Awarded as one of the Ten Man-Made Wonders of the World, Angkor Wat has always been listed in my must-visit target. After years of hunting for traveling mates and matching on time, I could finally check this destination off my list.
Setting off early in the morning at 4.30am, we were shocked by the crowd in KLIA 2 flooding all check-in counters and the queue took us long before we could dash to McDonalds to pack our breakfast and begin our journey to the land of the ancient temples.
*Note: This post is purely on personal experiences hence any further interests in the history of Siem Reap please refer to other online resources.
10th December 2015 - Thursday
Touching down at the Siem Reap International Airport at 7.50am (GMT+7), we were welcomed by the courteous and pretty hotel staff who was already waiting at the arrival hall. It took us approximately 30 minutes to arrive at the Khmer Mansion Boutique Hotel and the complimentary welcome drink (fruit punch) and chocolate were served once we step into the lobby. Since the official check-in hour is at 2.00pm, we therefore relaxed ourselves at the foyer while waiting for the tour representative to pick us up. Our tour guide - Mr.Sarak met us at the hotel lobby on time and here we go kicking start our 4 days 3 nights vacation.
The first destination in the itinerary was to visit Tonle Sap - the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. The 2 hours boat ride (USD$15 each) carried us through the river alongside fishing villages and towards the border of the lake. I miss the sun so much and had enjoyed catching some rays despite the fact that I am afraid of getting tanned! While returning to the port, the four of us have been taking turn falling asleep (and snap shooting unsightly photographs of each other) as we haven’t had enough rest at all the night before. The villages we passes-by were literally a simple and happier world without the trace of technology. The kids were running around and about barefooted and enjoying the nature happily despite the poverty they’re living in. This again reminded us of how fortunate we are holding the power of choices in most events of our day to day living.
We get the chance to try the Bamboo Rice and as well being offered the local drink – the smoky herbal tea which we find it absolutely difficult down the throat. We took our lunch in one of the local restaurant along the way and the food was surprisingly tasty but with the downside of having the dust sprinkled all over our dishes since we were sitting close to the street.
The hidden gem in the jungle - Beng Melea (Entrance Fee: USD$5.00) is a ruined temple built by king Suryavarman II during early 12th century by primary deity to Vishnu with architecture of Angkor Wat. Today, the ruin was left to be reclaimed by nature and it is not restored.
Returning to the Khmer Mansion Boutique Hotel after a long day, we recognized that the staffs were extremely welcoming and we were being well-served during our stay. They even planned a birthday surprise by having all the staffs knocking on the door with a small colourful cake and singing the birthday song to our star of the day - Ms. J.O. junior.
Before calling it a day, we decided to go for full body and foot massage but disappointingly the service wasn’t good as we waited for almost 25 minutes despite being informed a waiting time of 5 minutes, and the surrounding wasn’t clean and hygiene.
11th December 2015 - Friday
Mr. Sarak wasn’t available on this second day hence we were being assigned another tour guide – Mr. Thom (Name: Buo Sophea (Thom) / Language: English / Tel: (855) 9297535) for the next 2 days. We were absolutely satisfy with his service because he was experienced enough to get us off the common tracks and towards the less crowded ways at the right time to observe the city and he told good stories and exciting history with his fluent English along the way.
The 3 days permit - the Angkor Pass at USD$40.00 is definitely worth obtaining as you behold the wonders of this ancient city. There were checkpoints at every entrance of the historical sites hence it is important to safe keep this pass for the frequent validation. Strict dress code is applied in Angkor Wat should you be interested to climb the third level of the tower. We queued for almost 45 minutes and here we encountered the ill-mannered westerner’s couple who tries to jump the queue and pushing others impolitely. But luckily there were nice Japanese and Chinese tourists who worked together getting rid of these uncivilized people back into the queue (what a shame).
The famous Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones temple- Ta Prohm was a site largely conquered by the great trees of the jungle. Constructed on the late 12th and early 13th centuries, Ta Prohm was a Buddhist temple dedicated to the mother of King Jayavarman VII.
Built by King Jayavarman VII at the end of the 12th century, the Terraces for Elephants that stretches out over a length of more than 300 meters were used as an audience hall and for public ceremonies.
Prasat Bayon is a well-known and richly decorated Khmer temple which is built in the late 12th or early 13th century as the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII.
After taking a short break in the hotel, a tuk-tuk was arranged for us to have our buffet dinner at the Amazon Angkor Restaurant enjoying the traditional dance performance whereby this place is seemingly built for the tourists. The choices of foods were quite satisfying and some of the dishes were excellent.
We took a walk along the pub street and sat down for a drink and here comes the drama of a lizard, a cat, a cockroach and a terrified human being. (For more information, please contact one of the participant...lol)
12th December 2015 – Saturday
With the advice from Mr. Thom, we departed from the hotel early at 6.45am to visit Banteay Srei trying to avoid the crowd. This is a 10th-century miniature Cambodian temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva built largely of red sandstone with decorative wall carvings. While leaving the temple at 8.30am, we could see batches of tourists and tour buses flooding into the area and we were glad to have arrived before the troop.
Preah Khan is built as a monastery and a center for learning by King Jayavarman VII.
Due to the constantly high weather temperature and heat, our energy was drained rapidly to the extent that we were too exhausted to hold up our camera or phone for photography.
Neak Pean is a unique feature of an artificial island with a Buddhist temple on a circular island in Preah Khan Baray built during the reign of King Jayavarman VII. The central pond is a replica of Lake Anavatapta in the Himalayas, situated at the top of the universe.
Last but not least, Pre Rup consists of a pyramid-shaped temple-mountain with the uppermost of the three tiers carrying five lotus towers. Pre Rup means ‘Turning the Body’ and refers to a traditional method of cremation in which a corpse’s outline is traced in the cinders: this suggests that the temple may have served as an early royal crematorium. Coming closer to an end of the trip, we dragged ourselves to the top of the terrace to have the final view of the wonderful architectures.
After a simple lunch, we returned to the hotel for a shower to feel our skin on us once again. While gathering together and surfing online for dinner suggestion, we desired to try-out the award winning Damnak Lounge Fine Dining which is highly rated and recommended in the web but unfortunately this famous dining place was fully booked hence we opted for another well-known Khmer restaurant - Marum for a feast. On the menu, our eyes were captured by few of the exotic dishes featuring Red Tree Ants, Creamy Silk Worms and Duck Embryo but none of us have the courage or appetite to take on this challenge.
Never would I forget the ice-cream even when I am in a foreign land. Other than enjoying the fruit ice-cream sticks on the second night, we as well try-out the Blue Pumpkin dessert (4 spices, Khmer Fruit and I fail to remember the 3rd one!)
While strolling along the streets, we passed by the Fish Spa and were being offered an attractive package at USD$1 to enjoy the unlimited experience! Overcoming the tickling discomfort, I enjoyed very much my time with the fishes (but just hoping that they will still survive afterwards…)
13th December 2015 - Sunday
Crawling up early once again, we had our breakfast at 6.00am before departing to the airport. Cheers to the wonderful traveling mates making this trip a success and enjoyable + memorable one.
Some tips and advices:
- Never consider Cambodia as an inexpensive travelling destination.
- Be ready with small notes because almost everything and everywhere requires a minimum tips of USD$1.
- Most of the restaurants and massage centers comes with free wifi, hence it might not be necessary to purchase a local sim package unless if you are an extreme netizen. (The sim data package we bought at $5.00 for 5.5GB at the airport lasted only for one day and we felt cheated as we’ve seen the package promoting a 30 days validity period during the purchase)
- Do not expect anything luxury there as their highly rated 5 stars might turn out to be slighter than what you might have imagined.
- Think twice before you accept the task of becoming the treasurer in a group as it is not fun having the kids running after you during when you pulled out your wallet or purse to make any form of payment.
- Get yourself some salt & lemon candy as it helps you through the scorching days :)
It is again that time of the year to wrap up all sentiments to conclude, to count the blessings, to review the bucket list and to plan the next step. 
