Frankly speaking the both of us did not know what to expect. The only stories that we've heard about SIEM REAP and PHNOM PENH were purely the views of our friends who had been there. We were pretty convinced that we would survive there! (haha!) Some people did not share the same opinion. They went like 'You'd have to walk and climb a whole lot', 'It's going to be a bumpy dusty ride around', 'Are you sure you can backpack', 'It's not a very romantic place for honeymoon you know!..' It was as if Kel and I were not built for Tomb Raider-like adventure! Maybe it's because we let people perceive us a docile, homey, 'I-need-a-proper-holiday-spot-with-all-the-facilities' couple, I don't know. Although the idea was scary (this being our first trip overseas as individuals and together), we decided to rise up to the occasion and do it FREE and EASY!
'Hah!? Then you book the flights yourselves? How would you know where to go?!..'We didn't know.
Papa and Mummy's first reaction when I told them about our trip 'Now isn't that the place with lots of fighting, is it safe?..'You are not going on a tour package!? Then how are you going to go around?' Will and Jeff were snickering away at the idea of it (see above for the statement of my perception on other people's perception about us). And then Papa went like 'They say the wallets there are cheap, maybe you could get me one..' Hehe!
Thanks to Jetstar and Lonely Planet Cambodia, we managed to wriggle our way with the itineraries, and with much coaxing 'it's PEAK SEASON, do you want to stay on the road side', we booked our hotel as well. I for one do not want to be stranded with our luggages in some alien place without a place to stay, even when Kel said his colleague said that 'You could just pop by any hotel and they'd give a room at a discounted rate!..' Yea right. It's Christmas and everyone else has the same idea. Go figure! We'd even sort of listed the places that we wanted to see - based on the travel flyers that we got from various travel agencies and good ol' Lonely Planet...Angkor Wat, Ta Phrom, Banteay Srey, Psar Cha, Silver Pagoda, National Museum, Russian Market...we could proudly say that we organized our 'List of Places to See' pretty well.
On the days leading to the trip, we did some 'wardrobe' shopping - new Timberland hiking shoes, yoga pants, shorts, it was the Christmas sale by the way (excuses!). We anxiously packed the night before, without much time to unpack from our trip back from Melaka on the same day! Come December 22nd the 'roaRING' of the alarm clock at 3 AM jolted us out of bed, much as we did not want to be woken up. Quick shower, fast breakfast and a cab hail later, we were well on our way to Terminal 1 Changi to catch our 6.45 flight to REP (Siem Reap). The both of us only felt settled when we boarded the plane for the 2 hour journey. (FYI, we found out later that our pilot was an Annabelle Gan, which according to HER WORLD was Singapore's first female pilot - or something - not that it's important!)
'The temperature is 17 degrees...' We thought we heard the announcement wrong.'I thought everyone else said it would be 24-28 degrees, what happened to the other digits!' As I stepped out onto the tarmac, a gush of cold air blew on my face. Thank god I remembered to bring my trusty shawl ('wooly' as it was). I seriously don't know if Kel really could take the cold air or he was just being macho in his thin T-shirt and bermudas! So you see, we were dressed for a tropical weather!
The check out at SIEM REAP INTERNATIONAL went smoothly without any hitch, and after collecting our bags, we headed for the exit, but not before Kel changed some RIELS (Cambodian currency - I thought they looked like hell bank notes). Good thing we arranged for airport pickup by the hotel (Angkor Holiday Hotel), the guy was already waiting there with a big MR KELVIN POH namecard boldly displayed as we went out the door. The trip to Angkor Holiday in the minivan (thank goodness it was comfortable - pampered me!) gave us a glimpse of what to expect of SIEM REAP.
The tar roads were very dusty, there were motorcyclists and cyclists and tuk-tuks everywhere, and horns were blaring now and again. Brick houses stood side by side on the main road, and now and again, we saw inns, guest houses, and hotels. I must say I was pretty impressed by some of the hotels, they actually looked magnificent. We had a field of a time matching the names of the hotels to the ones we read about before, and made a mental note that if we ever (EVER) return, we would stay in this hotel and that! And I secretly wished that the hotel that we booked was as nice as the ones we classified as 'magnificent'!
It was a good 20 minutes or so before we arrived at the bustling town center where our hotel was located. Although Angkor Holiday did not look like it's counterparts with their own compounds etc, we were satisfied with the properness of the reception area and the reception (and also the very sweet welcome drink). A bell Captain who went by the English name John (I forgot his Khmer name) explained to us that we could not check in yet as they did not expect us that early. He asked us what our plans were, and shortly afterwards he suggested a few places of interest that we could check out on our first day in Siem Reap. He even recommended a tuk-tuk guy who supposedly could take us to these places, 'he's my friend'..I must say, his English was quite good! Hence, our itineraries in SIEM REAP was roughly sketched out as:
Day 1: PM
Boat trip on the Tonle Sap River to see the Floating Village
A visit to the Artisan d'Angkor craft center
Buffet dinner and Apsara cultural dance performance
Day 2: Full Day
Trip to the Temples of Angkor
John recommended us a nearby cafe (Green Garden Cafe I think) for breakfast. Kel and I took a stroll there, 'soaking' in the dusty atmosphere. Our first breakfst was quite alright - Kel had sunny-side up and sausages, I had scrambled eggs and ham. I must say for the price we paid (at least at that point of time, USD 5 each with drinks, we didn't know!) it was quite a generous meal! The waiter was very friendly and very attentive (may also be due to the face that we were the only patrons there at that hour!) Both of us were contemplating if we should tip the waiters, because every time we moved our heads, they seem ready to jump to be at our service! It felt kind of weird but I guess GEMS could learn a lot from them! In the end we left no tip 'Those stingy Chineses!..' Not that we heard them say that, but if we were in their shoes, we sure would have! They thought we were Japanese anyway.
After breakfast, Kel and I decided to walk around town to look for this Miniature Angkor Wat carving place that we read about in Lonely Planet. As we tried to get our bearings right (more like, as Kel tried to get his bearings right, I was just a baggage), the cool air gave way to the scorching sun and my Timberlands started to bite into me.
However, we trudged on, seeing the 'sights' - there wasn't many to see though. We saw this lady selling some insect snack though, tempted as we were, we did not want to spend our holiday having diarrhoea (the irony of it, so you shall see later)!
Based on a map, we found our way to some housing area which supposedly was where the Angkor Miniatures were located. One thing that I noticed during our stroll is that, the houses in Siem Reap were mostly wooden and high rise. By high rise I really mean HIGH, as it seems like they only stay in the top floor of the structure, while the one below was normally left empty (garage looking). I cannot help but think that they are bracing themselves for unexpected flood waters (like in Kota Tinggi)! On top of that, their pet (or were they strays) looked 'different' from the ones we know back home and they don't incessantly bark for nothing at strangers. They don't even look like they bother to run after you (not that I wanted to try!). We also wondered at how the parents there could allow their kids to run around naked or half naked and play with soil, even toddlers less than a year old! Us townfolks would already start panicking at the prospect of having our kids breed tapeworms the moment they touched soil! (remember Zental?)
To be continued....
1 comment:
apa la ... we still waiting for the photos :P
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