Slowcatchupkuan - Part 111
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Jalan Jalan Cari Makan in Siem Reap…Syok!

Posted on by slowcatchupkuan

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18th July 2007
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The agency’s bus was our main means of transit in Siem Reap for the past few days. On the last day, we figured we should at least check out the town on foot by ourselves. First, we hitched a tuk-tuk to Central Market (New Market) *woo hoo!
 

street
Central Market area
 

There was nothing much in the Central Market that you could not find in the Old Market. Most of the trinkets selling in both places were similar. But surprisingly, the stuffs in Central Market were much cheaper than in the Old Market. We thought things in the Old Market (emphasizes on the word ‘OLD’) should be cheaper. *kena con again -_-”.

EatAllYouCanShung managed to get a great bargain though. He got for himself a beautiful oil painting of Angkor Wat for a mere price of USD18. The seller quoted it for USD65 initially! Thanks to me *wakaka we had it at such good price. (I suspect we can bargain for an even lower price. Maybe as low as USD10).

They have beautiful paintings, especially oil paintings. Great as mementos.
 

rowofstallsshops
Pics of the Central Market…looks alot like the Old Market right?
 

There’s a food court within the New Market. The food wasn’t bad and the price was reasonable. *can’t remember how much was it lar.
 

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Decided to check out those nice looking cafes or coffee houses but guess what?? We got lost! I don’t understand how we could have gotten lost in a tiny winy town like that *@_@ So idiotic. We didn’t have a map with us either. Geez… Went in circles. Locals stared at us clowns, watching our blurpot faces. We kept on returning to the same damn place. *smacks forehead
 

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Finally, found a so-so Cambodian style cafe. Cambodia beer is really good and were ridiculously cheap …USD0.50 per can *OMG!! How cool is that?! My personal favs are Angkor Beer and Beer Lao.

Late noon is the best time to explore the town. That’s when it wasn’t that hot and humid. That’s when the town comes to life.

There were many mini mobile hawkers selling local snacks and such. They made rounds around the town looking for tourists.

maggiseller
Mobile stall selling Cambodia instant noodle
 

I had the best instant noodle i’ve ever had! I’m not exaggerating. Tad too spicy but reeeaaal goooood!! *yummy
 

cambodiamaggi
The best instant noodle ever!
 

Nanpuchai is something like a flat dumpling with veges as stuffing. *tasty stuff! Comes with some ‘watery’ chili sauce or something. Sweet and spicy :)
 

nanpuchaisellernanpuchai
MicrophoneChiang learning to cook
 

yummy
Come join me

nanpuchai2
Oooo… mouth watering
 

closeup
Last bite
 

There were something like ‘mamak’ stalls there too. *wakaka. Some we tried but some we did not coz those could also be found in Malaysia.

CRAP WE ATE:

This tastes like the daikon cake (white radish) or ‘lo bak gou’ in Malaysia but not as sweet. It’s quite small in size (as big as an egg only). To deep in chili sauce before eating :)
 

lobakgou
Cambodia ‘lo bak gou’
 

egg3
White-duck egg & brown-chicken egg
 

Ahh… The popular chicken eggs in Cambodia. The yolk had already been drained out from the egg. Inside, were inserted pepper and other spices before roasting. The texture and taste is like our ‘agar agar’ sprinkled with salt and pepper.
 

egg2
Eggy roasting in the sun
 

Ooooh … If you ever go to Cambodia, this is a must-try! A very very popular snack in Cambodia. It’s called ‘balut’. It’s fertilized duck egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. *damn gross! I think this delicacy could be found in most South East Asia except in Malaysia.

It’s good to go with salt, pepper and lime. If you’re lucky (should i say unlucky), the embryo would have begun to form a real chick in the shell. Imagine eating a dead baby duck … with feathers, beak and all… *ewww! Once you peel off the shell you can actually see the blood veins vessels *+_+!
 

babyduckbabyduck2
The famous ‘balut’. See the feathers and blood vessels.
 

Well you see, #*@!FoulJoe dared everyone to eat it. We looked high and low for these babies! (no pun intended) He didn’t eat it but his face expression was priceless! *wakaka

I can’t really describe the taste of ‘balut’ but i for your info, none of us who tasted barf or got sick after eating. You have to try it for yourself :P

CRAP WE DIDN’T EAT:
 

frenchbread
Something like rojak
 

pau
Pau!
 

roastchicken
Roasted chicken
 

We found quite alot of interestingly named restaurants. To name a few, ‘Angkor What?’, ‘Dead Fish Tower’ …even ‘Kamasutra’! *cheeky!
 

kamasutra
Kamasutra????
 

warehouse
Warehouse here doesn’t sell clothes…sell food lar
 

 

nightgals
Lunatics roaming the streets
 

nightvision
Happening pub
 

Dinner at a local diner was fun and satisfying. Some food worth a mention are the ‘Mexican Cheese Chicken’, ‘Coconut Rice with Fish’, ‘Cambodia Steak’ and ‘Cambodia styled Curry’. Good stuffs. I especially liked the Mexican chicken dish and coconut rice. *thumbs up! For curry fans out there, i have to warn that the curry in Cambodia is not really spicy but sweet and a lil’ bland. Oh, well everyone else liked it, so…
 

lastdinner
Last dinner in Cambodia :(
 

Our last stop at the Night Market. The market was very difficult to find and the alley heading towards it had no lampposts. Extremely dark and very dangerous. Best to check it out in large groups.

The Night Market was nicely furnished. Very tropical like and classy. Same old junks but were more expensive though.
 

nightmarket
Night market
 
 

**** ——- ****
Note:
All nice pics taken with my Panasonic Lumix F8, the not so nice pics are courtesy of other PigDog Klan* members :P

 
 

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Shopping in Siem Reap

Posted on by slowcatchupkuan

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17th July 2007 (still)
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You could get around town by foot, bicycles *there were many for rental, or by tuk-tuk . Always bargain with the tuk-tuk drivers for a cheaper rate. They asked for USD3 per tuk-tuk but we managed to get it for USD1.50. If you’re really good, you can get the ride for USD1 only (we found out later).

Oh yeah, the drivers didn’t seemed to understand ‘one fifty’ as in USD1.50. We had to tell them ‘one and a half’ instead.
 

tuktuk
Tuk-tuk in Cambodia
 

The Old Market is at the south of town. Quite a happening place where we found stalls selling souvenirs and other tourist junk. To name a few, there were miniature wood/stone carvings, silk shawls, paintings, bags, gems *not sure if it’s genuine though, etc… Things there were not as cheap as those sold by peddlers around the temples vicinities but there were more varieties.
 

oldmarket3
From old market..nice hor?
 

Do bargain with the sellers for the best price. You can lower it down by at less 70%-80% of the quoted price. Oh, and you can get a better bargain if you buy in bulks of more than 3-5 pieces of each item.

Most sellers speaks Chinese and since PigDog Klan* had MicrophoneChiang as out trusty negotiator, we had no problem getting around *very talented negotiator, he is :p.

I managed to get 5 pieces of shawls for USD1.50 each and 2 Tshirts as souvenir for USD2 each. SweetToothTim, SnapMe!Eve and BigSistaJune bought some gem bracelets. Many stalls sell gems around there. Many varieties in many sizes.
 

pigdoginmarket
Members of PigDog Klan* with pretty local seller (in black)
 

Most of the stalls sell similar stuffs but the price varies. So, it’s best to go around the whole market for a survey of price.

Talking bout surveys, EatAllYouCanShung got conned the day before. He bought 2 books *bookworm! from the peddlers at the temples for USD14 *so cheap hor? kena con got lar … We found out later that some other peddlers selling one of the books for only USD1 ! *whacks head So, do survey first before buying.
 

oldmarket2
Small wet market inside the old market
 

wetmarket
Come get it! Come get it! Fresh veges for ssaaaalllleeee!!
 

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PuppyEyes bought us to another souvenir shop before we went to Old Market. I forgot the name *sorry. You need to get visitors passes (FOC) to get in. The stuffs there were super expensive. Not a good idea to go to those big modern shop lots or souvenir shops.
 

souvenirshop
PigDog Klan* and PuppyEyes (in middle) smiling like idiots in front of souvenir shop.
 

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Next stop Cambodia Cultural Village. This park was well built and maintained. Within the village, there was a small wax museum and alot of miniature monuments. Here is a chance for tourists like us to watch dance shows telling about Cambodian cultures.

Admission fee is USD9 per person and additional USD5 to hire a guide. Ours are free :P
 

lost
Just behind you my dears
 

sorealanimal
Wax museum
 

bigsista
BigSistaJune caught in the act
 

weapon
Noooo…errr…i’m not trying to steal it…er..
 

I found the museum a tad too boring for me. Nevertheless, it’s a great place to learn about Cambodia’s history.
 

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It started to rain again. Instead of exploring by foot we took a ride on the Electric Tour Cars.
 

raining
Monks running in the rain
 

slipper
See my trusty pasar malam slippers :P
 

There were cute miniature monuments all over the place. Nicely built, great for taking photographs.
 

miniatureminiatureface
Miniature Cambodia Royal Palace and Bayon temple
 

tall
Druglaw: I’ve got stacks of weeds at home…bout this tall
 

sleepingbuddha
Sleeping Buddha ZZzzZZZZzzzzz….
 

waterfall
Small waterfall! Nice!
 

Oops! What’s these doing there????
 

gorillasuperman
See the difference?? Nope. Me neither…
 

We went for 3 cultural dance performances that day. Loads of people there. There were locals watching the shows too but mostly tourists like us.

The narration during the shows were in 3 different languages. Japanese, Chinese and Khmer…. *why no English??!!

Err… the cultural dance shows were bit boring too. *yawn. Except for the last performance :)
 

show
 

The final skit told us about Cambodian traditional wedding ceremony. They even invited an audience to act as the bridegroom! *wakaka My favourite character in the show is the stooge in traditional Chinese costume. He plays one of the 3 suitors. He was so damn funny!

Very enjoyable show.
 

funnyman
Comedy in the making
 

beautifulsky
Heavenly sky outside the village
 

ferris
Nope it’s not a ferris wheel
 
 

**** ——- ****
Note: All nice pics taken with my Panasonic Lumix F8, the not so nice pics are courtesy of other PigDog Klan* members :P

 
 

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Tonle Sap…Lake or Sea?? +_+

Posted on by slowcatchupkuan

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17th July 2007
==========
 

If you’re in Cambodia, don’t miss out on a visit to Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.

Reasons not to miss it:

1) Because it’s really large.
*there was a point where we couldn’t see land. It’s that big!
2) Because you get to ride a boat!
*what?! i love boat rides lar!

3) Because you can see Chong Khneas Village, the floating village.
*there’s even a school and church floating on the lake!
4) Because you get to see the lifestyle of poor locals living within the vicinity *small kids on ‘sampan’ chasing after boats to sell bananas :(
5) Because you get to learn about appreciation
*floating wooden shacks not bigger than a tiny bedroom makes out their entire living quarters….
6) Because you get to learn about sanitation
*locals cook with water from the lake, bath with it, wash cloths with it …i don’t know if they do pee pee and shit there too…
7) Because you get to learn about agriculture
*locals fishing and.. breeding pigs and chickens on the lake..gulp
 

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The road adjoining Siem Reap town and Tonle Sap Lake was in poor condition. The living conditions here were extremely terrible to say the least. Tiny wooden shacks belonging to locals decorates the landscape. You could see naked kids running here and there.
 

roadtotonle
Run down wooden shack along the road…so small…
 

Boats were ready to be rented at Tourist Boat Arrangement Centre for i think USD10 per person. Again our ride was included in the travel package :) *yay!
 

tonleboats
Small size boats for rental
 

youngcrew
Our little hero, looking out for our safety on the boat
 

floatingvillage
Floating Village.. living quarters are built on ‘sampan’
 

It was my first time seeing a community living on water. The water from the lake was extremely muddy. The locals used it to bath, wash, cook… basically everthing… *we saw a small girl squatting outside her home, washing plate using the lake water … Very poor hygiene…
 

noland
Where’s the land?…only got muddy lake water @_@
 

skoolattonle
Fancy a ride to school?
 

tonlechurch
Or to church?
 

The boat ride brought us to something like a floating seafood restaurant. Once we reached the jetty, a handful of locals, mostly kids tried to sell us stuffs (especially bananas). *don’t but anything or everyone will be chasing you to buy after that! It was really difficult to say no coz they looked so pitiful…

On board there were stalls selling souvenirs and crafts. *so expensive compare to those we saw near the temple complex..almost double the price!
 

smallworker
They are coming! Run! Run!
 

crocs
Guess what’s hidden beneath the restaurant? Crocs!
 

Did i tell you there were crocodiles beneath the restaurant? I think they breed them. Might be on the menu :P
 

snakes
Look at me! Roasted by the sun..skin so red…look at me lar not the snake
 

There was a little girl bout 7 years old or so carrying a big python on her shoulders. She was trying to persuade tourists on board to take pictures with the snake so she could make some $. It didn’t matter how much you paid her as long as you do after taking the photos. Some Japanese tourists obviously didn’t understand that *they didn’t pay her… so bad… she look so sad… :(
 

basinboy
What a cool ride!
 

What did we learned from all this place?… One word. The word is HUMILITY.
 
 

**** ——- ****
Note:
All nice pics taken with my Panasonic Lumix F8, the not so nice pics are courtesy of other PigDog Klan* members :P

 
 

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Strolling in Wonderland..lalala

Posted on by slowcatchupkuan

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16th July 2007 (still)
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Ta Prohm is located 1km east of Angkor Thom. Yup, it’s not in Angkor Thom.

Ta Prohm is the best known temple uncovered from the jungle. So there were lots of gigantic trees covering the area. Magnificent silk-cotton tree and strangler fig trees (i suspect it’s named as such because the trees were so huge they looked like they were strangling the building) are growing out of the ruins. The atmosphere at Ta Prohm was eerily romantic and touching. Few scenes from Tomb Raider were shot here. Imagine how stunning it looked…

Photographers love this site. I personally love this site…

I took damn lotsa photos here..here are just a few *wish i could post more… It literally took my breath away
 

bridgetaprohm
Heading towards Ta Prohm
 

green
Stunning temple covered in moss
 

tp1
Tree strucked
 

tp2
Green rubbles
 

tp3
I guess this is the strangler fig tree ya
 

tp4
I think this is the silk-cotton tree..not sure
 

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Finally Angkor Wat. Located six kilometers north of Siem Reap. Angkor Wat is one of the largest of Khmer monuments. It was built as a state temple and capital city, around the first half of 12th century. It took about 40 years or so to built it *keng! A proud symbol of Cambodia, it’s even on their national flag.
 

cambodiaflag
Cambodia’s Flag..In the middle is Angkor Wat
 

By the time we went back to the bus to head to Angkor Wat, it was drizzling. Nevertheless, the sight of the building for the first time was overwhelming. Again i couldn’t help but wonder, how anyone could have built this with just bare hands and old fashion tools.

Visiting the gorgeous temple during such weather has it’s ups. It makes you “feel the moment” even more. Nostalgic… *sings Negaraku :P

We entered from the west entrance. We were supplied with umbrellas but EatAllYouCanShung and myself ‘act hero’ lar didn’t want the umbrella. Konon wanted to take everything in al’naturel *wakaka
 

awatentrance
West gopura… see the blue dinosaur doing reconstruction
 

awatmoat
Angkor Wat surrounded my moat
 

We could catch a glimpse of the temple and its reflection in the water!
 

awat
Gorgeous Angkor Wat in the rain
 

awatgreenery
View of the entrance gopura from inside…nice
 

awatlibrary
Library…got porn?
 

awatarea
Going in
 

a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/12274231@N02/1277639547/” title=”Photo Sharing”>awatcentertower
Going going…
 

Inside we reached the starting point of the famous bas reliefs depicting scenes from various mythological stories and historic events. We came across scenes carves on each walls where each wall depicts scenes from battle of Ramayana *i like, coz got lot of elephants, battle of Mahabharata, army of Suryavarman II, scenes from judgment by Yama, churning of ocean milk by demons and gods to get the nectar of immortality *this story is very popular. I think i’d heard it thousand and one times already, Vishnu’s victory over demons, victory of Krishna over Bana and other scenes of battle between gods and demons.<

*so damn grand man

Other than that, there were other details of Khmer carvings. Much of the building had been ruined by the weather and environment. Some part of the roof was leaking. It’s a painstaking process to re-construct and preserve this baby…
 

awatgallery
Walls with battle scenes
 

awatcouple
An old couple in Angkor…i love this pic!
 

lionarse
#*@!FoulJoe making magic…now you see the hole…now you don’t! Geez!
 

center
Angkor Wat Central Tower…O_o so tall
 

towardcentre
Gulp….
 

To get to the top of the central courtyard, we had to climb up the steep steep steps of the central tower. *almost 70 degrees! There was an alternative way up on the south which was less dangerous coz the steps at that end had been fitted with a handrail. Rumours has it that long time ago there was an angmoh who accidentally fell to her death climbing up. That’s before they fixed the rail (we learnt that later after we had descended!)

***

The PigDog Klan* were feeling adventurous and with “donno what is die<" attitude as usual. What's a little danger right? *Noooooo…I almost died of heart attack while climbing k…

Ok. Suffice to say, eventually we later descended using the south steps with handrails -_-”
 

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We had passed by Phnom Bakheng the day before but it was pouring. It’d stopped drizzling so we took the chance for a visit.

It’s a Hindu temple located on top of a 65-meter hill just few hundred meters south of the Angkor Thom. Phnom Bakheng is a popular tourist ‘must-go’ destination. Most famous for it’s panoramic views of Angkor Wat *uh-huh. You could actually see the 5 towers of Angkor Wat from up there, and for the spectacular view of the sunset in Cambodia.

There are 2 ways of getting up there. 1) The elephant ride 2) Walk up. We opted for 2). It was not that bad coz there was a trail leading to the temple.

* climbing the hill after a day walking/climbing around the other monuments was so challenging..and so tiring….
 

bakheng
Castle in the sky~~
 

climbbakheng
#*@!FoulJoe scouring the land for new victims @_@
 

It was really worth the sweat. Phew… Amazing view from the top. You can really view Angkor Wat.
 

ontop
PigDog Klan* conquered another estate. Yee haa! …*how come SnapMe!Eve is always ready with a pose wan…
 

angkorfrombakheng
Angkor from Bakheng
 

linga
Linga, symbol of Shiva’s manhood?? Eww!!!
 

Oh yeah, there were lingas scattered around within the complex of most temples we had visited. Phnom Bakheng has a huge one smack right in the middle of the courtyard.

*what the hell is a linga?

The Linga also known as lingam is a symbol for the worship of the Hindu god Shiva. In a nutshell, a linga:
 

A scholar named Bhrigu went to consult Lord Shiva about something he deemed very important towards the survival of mankind…

Bhrigu : Die lar! Why is it like this…people can die because of this…I better talk to Shiva
*knock knock
Bhrigu : Ish…why no one answer…
*bam bam
Bhrigu : WTF??!! What’s goin’ on in there
*bam bam bam bam bam
Shiva : Err…Wat’s up?
Bhrigu : #%*@!! What took you so long??
Shiva : Me n my darling here having some…some fun just now…err..sorry…
Parvati : Yeah sorry dear
Bhrigu : I curse you *#@#&#*&@eternally!!!!**generations!!#$@!!

And so, from then onwards Lord Shiva was worshipped in the image of his organ for generations…. as a symbol for fertility. Read more about Linga

 

*didn’t know so vulgar wan O_o” Locals believes that if you drink the water from the linga you can get babies wor!!

So who wants one? Small miniature lingas are available for sale at the Artisans Angkor.

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Back to Phnom Bakheng. We were looking forward to watching the sun go down but unfortunately the weather did not permit. It was rather cloudy after the rain. Plus it was getting dark so we descended before there’s no light.

When we had finally decided to hitch an elephant ride, there was none available! Elephants went ZZZzzzZZ. Apparently, their services stops at 6pm each day. So whoever wants the ride should book before 6pm (we found out later)…Anyway, it costs USD10 for 3 people but you can always bargain more a cheaper rate…. *run down the hill lor, what else…
 
 

**** ——- ****
Note:
All nice pics taken with my Panasonic Lumix F8, the not so nice pics are courtesy of other PigDog Klan* members :P

 
 

0

Thom-strucked ~ O_O

Posted on by slowcatchupkuan

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Angkor Archaeological Park’s admission passes were sold at the main entrance on the road to Angkor Wat. Cost USD20 for one day visit, USD40 for three day visit and USD60 for seven day visit. One-day passes could only be purchased at the secondary tollgate on airport road entrance near Angkor Wat and Banteay Srey. Visiting hours are from 5am – 6pm for Angkor Wat and other major temples… Actually the best time to visit the site is at the wee hours. That’s when there are fewer visitors. The place will be really quiet and you can watch the sunrise. Too bad we went after the sun was up already.

A passport-sized photo in order to purchase the three or seven day pass. Anyhow, the one day visit passes were already included in our travel package. Keep the pass safe coz you might have to show it to the officers at every park entry of major temples… and at the entrance to the loo :P.

Talking bout loo, there are no (and will not be any in the future) toilets to relief yourself once you venture in Angkor Thom. Why, you ask? Well, this is to ensure that the natural surrounding of the site is well preserved and not damaged… *no toilet?! i wonder where those people pee pee last time?? Not to worry, there is a public toilet before the entrance, so we went and did our businesses there before going in *wakaka.
 

bigtree
Nice big tree near the loo
 

elephantride
Elephant ride into Angkor Thom
 

At the South Gate, there were elephant rides available but we decided venture on foot.
 

god
Statue of Ancient Gods on the left guarding entrance towards Angkor Thom
 

heavenly
Heavenly pic of pond on the front side of Angkor Thom
 

devil
Statue of Ancient Devils on the right guarding entrance before Angkor Thom
 

candid
This is why i named him NotSoCandidKelvin @@. SweetToothTim on the right
 

thom
Finally there ==> South Gate
 

postcard
So postcard! So worth it…
 

Each gate of Angkor Thom was crowned with 4 giant faces of the king himself. It’s suppose to represent the king as a guardian of his empire. Angkor Thom is just the big entrance to to site. There are small temples located inside.
 

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Bayon Temple lies in the heart of Angkor Thom. I was utterly in awe with the stone temple *how anyone could have built it in the past… The carvings on the building were very well preserved. Very beautifully crafted and the details of the carving were amazing. Bayon was initially built as a Buddhist temple but was augmented into Hinduism style, so there were combination of both styles on the site.

I couldn’t get enough of the stone faces. If viewed from the side angle, you can see the structure of the face, the protruding nose… *wow...
 

bayontemple
Entrance to Bayon temple
 

face
See the face behind..the nose…
 

carvings
Carvings so well preserved after decades
 

wall
Carvings on walls depicting scenes from everyday life and great battles
 

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Baphuon is another temple worth visiting but it’s still under-construction. Expected to be completed by year 2010! Apparently the reconstruction was disrupted by civil war or something. However, now work had resumed. After it’s done, it’s gonna be huge! We could only walk across the terrace and view from outside for now… *oh well
 

baphuonterrace
MicrophoneChiang dancing on the terrace :P
 

baphuon
Under contruction
 

climbing
Crazy mob family racing to get to the top. Whoever wins gets to wipe out our enemy!
 

Look at the stairs! Can’t even fit our foot… Have to climb sideways… Pretty dangerous. There were signboards saying ‘climb at your own risks’ at the site. Sorry i didn’t go up. I’m not crazy….and i’m afraid of heights… *oops!
 

peak
DrugLaw waves hi! ..so high on cocaine O_o
 

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The Terrace of the Elephants was used by the king as a platform to view his victorious returning army. It was attached to a palace which was already ruined. The terrace was also used as something like a grand stand for public ceremonies for the king. There were big carvings of elephants. *i guess they don ride tanks to war last time :P. Anyway, if seen clearly there were also carvings of garudas (half man half bird) and animal deity from the Hindu influence.
 

elephantT
Elephants! I like!
 

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The Terrace of the Leper King is a double terrace wall at the north end of Terrace of the Elephants. It was given this name because according to Khmer legend, it is believed that the king died of leprosy *uh-huh. There were suppose to be a replica of the statue of the king (i found out later) but i didn’t see one. The real one is in a museum in Phnom Penh.

The terrace has lines of carvings of weird demons and creatures. Some look really evil. I saw carvings of women without torsos! According to PuppyEyes, they use to force criminals to walk along this terrace. Those who were guilty would feel freaked out… *creepy
 

leperking
Terrace of the Leper King..on the left => snake with 7 heads is called “naga”
 
 

**** ——- ****
Note: All nice pics taken with my Panasonic Lumix F8, the not so nice pics are courtesy of other PigDog Klan* members :P

 
 

0

Streets in Siem Reap ~ Phewy

Posted on by slowcatchupkuan

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16th July 2007
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Morning call at 7.00am *yawn Didn’t get much sleep. I’ve always had a hard time sleeping on unfamiliar bed… also due to 2 star hotel doesn’t have quilt/comforter. They used big towel as second layer of the blanket as replacements O_o.

Needed to head out to Angkor Thom by 8am. The idea was to reach destination before it’s scorching hot out there.
 

muddyroad
Muddy street ~ near Prum Bayon Hotel
 

tarroad
Tar street ~ notice all the road are grey/brown in colour not black tar like in M’sia
 

Siem Reap is a tourist town as mentioned, so it’s more developed than we had expected. There were lotsa grand hotels, coffee houses, shops… we’d even spot a moderate size shop selling genuine branded stuff like Channel/Gucci/LV!
 

And yeah, mushrooms of banks & ATMs within the vicinity of the tiny town. Cambodia Commercial Bank (CCB), Cambodian Public Bank (CPB), Union Commercial Bank (UCB), you name it. Tourists will not have a problem with $$$.

Talking bout banks, CPB’s working hours is from 8am-8pm Mon-Sun. I guess most if not all banks has no off days. *so kelian
 

publicbank
Red circle ==>….
 

publicbankwow
Yup! It’s Cambodia’s own Public Bank
 

The streets were really messy and confusing. There were sufficient traffic lights at junctions but locals didn’t seem to notice it. To Cambodian, green light means? GO! Red light mean? GO!… O_o… There were no such thing as a 2 way lane there coz vehicles seems to come from everywhere! You could be happily cruising straight at one moment, and the next a whole bunch of cars could be heading towards you from the opposite direction. So damn dangerous… Locals weren’t bothered at all. *the face so selamba. They just honked (motorcyclist there always carries in hand a small handmade honk thingy..like those you bring to parties) and went on their way. No swearing no road bullies. Siem Reap life style? Need some getting use to…
 
 

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Note: All nice pics taken with my Panasonic Lumix F8, the not so nice pics are courtesy of other PigDog Klan* members :P

 
 

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Local lychees and such

Posted on by slowcatchupkuan

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15th July 2007 (still..)
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We had decided to explore the streets near the hotel before retiring for the night. It got dark really early in Cambodia. I think by 6pm or so it was already dark outside. So,we only managed to go a short distance.
 

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Found a stall selling local fruits. Were there for quite sometime coz PigDog Klan* have alot of uncles and aunties who’s very good in bargaining *wakaka plus the owner didn’t speak any Chinese/English. Fortunately, PuppyEyes gave us a short Khmer numerals lesson earlier at noon.
 

1 – Mui
2 – Pi
3 – Bei
4 – Boon
5 – Pram
6 – Pram Mui
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So anything exceeding 5 will be Pram + something. Example 7 is Pram Pi and so on
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10 – Dop
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Learn more Khmer numerals

 

I only remembered til number 10… -_-”. It was quite difficult. Don’t believe?

Well, the number 101 is “mui roi mui”! (i later found out). Just imagine what will it be for the number 10,001.
 

lane
Small lane. Lots of grocerry shops there. SnapMe!Eve in red circle buying some lychees
 

SweetToothTim, SnapMe!Eve and BigSistaJune stocked up on some local lychees. I think it was something like USD1 for a plastic bag full… i don’t really remember…

#*@!FoulJoe, DrugLaw and MicrophoneChiang stocked up on ciggies. Apparently ciggies and cigars were very cheap, not so good but cheap. They even tried vanilla flavor cigars… >_< Didn’t bother to find out the price… *i don’t smoke!
 

**** ——- ****
Note:
All nice pics taken with my Panasonic Lumix F8, the not so nice pics are courtesy of other PigDog Klan* members :P

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