both of us dragged ourselves outta bed on 19th June admist the darkness that still looms outside to witness this very sight.
It was a breath-taking sight!
look! we are not the only ones when we reached! It's pratically a gathering of all tourists in Angkor Wat!
John, our guide, told us that the best time to view the sun rise is on 21st March and in September (Sorry folks, i forgot the exact date!) because the big orange sun will rise right behind the main tower of Angkor Wat. I hope I have the chance to watch the magnificient sun rise again ~ *hint hint*
The colours of the sky changes as the sun risen~ pretty!
The sun rise kids!
Angkor Wat reflection in the pond.
After our sun rise session, we continued on with more touring of Angkor before proceeding with our hearty breakfast opp Angkor.
Anyway, something worth mentioning~ my ah dear got 1 weakness~ hee
when we went for breakfast at this local eatery, there's particular mongrel reared by the owner kept looking at my ah dear and his breakfast with his puppy dopey eyes. But ah dear was however, not tingled by its pleading eyes...instead he was totally freaked out! yup hee, he's scared of Dogs la~ but only stray dogs or dogs he themed as strays (aka Big Dogs or mongrels) He was so scared that he called John for help, built a chair fortress around him, to fend off the doggie's "Harrasement" hee. so cute~
so for the rest of the trip, I have to keep a lookout for doggies, and pull him to my side, behind me, to protect him from the doggies. Ain't I sweet? :D
anyway, back to the 2nd day~~
Our guide drove us to the countryside to bring us to another temple, Bantrey Seri. But before that, we went for our toilet break~ In Angkore Archealogical Park, park visitors get access to a pretty nice outdoor concept toilet by showing our Angkor Pass!
The toilet is in the middle of a big pond~ lovely~~
anyway here's our destination! Bantrey Seri! It's built with lovely pink limestones/granites. It's older than Angkor Wat and it's a temple dedicated to Shiva, a Hindu god.
I love this temple. It looks small and simple on the outiside but it's full of treasures inside. Look!
I saw a lot of kids playing around the ruins, so it's kinda like their playground.
ah minz took a pic of one of them~~ :)
Before I left, I saw a drawing on the sandy ground by a little girl using a tree branch. It was a drawing of two dancing Asparas. It was exactly like those that decorates the walls of the ruins. It was really lovely. Too bad that I was so taken away by the beauty of the simple sand drawing that I forgot to take a photo!
We went for more temple visiting~
these lovely columns decorates the temple and still remain intact and retained its lovely colours of the ancient times.
The only elephant left standing to guard East Barrey.
Me and the towers of East Barrey
a grand papa selling small Buddha statues and self-entertaining with his er-hu lookalike.
my ah dear - the tomb visitor
Exhausted and hungry us, were brought back to Siem Reap's town, Pub Street (the most happening 100m street in Siem Reap) for lunch.
Pub Street
after lunch, we went to visit another temple (which i forgot the name), which is built to honour the King's late father.
this is the stupa that suppose to contain the remains of the Late Father
after our last temple, John drove us to a hill opp Angkor Wat, Phrom Bakeng, for our sunset viewing! Little did we realised that we got to climb up a steep slope with stones, and tree roots as "steps". We were panting and sweating like mad when we reached the top. But we were slapped in the face again, when our guide pointed to what was in front of us. Steep. narrow steps that ascend up the temple, which is our sunset viewing venue. *ah bish* more climbing...ah-ma xian is really not prepared for such exercise. After a few minutes rest, tadah!
I feel like a rock climber after all these temple climbing. heh
the tired ah dear waiting for the sunset
I'm the king of the jungle!
Finally, the much awaited sunset
oh ya, this is the temple. look behind me! the steps behind me are basically really steep and narrow that you can only stepped using the side of ya sole....scary scary as I was descending down :( *phewz*
This day marked the last day of our stay in Siem Reap. We ended our day with a lovely Khmer dinner at Khmer Kitchen around Pub Street area, which is our fav restaurant! We were a bit sad that we only discover this on the last day! If anyone is going, please ask me for directions or simply grab a copy of Lonely Planet, that is overly available in Siem Reap. I love the simple ambience there. I feel like I'm in the 60s!
Khmer food is close to Thai food. There's this dish on the nemu called "Fried Morning glory". Being adventurous, we ordered that. Out came a plate of similiar fried vegetables. It's actually KangKong! heehee. Like the way they fry it yumyum!
Some thoughts:
- Cambodia is really a pretty country. It's sad that its people have to go through the cruelty of war and unrest. John told us that the country is facing manpower shortage due to war. but at the same time, they are also introducing family planning to prevent families getting too large and unable to feed them.
- We also saw alot of kids pestering to sell things to tourists. I only bought postcards from them. very cheap USD 1 for a stack! but I regreted not buying scarfs from this little girl who keeps pestering to buy. Sorry girl girl.
- I was pretty disturbed by a sight when I was eating at Khmer Kitchen. A mother was carrying a baby begging outside the eatery. I made up my mind to give her some $ after my dinner. But she returned home for the day when we finished our dinner that day.
- I was chased after by a smoking beggar when I wanted to transfer some money from my pocket to my wallet right in front of him. mistake. he tot I was going to give him some change. Min nudged me said that he's a smoker, if he got money, he will but ciggs instead of food for the children. When we jumped into the car, I was frightened by the sight of the beggar when he knocked on my window! But we ignored him and drove away.
- I asked John,"do the local kids have to attend school?" 'cos it's a Monday and I see children around in town selling things. He explained that some families cannot afford school for the children as their families need the kids to help out in the paddy fields and also, even though schools are free, there are tuition fees that need to be paid to the teachers.
Nevetheless, I love this country. I hope the country will prosper and bring its people out of poverty.
