5th & 6th Day in Siem Reap

5th day in Siem Reap was our free and easy day too. Since we walked so much, as a reward to ourselves, each of us bought a body massage to ourselves.
Since we are in Cambodia, so, we choose the Khmer style body massage. There are 2 type, one using massage oil and another one using powder. I don't like oily stuff, so I chose the powder one. Stephanie and Kim Yen signed for the 1 1/2 hour body massage, but I only signed for the 1 hour one, because I actually don't really know how to enjoy or appreciate body massage. What I can say is, Khmer body massage is not as great as Balinese one, and not as hard as the Thai one as well. My experience is, the massage girl massaged gently on me, which I think she was just touching me. But, it's an experience lo.
On the 6th day, actually that's just our traveling day, we need to get up early and catch our flight back to KL. So, the 5th day was actually our last day in town. We walked around in town, but basically we didn't shop much that day, cause you know, normally last day = not much money left, so, we were looking for a cafe to sit down and chill.
Before I came, my friend strongly recommend me to go to this cafe, Blue Pumpkin Cafe. Yes, she is right, this place is a very good chill out place. We ordered a Linga Chocolate Cake, Lorve Black and White Chocolate dessert for sharing, and I ordered a cup of latte for myself. The cafe is not very big, but it has 3 floors. When you go up to the 3rd floor, you see a long bed there, you can lie there and eat your food, as if you are eating breakfast on bed. And we were the only Asians in the cafe in that afternoon.
My friend was also mentioning about the Beatocello concert. So, when we asked our tour guide about that, he volunteered to bring us there. The concert was held in a very nice and modern hall, concert was performed by Dr. Beat, if he is in Siem Reap, he will performed live in the hall, if not, there will be a video show about him playing cello and his interview.
Dr. Beat is very kind doctor, he is a swiss. He has built 2 or 3 hospital in Cambodia, one of them is in Siem Reap. Because the people there are so poor to see a doctor, his hospitals actually provide free consultation and free medication for children and pregnant lady. The concert is shown daily, started at 7. 15pm and free entry. And after the concert, amount of donation is all up to you.
Check out this website for further information:
http://www.beatocello.com/

Overall, I quite like Siem Reap, out of 5 stars, I will give 4. As what I've promised in my previous blog, here's my expenses list:
Air ticket: RM551
Accomodation: RM273
(USD 30 per night per room, I shared room with Stephanie and we stayed 5 nights there)
Tour guide fees: USD65 = RM228
(total is USD195 for 3 days)
Food & beverage: USD67 = RM235 (for 6 days)
Souvenir: USD67 = RM235
(the things there are very cheap, I bought a lot until i need another hand carry bag)
Angkor entrance pass: USD40 = RM140 (for 3 days)

Donation: USD25 = RM88
Airport Tax: USD25 = RM88
Misc: USD16 = RM56
Transportation: RM65
Total expenses: RM1959

So, do this think this is quite budget? For me, yes, it was a very enjoyable, comfortable, affordable and wonderful trip!

The painting that I bought in Angkor Wat

This will be a shopping centre in Siem Reap

This is their snack, I think

Biscuit roll

Salted fish...
oh, got so many flies

Spices

Beautiful flower

Last lunch in town

My friend highly recommended this cafe to me
And now, I highly recommended this cafe to you!
When I stepped in the cafe, I don't feel like I'm in Cambodia, I thought I was in some European countries. A very good chill out place if you got nothing to do in town.

Looking out from the window

My sunnies resting in Blue Pumpkin

The Centre Market
One stop for souvenirs

Beatocello concert hall

A local restaurant recommended by our tour guide
A good try, but I don't really like the food there, too local for me.

Siem Reap International Airport

Pork noodles
Our breakfast in the airport

Cambodian notes - Riel
2000riel = 0.5USD

Marble guardian lion as souvenir for friends

4th Day in Siem Reap

On our 4th day, I think I ate something wrong the night before, I had diarrhea in the midnight and in that morning, my stomach still felt a little upset. Luckily toward the afternoon, I felt energetic again. That day, our itinerary was, going to Banteay Srei, Kbal Spean and Pre Rup.
All of these 3 places are quite far from town, unlike the places that we went the previous places, but they are still belong to Angkor.
Banteay Srei has very fine craving on the wall and it is red in color.
What we were looking for was the Kbal Spean waterfall. The tour guide told us it is a beautiful waterfall, we can play with the cool water there, so, we need to bring a set of cloth with us to change. Getting to the waterfall was not easy too, we need to spend about 45 minutes to climb up to the mountain before we can reach the waterfall.
Kbal Spean is famous for rock craving along the river, and you can see a lot of linga (refer to picture below to see how it looks like and the meaning of linga) craving there. When we finally got to the waterfall, frankly speaking, I'm a little bit disappointed. The waterfall is not as big as I imagined, and there were a lot of people there, so, we can't really enjoy cool water. End up, we decided not to get wet, after snapping a few pictures, we went for our lunch. Felt so hungry after climbing up and down.
Before we end our Angkor tour, we went to our last wat, Pre Rup. It is relatively small, but you can enjoy great view from the top.
On the way back to the hotel, we passed by a local evening market. The market was not very big, but they sells interesting food there, e.g. snail, fried grasshopper, fried beetles, bbq stuffed frog... Due to I had diarrhea the night before, so I don't dare to try the rest, I only tried the snail and the bbq stuffed frog and ice-cream, taste wierd, but not that hard to accept the taste.
Initially, the tour guide was asking us if we would like to go for their local party, but, after waking up early for last few days and we did quite a lot of "exercise" during the days, we felt a little bit tired. So we turned down his offer. That night, we only did some last minutes shopping in town and went to bed.

Cambodia is not a Muslim country, some of them keep pig as pet too, I think, because sometimes I do see pig running around their houses.

Banteay Srei
Famous for its doors...
door after door, after door, after door...

Will she be a famous artist in the future?
This girl presented a pink lotus to me, and she is special, she didn't ask for money.

This is the lotus that the girl gave me

Linga at Kbal Spean
The linga is a common phallic symbol which is used as an idol for worshipping Shiva. The image is not meant to be sexual or erotic but is instead meant to symbolizing basic transformative forces and the unity of female and male forms.

Rock craving at Kbal Spean

The moths there like me.

Kid playing at the waterfall

Oh, this baby girl is so cute

Lunch on our 4th day


Dragon fruit pau

A frog hiding in a bamboo stick

I like this photo, look so natural

Pre Rup

Local evening market
This stall selling exotic food
Dare to try?

This stall selling bbq chicken and frog
Some funny local food

3rd Day in Siem Reap

On our 3rd day in Siem reap, we were going to Angkor again. But that day we need to wake up real early to catch the sunrise in Angkor Wat. When we arrived, there were a lot of tourists already. Sunrise there is about 5.45am, you can see the sun ray growing brighter and brighter, with beautiful skyline of Angkor Wat, you can see a magnificent picture right in front of you.
Besides, when you step in Angkor Wat, there are a lot of myth stories carved on the wall, and now, your tour guide plays an important role in explaining or translating the carving to stories.
We spent quite a long time there before we went for our breakfast. After breakfast, the tour guide sent us back to hotel to take a nap, and came to pick us in the afternoon to Tonle Sap Lake. There's not much to see in Tonle Sap lake, it's a huge lake and there are a lot of Cambodian and illegal Vietnamese live in the water village. And it's amazing to see they still live in nomadic way. They move their floating house about 8 times a year, depending on raining or dry seasons.
After that, we need to rush back to Angkor for sunset. The tour guide brought us to Ban Kheng to see the sunset. Emm, actually I think I'm not a romantic person, I don't really appreciate the beauty of sunrise or sunset, or maybe I don't have a significant person by my side, watch together with me.
At night, we chose a restaurant where they have Apsara dance performance to have our dinner. But according to our tour guide, that wasn't Apsara dancing, that's only their ordinary welcoming dance. But for me, the dances were special, costumes are also very colorful and their dances are a little bit similar to Thai dance.


Day break

Can you see the sun ray?

So many tourists were there early watching sunrise

Battle of Lanka - Rama & his allies,
including the monkey troops, defeat Ravana and rescue Sita

Monkey in Angkor Wat

The guardian lions

Cambodian kids playing at a pond in Angkor Wat

Local couple taking their wedding photo in Angkor Wat

The bridesmaids

Tonle Sap Lake water village

Local people selling their goods by boat

Somewhere, over the rainbow...

A crocodile in crocodile farm in Tonle Sap Lake

Mines victim performed instrument to ask for donation

Sunset at Ban Kheng

Dinner at "Temple"
They have Apsara dance performance every night

Group photos of all the dancers

My lunch and dinner on the 3rd day in Siem Reap