Tagged: cambodia

Goodbye, Cambodia :(

Gonna skip day 3 because we wasted almost the entire day transiting from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. The price we have to pay for not wanting to pay the $400+ air tickets to fly to Siem Reap direct :p

At first we were worried that there isn’t anything much to do at Phnom Penh so we decided to find a nicer place to stay. Felt a little bad when our tuk tuk driver sent us to our door steps and said,

“this hotel very expensive”

Didn’t know what to say because the hotel really isn’t that expensive.. only 100USD per night!

so pretty!

check-in was fast and then we were brought to our very homely room with our private pool (i know i don’t swim but a room like this would have cost us a bomb elsewhere!)

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we immediately regretted booking a full day tour the next day when we saw this 😦

even more when we woke up the next day:

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the very serene walk to the breakfast area

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the breakfast provided was awesome too!

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The Pavilion is worth every dollar!

It’s sad that we had to pack our bags for our full day tour right after breakfast. We were late for our tour but the tuk tuk driver wasn’t pissed at all and even told us to take our time. Why’s everyone so nice??!

So anyway!

First stop of the tour was to the Royal Palace

It’s not as grand as the palaces you see around the world and you don’t see as many tourists too

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The palace might be not be as grand but it definitely didn’t lose out in terms of its history! We started the tour without any guide but as we walked on, we realized we really didn’t know where to go or what to look at so we went nack to the entrance and hired a guide for 20USD? SO GLAD WE DID THAT. Otherwise it would have felt like a walk in the park

We then went to the Killing Fields and it’s just sad.

Very very sad.

You still see bones and the clothes remnants of those who were killed there back in the 1970s. The place is being fenced up but that didn’t stop the beggars from crowding around the fence. It was just a very depressing sight but yet it makes you feel so much more appreciative of what you have. 😦

And that’s why I didn’t take any pictures either.

Luckily our driver took us to an awesome Khmer restaurant which lifted our mood a little. With that, we ended our 4D3N Cambodia adventure! Next SEA city to explore would be vietnam hehehe

Cambodia Trip (Day 2)

I knew that we have to wake up earlier for sunrise at Angkor Wat but I didn’t know we have to wake up SO EARLY, i.e. 4am. Apparently you have to reach Angkor Wat by 5 in order to have the front row “seats” because if you reach any later, you will be watching sunrise with this before you:

Which obviously doesn’t make a very good picture :p

Got myself a second row standing-seat hehe. Lost to the super professional photographers who came armed with their tripods

That’s why I only got one head in my pic hehe

And yes, this is how serious people are with the sunrise at Angkor Wat

The professional photographers retreated when it got too bright so there’s no heads in my pic now hehe

Somehow I think my amateur photos really don’t do justice to the whole experience

Despite standing there for close to 2 hours just and having a million other tourists around you, it was not bad of an experience at all! I probably wouldn’t do it again but would definitely recommend people to catch it at least once 😀

Got my alibaba pants the night before to get into the mood ahahah

Our guide then brought us around and it’s a pity that quite a bit of the architecture are in a pretty bad state

Though ironically.. I feel that this is what makes it special and authentic too

This is probably our last happy photo of the trip because Jeremy’s phone got pickpocketed after this

It was a major mood killer because most of the pictures taken on Day 2 are actually on his phone 😦

Like the crazy high steps that you literally have to be on your fours in order to get to the top and the picture we took with the giant tree at Ta Phrom. Still feel a little sad when I think of those lost pictures

So, if you are carrying a sling bag, please sling it in front of you at all times. And unless you are thinking of making a claim with your insurance provider, you can forget about making a police report. It’s a long story with the police but to cut it short, we had a taste of how corrupted policemen can be.

ANYWAY!

We went back to Angkor Wat for more pictures though we were damn sian (already lost so many pictures so of course we gotta take more to not feel like it’s a wasted trip)

Please wear a pair of comfortable shoes because there’s a lot of climbing and walking to do in Angkor Wat!

And it’s not those easy peasy steps by the way

It’s those teeny weeny and really steep steps

But you will be rewarded with this amazing view 😉

Dinner was awesomeeeeee.

You know how expensive it is to have a good mexican meal in singapore so we kind of went crazy when we saw how affordable the mexican food at siem reap was 😀

I think we paid less than 30 SGD for our food and drinks?

And the serving was huge! Definitely worth every single dollar.

We walked around Pub Street after that for more shopping (though there’s really nothing much) and had some super cheap foot massage to reward our feet. Think costed us about 4 USD for an hour? Quite cheap but not as shiok as BKK’s foot massage

Oh man, I miss Siem Reap already!

Cambodia Trip (Day 1) + AM I OBSESSED?

Are all new dog owners usually obsessed with their dogs??

Because I think I am!

I have been waking up at 7am (on BOTH weekdays and weekends) to bring the dog for his morning walk so he wouldn’t sound so miserable holding in his pee and shit. And the first thing I want to do after work is to rush home so that I can (see what I mean by obsessed??) walk him because I don’t think my maid likes walking the dog very much.

Please tell me I’m normal…

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SO back to Cambodia!

I don’t know if people ever visit a country and end up hating it because so far I haven’t. Though Cambodia is really hot and there’s nothing much to do or shop, I still enjoyed my trip a lot! Probably because we managed to live like kings and queens without spending a lot and Ang Kor Wat was just amazing.

I think we probably spent less than 1k there? Including air tickets and accommodation!

A pair of airtickets to Phnom Penh was just $172 (we took Tigerair), DAMN CHEAP RIGHT? hehe

I really hate filling up immigration cards

I really hate filling up immigration cards

The Tigerair timing was good too! We arrived there early in the morning, took a taxi (was quoted 12USD to bring us to the city but we were too tired to bargain) and went to this place called ‘Sister Cafe’ for breakfast!

It was highly recommended for its pancakes on TripAdvisor so I’ve been telling Jeremy that WE MUST GOOOOO. Of course, he rolled his eyes and asked me why are we having pancakes instead of khmer food in Cambodia but… it’s pancakes!

It's a really simple cafe. So plain we almost missed it

It’s a really simple cafe. So plain we almost missed it

everything in Cambodia is in USD

In case you are curious if the food was super delicious, it’s definitely not (so don’t get your hopes too high) but it’s tasty enough for me to be very satisfied! And oh, the staff were really nice and very very gentle. No wonder they say Singaporean girls are too loud

We explored the streets and market after breakfast

Actually it’s pretty much like Bangkok, just a lot less touristy.

We then made it to the bus terminal to catch our bus to Siem Reap and to anyone who is reading is, please do NOT book GiantIbis for the sake of the wifi. Both our buses (to and fro Siem Reap)’s routers were not working and that’s like the main reason why everyone picks GiantIbis. Paid close to 60USD for our two-way transfer and was almost bored to death

And nope, we didn’t complain because everyone seem okay with it.

Everyone in Cambodia is like so zen and contented with life that it makes you look spoilt if you complain

It was a freaking long journey

I read online that it’s six hours from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap so I was mentally prepared for six. But after five hours, we were told that we have reached our halfway point and I almost died. The driver was driving really slowly (not intentionally I think, because the roads were really bad) but I didn’t know it was that slow. It could be 20km/hr, not kidding.

Cambodian kids versus me. They look so much happier

After 8.5 hours, which was no joke by the way, we finally arrived at the bus terminal and luckily we arranged someone from our guesthouse to pick us up because the terminal is SUPER ULU. I can’t imagine getting a taxi or a tuk-tuk at this time

And the tuk-tuk was travelling really slow too. Nothing like your fast and furious Bangkok tuk tuks

But you know what, everything was worth it when we arrived at the Siem Reap city. Everything’s so quaint that we liked it almost immediately. And our guesthouse (Purple Mangosteen) looked so pretty and welcoming too!

Purple Mangosteen is just a stone throw away from the happening Pub Street, so close that you could still hear the music at night but we didn’t mind at all because it makes the place feel so alive hehe

Oh man, I miss this street already!

We were super hungry but there was no lack of food choices there. We went to this italian cafe opposite our guesthouse and was pleasantly surprised! The pizza was only 5USD but it was hugeeee and very very tasty!

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Magarita was just 2USD I think! Can’t remember but it was really cheap

Didn’t have too much because we have to wake up at 4am the next day in order to catch the sunrise at Ang Kor Wat, which I’ll blog about hopefully soon! Till then, byeeeee.