The day finally came.
Our flight was scheduled at 2.50pm, and the time in Cambodia is an hour behind. So we were expected to touch down in Siem Reap at 4pm. Woohoo!! We "zhuan" 1 hr! Excitement was shortlived because I knew we would have lugi-ed 1 hr on our way back ultimately.
My dear's mum sent us off at the airport but before checking in, we ate a super delicious meal of chinese cuisine at Paradise Inn (Terminal 1). Every dish left a satisfying ring to our taste buds and particular mention has to go to their salted egg prawns.
Only 4 pieces, costs about $3-4 per piece, pretty expensive but definitely worth it! One of the best salted egg prawns I've had!! Service wasn't fantastic but the food compensates that.
We took Jetstar Airways again, even though I'm ashamed to say that I kinda made a vow not to set butt on it ever since my super-cramped-up experience on my return trip during the flight back from Taiwan in 2010. The way these budget planes are (assumptions), is that the more far behind you're seated (rear of plane), the less leg space you have. Will never forget that scene where I saw this pilot sitting near us during the return trip in 2010 where he was so still, so poised and seemed totally unaffected by the claustrophobic space (we knew he was the pilot from the way the air stewardess gave special attention to him and how he got many other special foods). Kudos to him.
This time round, we met a Cambodian lady by the name of Yulai (I think that's how her name is spelt). Spoke to her and enquired a little more about the country. She recommended this restaurant by the name of "Aha Aha" located in Old Market, Siem Reap which according to her serves super nice chicken dishes.
It was our first contact with a Cambodian on the plane where we learnt one of the most important words... "Aw khun" or "thank you". Can't really get the exact pronunciation of it since some locals pronounced it as "Hor kun" while others pronounced it as "Al Khun". Either way, as long as they understood, it was fine. Another Cambodian sentence you might wanna equip yourself might include, "Ah Thei Ah Kun" (learnt that from speaking to one of the staff from MotherHome Guesthouse - last day), "No, thank you."
My dear noticed that she was very well-off from the way she dressed up with all her LV stuff (clothes, ring, bracelet, shoes, bag) and she wore a ginormous ring. Don't think it pure diamond but I'm sure it costs a bomb as well. She was asking an air stewardess if she can put some meds (for her fren) into their fridge cos it needs to be kept cold. However, according to the air stewardess, there's isn't a fridge on the plane. I was skeptical but could understand her response to that request.
I don't believe they don't chill their beverages, and where does all the ice come from? But then again, you'll never know what you might be putting in your fridges. There's a risk of contamination. Anyways, thought I brought that up since it was that incident which started our conversation all the way till our destination.
When we finally touched down in Siem Reap airport, both of us were flabbergasted with how "unique" the airport was. Yulai made a very interesting comment, about how Siem Reap's airport is the totally opposite of Singapore's airport. Cambodia is a big country, but it's airports are small. While Singapore is a small country, it's airport is so huge.
It was there, where our first official contact, pun-intended as well, which backs my distasteful impression of Cambodians in general, took me aback. Where the customs officer was, there was a machine which reads your finger prints (pretty high tech if you ask me). You'll have to put your right four fingers on the scanner, followed by your thumb, followed by the same sequence by your other hand. Of course, I didn't know what to do initially. So he said "4 fingers" and pointed at the scanner.
Looking briefly at the "instructions" on the scanner, I followed suit. But after a while, he moved my hand to fit more snugly into the "capture region" (since my pink was out of the region). Then after which, I swore he raised his voice, "THUMB." "Hand" (pointing at my left hand). Though the simple instructions wouldn't have resulted in me being lost in translation, it was the "THUMB" which till today, rings as Cambodia's "welcome" to me.
We had to put our traveler's card (a card which we filled on the plane with all our details) into a basket in the open where there doesn't seem to be anyone guarding it. It feels even more lacx than a lucky draw box in Singapore. Scary if you ask me. All our particulars were in one grasp away from any Tom Dick and Harry passing by the basket... Geeeze...
An interesting fact, they call their duty free shops "Dufry". In-genious... Cute actually.
Side-track a little, a general observation I made, is that the toilets in Siem Reap used the pull down flush, while the toilets in Phnom Penh were fitted with the slightly more "advanced" mechanisms of the "half flush" and "full flush" buttons. Thought of that since the place to put the forms was very near to the first toilet we used in Cambodia.
There's actually quite a view at the airport, think there was a pond enclosed by the buildings (not sure if it was out of bounds) but we didn't waste much time checking the airport out. When we got to the exit, there we met our first "host" from Alliance Villa, Kimshay. Kim was the GM of Alliance Villa and he's this rather big-boned guy who would always wear a long sleeved shirt.
From there on, everything happened it a flash. He was holding a sign with my name, once he identified me, he helped carry our luggage and went straight to his Tuk Tuk. There, he lifted both our luggage and aligned them on the other side of the seats, with us sitting on the empty side. Didn't even notice him putting on his helmet, and before we knew it, we were on our way out of the airport and on route to our accom.
Roads were narrow, and we were very "exposed" to nature. There were many other Tuk Tuks, bicycles and even kids riding on bulls to "greet" us. Kim was going to bring us to see the sunset... but changed his mind after realising that the sky was pretty cloudy. So he brought us to get our 3 day Angkor pass at the ticket counter and said that we could still check out Angkor Wat and it wouldn't count as 1 day because of the time (about 5-ish). And that was where we went.
The sun sets around 5.30pm and rises around 5.30am everyday (Cambodian time). If you think about it, it's quite similar to Singapore, about 30 minutes difference if you factor in the 1 hr time difference.
Tickets costs $20 for a full day pass, $40 for a 3 day pass and I think $60-$80 for a week long pass. That's the 3 different kinds of passes you can get. For 2 full days, we were wondering what would have happened if we didn't get the passes, cos there seemed to be a road that bypasses the ticket counters. It would seem that if you don't buy the passes, you won't be able to enter the tourist spots. However, you'll still be able to see them from the entrances. This information is important because quite frankly, a 3 day pass is more than enough to check out the Angkor temples. As a matter of fact, we thought 2 full days was just right. It seems like a good deal to go for more days but I believe the locals themselves know that 2 days is just right so they simply whop in the 3rd day to bait you in.
So if you wanna save some $$$, a 1 day pass should enable you to check out the most famous complexes around the region (assuming that you make full use the timing from 5am - ~6pm depending on the temples). So after a day pass should you still decide to go check out the temples again, it's fine since you don't need to get in anymore. And the famous spot for viewing the sunset and sunrises at Angkor Wat isn't that fantastic afterall. You can merely do so at the riverbank which is at the start of the entrance to Angkor Wat which we thought was a good chill out place as well. There, you don't need a pass.
We proceeded as far as we could before the sun set. Where Kim dropped us off, it was a long stretch of road (you can look at it as the "main" road for the temple complexes), with the side being dirt grounds. There's a lot of Tuk Tuk drivers, buses and locals selling stuff and all ready to pounce on you when you alight your Tuk Tuk. Over there, the first sign of "entrepreneurship" - selling textbooks.
I did my homework before going there and knew how it would be done. Buying textbooks from one will lead to an endless cycle of kids running up to you to buy more and more. But in fact, the textbooks are not for them. It's a cover to reuse the selling materials over and over again to churn $$ without having to "sacrifice" anything. *grunt*.
Where we were, we could see Angkor Wat from a distance. It's like a good 300m walk, pass a pavement built over some waters, which we believed was a moat but for simplicity's sake will call it a river, enter some gate structure before reaching a fairly rocky path. Then it's another 200m to Angkor Wat temple itself. The river seemed to surround the entire Angkor Wat, but only after the subsequent days did we realise that the waters actually stopped somewhere. Ie. We thought the pavement was the only way into Angkor Wat, but I believe there's a backdoor to it.
The river waters wasn't all that clear, decently clean and there were lotsa ripples forming on the surface of the water. Initially I thought them to be mosquitoes, but entertained a less disturbing thought of them being schools of fishes. The latter hypothesis could be more true despite the prevalence of potential mosquito breeding habitats (a term commonly used in my present workplace, *hint hint*) because we didn't seem to be bitten by many mosquitoes over there. I believe that no matter how dirty or stagnant the water looked over different spots of the jungle, there's actually a vibrant ecosystem living in each one of them.
Back to the clean river waters. Despite it not being clear and the obvious sign of overgrown algae (due to the intensity of the "green" colors), the waters gave a gorgeous glow as it reflects off the surroundings in the dimming sunlight. Breathtaking view number 1. *Ka Chink*
Saw the first "Medusa" or the Naga Snakes as they call them. It's a structure of a good 7+ snakes shaped like a "Medusa's crown" (without a face) which you'll be able to see them around at most of the other temple complexes as well.
There's also very intricate and detailed carvings in the stone structures, especially at the entrances of most if not all temple complexes which vary in the depictions, I think. Most have what looked like bicycle spokes, and there's some of snakes which can "vomit" out anything under the sun. Gold and animals being two such examples. We knew of this by "eavesdropping" on a guide's explanation at one of the temples.
With regards to getting a guide, unless you want a wholesome history lesson and someone to constantly feed you tons and tons of details, I wouldn't recommend having one. Cos we unintentionally discovered that you can get these facts by "riding" on the guides from other tourists (diabolical woohoo!) without having to 1. pay for them (duh) and 2. compromise the "er ren shi jie". It's like little "Did you know" segments (2-3mins) and then still having the freedom to move around as you wished.
We explored deeper into Angkor Wat and came across a 4 identical bath-like compounds. According to one guide I think it's not a pool or bath but a place for collecting rain water. The place did however remind me of my experience in Bath (city in England) - the Roman baths. The air was stale and the silence started to sound pretty eerie.
There's a cross-junction-like pathway in the middle, where one pathway leads to a giant Buddha, and another to the main Angkor Wat "wings". It's 4 of the cone-like structures surrounding a centralised one (5 in total), the one in the center being elevated and from the frontage view you only get to see 3 of these structures.
Expect to see lotsa "rotational symmetrical" buildings/structures in Cambodia, inscriptions and carvings on stone walls, and expect to climb lotsa extremely steep steps. In one photograph, you get to see a tourist taking photos from one of the "wing" structures of Angkor Wat and it's actually a restricted area. We didn't know about it only until our 3rd day where we realised the steps leading up were actually cordoned off.
That day, one of the guards actually said we can go up there if we paid him $10. It was preposterous! I thought to myself, why do I have to pay him $10 if it's free? Just because it's closing time? That was why we thought we could go up on our 3rd day back. Anyways, I thought it wasn't worth it. 1/4 the price of our 3 day pass. Even if it's restricted, I'm not that "gian" to go up there.
And this was one of the ways the locals will try to earn a quick buck from you even from legitimate occupations. It wasn't long before the entire place warned of pitch darkness and don't expect any lights in any of the temples because everything's pretty "budget" over there. And of course, to preserve the modesty of the structures. And that was where our torch came in handy.
The night was still young, so Kim brought us to a restaurant where we could have a buffet dinner for just $12/pax and it's inclusive of an Aspara performance. I thought to myself, that sounded reasonable. A buffet dinner will allow us to try out the local cuisines and the performance will open the doorway for us to better understand their culture. I was dead wrong.
Buffet dinner didn't include drinks, so you'll have to buy them separately, at about $1.50 (softdrinks)-$2 (coconuts/smoothies/shakes/juices). The place we went to was Angkor Mondial Restaurant. It wasn't until our last day in Cambodia that we realised we were kinda ripped off (could get the same package for $8). Food wasn't fantastic and the view of our seats was horrible. There were pillars blocking our view when the performance started, which was on a stage in front of the dining area.
Quite frankly, Aspara dances were too acquired for me. It was similar to a Ge Tai, abstract, few dialogues, lotsa dancing and playing of musical instruments and a storyline pretty difficult to grasp without any prior-knowledge. I only know vaguely about a love triangle and some monkey-like being (very famous "monkey-god" mask) trying to woo the princess? perhaps? I'm sure if you're really interested you can read it online. Kinda feels like a Traditional Thai dance as well...
There was a photo-taking session after and some Americans actually gave additional tips to the performers. Be prepared to do so too because you either "lose face" over there or "gain faces" if you don't ("gain" unhappy faces from the locals). I believe they did so because they were part of a package tour and the dinner was included. When we were there, almost 7/8 of the restaurant had reserved tables for different tour groups. Even though we planned for a free and easy tour, we ended up being like in a guided tour. Which was one of the factors which pissed me off.
My dear managed to stealthily "hopped" onto the stage and I took a shot of her with the "monkey" lead. Out of all the beautiful gals, she chose a guy... *tsk* (fake jealousy cos I knew my dear didn't wanna steal the limelight) ^^
That was our final stop before we finally checked into our accom where we regenerated ourselves in preparation for an exploration of a lifetime! (a slight exaggeration but there's indeed some justice to what I've said)
Before we turned in for the night, we made an arrangement with Kim to engage him for the next 3 days, $20 a day (basically the service of a personal Tuk Tuk driver) to bring us around Angkor. He said that it would comprise of exploring the temple complexes, a sunrise, a sunset and to Tonle Sap. It seems that he had a "fixed" itinerary in his mind and if we were to veer away from it, extra cost might be needed (in the form of tips) or even upfront costs if the places were very far apart (Eg. Beng Melea, which I would talk about later on). And fyi, if Cambodians say $20 for a full day, they don't actually mean "whole day". It means 8-9am till 5-6pm (from what I learnt in Phnom Penh).
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