Templing in Siem Reap

It was the last day of our semi-Indochina trip and we did save the best for last. It was easy to decide which place to go in Siem Reap and it was no other than Angkor Wat. Coming from Ho Chi Minh by bus, we arrived at 10pm from our 14-hour trip. I previously booked a hostel called Topsky and the location was very convenient and walking distance to the night market (more on that later). It was relatively new and they had spacious rooms so do check them out in hostelbookers.com. They also allowed backpackers to work part-time in exchange of discounted price for accommodation. At least that;s what the Caucasian guy told me when I asked why he was carrying our bags to our room.

Next day, we started off with a really great breakfast. Sumptuous pancakes for only $2.00, mueslix with yogurt and fruit plate ($3.00), and semi-sweet, semi-hot chicken curry ($2.00). Their lemon ice tea was cheap too for only $1.00. We indulged in breakfast while waiting for our tuktuk driver to pick us up. We had a deal with Vantha, the one who brought us to the hostel but it was his brother-in-law SokChan who showed up. Well we didn't complain since he was good in English.


So we headed to the Angkor Wat main entrance to buy the tickets. For one day it was $20 each while $40 was for 1-week pass. I was surprised they took a picture of us individually and was printed on our tickets. For verification, I guess.

Sokchan showed us a map of the whole Angkor Wat and it was a huge area. We were only there for a day so he chose the temples which was most convenient given the limited time. We did mention we wanted to see the sunset so he suggested the route and schedule so we could get a good spot for the sunset viewing. Okay so here are the temples we visited by order of visit:

Our 8 temple stops in Angkor Wat

1. Banteay Kdei
    It was the first temple we visited so we were still eagerly exploring every nook and cranny. And it was a good starter as there were few people coming in.


2. Ta Phrom
  Lots of tourists here. It was an iconic temple because of the Tomb Raider movie. Also, it was famous because of the tree that sprouted over the temple. There were a lot of good detailed carvings too.

Elegant detailed carvings		The famous tree of Ta Phrom
	This is only one side of the Ta Phrom temple

Angkor Thom was the biggest area where the Phimeanakas, Terrace of the Elephants, Baphuon and Bayon temples were "housed" within its walls. It spans 9 sq. km

3. & 4. The Elephant terrace was the facade to the Phimeanakas and the Royal Palace area.

The elephant terrace (Photo by: Kryssa Balangcod)

Facade of the Royal Palace Area (Photo by: Kryssa Balangcod)

5. Baphoun
  My sister and I climbed up steep steps to see the breathtaking view. It sure did not disappoint. Going down was harder though.According to the brochure, it was built dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva.

Photo by: Kryssa Balangcod

Baphuon temple became an instant favorite

6. Bayon temple
  From the brochure, it is one of the largest Mahayana Buddhist temples in the Angkor complex. I was initially fascinated by it because of the head carvings on the structures.

Photo by: Kryssa Balangcod

Photo by: Kryssa Balangcod

7. Angkor Wat temple
The most popular and I think had the farthest path to walk to get to, it was really amazing to see the Angkor Wat with your own eyes.

Photo by: Kryssa Balangcod

Photo by: Kryssa Balangcod

8. Phnom Bakheng Hill
 We had to walk about 15 minutes uphill to get to the temple. We were there around 4pm to avoid the crowd (thanks to our driver Sokchan) and was able to get a good spot to view the sunset. It was another breathtaking scene.

Photo by: Kryssa Balangcod

Finally, ended the day at the Pub Street in time for the night market. Had dinner at this restaurant that served grilled food. (Wasn't able to take note of the name of the place) I ordered their Khmer dessert, an array of the local desserts. The ingredients were sweet potato, banana and coconut and other stuff and they were all delicious.

We were able to try Amok restaurant the next night and tasted authentic Khmer food. Full of flavor and spices, we had a great Khmer degustation!

There were still a lot of things we were not able to see, lots of temples we hadn't visited and things we hadn't tried. Definitely will come back again.

8 Things to do in Ho Chi Minh on Christmas Day

There's a lot of the festive mood in Ho Chi Minh  on Christmas day, which came as a surprise, especially on Christmas eve. Here are some things to try and do especially if you are avoiding the holiday crowd.

1. Stroll along Pham Ngu Lao Street “Backpacker’s street”

There’s a good number of foreigners all scattered along the road in high spirits, its hard not to catch the holiday bug with their loud chattering and singing along the street pubs enjoying a mug or two of Saigon’s beer.

Vietnam sure has got some aggressive drivers

Important Note: Vietnam drivers are very aggressive. Do be careful when crossing the roads.

2. Buy a Christmas card

Forgot to send a greeting to someone at home? There are a lot of pop-up cards sold on the street and some other Christmas sweets too. And speaking of sweets…

3. Eat a Christmas log cake. (Must try!)

The traditional Vietnam Christmas log cake is a must for every Christmas dinner. You just cannot resist with its joyful décor and not so sweet filling, it is one of the best dessert you can have in Vietnam.

Traditional vietnam Christmas log cake

4. Visit the War Remnant Museum

If you’re more of absorbing history, then the War Museum is a place to go. It showcases photos and relics from the Vietnam War. There are galleries for during and post the war and the horrible effects of the agent orange.

5. Eat some pho (pronounced as fur)

This oh-so-good-and-so-nutritious noodle soup topped with oh-so-lots of vegetables is one of the things you should have before leaving Vietnam. Plus they also give you a basket more of raw leafy veggies to add to your already veggie-filled soup.

Yummy Pho!

6. Have mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral.

A red-bricked cathedral at walking distance of the war museum, it was one structure to behold. If you do intend to have mass on Christmas day, do go there early as it closes at 11am.

The majestic Notre Dame Cathedral

7. Drop by the Post Office too!

Just across the Notre Dame Cathedral is the Post office, one of the tourist spots because of the architecture design of the building. It was in renovation when we visited but the interior was left untouched.

8. Shop at Ben Thanh Market

What is Christmas without gifts! Have your holiday shopping not at the expensive malls but at the Ben Thanh market where you can have a huge array of choices from clothes to souvenir items to food.

While you’re in there, try their refreshing drinks/dessert of Chendol, Lychee or Passion Fruit.

A day in Phnom Penh

Second destination was Phnom Penh and it was a long ride by bus from Bangkok. It really was a stroke of luck that the place we were dropped off was just beside the hostel I booked via hostelbookers.com. When we got off the bus, some tuktuk drivers were swarming over us asking where we would like to go. I fumbled in my bag for the address of the hostel and lo! there it was. Riverwalk Guesthouse and we were standing just outside it.
The driver (a bit drunk) laughed a bit and pointed at the signage and said "Aaaahh!"

tuktuk

We had to go inside an alley where you would have to go up a narrow metal winding staircase. (Note: If you plan to stay here, better have a light luggage). It was already 11:30 pm and good thing the receptionist heard us and was at the door when we knocked once. I showed her our reservation and she said that it was already occupied. So the only option was to upgrade to a larger room but we would have to pay extra. The rooms she showed us was pretty spacious and we were already too tired to argue.

When we settled in the room, we saw the sign on the window saying we should not open the window because of monkeys. Wow, that got me excited. I wondered where monkeys would come from. The view from the window was rooftops and a partial view of a river. It was a pretty comfortable room which made initial disappointment dissipate a bit.

monkeys!

The next morning, we planned out the day and decided to go to three places: Killing Fields, the Royal Palace and the Central Market. As we got out of the guesthouse, tuktuk drivers were outside asking us if we would like to take a tour. We said "later". Then there was one persistent among them who really followed us to where we ate breakfast which was at a nearby restaurant. He actually waited for us until we finished and got out of the restaurant.

breakfast of noodle soup and iced coffee $2.00 and $0.75 respectively

And so we decided to hire him. His name was Nat. We bargained for $20 for the three locations. He agreed.

Choeung Ek Genocidal Center or more known as the Killing Fields:

From Snagkat Wat Phnom, we had a really dusty ride to the Killing Fields. Road construction was ongoing and riding a tuktuk was, well, pretty much like riding a car with no ceiling and no doors. Nat was very considerate enough to buy us face mask for the trip.  Below are some of the pictures I took of the construction.


It took us almost half an hour to get there and it was not quite what I was expecting. We entered a compound with what looked like a temple which stood at the center. We later found out it was called the Memorial Stupa where the remains of the victims of the Genocide was preserved. We bought tickets at the booth found at the rights side of the entrance. Tickets were at $13 each. You need to tell what language you prefer as it turned out to be a guided audio tour. There were signs where you have to stop and listen to the story from the audio. Apparently, the audio tour was set to minimize the noise since it was one of the actual location where the mass massacre took place back in 1975-1979 under the Khmer Rouge headed by Pol Pot.

Memorial Stupa

Bracelets left by visitors which I think their way of showing sympathy

It was a saddening story to hear. All the tragedies of the people who survived and witnessed the massacres. The worst of them all was the massacre that happened upon what they called the killing tree. It was the tree where they killed babies by throwing them against it. I felt a lump in my throat hearing about the event that took place there. It was heartbreaking just listening to the story describing it. How can people be so heartless?

Killing tree where babies were massacred

The place seemed to echo the past as the strong breeze continuously blew making the trees brush against each other as if almost consoling one another. The place looked almost at peace now with grasses growing on the mass graves and the lake within enveloping the souls that were buried there.
I am glad they were able to preserve the place and making it a tourist spot at the same time. The world needs to know about that massacre.

alongside the lake 

even the lake looks sorrowful

Royal Palace:

Nat took us there at the entrance of the Royal Palace. From outside, it looked really huge. And from what we can see from the outside, it looked even larger inside. However, we didn't opt to go in as we didn't had enough time. We decided to spend more time at the market. So we looked for Nat at the area where he said he will be waiting. Took us about 30 minutes though, because we couldn't find him. Luckily, there was a park nearby where we took time to explore a bit.

The Royal Palace' facade

At one side of the Royal Palace

a glimpse inside

the nearby park

Central Market:

This was the last stop so we paid Nat and thanked him for his service. His English was not very good but we really felt his sincerity by taking care of us.

The Central Market was a huge market and of course, souvenirs was what we looked for. Again, you can do bargaining and they can really give you a low price if you're pretty insistent.

Some market stills..

Along the way, I just could not help but notice the numerous restaurants and bars serving Angkor beer. Hmmm... that got me curious.

Not sure if this is the same Angkor

Here's one Angkor

And more Angkor...

Dinner was at this mexican restaurant we saw along our way to Sisowath Quay. We asked the friendly waiter if we were far from the Quay and he said yes. So we didn't pursue the Quay and just had dinner there. And as I mentioned earlier, I was curious of the Angkor beer, so...

Cheers!

In summary, for a one day trip in Phnom Penh you can go to:

1. Choeung Ek Genocidal Center for some history
2. Royal Palace for some temple appreciation
3. Central Market
and if you live in Wat Phnom area, you can also visit the Wat Phnom temple where the name Phnom Penh originated.