After so many months of neglecting my Cambodia entries, i am finally writing again and hopefully i can be done soon. For the past 6 months i have been receiving messages, emails and even tweets regarding Cambodia. This has definitely given more the reason to complete the Siem Reap section

Siem Reap is definitely famous for it’s Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and of course the smiling faces just like the above.

As stated in my previous entry, there are 3 types of passes for Angkor Wat which are the 1 day, 3 days and 1 week pass. We took the 3 days pass which would cost USD40 per person and this covers all temples surrounding Siem Reap. Security is quite tight and the pass has to be with you at all times.

Upon arrival at the first stop, we were brought to the temple of faces. On each so called tower there’s faces on each side. I have seen this many times in books, postcards but to see it in person was simply awesome. I had the impression that the face was carved out of a slab of stone but found out later on that it consisted of a few stones. That’s why it looked like a jigsaw puzzle in the first pic.

Some of the faces were defaced due to time and also the war centuries ago.

Angeline and the face

The problem of having 7 photographers around is that they just keep photographing every single thing To the point that our guide, Siya, just sat and waited patiently for us.

I can’t imagine what will happen in Bali …. there’s gonna be 16 of us there -_-”

The whole day we went to different temples around Angkor Thom. Definitely a lot of walking involved. I would highly recommend you to get a guide if not most of the time you wouldn’t know what to do or worst still where to go. Thankfully, i managed to arrange a guide, Siya, prior to our arrival in Cambodia.

The ‘four sisters’ posing with their gong xi pose. Our trip was actually just before Chinese New Year. So it was kinda good timing cause when we reached back, all we had to do was receive angpow to replenish our funds

Some of the temples require you to climb a flight of steps … a very steep flight of steps. Like this one it has a handrail for you to hold on but there are others where you would need to use all four limbs to climb down.

These four really know when to pose, ROFL. It’s good to have a bunch of friends during trips like this because you would never be bored and there’s always laughter along the way.

The south gate of Angkor Thom.

Another problem with us is, we just stand where ever we liked …. even in the middle of the road -_-!

Hahahaha, i realized Siya kept looking out for us if any vehicles were to come by.

As evening approached, we left to witness sunset in Siem Reap.

To be frank i am not really a sunset enthusiast nor sunrise unlike the ang mohs you see above. There was already a huge crowd when we arrived. We all walked around to find our spots and waited patiently for the sun to set.

I got bored so fast that i ended up snapping Angeline’s D60, lol.

Guess how many pictures i took of the sunset ?

Two. The first one was overblown cause i had the wrong settings on and this was the 2nd one which isn’t sharp at all T.T

After the sunset we left and headed back. After washing up we walked around Siem Reap for dinner before calling it a day. We slept early cause the next morning we were off to Angkor Wat for sunrise.

The next morning we woke up about 5am and headed to Angkor Wat.

Everyone was still half a sleep and it was really cold.

I was shocked when we reached Angkor Wat as there were so many people already there. Some brought their own fold-able chairs, others stood and waited, some adjusted their tripods and camera as all of us waited for the sun to rise.

If you didn’t know, the weird looking cones in the middle are part of Angkor Wat, lol. I think i had more pictures of William and Aaron setting up their cameras then the sunrise -_-”

After breakfast, we headed back to Angkor Wat and this time we were at the place where Angelina Jolie made her mark as Tomb Raider.

The roots of the trees were all over, some even grew above the structures.

We had to pass thru some tunnel-like passage to get to the other side of the temples. Those who like hiking and adventure, Angkor Wat is definitely the place for you, hehehe.

One of the few group photos we took We then continue walking to a partially dried lake where there’s 4 elements that are built to channel the water to 4 smaller water catchment area. Along the way we encountered music in the forest, hahaha.

By afternoon, the sun was really blazing. Ai Ling herself had to shield using her hands The puteri lilin as usual was ever ready with her umbrella.

Besides the heat, we also had to encounter with dust all the time which is why i switched to my slippers from shoes. It’s easier to wash up and dry. Check out my feet !

We moved on to another temple where some of us had the chance to eat Balut ( egg with deform duck in it) which i will continue writing in the next entry.