic waterfall.
Ruins under the lake leading to the waterfall (Maciam avatar sia)
Top of the waterfall
Bottom of the waterfall
I remember being ultra-careful to not let my jeans/shoes get wet. I was like trying to micro around the rocks and dodging all the wet people swimming inside. But then it was really all for nothing cause I ended up changing and going in anyway. I mean, since your there already, you've got to do it right? If not wasted.
Yolo
I tell you the water was really blistering cold. My whole body was trembling like FUCK, I was super duper fucking cold and was shivering non-stop. On top of that, you could feel fishes biting your feet thinking that your food. Swimming towards the waterfall was no joke either, I was paddling relatively hard and at times, my body went backwards as the currents generated by the waterfall was so fucking strong holy shit lol. Water droplets were also splashing into my eyes at high speeds and frequencies. Still, I kinda waddled and forced myself towards the waterfall, all for the sake of getting this epic shot:
Meditating under the Falls
Nice right? :D
After that, I noticed my cousin having lots of problems getting into the water. At first I thought he scared cold or what, but he was actually scared of the fishes biting his skin. He was screaming like some pussy hahahahahahaa, it was challenging to convince him to come in, but eventually he 'tripped' into the water and he was really terrified lol, like struggling for his life. Felt a little bad, but seriously wtf? It's just fish. Hope he conquered his fear of small fishes? =/
1 Hour to get him to move 10m across the water to get this picture. Imagine the time taken to get him back lol. Tour guide wasn't very happy. =/ But oh well, worth it!
Last few spots for Siem Reap included the Artisan's of Cambodia and the Vietnamese Floating Village.
These artists are actually mute/deaf and are being trained by the place to create spectacular pieces of arts/crafts that are quite expensive.
At the Vietnamese floating village, I noticed something quite screwed up. There was a girl that kinda 'begged' us for money. When we ignored her, she immediately got whacked by her mom. That kinda pisses me off. Oh well, at least I got a pic with a snake:
That's all for Siem Reap! Time to head out to Phnom Penh.
8 hour bus ride. ZzzZzzzz
Arriving
Phnom Penh
Our next destination was Phnom Penh, which is the Capital City of Cambodia. Compared to Siem Reap, Phnom Penh is slightly more developed with upmarket supermarkets and shopping centres. The roads are also a lot busier with FUCK TONS of KUP KIAS. Cars are like almost non-existent in Cambodia. Also, it's a shocker to see 14 Y.O. school girls riding these motorbikes like no kick sia. Some more zai, 1 motorbike squeeze the whole family of 5. Wtf?!
Got a photo near our hotel
In Phnom Penh, we visited the Royal Palace, National Museum and some 'Russian Market'.
The Royal Palace was quite an ok place. We were exposed to how king's lived which was really in that of luxury. Ohhh I just can't wait, to beee kinggggggg!!1 (Think Lion King Song)
The National Museum of Cambodia featured all the relics of the Khmer ancestors which were dug out by excavators and are preserved here.
Similar to the Night Market in Siem Reap, just that this was in the morning, there were loads of stuff that were cheap, after bargaining of course. Oh yah, I saw guards holding AK-47s patrolling the area. Scary...
After a long day, it's always good to return to our Hotel's sky bar to chillax, eat fried rice, burger, fries, talk cock and enjoy the view before going to bed.
That concludes Phnom Penh. Not as much content as Siem Reap as we were only there for 2 days
Going Home!
Overall, the trip was good! Especially our Siem Reap tour guide. If you need recommendation for a guide in Siem Reap, lemme know!
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